Cypriot statuary depicting priests or worshipers wearing votive masks

left to right:

 

Figure wearing a mask of a stag's head

Limestone

Cypriot, Archaic

6th century B.C.

From the temple at Golgoi

 

Figure wearing a mask of a bull's head

Limestone

Cypriot, Archaic

6th century B.C.

From the temple at Golgoi

 

Figure holding a mask of a lion against his head

Limestone

Cypriot, Archaic

6th century B.C.

From the temple at Golgoi

 

Votive clay masks representing ferocious beasts where worn by priests or worshipers while participating in temple rituals. They are known from Cyprus and the Levant beginning in the eleventh century B.C. and may have some relation to the Egyptian goddess Sehkmet.

 

Metropolitan Museum of Art

NYC

 

 

 

Done