Gifts to the gods

Pious visitors to temples donated perishab’. ings such as food, drink or flowers as non-perishable gifts dedicated to the gods from simple trinket-like objects to finely car’, painted statues and votive stelae. These latti. represent the most important votive gifts ft archaeological contexts.

Statues given as gifts to the gods or plao shipfully before them were produced numbers in many periods. Most of the sta; have survived from ancient Egypt are in faa pieces donated to the gods by kings, nobles, and various officers of the state, and even as tive gifts from cities and towns. Such

Uiiry usually comprised individual or group fig-' of gods, sometimes with the inclusion of an :-mediary royal or priestly figure, and these ,ne images could range from individually crafted ks to mass-produced figures of gods and god-.<cs utilized by the less wealthy. In the Late and -riiaic Periods the private donation of votive nze statues grew tremendously, and the develop-¦ : of casting techniques led to the production of •'.tless metal images of deities and sacred animals for devotional purposes and as offerings to temples and shrines.

Votive stelae were of different types, though many bore texts requesting favours from the gods and sometimes gave thanks for their help when it seemed that a request had been granted. The styles of such stelae varied geographically and changed over time but usually depicted the donor, sometimes together with members of his or her family, worshipping the deity to whom the stela was dedicated.

Popular Religion and Piety

Painted wooden ‘ear stela ’ of Bai with three paws of ears representing divine hearing of the worshipper’s prayer. From Deir el-Medina. Ramessid Period. Egyptian Museum, Cairo.

Popular Religion and Piety

In New Kingdom times in particular, such stelae also often depicted one or more large pairs of ears as symbolic listening devices to ensure that the supplicant’s prayers were ‘heard’ by the god. Such ‘ear’ stelae may be almost completely covered with these depictions or decorated with the representation of a single, huge, pair of ears - presumably increasing the ‘auditory’ effectiveness of the stelae.