Property of Sekhmet

We're home from three weeks in the US, during which I managed to wrangle a few hours at the Oriental Institute's museum in Chicago. It's deceptive - it seems small, just a few rooms on one floor of the building, but it's just crammed with goodies. The current exhibit on birds in Ancient Egypt includes a spectacular ibis mummy case and the unwrapped remains of a mummified eagle, some of the gilding still present on the blackened body. The inevitable Sekhmet (OIM 1339) is a gorgeous pink-grey bust, without rosettes on the dress and part of the throne attached to the back. Her gaze is as weighty as it always is, her expression as peaceful as Durga slaying her enemies with ease. There is also a colossal statue of Tutankhamun, beautiful lions from the Ishtar Gate, and an immense lammasu - I walked into the room facing away from it, turned round, and nearly had a heart attack.

Among several other items which caught my eye was a Nineteenth Dynasty stela (OIM 1567) from the Ramesseum, showing the owner worshipping Sobek-Re and an enthroned lion-headed god. The hieroglyphs were too eensy and shallow for me to make out, but the label gave the dedicator's name as Nebaa and the god's name as Iwnet. This sent me on a wild Google chase until I tracked down the puzzling object in a thesis - turns out the owner was one Nebwa, Scribe of the Army of the Lord of the Two Lands, and the lion-headed figure is not a god called Iwnet (Dendera!), but the goddess Wenut. So that's that cleared up.

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Exell, Karen (2006) A social and historical interpretation of Ramesside period votive stelae, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/2631/
Quibell, J.E. The Ramesseum. B. Quaritch, London, 1898.

The hare-headed goddess Wenenut, Temple of Hathor, Denderah. (Man, I wish I'd seen this when I was a kid, and I was having imaginary adventures as a character who looked pretty much like that.)