17-Horus Cippus and Amulets

The ancient Egyptians believed the cippus protected the owner or bearer from animal bites and provided magical healing. Cippi were worn or carried by the owner while traveling on the Nile or in the desert.¹ Cippi were also set up in temple healing shrines. Water poured over the stela’s images, and magical texts absorbed their power. The liquid was then dispensed to supplicants and the afflicted.²

This fragmentary cippus depicts Horus as a naked child wearing a sidelock. On his right is a standard with lotus and double plumes. Horus holds a scorpion and a lion by their tails and two snakes, all dangerous. Below, he tramples two crocodiles to control their malevolence. Bes, the deity who protected the family and home oversees the containment of these evil forces. The cippus’s front, back, and sides are covered with religious and magical texts to imbue the stela with power. This cippus dates to the 26th to 30th Dynasties based on its style and paleography.³

The cippus is made of peridotite, a rock from the earth’s upper mantle brought up from depth by deep magma. When peridotite encounters seawater, chemical reactions create magnetic minerals. Ptolemaic accounts mention the use of magnets to attract iron elements.⁴ Whether the magnetic properties of peridotite led to its use as a magical stone is unclear. Peridotite is found in Egypt’s Eastern Desert.⁵

Ancient Egyptians wore protective amulets to ward off evil forces. Amulets of household deities such as Bes and Taweret safeguarded women and children and were particularly helpful during childbirth. Amulets of female pigs endowed their wearer with fertility. Snake and snakehead amulets were worn to guard against poisonous snake bites.

MH

1. Draycott 2011. ↩︎

2. Ritner 2008, 106–107. ↩︎

3. Sternberg-el Hotabi 1999, 89–112. ↩︎

4. Lowe 2016, 247–257. ↩︎

5. Abdel-Rahman et al. 2022. ↩︎