Relief from the Sun Temple of King Nyuserrê

The extensive series of pictures of country life comes from the Sun Temple of Ni-user-Rê (c. 2400 BC) in Abu Gurob and forms a pictorial hymn to the creative power of the sun god. The fish in the river, the birds overhead and the animals in the desert are shown with such meticulous attention to detail that their precise species can easily be identified. Together with their hieroglyphic captions, they form a compendium of the animal world of Ancient Egypt.