BIBLE HISTORY DAILY

Ancient Egypt’s Blaze of Glory

Through January 25, 2027
The Getty Villa
Los Angeles, California
www.getty.edu

A collection of exceptional sculptures from Egypt’s 26th Dynasty (664–526 BCE) is currently on view at the Getty Villa of the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles. Known also as the Saite Dynasty (after its capital city of Sais in the Nile Delta), this period saw intense artistic revival, with artists finding inspiration in the glorious past and bringing back forms and styles we typically associate with the Old and Middle Kingdoms. It was the last great phase of native rule over ancient Egypt, wedged between centuries of political fragmentation and the looming Persian conquest, followed by Macedonian and then Roman rule.

In biblical history, this was a period of renewed Egyptian presence in Judah. After the collapse of the Assyrian Empire in 612 BCE, Pharaoh Necho II added Judah to the Egyptian zone of influence, before the Ba­bylonians took over the region, causing many Judeans (including the prophet Jeremiah) to flee to Egypt.

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Titled Sculpted Portraits from Ancient Egypt, the exhibit features artifacts on loan from the British Museum. Made mostly in stone, these sculptures represent non-royal elite individuals associated with the court or priesthood. Some of these archaizing portraits were commissioned for temples, where they allowed their subjects to eternally worship the gods and receive their blessings. Others were deposited in tombs to temporarily host the deceased’s spirit.

On display is this granite statue of the official and high priest Hornebkhaset (pictured above), who kneels on a slim base and holds on his lap a shrine (naos) with the image of the god Osiris. Hieroglyphic inscriptions on the shrine, the figure’s back, and the base contain the priest’s many titles and invocations to gods. The statue is about 15 inches tall and was likely made for a temple.

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