Polymorphic deity

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Polymorphic deities combine a given deity's form with often animal elements from other deities. Here the dwarf-like body of Pataikos is combined with a ram's head and has a falcon's back. The proliferation of representations of polymorphic deities, is a phenomenon of the first millennium. The meaning of the conjoined forms is not settled, but they are positive figures.

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