Four-sided granite sculpture showing Thutmose III and deities

From Thebes, Egypt
18th Dynasty, about 1450 BC

Montu-Re and Hathor guide Thutmose III

King Thutmose III (1479-1425 BC) and the god Montu-Re are shown on each of the longer sides, while on both narrower faces is a figure of the goddess Hathor. The figures are arranged so that Hathor holds one hand of each figure of the king in her hands, while the other royal hand is clasped by Montu-Re. Montu wears a composite crown of the sun disc and the two-plumed head-dress normally associated with Amun, thus making a link between the older (Montu) and the younger (Amun) deities of Thebes.

The attention of vandals to this statue was confined primarily to the heads of the king, as the other four figures are substantially intact.

T.G.H. James and W.V. Davies, Egyptian sculpture (London, The British Museum Press, 1983)

T.G.H. James, Ancient Egypt: the land and it (London, 1988)