This
so-called ‘magical stela of Horus’ (a stela is a large tablet,usually made of
stone) depicts the god Horus in the conventional Egyptian form for a youth:
nude and wearing his hair in a side lock. He is portrayed here as Harpokrates,
the Greek version of Horus-the-Child. The story told on this stela refers to
the episode in Horus’ life when he grew up hiding from his evil uncle Seth in
the marshes of the Nile delta. Protected by the magical powers of his mother, and Isis,he was saved from a venomous animal’s mortal bite.
This
slab shows the infant god as a conqueror of risky beasts. He is standing on
a crocodile, holding a snake, and a lion,a scorpion and a gazelle. These kinds of
stelae were inscribed with magical spells and were thought to possess healing
properties and used to protect people from risky animals. Water was poured
over the stela to charge it with magic, the water was collected in the basin
and the victim drank it.
This
specific stela shows the popularity of ancient Egyptian gods even among
people from elsewhere. It features a Phoenician inscription of the person who
dedicated it – Paal-Astarte, or son of Chemrebi,a man of Phoenician origin who
believed in ancient Egyptian magic!This
stela is on display in the BP exhibition Sunken cities: Egypt’s lost worlds (19 May 27 November 2016).
Magical
stela of Horus. repeat
el-Qalah, Egypt, or 30th Dynasty,380–342 BC. Egyptian Museum, Cairo.
Photo: Christoph Gerigk. © Franck Goddio/Hilti Foundation.
Source: tumblr.com