Relief of Akhenaten as a sphinx

The association of royalty with the majestic and powerful lion can be traced back to the earliest periods. The human-headed lion, or sphinx, was also identified with aspects of the sun god. In this example, King Akhenaten crouches before a table of offerings. He presents cartouches, or oval rings, with the names of his solar god, the Aten. This god is represented by the sun's disk shedding its rays over the whole scene. Relief fragments similar to this one are in Hanover, Geneva and Brooklyn; a number of them were excavated at Akhenaten's own capital city of Akhet-aten (modern el-Amarna). They were found in place as doorjambs and suggest that this piece also served a similar purpose.