Full Text Available
Note: Clicking the button above will open the full text document at the original institutional repository in a new window.
"Four Faces on One Neck": The Tetracephalic Ram as an Iconographic Form in the Late New Kingdom
In ancient Egypt, the ram was regarded as a symbol of protection, male virility, fertility, syncretism, rebirth, and resurrection, and the Egyptians accordingly associated some of their gods with the ram because of what it represented. The most popular ram deities, each connected with his own temple...
Saved in:
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Thesis |
| Published: |
AUC Knowledge Fountain
2021
|
| Subjects: | |
| Tags: |
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1867613419102797824 |
|---|---|
| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Treasure, Matthew |
| author_browse | Treasure, Matthew |
| author_facet | Treasure, Matthew |
| author_sort | Treasure, Matthew |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | In ancient Egypt, the ram was regarded as a symbol of protection, male virility, fertility, syncretism, rebirth, and resurrection, and the Egyptians accordingly associated some of their gods with the ram because of what it represented. The most popular ram deities, each connected with his own temples and cult centers at different geographic locations, were Banebdjed of Mendes, Heryshef of Herakleopolis Magna, Amun-Ra of Thebes, and Khnum of Esna and Elephantine. Similarly, numbers were another important aspect of Egyptian religion and magic, and the symbolic language of numbers manifested itself in a variety of ways in the art of ancient Egypt; occasionally, ram gods, for example, were represented with multiple heads in order to indicate the syncretism of two or, more frequently, four different divinities. This thesis engages with New Kingdom representations of four-headed ram deities, appearing in separate entrance scenes preserved inside the individual tombs of Ramesses IX (KV 6), Ramesses X (KV 19), and Ramesses XI (KV 4), as an artistic response to theological and political change in the late Twentieth Dynasty. This examination of art applies iconographic and iconological analysis on selected images of tetracephalic ram deities in order to better understand the symbolic message articulated by four rams’ heads as an iconographic form. Ultimately, the four-headed ram as an iconographic type during the late New Kingdom was applied to both solar and netherworld divinities, constituting a demiurge par excellence. Four rams’ heads, as a composite motif, also shows us that Egyptians of the late New Kingdom perceived many similarities between their individual ram gods, in particular, Banebdjed of Mendes and Amun-Ra of Thebes, who were each depicted in art by the Ramesside period occasionally as a tetracephalic ram deity. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:fount.aucegypt.edu:etds-2552 |
| institution | American University in Cairo (Egypt) |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:35:50.652Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from AUC Knowledge Fountain — bepress |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| publishDateRange | 2021 |
| publishDateSort | 2021 |
| publisher | AUC Knowledge Fountain |
| publisherStr | AUC Knowledge Fountain |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | AUC Knowledge Fountain — bepress |
| spelling | oai:fount.aucegypt.edu:etds-2552 "Four Faces on One Neck": The Tetracephalic Ram as an Iconographic Form in the Late New Kingdom Treasure, Matthew In ancient Egypt, the ram was regarded as a symbol of protection, male virility, fertility, syncretism, rebirth, and resurrection, and the Egyptians accordingly associated some of their gods with the ram because of what it represented. The most popular ram deities, each connected with his own temples and cult centers at different geographic locations, were Banebdjed of Mendes, Heryshef of Herakleopolis Magna, Amun-Ra of Thebes, and Khnum of Esna and Elephantine. Similarly, numbers were another important aspect of Egyptian religion and magic, and the symbolic language of numbers manifested itself in a variety of ways in the art of ancient Egypt; occasionally, ram gods, for example, were represented with multiple heads in order to indicate the syncretism of two or, more frequently, four different divinities. This thesis engages with New Kingdom representations of four-headed ram deities, appearing in separate entrance scenes preserved inside the individual tombs of Ramesses IX (KV 6), Ramesses X (KV 19), and Ramesses XI (KV 4), as an artistic response to theological and political change in the late Twentieth Dynasty. This examination of art applies iconographic and iconological analysis on selected images of tetracephalic ram deities in order to better understand the symbolic message articulated by four rams’ heads as an iconographic form. Ultimately, the four-headed ram as an iconographic type during the late New Kingdom was applied to both solar and netherworld divinities, constituting a demiurge par excellence. Four rams’ heads, as a composite motif, also shows us that Egyptians of the late New Kingdom perceived many similarities between their individual ram gods, in particular, Banebdjed of Mendes and Amun-Ra of Thebes, who were each depicted in art by the Ramesside period occasionally as a tetracephalic ram deity. 2021-01-31T08:00:00Z thesis application/pdf https://fount.aucegypt.edu/etds/1538 https://fount.aucegypt.edu/context/etds/article/2552/viewcontent/matthew_stephen_treasure_thesis.pdf Theses and Dissertations AUC Knowledge Fountain New Kingdom Ramesside Valley of the Kings History of Art, Architecture, and Archaeology |
| spellingShingle | New Kingdom Ramesside Valley of the Kings History of Art, Architecture, and Archaeology Treasure, Matthew "Four Faces on One Neck": The Tetracephalic Ram as an Iconographic Form in the Late New Kingdom |
| title | "Four Faces on One Neck": The Tetracephalic Ram as an Iconographic Form in the Late New Kingdom |
| title_full | "Four Faces on One Neck": The Tetracephalic Ram as an Iconographic Form in the Late New Kingdom |
| title_fullStr | "Four Faces on One Neck": The Tetracephalic Ram as an Iconographic Form in the Late New Kingdom |
| title_full_unstemmed | "Four Faces on One Neck": The Tetracephalic Ram as an Iconographic Form in the Late New Kingdom |
| title_short | "Four Faces on One Neck": The Tetracephalic Ram as an Iconographic Form in the Late New Kingdom |
| title_sort | four faces on one neck the tetracephalic ram as an iconographic form in the late new kingdom |
| topic | New Kingdom Ramesside Valley of the Kings History of Art, Architecture, and Archaeology |
| url | https://fount.aucegypt.edu/etds/1538 https://fount.aucegypt.edu/context/etds/article/2552/viewcontent/matthew_stephen_treasure_thesis.pdf |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT treasurematthew fourfacesononeneckthetetracephalicramasaniconographicforminthelatenewkingdom |