Figure of Onuris

This arresting Egyptian bronze depicts Onuris, the god of war and patron of the army. He stands with his leg foot stepping forwards, his muscular arms set in a powerful pose. His right arm is raised – it is likely that the remaining part of the lost limb held a weapon as a symbol of his martial associations. His left hand rests, clenched, over his stomach, and his lower body is clothed in a long kilt-like skirt. He wears a finely carved fake beard and on his head is the base of a headdress – it would originally have supported the four-feathered crown associated with the god. His emphatically carved face bears a hardened, calm expression, appropriate to the god of war. Onuris is the Greek name commonly used to refer to the Egyptian deity Anhur, the god of war.