Amulet in the Form of a Lion-Headed Goddess

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This amulet represents a lion-headed goddess on an open worked throne. With her right hand she is holding a sistrum (a musical instrument like a rattle) that is topped by a double ba-bird. Her other hand clenches a papyrus-scepter that symbolizes regeneration and life. A number of lion-headed goddesses are known from ancient Egypt, such as Sakhmet, Bastet, and Wadjet, and it is unclear, which one is represented here. Each side of the throne depicts a lion-headed goddess with a sun disk on her head. Behind her is a snake god with human arms and legs, who is linked to stellar decans. Above the snake’s head and in front of the lion headed goddess are short columns of text that presumably give their names; but unfortunately they are undecipherable. All feline deities are closely connected to the sun god Ra and at the top of the large figure, between her ears, is a small hole that originally must have held a separately manufactured sun disk. The loop at the top of the amulet was meant for suspension. The Egyptians believed that amulets like this one evoked the power of the goddess and put the wearer under her protection.

Egyptian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Met collection of ancient Egyptian art consists of approximately 30,000 objects of artistic, historical, and cultural importance, dating from about 300,000 BCE to the 4th century CE. A signifcant percentage of the collection is derived from the Museum's three decades of archaeological work in Egypt, initiated in 1906 in response to increasing interest in the culture of ancient Egypt.

Metropolitan Museum of Art