Goddess Wadjet

Figurine of the Goddess Wadjet I visited the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and although there were countless art pieces that I enjoyed viewing. The one that really stood out to me and caught my attention was an interesting piece that was the Figurine of the Goddess Wadjet. She was created sometime between 664-525 BCE during the twenty-sixth dynasty. The Goddess Wadjet was known to be the protectress and what is also considered a tutelary deity of Egypt. The Wadjet figurine is a small statue that could easily be carried standing at a mere 13 inches tall, the figure stands with one foot slightly ahead than the other perhaps representing such importance and power. She displays a posture of dominance. With her lioness head and sun disk headdress which represents the sun god, Ra and in front of her disk lies a cobra. Which sometimes she is referred to as the cobra goddess. In my opinion this piece was more of devotional work. The reason why I say that is because the symbolism behind the Goddess Wadjet is that she was a goddess of protection. The way that I feel this piece affects me being in the twentieth century is that I have always been extremely impressed by the gods and goddesses that were a large portion of Egypt’s beliefs and I associate them with the saints that I was raised to believe in as a child. For example St. Michael is a saint of protection. It is known to protect others from harm and evil. This sounds very familiar to what Goddess Wadjet stands for. The goddess demonstrates a lioness head and displays a position of protection and on guard. The goddess is a sculpture that stands at about 13 inches high and is covered in bronze. The sculpture depicts an unusual powerful female. What I questioned myself was why a female? When I think of a protector we as a society are normally used to seeing a male as being the protector of a family or civilization. I see that that this goddess is unusually masculine and expressive in the form of a protector