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Outstanding works / Pre-Roman / National Archaeological Museum

The Priest of Cadiz

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The Priest of Cadiz. National Archaeological Museum, Madrid © Santiago Relanzón. Fundación ITMA; Museo Arqueológico Nacional (N.I. 31920)

Category

Rites, worship and beliefs

Date

700 . - 601 B.C.

Cultural background

Iron Age

Original title

Sacerdote de Cádiz

National Archaeological Museum
Madrid
Madrid

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This formed part of a group of bronze and gold figures found in sacred places. It could represent an oriental divinity imported from another part of the Mediterranean.

The figure is known as the “Priest of Cadiz” because it was found there and could be considered to represent a priest of the temple of Melqart. However, his posture and clothes, as well as the attributes he holds in his hands and the gold band across his face, identify him as a divinity.

It has been proposed that he represents the god Ptah (an Egyptian god). However, the most recent studies suggest that the figure could form part of a group of statues that represented non-Egyptian gods, perhaps gods that protected trade in the Mediterranean.

These kinds of figures were widespread across Egypt in the second half of the 2nd millennium B.C. In the Iron Age they began to be made in Phoenicia and later spread throughout the Mediterranean.