Antelope Head from a Ceremonial Boat - Egypt Museum

Antelope Head from a Ceremonial Boat - Egypt Museum

This finely carved antelope’s head, once affixed to the prow of a sacred ceremonial boat, hails from the hushed sanctuaries of an Egyptian temple. Hewn from hard stone (perhaps diorite or greywacke) it would have adorned a ritual barque, gliding not upon the Nile but along the sacred imaginations of the priests who summoned the gods through rite and relic. Such boats were devoted to Sokar, the ancient god of the necropolis, a deity deeply entwin…