Votive Stele of Artisan Bay

This stele was dedicated by artisan Bay to Amun-Re and comes from the workers’ village of Deir el-Medina. It still retains its vivid colors, in particular the three pairs of ears painted blue, yellow, and green on the left side.

These represent the ears of the god that “listens to prayers”. This form of Amun-Re was one that the more modest social classes worshipped during the New Kingdom when cults of personal worship grew alongside the official cults practiced in the temples and at court.

The owner of the stele was a artisan in the village and was portrayed on the left side of it; he kneels with his hands raised in an act of adoration separated from the divine ears of the god by a vertical line. The inscription above Bay says “Adoration of Amun-Re by his servant in the Place of Truth, Bay”. The name “Place of Truth” refers to the royal tombs.

Two rams with the plumes of Amun-Re, a sun disk, and a uraeus serpent on their heads are shown in the upper part of the stele and each ram bears the inscription “Amun-Re, the perfect ram”. A jug on a small table is shown between them.

Deities, like human beings, have ears to listen to the petitions of the people. Pious worshippers whisper their prayers and petitions near the ears of specific deities, particularly Ptah or Amun-Re.

Here is a good example of a stele that contains scenes and texts for the deity “Amun-Re, the beautiful ram,” another form of the sun god who is shown here as two rams facing each other at the top. They are wearing the two tall plumes and the cobras upon their heads. In the middle, there is a brazier and a libation vase.

New Kingdom, 20th Dynasty, ca. 1189-1070 BC. Painted limestone. Excavation by Émile Baraize, 1912. From Deir el-Medina, Thebes. Now in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo. JE 43566