TRAVELLING OBJECT · INTERCULTURAL BIOGRAPHY

The so-called ‘Priest of Cádiz’

The figure appeared in Cádiz and could have been made in Phoenicia; its resemblance to Ptah does not confirm that it represents that god.

Museum documentation · free public access, no account required.

Priest of Cádiz: interpretive reconstruction on black background based on the photograph of the original MAN 31920. — **RECONSTRUCTION FROM ORIGINAL · AI · CC BY-SA 4.0**
Reconstruction · Declared visual hypothesis
Interpretive reconstruction with AI from photograph of Dorieo (Jerónimo Roure Pérez). CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: black background, lighting and surface cleaning. It is not an archaeological photograph nor a certified restitution. Microdetails, finish and colour are interpretive approximations.
Tracekeepers / OpenAI ImageGen; source photograph: Dorieo (Jerónimo Roure Pérez) · National Archaeological Museum of Spain · Inventory: MAN 31920 · CC BY-SA 4.0
Source and provenance ↗Terms of use ↗

**RECONSTRUCTION FROM ORIGINAL · AI · CC BY-SA 4.0**
Reconstruction · Declared visual hypothesis
Interpretive reconstruction with AI from photograph of Dorieo (Jerónimo Roure Pérez). CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: black background, lighting and surface cleaning. It is not an archaeological photograph nor a certified restitution. Microdetails, finish and colour are interpretive approximations.
Tracekeepers / OpenAI ImageGen; source photograph: Dorieo (Jerónimo Roure Pérez) · National Archaeological Museum of Spain · Inventory: MAN 31920 · CC BY-SA 4.0
Source and provenance ↗Terms of use ↗

History and context

Phoenician Gadir in the peninsula: The Cádiz find documents Phoenician colonial circulation; it does not make the figure an Iberian object.

The same piece also appears in Probable Phoenician production. Duplicating the entry does not duplicate authorship: it allows reading manufacture, use, deposit and discovery from both trajectories.

Evidence and interpretation

Probable Phoenician production [probable]: Bronze and gold are probably attributed to a Phoenician workshop; its divine or priestly identity is not secure. Phoenician Gadir in the peninsula [documented]: The Cádiz find documents Phoenician colonial circulation; it does not make the figure an Iberian object.

Catalogue facts

Role in this museum: findspot
Location: Cádiz
Date: 7th century BCE
Certainty: documented

A SHARED TOPIC, DIFFERENT MOMENTS

Objects connected through time

Follow a topic across the collections. A shared tag is a way to compare objects, not proof that one culture influenced another.

The order uses the midpoint of each approximate date range; ranges can overlap. Spacing does not represent elapsed time. Swipe, scroll or use the arrows. With the sequence focused, use ← / →, Home or End.

You are viewing

7th century BCE

The so-called ‘Priest of Cádiz’

Iberians

Approximate dating according to the record.

Current record

Sculpture51 dated objects

32 / 51In the centre: The so-called ‘Priest of Cádiz’

Also connected, without a comparable date (3)

These objects are not placed after the others: an unknown date does not mean a more recent object.

Before PersiaAchaemenid Persia · Central core c. seventeenth century BCE; Neo-Elamite additions between the ninth and sixth centuries BCE
Lararium of VilaubaEtruscans and Rome · Roman period
The Thracian HorsemanThracians · Roman era · diffusion especially in the 2nd–3rd centuries CE

You can scroll the first group without JavaScript. The other topics are also available below.

Figurines

Hohle Fels · ≈40,000 years · Aurignacian · Prehistory
Willendorf · ≈29,500 years · Prehistory
Brno II Articulated Figure · ≈28,000 years cal BP · by funerary association · Prehistory
Dolní Věstonice I · ≈29,000–27,000 years · Prehistory
Lespugue · ≈28,000 years · Prehistory
Kostenki I · ≈23,000–21,000 years · Prehistory
Zaraysk Bison · ≈23,000–21,000 years · Prehistory
Worshiper of Tell Asmar · Towards 2900–2600 BCE · Sumer
Offering 4 · c. 800–600 BCE · Maya worlds
Kushite king · c. 721–664 BCE · Nubia, Kerma and Kush
The so-called ‘Priest of Cádiz’ · 7th century BCE · Phoenicians
The so-called ‘Priest of Cádiz’ · 7th century BCE · Iberians — You are viewing
Shabti of Psamtek · 570–526 BCE · Ancient Egypt
La Venta grave goods · ca. 600–400 BCE · Maya worlds
Lady of Ibiza · 4th–3rd centuries BCE · Phoenicians
Lady of Ibiza · 4th–3rd centuries BCE · Iberians
Thracian Gladiator from Cádiz · 67–100 CE · Etruscans and Rome

Without a comparable date (not part of the chronological order):

Four offerers · Iberian period · individual dating according to catalogue · Iberians
Lararium of Vilauba · Roman period · Etruscans and Rome
Made in Garama · I millennium BCE–I millennium CE · Garamantes

Human imagery

Without a comparable date (not part of the chronological order):

Before Persia · Central core c. seventeenth century BCE; Neo-Elamite additions between the ninth and sixth centuries BCE · Achaemenid Persia
Bhimbetka · Mesolithic–historical and medieval period · Prehistory
Eland Cave · Regional tradition of ≈4,000 years · up to historical period · Prehistory
Four offerers · Iberian period · individual dating according to catalogue · Iberians
Game Pass Shelter · Regional rock art chronology · panel not dated in isolation · San histories
Lararium of Vilauba · Roman period · Etruscans and Rome
Leang Karampuang · Minimum 51,200 years · dating published in 2024 · Prehistory
Quinkan Country · Regional art up to ≈27,000 BP · modern continuity · Prehistory
Sierra de San Francisco · Broad tradition with direct dates ≈5290–295 BP · Prehistory
Tassili n’Ajjer · Corpus ≈6000 BCE–first centuries CE · Prehistory
The Thracian Horseman · Roman era · diffusion especially in the 2nd–3rd centuries CE · Thracians

Exchange and trade

Weights · ca. 2600–1900 BCE · Indus civilisation
Before the Hittites · c. 19th century BCE · Hittites
Kerma vessel · c. 1802–1640 BCE · Nubia, Kerma and Kush
Ivory in Nimrud · 9th–8th centuries BCE · Phoenicians
Motagua jade · c. 900–600 BCE · Maya worlds
The so-called ‘Priest of Cádiz’ · 7th century BCE · Phoenicians
The so-called ‘Priest of Cádiz’ · 7th century BCE · Iberians — You are viewing
The Gallery of the Conch Shells · Main use c. 800–500 BCE · Pre-Inca cultures
Mazarrón 1 · Second half of the 7th century BCE · Phoenicians
Mazarrón 2 · Second half of the 7th century BCE · Phoenicians
Ivory with names · End of the 7th century–first half of the 6th century BCE · Phoenicians
The inscription of Pistiros · 4th century BCE · Thracians
Yan knife-money in the Gojoseon sphere · 4th–3rd centuries BCE · Ancient China
Lead tablet · 4th–3rd centuries BCE · Iberians
A coin with the memory of a blade · 323–222 BCE · Gojoseon and early Korea
Ceramics that continued · Last third of the 2nd century BCE–1st century CE · Iberians
Roman glass oinochoe · Late 1st century BCE–early 1st century CE · Etruscans and Rome
Moulds for gold · 9th–11th centuries CE · Mande Worlds
Missing grave goods · 13th–15th centuries according to the heritage overview · Bantu-speaking worlds
Catalan Atlas · after 1375 and before November 1380 · Mande Worlds
Kilwa coin · 1482–1493 · Bantu-speaking worlds

Without a comparable date (not part of the chronological order):

A closer look

About 1 min to read · 1 section. Further reading and sources · free access. Editorial review recorded: September 5, 2026.

A find that intervened in the map of Gadir

The statuette appeared at about five metres depth during works on Cádiz telephone exchange in 1928, alongside ceramic remains. José Luis Escacena noted that its classification as a burial find had influenced the search for the Phoenician city: if that sector was understood as a cemetery, the inhabited area had to be sought elsewhere. His analysis questioned that premise. The object’s interest thus exceeds its iconography: an interpretation of the lost context could displace the reconstruction of the ancient settlement onto the modern plan.

Research · José Luis Escacena · GadirAccess recorded: September 5, 2026.

Reference images and provenance

Photograph of the original: Priest of Cádiz, MAN 31920. — **ORIGINAL PHOTOGRAPH · Dorieo (Jerónimo Roure Pérez) · CC BY-SA 4.0**
Documentary photograph without semantic retouching. Preserves the condition and visible details of the reference piece.
Documentary original · Exact correspondence
Dorieo (Jerónimo Roure Pérez) · National Archaeological Museum of Spain · Inventory: MAN 31920
Image provenance CC BY-SA 4.0

Location and territory

REGIONAL AREA

Cádiz/GadirRegional urban marker; the entry preserves the individual context when known.

Where it is held

Museo Arqueológico Nacional (Madrid)

Item or group in the record · Documented collection

Exact record of the so-called Priest of Cádiz.

The holding institution is documented; public display may change. Check its official record before visiting.

Cultural connections

Probable Phoenician production →

Bronze and gold are probably attributed to a Phoenician workshop; its divine or priestly identity is not secure.

Probable

National Archaeological Museum · Priest of Cádiz

Sources and references

Consult the piece and its provenance

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History and context

Evidence and interpretation

Catalogue facts

The so-called ‘Priest of Cádiz’

Lion-man

Lespugue

Zaraysk Bison

Shigir Idol

Warka Mask

Gebel el-Arak knife

Uruk Vase

Narmer Palette

Before Yayoi

Ur-Nanshe relief

The goat from PG 1237

Stele of the Vultures

Akkadian sovereign head

Bassetki Statue

Naram-Sin Stele

Before Pre-Inca Cultures

Queen of the Night

Bull-leaping

Wooden faces

Head 2

The voice of Ahiram

Before the Scythians and Sakas

Black Obelisk

Ivory in Nimrud

Las Limas

Astarte from El Carambolo

Astarte from El Carambolo

Lamassu of Khorsabad

The Lanzón

Stele of Esarhaddon

The so-called ‘Priest of Cádiz’

The so-called ‘Priest of Cádiz’

The Tello Obelisk

Ashurbanipal Hunt

Heads on the wall

Two voices in an urn

The god on the roof

Glazed brick guards

Twenty-three delegations

Sarcophagus of Eshmunazar

The statue was the urn

The Raimondi Stele

Torreáguila fountain spout

The date of 292

Articulated doll from Tarragona

Seven heads

Seated figure

Gold rhinoceros

Zimbabwe birds

Kongo crucifix

Kuba ndop

A closer look

A find that intervened in the map of Gadir

Reference images and provenance

Location and territory

Where it is held

Museo Arqueológico Nacional (Madrid)

Cultural connections

Probable Phoenician production →

Sources and references

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