Shield rings with lion’s head (Apedemak)

The ring with a hollow lion’s head to which is hinged the hemhem-crown is one of the nine famous shield-rings. It is decorated with a row of gold pellets, and is hinged to a semicircular shield in the form of a broad collar ornamented with gold wire and fused-glass inlays in blue and green. The collar is framed at the top with double series and around the bottom with gold globules; the decoration consists of rows of lozenges and drops separated by rope-braid strips. Two necklaces, one of gold thread and the other of small gold beads, hang under the lion’s head. Especially the necklaces with the ball beads are in use from the 2nd millennium B.C.E. until the 4th century C.E. and are indicating members of the royal family, persons of high rank or gods. Simultaneously is to be regarded as evidence for the continuity of population in Nubia. There are fifteen loops for pendants. In Meroitic period the lion god Apedemak with the hemhem-crown was very popular as a lot of images and depictions proof.