Adoration Of The Nile

Side chapel, rear area of temple
Temple of Ramesses III (plan)
Medinet Habu, Egypt

Ramesses III adores Hapi, the god of the Nile, identified as such by his breasts(!) and papyrus-clump headdress. At photo right, behind the adoring Ramesses, his ushabti – a "substitute" who does the work required of the deceased in the afterlife – cuts reeds. The ushabti wears the White Crown of Upper Egypt, even though this is a Lower Egypt scene. At photo left, the bennu-bird perches on the Mound of Creation behind the throne of Hapi.