Ram Amulet
1 9/16 x 1 1/8 in. (3.9 x 2.9 cm)
Brooklyn Museum. 54.198
Carved from deep-hued jasper, this finely worked ram’s head amulet embodies the divine authority of Amun, the supreme god favoured by the Kushite rulers of Ancient Egypt’s 25th Dynasty. For the kings of Nubia, Amun was not merely a patron deity but the very source of royal legitimacy, worshipped above all at Napata and the sacred mountain of Gebel Barkal, where the ram became his most potent manifestation.
Kushite kings embraced the ram as a symbol of fertility, strength, and divine generation, and distinguished themselves iconographically by wearing two uraei upon their brows, rather than the single cobra of earlier Egyptian tradition; an emblem of dual rule over Nubia and Egypt.
The subtle linking of the horns to the head suggests a metal prototype, translated here into hard stone with remarkable precision. Small in scale yet rich in meaning, the amulet speaks to a period when ancient traditions were consciously revived, reshaped, and worn close to the body as both protection and proclamation of faith.
The Ram & Amun
The ram became associated with Amun because it embodied qualities central to his divine nature: creative power, fertility, and hidden strength. As a god whose name means “the Hidden One,” Amun was understood to generate life unseen, much as the ram was recognised as a potent source of procreative force within the natural world. In Egyptian thought, fertility was not merely biological but cosmic; the ability to bring forth order, kingship, and renewal.
At Thebes and later in Nubia, Amun was increasingly envisioned in ram form or with ram’s horns, particularly as Amun-Ra, combining invisible generative power with the visible force of the sun. Processional avenues lined with ram-headed sphinxes at Karnak and Luxor reinforced this symbolism in monumental form. For the Kushite kings, who worshipped Amun with particular devotion at Napata and Gebel Barkal, the ram became a tangible emblem of divine kingship itself; an image of strength that protected, sanctioned, and renewed the ruler and the land alike.
Summary:
Ram’s Head Amulet
Third Intermediate Period, 25th Dynasty, c. 775–653 B.C.
Said to be from Memphis. Discovered at Mitrahina, Egypt
Brooklyn Museum. 54.198
