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Description: | Lion leg depicting Bes. Bes in blue paint. Bes appears to be standing on a sa-sign. A snake can be seen on another face. Household objects were often designed in reference to religious belief appropriate to their function. Just as the lion was symbolically associated with the rebirth of the sun at dawn, a lion shaped bed might confer refreshed awakening from sleep for the occupant. The qualities of manly strength and fecundity possessed by Bes and Taweret respectively would promote marital happiness and successful birth. It is possible that the leg is part of a 'woman's bed' upon which a women would have given birth and/or rested shortly after birth. Janna Toivari-Viitala (2001, 'Women at Deir el-Medina. A study of the status and roles of the female inhabitants at the workmen's community during the Ramesside Period' page 178) notes the purchase of 'women's beds', along with birth amulets and suggests that such beds were used for birth and nursing. See Pinch 1983, 406, pl.V who shows that such beds shown on ostraca had bes legs (Pinch, G. 1983. Childbirth and Female Figurines at Deir el-Medina and el-Amarna, 'Orientalia' 52, 405-414). This items was purchased by Wellcome from the Rustafjaell collection, 1906. Probably from Akhmim. | Format: | text/html | License: | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ | Rights holder: | University of Swansea, Egypt Centre | Subjects: | [none] | Source: | Egypt Centre | Identifier: | http://www.egyptcentre.org.uk/index.asp?... | Language: | en-GB | Format: | text/html | Go to resource |
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weights
compact calcareous stone weight, no…
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