Screen slab of King Psamtek I
Screen slab of King Psamtek I
3D
Published 2019-06-25T15:59:32+00:00
This is a screen slab showing King Psamtek I. On this side Psamtek kneels making offerings to fearsome-looking deities, including a double-headed bull god and a snake. The majority hold long knives, as they were meant to guard a sacred space located behind this wall.
Most Egyptian depictions of people are high idealised, but here the king's unflattering features suggest a rare attempt at true portraiture. This deviation from the norm is repeated on a similar screen slab made three centuries later. Both slabs were part of one structure in the temple of Atum at Heliopolis. The bottom design is a 'palace facade'. The frieze of cobras at the top represents Wadjyt, heraldic goddess of Lower Egypt. The reverse had a frieze of vultures: Nekhbet of Upper Egypt. That side also showed Psamtek offering, but there his figure, now effaced, was more prostrate.
| Date published | 25/06/2019 |
| Title | Screen slab of King Psamtek I |
| Date | 664-610 BC |
| Accession | EA 20 |
| Period | 26th Dynasty |
| Medium | Greywacke |
| Credit | Gift of King George III, 1766 |
| Record | https://www.britishmuseum.org/ |
| Artist | Unknown artist |
| Place | British Museum |
