Pious visitors to temple donated perishable offerings such
as food, drink or flowers as well as non-perishable gifts
dedicated to the gods ranging from simple trinket-like objects
to finely carved and painted statues and votive stelae. These
latter items represent the most important votive gifts found in
archaeological contexts. Statues given as gifts to the Egyptian
gods or placed where shipfully before them were produced in
large numbers in many periods. Most of the statues to have
survived from ancient Egypt are in fact various pieces donated
to the gods by kings, nobles, priests and various officers of
the state, and even as gifts from cities and towns. Such items
usually comprised individual or group figures of gods,
sometimes with the inclusion of an intermediary royal or
priestly figure, and these divine images could range from
individually crafted works to mass-produced figures of gods and
goddesses utilized by the less wealthy. In the Later Period and
Ptolemaic Period, the private donation of votive bronze statues
grew tremendously, and the development of casting techniques
led to the production of countless metal images of deities and
sacred animals for devotional purposes and as offerings to
temples and shrines. Votive stelae were of different types,
though many bore texts requesting favours from the gods and
sometimes gave thanks for their help when it seemed that a
request had been granted. The styles of such stelae varied
geographically and changed over time but usually depicted the
donor, sometimes together with members of his or her family,
worshipping the deity to whom the stela was dedicated. In New
Kingdom times in particular, such stelae also often depicted
one or more large pairs of ears as symbolic listening devices
to ensure that the supplicant's prayers were "heard" by the
god. Such "ear" stelae may be almost completely covered with
these depictions or decorated with the representation of a
single, huge, pair of ears - presumably increasing the
"auditory" effectiveness of the stelae.
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