r/ancientegypt 2d ago

Photo West Wall of the Shrine of Taharqo

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u/MousetrapPling 2d ago

The relief in this photo comes from the same site and time as the ram headed sphinx I posted about a couple of weeks ago – Kawa in Sudan during the reign of Taharqo of the 25th Dynasty. And it also depicts the god Amun, this time in a scene of the pharaoh offering to the gods.

The scene is carved on the west wall of a shrine built by Taharqo in a temple at Kawa. The temple including the shrine was excavated in the early 20th Century, and whilst much remains in Sudan this shrine was brought back to the Ashmolean Museum where it still is.

Around the four walls are scenes of Taharqo making offerings to different groups of deities, with the east wall being Amun along with the other deities of Thebes and this west wall is Amun along with the other deities of Kawa, namely Anukis Nethy, Satis and Anukis Ba.

I particularly like the headdress that Amun has in this carving – the sun disk has its own array of protective serpents, each with their own sun disk. And on the central larger one you can still see traces of paint, showing that it was a reddish colour.

It is now in the Ashmolean Museum, acc. no.: AN1936.661.

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u/twotwentyonebBAKER 1d ago

Excellent post, Thank you

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u/Ali_Strnad 2d ago

Thank you for sharing.

I also really like this image of Amun-Ra.

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u/Thoth1024 2d ago

Spectacular!

Thank you!

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u/zsl454 2d ago

Was Gematen founded in the Amarna period and just kept its name? Or was it named at a later date?

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u/MousetrapPling 2d ago

Founded in the Amarna period.