Amulet of a Lion-Headed Goddess with Kitten
Description
Ancient Egyptians, both living and dead, wore amulets of gods and goddesses to bring protection and health. These small charms depicted deities in their human, animal, or mixed forms. Here, a powerful striding figure draws the eye, but who is the small cat at her feet? This amulet likely represents the lioness goddess Sekhmet or the cat goddess, Bastet. In Egyptian mythology, Sekhmet and Bastet both act as the Eye of Re, the daughter/protector of the sun god, Re. Sekhmet was known for her ferocious nature, while Bastet was thought to be a gentler form of the same goddess. Ancient Egyptians recognized the fickle moodiness of felines, a quality still associated with today’s domesticated cats. The amulet represents this duality by showing the goddess in both her lion and cat forms.
Cross-references (1)
- ARTIC-id 135839 tier-2
About this record's data
- From the source institution — accession, description, dimensions, and dating are as catalogued by Art Institute of Chicago (Egyptian).
- AI-inferred — the image-analysis panel (deities, names, signs) is machine-generated and may be wrong.
- Approximate location — most map points are plotted at the site centroid, not the exact findspot.
- Inferred links — cross-references marked with a match method other than explicit-source-field were matched by us, not stated by the source.