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University of Pennsylvania Museum, Philadelphia
The ram of Abraham? Because it so beautifully recalled the offering made in Isaac’s stead, Woolley identified this 17-inch-tall statue as “the ram caught in the thicket” of Genesis 22:13.
It probably served—along with its mate, now in the British Museum—as a stand for burnt offerings during funerary rituals. Both sculptures were found, badly damaged, in the “royal cemetery” tomb known as the Great Death pit, which contained more than 70 bodies. With a face of gold, ears of copper, horns of deep blue lapis lazuli, a fleece of shell and a belly of silver, the ram is one of the most stunning artifacts from the graveyard.