amulet
- Description
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Mould-made amulet in glazed composition, figuring a ram's head with sun-disk and uraeus, a symbol associated to Amun-Ra; flattened as if to give the general aspect of a scarab; incised details for eyes, horns and uraeus; small suspension loop at the back; light greenish turquoise poorly preserved, on pale cream core; worn surface.
- Production date
- 760 BC - 525 BC
- Dimensions
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Height: 5.35 centimetres
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Thickness: 1.25 centimetres
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Width: 3.20 centimetres
- Curator's comments
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Object owned and held by the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. This record is included in the British Museum database as part of the Museum’s Naukratis Project, a research collaboration that aims to virtually re-unite finds from the ancient port city of Naukratis, now distributed over 80 museums worldwide.
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Edgar explained that “one of the trenches at the South end of the site produced a great quantity of small faience objects of the Saitic period” (Edgar 1905, 134). This trench was done "just N. of the ‘Great Wall’" of the Great Temenos and have provided figurines of Egyptian deities, pendants and beads (Hogarth diary – 2nd of May 1903; on this context: Masson forthcoming). This amulet might come from such a context.
Such amulets were common in the 25th dynasty (example dated to the Third Intermediate Period: Andrews 1994, 65, fig. 70b) and were popular on Nubian sites, such at Kawa.
A few amulets discovered in Naukratis represent a ram, a ram-headed deity or, like for this specimen, a ram's head. They might be associated to the local cult of the ram-headed god Amun-Ra Baded, attested since the 26th Dynasty in Naukratis (Guermeur 2005, 126-138; Yoyotte 1982/83).
Andrews, C. 1994, Amulets of Ancient Egypt, London.
Edgar, C. C. 1905, ‘Naukratis 1903, G. - Minor Antiquities’, in D. G. Hogarth, H. L. Lorimer and C. C. Edgar, ‘Naukratis 1903’, Journal of Hellenic Studies 25, 123–36.
Guermeur, I. 2005. Les cultes d’Amon hors-de-Thèbes, Turnhout.
Masson, A. forthcoming, ‘Naukratis: Egyptian offerings in context’, in M. Bergeron and A. Masson (eds.), Naukratis in Context II: Cults, Sanctuaries and Offerings. Proceedings of the Second Naukratis Project Workshop held at The British Museum, 22nd-23rd June 2013.
Yoyotte, J. 1982/83, ‘L’Amon de Naukratis’, Revue d’Égyptologie 34, 129–36.
- Location
- Not on display
- Condition
- Rather poor, worn
- Department
- External
- Additional IDs
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Miscellaneous number: AN1896-1908-EA.888 (Accession Number)