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Dick Osseman | all galleries >> Galleries >> Karatepe pictures - Hittite pictures > Karatepe sept 2008 5295.jpg
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17-SEP-2008

Karatepe sept 2008 5295.jpg

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Another figure with an Egyptian background, the midget-god Bes.

From the Enc. Britt.: a minor god of ancient Egypt, represented as a dwarf with large head, goggle eyes, protruding tongue, bowlegs, bushy tail, and usually a crown of feathers. The name Bes is now used to designate a group of deities of similar appearance with a wide variety of ancient names. The god's figure was that of a grotesque mountebank and was intended to inspire joy or drive away pain and sorrow, his hideousness being perhaps supposed to scare away evil spirits. He was portrayed on mirrors, ointment vases, and other personal articles. He was associated with music and with childbirth and was represented in the “birth houses” devoted to the cult of the child god. Contrary to the usual rule of representation, Bes was commonly shown full-faced rather than in profile, since full-faced figures were marginal to the normal, ordered world.

Nikon D3
1/30s f/7.1 at 24.0mm iso800 full exif

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