By Jacqueline Engel
This stela is dedicated by Ptolemy V to the bull Buchis, sacred to the war god Montu.
The central register shows Buchis with a gilded body and a sun disc with two plumes between his horns.
The king, dressed according to pharaonic custom, offers the bull the symbol of fields to ensure a prosperous agricultural season.
The god Montu flies over the bull in the form of a falcon.
The site of Armant in Upper Egypt, where this stela was discovered, includes a stone- built temple dedicated to the god Montu.
The catacombs where the sacred Buchis bulls were buried were in use for over 600 years from the Late Period to the Greco- Roman Period.
Ptolemy V, 205-180 BC Armant, Limestone
Egyptian Museum Cairo
LA CIVILTA' EGIZIA 