Image Details

PURCHASE, EDWARD S. HARKNESS GIFT, 1926

PHARAOH’S DOGS. With a hunting dog in tow, Pharaoh spears a lion on this limestone ostracon. The accompanying hieratic text reads, “The slaughterer of every foreign land, the Pharaoh—may he live, prosper, and be healthy.” The lion symbolizes Egypt’s enemies. Discovered in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings, near the entrance of Pharaoh Tutankhamun’s (King Tut’s) tomb, this fragment measures about 5.5 by 5 inches and dates to Egypt’s Dynasty 20 (c. 1186–1070 B.C.E.) of the New Kingdom. It is currently on display at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.