Stela of the God Bes in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, May 2008

Stela of the God Bes
Late Dynastic- Early Roman Periods,
4th century BC- 1st century AD
Limestone, paint

Accession # 22.2.23

Bes waves a knife in one hand and in the other grasps a snake, whose long tail curls up toward a round shape, probably the god's tambourine. A hole remains where a large erect phallus would have been inserted. Considerable traces of paint remain; the characteristic lines on the god's face and curls on his beard may have been added in paint.

A few limestone reliefs and terracottas of this type exist. One in Amsterdam comes from the "Bes Chambers" excavated in the Anubeion at Saqqara. The Bes chambers are decorated with large terracotta wall reliefs of Bes with a large phallus and accompanied by a smaller female figure. They are theorized to be places where pilgrims came to stay and sleep in order to receive divinely inspired dreams. a practice known as "incubation," prophesizing fecundity. This relief could have functioned in such a place, or it could have the same beneficial effect in a less specialized context.

Text from the Metropolitan Museum of Art label.