Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2007

Abstract

In a striking scene from the Building of Taharqa by the sacred lake at Karnak, a slender athletic-looking woman draws a long, wide-feathered arrow through a double-curved bow. She aims at four round targets represented at the periphery of the scene. Next to her, a male figure uses his pear-headed mace as a bat with which to strike four balls. The male figure is identified as King Taharqa, the penultimate king of the 25th Dynasty. The female archer, on the other hand, is simply identified as a God’s Wife. Her name is not mentioned. Both the king and the God’s Wife partner in the “rites of protection at the cenotaph.” Together, they aim to avert the malign forces of the universe. This paper addresses the omission of the God’s Wife name in this scene and aims to contextualize her role in this and similar rites of royal or divine dominion.

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