Procession from the Temple of Amun
Twentieth Century; original New Kingdom
Not on view
This facsimile painting depicts a scene from the New Year festival, which originally coincided with the beginning of the annual Nile flood. As part of this celebration, priests staged processions like this one. Here, one group of priests carries the golden vase of the god Amun. Its lid takes the shape of a ram’s head with an elaborate crown. At the bottom left, two other priests sing and clap the rhythm while another group follows and holds smaller ceremonial vases. The building with eight flag posts can be identified as the second pylon (entrance gate) of Karnak temple. During this festival the temple was cleaned, and since the procession moves to the left, the priests are probably on their way to the Nile to gather water.
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