Royal or divine figure with high conical headdress

Unknown

ca. 18th–17th century BCE · Bronze · Ancient Near Eastern Art

The close relationship between the divine patriarch El and his earthly counterpart, the Syrian king, may be expressed in this male figure wearing a wrapped mantle with thickly rolled borders and a version of the Egyptian white crown. As the eternal king, he may wear the Mesopotamian horns of divinity or the Egyptian white crown. As a mortal ruler, this figure may appear in the presence of such deities as the weather god and the Syrian goddess with the square miter. Examples appear on the cylinder seals rolled on tablets at the city of Alalakh, an important center in northwestern Syria.

Artist

Unknown

Date

ca. 18th–17th century BCE

Medium

Bronze

Department

Ancient Near Eastern Art

Credit line

Gift of Sheldon and Barbara Breitbart, 1985