Diadem with a Pair of Gazelle Heads

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

During her lifetime, a queen wore this delicate diadem tied over her wig. The headband not only identified her elite rank but also identified her as a woman participating in a cultic performance. Tomb depictions illustrate high-ranking women wearing similar ornaments when they took part in rituals that likely honored important goddesses like Hathor, Mut, or Sakhmet. The reason for depicting gazelles is not clear, although they are associated with the sun god, fertility, and rebirth—all subjects connected to these great goddesses. Gazelles inhabit the low desert along the edge of the Nile’s floodplain, often traveling in pairs. This habitat probably explains why these animals figure prominently in a significant myth about the goddesses that takes place in that setting.

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