Block of Osorkon I Offering
Bubastis, Great Temple of Bastet, Third Intermediate Period, Dynasty 22, reign of Osorkon I, 929-889 bc
Red granite
Musée du Louvre B 55 = E 10591
cat. no. 22

In 945 BC, descendants of Libyan tribal chiefs seized control of Egypt and founded Dynasty 22. Because they had lived in the Nile Delta for generations and adopted Egyptian customs, there was no upheaval. Only their names -- Shoshenq and Osorkon, which are Libyan rather than Egyptian names -- betray their foreign origins.

Osorkon I was the second king of Dynasty 22. In this temple relief, he offers an image of the goddess Maat, the personification of truth and justice, to her father, the god Amen-Ra, whose figure appears on another block from the same temple (see drawing). This gesture illustrates one of the rulerís most fundamental obligations. The gods were said to "live on Maat." By ruling according to Maat, the principles of truth and justice, the king satisfied the gods and maintained the order of the universe.