Seal-pendant from Aliseda

Pendant with a swivel seal, made by a Phoenician workshop, depicting two enthroned and affronted deities. Each holds a staff in one hand and is raising the other as if in prayer. In the centre, the tree of life, crowned by a winged solar disc, is flanked by two griffins. The two figures may represent the dual nature of the god El.
This is one of the oldest Phoenician scarabs found on the Iberian Peninsula and pertains to the Egyptian iconographic tradition. It is made of amethyst, a gemstone which Pliny believed could ward off spells, hail and locust plagues and give its wearer access to the king.
Although the details of its discovery are unknown, it must have been among the grave goods buried with at least two aristocratic individuals, a man and a woman.
It entered the National Archaeological Museum in 1920, along with the rest of the Aliseda Hoard.