Tithoes

 Tithoes

Several Late Period texts mention a lion god named Tutu, son of

he goddess Neith of Sais in the Delta. From the Ptolemaic Period onwards his name was hellenized to the form Tithoes. He was among those deities termed 'pantheistic worldgods'; composite images built up from various divine attributes. In this cult relief, Tithoes is shown as a sphinx, wearing a hairstyle which reminds one of both the nemes-headdress and of a wig, which is in turn surmounted by the beginning of a crown or horizontal ram's horns. The uraeus on the front is barely visible. The head is encircled by a halo. The chest is covered with an aegis from which appear, on the left, a ram's head, and on the right, a forepart of a crocodile. The tail of the feline erects itself like a serpent. On the back, he bears a griffin carrying a shield. His paws rest on the body of a snake which erects itself before him. An axe and a harpoon protrude from his rear limbs. The scene is decorated at the top left with a winged disc.

Present location KMKG - MRAH [07/003] BRUSSELS
Inventory number A.1505
Dating ROMAN PERIOD
Archaeological Site EL-FAIYUM ?
Category RELIEF
Material LIMESTONE
Technique RELIEF
Height 30 cm
Width 42 cm
Depth 12.5 cm



Bibliography•Fr. Cumont, Musées Royaux du Cinquantenaire. Catalogue des sculptures et inscriptions antiques (monuments lapidaires), Bruxelles 1913, 73-74 nº 57
•B. Van Rinsveld, Goden en godinnen van het Oude Egypte - Dieux et déesses de l'Ancienne Égypte, Bruxelles 1994, 56-57
•Keizers aan de Nijl (Exposition Tongres), Louvain 1999, 285-286 nº 220


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