Saqqara Bird
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| Saqqara Bird | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Material | Wood |
| Width | 18 cm |
| Created | c. 200 BC |
| Discovered | 1898 Badrashin, Giza, Egypt |
| Present location | Cairo, Cairo Governorate, Egypt |
The Saqqara Bird is a model bird made of sycamore wood and mounted on a stick, discovered during the 1898 excavation of the tomb of Pa-di-Imen in Saqqara, Egypt. It has been dated to approximately 200 BCE, and is now housed in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. The Saqqara Bird has a wingspan of 18 cm (7.1 in) and weighs 39.12 g (1.380 oz).[1] Its purpose is unknown, although it is not capable of flight.
The Saqqara Bird may be a ceremonial object because the falcon, the bird after which the Saqqara Bird is modeled, is the form most commonly used to represent several of the most important gods of Egyptian mythology, most notably the falcon deity Horus and the sun deity Ra Horakhty. Other possibilities are that it may have been a toy for an elite child, or it could have functioned as a weather vane. Another hypothesis is that this bird was positioned on the masthead of sacred boats used during the Opet Festival.[2][3] Reliefs showing those boats are found in the Temple of Khonsu at Karnak and date to the late New Kingdom.[4]