Horus-the-Child as Amun, 776-656 BC
)
Links to other views:⇒ Larger View⇒ Back if scripting is off, click the ⇒ instead. Links to others from Dynasty 25 and ContemporariesAmulet of Duamutef, Dyn. 25Amulet of Imsety, Dyn. 25 Bronze Imhotep seated, Dyn. 25 (?) Bronze Nefertem pendant amulet, Dyn. 25 Bronze of a queen nursing, Dyn. 25 Bronze of King Shabaka ? as Osiris, Dyn. 25 Bronze of Ptah, Memphis, Dyn. 25 Bronze ritual pendant of Osiris, Dyn. 25 Bronze ritual pendant of Osiris, Dyn. 25 Bronze statuette of Ptah, Dyn. 25 Faience amulet of Qebhsenuef, Dyn. 25 Five Udjat eyes amulet, Dyn. 25 Horus-the-Child, Dyn. 25, 776-656 BC Mentuemhet, prince of Thebes, Dyn. 25 Osiris-Neper, god of agriculture, Dyn. 25 Queen Aqaluqa as Isis nursing, Dyn. 25 Queen as Goddess Neith seated, Dyn. 25106 Queen as Isis nursing, Dyn. 25 Scarab of Piankhi, Dyn. 25 Twenty-eight udjat eyes amulet, Dyn. 25 Udjat eye amulet-pendant, Dyn. 25 Udjat eye amulet-pendant, Dyn. 25 Links to others representing HorusBronze Horus sarcophagus, Dyn.18Falcon sarcophagus with Osiris mummy Horus, Lord of the Two Lands. N.K. Horus-the-Child, 1070-774 BC Horus-the-Child, Alexandria, 100-30 BC Horus-the-Child, Alexandria, 304-30 BC Horus-the-Child as a ruling king, Dyn. 18 Horus-the-Child, Dyn.19, 1300-1200 BC Horus-the-Child, Dyn. 25, 776-656 BC Horus-the-Child, heir to the king, Dyn. 26 Horus-the-child, Meroe, 590-300 BC Horus-the-Child, Ptolemaic, 200-100 BC Horus-the-Child, Ptolemaic, 304-30 BC Horus-the-Child riding a swan, 304-31 BC Pair of udjat eyes of Horus, Dyn. 18 Wood statuette of Horus stiding, Dyn. 11 Wooden sarcophagus lid, Dyn. 26 Links to others of type Statuette-manBacchus the child, Roman, 100 BC-200 ADBes in terra-cotta, Dyn. 27 Bronze athlete, Rome, 96-192 AD Bronze Etruscan warrior, Etruria, 480 BC Bronze Herakles, Etruria, 500 BC Bronze Imhotep seated, Dyn. 25 (?) Bronze ithyphallic god Bes, Ptolemaic Bronze of a king as Nefertem, N.K. Bronze of a king as Orisiris, Dyn. 18-19 Bronze of a king as Osiris, Dyn. 18 Bronze of a king as Osiris, Dyn. 22 Bronze of a king as Osiris, Dyn. 26 Bronze of a king as Osiris, Dyn. 26 Bronze of King Psamtik I as Osiris, Dyn. 26 Bronze of King Psamtik I as Osiris, Dyn. 26 Bronze of King Sethi I as Nefertem, Dyn. 19 Bronze of King Shabaka ? as Osiris, Dyn. 25 Bronze of Ptah, Memphis, Dyn. 25 Bronze ritual pendant of Osiris, Dyn. 25 Bronze Samnite gladiator, Rome, 30 BC-68 AD Bronze statuette of Anhur, Dyn. 20 Bronze statuette of Ptah, Dyn. 25 Bust of Zeus, Macedonian Dynasty Disrobing ephebe, Roman World, 50-300 AD Enameled feathers of Amun, Dyn. 18 Gilded wooden statuette. Early Dynastic God Bes as a Roman soldier 30 BC-200 AD Head, realistic portrait in stone, Dyn 18 Horus-the-Child, 1070-774 BC Horus-the-Child, Alexandria, 100-30 BC Horus-the-Child, Alexandria, 304-30 BC Horus-the-Child as a ruling king, Dyn. 18 Horus-the-Child, Dyn.19, 1300-1200 BC Horus-the-Child, Dyn. 25, 776-656 BC Horus-the-Child, heir to the king, Dyn. 26 Horus-the-Child, Ptolemaic, 200-100 BC Horus-the-Child, Ptolemaic, 304-30 BC Horus-the-Child riding a swan, 304-31 BC Imhotep, vizier and architect of King Djoser Ivory head of Emperor Constantine King Ahmose II (?) as Osiris, Dynasty 26 King Amenemope (?) as Osiris, Dyn. 21 King Amenhotep II (?) as Amun-Re, Dyn. 18 King as Horus-the-Child, Dyn. 12 King Horemheb as Amun-Re, Dyn. 18 King Nekaw II as Horus-the-child, Dyn.26 Osiris, King of the Afterlife, Dyn. 18 Osiris, King of the Afterlife, Dyn. 22 Osiris of an unknown king, Dyn. 18 (?) Osiris-Neper, god of agriculture, Dyn. 18 Osiris-Neper, god of agriculture, Dyn. 22 Osiris-Neper, god of agriculture, Dyn. 25 Porphyry statue of Alexander The Great Pottery child head, Phoenicia, 1000-500 BC Pottery silenus (satyr), Greece, 350-300 BC Priest of Hapy, temple of Aswan, Dyn. 20 Ptah-Min of Memphis, Dyn. 20 Queen as Goddess Neith seated, Dyn. 25106 Ruling king as Khonsu, Dyn. 20 Sept, local prince of Nubia, Dyn. 12-13 Statue pedestal of Osorkon II, Dyn. 22 Statuette of a privileged man, Dyn. 18 Stone bust of a scribe, Dyn. 18 Stone head of a king, Dyn. 12 Stone statue of King Thutmose III, Dyn. 18 Tall bronze Osiris, Ptolemaic Period Unfinished stone statue, Dyn. 19 Wood statue of Amenemhat II, Dyn. 12 Wood statue of King Smenkhkare, Dyn. 18 |
This beautiful and rare bronze statuette of Horus-the-child (also known by his Greek name of Harpokrates), is recognizable by the side lock of hair, and the index finger brought to his mouth. But here, he also wears the crown of Amun with the sun-disk and the two high feathers. The classical styling of this statuette is in the best tradition of Dynasty 18. But seen from the back, the strong neck, the wide shoulders and the stiff demeanor ( are signature traits of Dynasty 25—the Nubian dynasty. (These traits are not seen in Dynasty 18, except for a few statuettes of Amenhotep II.) Moreover, one of the main known objectives of these Nubian monarchs who took over Egypt in the eight century BC was to restore the power of the cult of Amun in Thebes. This mission was brilliantly fulfilled by King Piankhi (747-716 BC). Such a statuette, with its unusual association of Harpokrates and Amun, would fit well within the political program of the Nubian dynasty. “The Nubian kings viewed their incursions into Egypt not so much as an invasion but a restoration of... the supremacy of Amun... A remarkably full account of these events is recorded on a large pink granite block found in 1862 AD in the temple of Amun at Gebel Barkal. This so-called ‘Victory Stele’ is obviously the ‘home’ copy of an inscription that must have been repeated in other major sites as Memphis, still the secular capital and Thebes itself... Piankhi took a firm hold on the priesthood of Amun by having the Divine Adoratrice of Amun, Shepenwepet I, ‘adopt’ as her successor his sister Amenirdis I. The maintenance of the cult of Amun at both Karnak and Djebel Barkal was an important part of the building program of the successive Kushite kings” (Clayton 1994:190-191). Formerly from the collection of Princess Maddevi Yukanthor-Norodom. Horus The falcon god Horus embodies one of the most fundamental tenets of Egyptian religious and political beliefs. “According to the Turin Canon [a papyrus from the time of Ramses II], the late Predynastic rulers of Egypt were ‘followers of Horus’. By the time of the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt in 3000 BC, the ruler was Horus” (Hart 1986:89). Therefore unlike, say, medieval European kings, Egyptian kings were not ‘kings by the grace of God.’ They were not born as gods either. Instead, it is upon their enthronement that Egyptian kings became the embodiment on earth of the god Horus. They would remain the earthly manifestation of Horus throughout their lives, until the next king became inhabited by the god. As central as he is to Egyptian thought, Horus often escapes our comprehension and frustrates our modern want for clear unique explanations of concepts. Egyptians were perhaps more comfortable than we are with some fifteen different manifestations of Horus (Horus the Elder, Horus the Child, Hariese, Harakhti, Horus of Behdet, Harmachis, Horus of Nekhen, Horus of Mesen, etc.), his various forms (falcon, falcon-headed man, sun disk, and child with a side lock of hair), and his ever changing filiation (son of Geb and Nut, or son of Hator, or son of Ra, or son of Isis and Osiris) (Armour 2001:71). Some of this confusion arises from geographical and temporal variations which have been flattened from our current vantage point. Yet, some of the complexity remains. “. . . at Edfu, Horus appears as the consort of Hathor and the father of another form of himself, Harsomtus” (Redford 2002:166). Few Egyptian gods remained important in all periods, in all regions, and in all strata of society. Horus may be a rare exception. He was prominent at the birth of the nation, and was still prominent three thousand five hundred years later when the last Egyptian temple—the temple of Philae—was shut down by Justinian in 550 AD. In all his variations, Horus was not only present in both upper and lower Egypt, but could be claimed as a ‘local god’ in many places. More importantly, although Horus was the quintessential official god of the powerful, he was also a god close to ordinary Egyptians, as demonstrated by the popularity of ceppis (Horus the child standing over crocodiles) and Udjat eyes (the eye of Horus) as devices to ask the god for help warding off pain, disease, and fears. “The iconography of Horus either influenced, or was appropriated, in early Christian art. Isis and the baby Horus may be seen as the precursor for Mary and the infant Jesus; Horus dominating the beasts may have a counterpart in Christ Pantokaor doing the same; and Horus spearing a serpent may survive in the iconography of Saint George defeating the dragon” (Redford 2002:167). “As a cosmic deity Horus is imagined as a falcon whose wings are the sky and whose right eye is the sun and left eye the moon” (Hart 1986:94). Dynasty 25 The kings of Dynasty 25 (747-656 BC) were not from Egypt, but from the land of Kush, south of Egypt (in today’s northern Sudan). Previously invaded, colonized, exploited, and forcefully ‘Egyptianized’ most recently during the New Kingdom, the Kushites had unexpectedly retained their Egyptianized ways in the five hundred years since the Egyptian state had pulled out of Kush. Their leader Piankhy (Piyi) still worshipped Egyptian gods, wrote official texts in classical hieroglyphs, and intended to be buried under a pyramid. Indeed, at a time when Lower Egypt was populated by a majority of ethnic Lybians who did not necessarily revere the Egyptian cultural heritage as their own, and when the strong pharaohs of the past had been replaced by a “federation of semi-autonomous rulers” (Shaw 2000:345), Piankhy felt more genuinely Egyptian than any king of Egypt. In fact, Kushite kings “did not see themselves as foreigners, although they had different ethnic, cultural and linguistic roots. In their view and faith, Kush and Egypt were the two halves of the ancient kingdom of Amun, which were once united in a distant mythical past” (Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris 1997:166, 170). And so, when King Tefnakht of Sais in the Delta showed expansionist ambitions, Piankhy’s religious fervor led him to descend upon Egypt with his powerful army in a crusade to unite the nation under an ‘ideologically Egyptian’ king—himself. In southern Egypt, he diplomatically established his influence by convincing the Thebans to adopt his sister Amenirdis as the Divine Adoratrice of Amun—a position with considerable political power. In northern Egypt, his military supremacy brought compliance. But instead of annihilating the (mostly Lybian) kings, princes and chieftains of the Delta, he was satisfied with receiving their pledge of allegiance. By the strength of their conviction and their deft and consistent application of symbolically charged gestures, Kushite kings awoke in their people a sense of national identity, gave a new impetus and a clear purpose to a land slowly drifting away into irrelevance. Although the idea of drawing strength from Egypt’s great past predates their intervention—“it had its origin in the later Lybian period, having begun during the first half of the eight century BC” (Shaw 2000:356)—the Kushites lent an energy, and a dedication to the cause that is almost palpable. Dynasty 25 high art blends the physical strength of Kushite body types with the classical model of Old Kingdom portraiture, adding a few details that demonstrate that Dynasty 25 Egypt was not just a relic of the past, but a nation moving forward, building confidently and proudly on its glorious heritage. Although in artistic and cultural matters, the Kushite kings insisted on a return to Old Kingdom order, in politics they were unwilling to commit the resources necessary to return to an absolute centralized royal authority. But perpetuating the decentralized model of the previous hundred years meant they had to intervene sporadically to curtail the ambitions of their vassals. More importantly, the relative independence of local rulers in the delta eventually drew them to meddle in rebellions against the Assyrian dominance of Palestine. Provoking the Assyrian empire at the height of its power proved fatal to the Kushite Dynasty. In 667 BC, Assyria invaded Egypt and the Kushites pulled back to the land of Kush. Within three years, all hope was lost for Dynasty 25. Bibliography (for this item)Clayton, Peter A.1994 Chronicle of the Pharaohs: The Reign-by-Reign Record of the Rulers and Dynasties of Ancient Egypt. Thames and Hudson, London, UK. (190-191) Bibliography (on Horus)Hart, George1986 A Dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses. Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, United Kingdom. (94) Redford, Donald B. 2002 The Ancient Gods Speak. Oxford University Press, New York, NY. (166) Bibliography (on Dynasty 25)Institut du monde Arabe, Paris, , and Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung, Munich1997 SOUDAN. Royaumes sur le Nil (Exhibition in Munich, Paris, Amsterdam, Toulouse, Mannheim.). Flammarion, Paris. Shaw, Ian 2000 The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt. Oxford University Press, Oxford, United Kingdom. |
){kind=link}
){kind=link}