Sandstone Stela, From Naga, Temple of Apedemak (Lion temple), Kushite (Meroitic), 1st century AD

This fragment belongs to a small stela originally representing three figures. The woman on the right wears a short curled wig and a diadem with two uraei, crowned by the white and red crown. On her head a part of the claw of a falcon is preserved, enough to reconstruct the headdress typical for Apedemak's consort. the goddess Amesemi, a double falcon on a crescent.

 

A garment with fringed sleeves. a broad collar and a bracelet complete her costume. Her raised left hand presents the mtkh sign to a person facing her: only the right hand of this figure is preserved. The extremely long fingernails of both persons are characteristic of women: therefore the figure on the left of the fragment must be a queen.

 

The ankh sign in the uppermost tell corner of the fragment is attached to a curved line descending from above, most probably from a sceptre held over the queen by another figure on the extreme left, a god. The symmetrical composition showed the queen between Amesemi and Apedemak. A stela found in the sanctuary of the Amun Temple at Naga presents the same arrangement. On the reverse, seven lines of a cursive Meroitic inscription mention a name Aman[...]'. either Amanitore or Amanishakheto, and the epithet 'the good one in heaven'.