Ivory Pharaoh

This is a detail from a remarkable artifact in the new Museum of Egyptian Civilization in Cairo. It’s from an ivory chariot, with the cart showing victorious deeds of the pharaoh. Here, the pharaoh grabs the hair of a group of his enemies and readies to ‘smite’ them. The raise their hands in submission, a common motif in the art that glorifies the pharaoh’s military exploits.