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The 26th Dynasty, also known as the Saite
Period, is traditionally placed by scholars at the
end of the Third Intermediate Period or at the
beginning of the Late Dynastic Period. In either
case, the Saite Period rose from the ashes of a
decentralized Egyptian state that had been
ravaged by foreign occupation. Supported by
the assistance of a powerful family centered in
the Delta town of Sais, the Assyrians finally
drove the Nubians out of Egypt. At the close of
this campaign, Ashurbanipal’s kingdom was at
the height of its power; however, due to civil
strife back east, he was forced to withdraw his
forces from Egypt.
Psammetik I, a member of the family from Sais,
seized this opportunity to assert his authority
over the entire Nile Valley and found his own
dynasty, the 26th of Egyptian history. Known as
the Saite Period due to the importance of the
capital city Sais, the 26th Dynasty, like many
before it, sought to emulate the artistic styles of
past pharaohs in order to bolster their own
claims to power and legitimize their authority.
Although bronze is a fairly durable material,
larger hollow-cast pieces such as this one are
exceedingly rare. Not only are they more delicate
than smaller solid-cast works, but they were
frequently melted down by looting armies hungry
for booty. This example features fantastic
engraved details including whiskers around the
mouth and a mane decorated with a motif
resembling the petals of a lotus. Cast on a large
scale, this impressive work surely would have
once served as a centerpiece in a temple
dedicated to this mighty goddess. This
extraordinarily large bronze was consummately
cast via the lost wax method and depicts a
lioness-goddess enthroned. She is represented
wearing the tightly-fitting sheath, woven of the
finest byssos linen, which exclusively woven in
temple workshops. This sheath reveals the lithe
forms of her female body but avoids all
indications of its own details such as the ends of
sleeves, a neckline, and the like. The accessories
of the goddess include a broad collar, the floral
strands of which are visible between the lappets
of her tripartite wig. These protruded from
beneath her mane, the individual hairs of which
are indicated by incision. The metal workers have
paid particular attention to the details of her
head which is dominated by her round eyes,
perky, erect ears, and her long snout with its
incised smile and whiskers. An attribute, perhaps
created in a different material, was originally
fitted into the cobra circlet which crowns her
head and sits atop the tuffs of ornamented hair.
This circlet is itself fronted by a rearing uraeus,
or sacred cobra.
Although there is a tendency to regard all such
leonine images as depictions of either the
goddess Sakhmet or Bastet, the sheer size of our
example and the technique by which it was
created, suggest that it should be assigned to
the Third Intermediate Period, a time when such
masterful, large scale bronzes were being
routinely created in ancient Egypt. There are at
least forty-five related bronze examples either
of leonine goddesses, such as ours, or of the
god Horus. Several of these are inscribed, and
those inscriptions identify the leonine goddess
as Wadjet who is associated with a cult center
localized in the Egyptian Delta city of Buto. The
original goddess of Buto was a cobra goddess
who in time was assimilated with Wadjet. It is for
this reason that the cobra figures so prominently
as an attribute on our statuette. This goddess
was considered one of the primeval deities of
Egypt and was often identified as the tutelary
goddess of Lower Egypt, and her shrine at Buto,
often called Dep, being was considered one of
Egypt’s national sanctuaries.
There was an intense religious regard for ancient
Egypt’s past during the Third Intermediate
Period, and that interest manifested itself in a
strong archaizing tendency which was
responsible for promoting ancient cults such as
that of Wadjet. Our statuette is not only a
masterful example of the Egyptian metal
workers’ art, but it is also a tribute to one of
Egypt’s most venerable goddesses. The original
was doubtless created as a votive offering
deposited by a pious pilgrim in one of Wadjet’s
shrines, perhaps even at Buto itself.
References:
The locus classicus for the identification of
images such as ours as Wadjet still remains the
study by Jacques Vandier, “Ouadjet et Horus
léontocéphale de Bouto,” Fondation Eugène Piot.
Monuments et Mémoires publiés par l’Académie
des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres 55 (1967),
pages 7-75; and Thomas von der Way, “Buto,” in
K. A. Bard [editor], Encyclopedia of the
Archaeology of Ancient Egypt (London 1999),
pages 180-184.
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