The Amulets Case

This blog post has been written by Wendy Goodridge, the Egypt Centre’s Museum Manager who has worked at the museum since 1997, first as a volunteer. Wendy worked with the Curator Carolyn Graves-Brown and a few other eager volunteers to transform the empty museum spaces into displays highlighting the collection ready for the grand opening in 1998. She was employed at first as a Museum Assistant in 1998, and in 2003 was appointed Assistant Curator. Just a few weeks ago, she was appointed Museum Manager. Wendy took the lead on developing the school programme and spends a lot of her time on museum administration. Wendy is interested in the extraordinary collector Sir Henry Wellcome and her favourite objects in the museum are amulets!

I have thoroughly enjoyed Ken’s course and exploring the Egypt Centre collection. In particular, the best case in the museum – the Amulet case! I will attempt to explain why this case is my favourite!

In 1997 I spent a lot of time sorting through the objects for display with Carolyn, Egyptology consultant Anthony Donohue, who knew the collection exceptionally well, and the designer from the company Silver Knight, who were appointed to design the galleries and cases. As a volunteer and having this amazing opportunity to help set up a brand-new museum, I thought I had died and gone to heaven! The icing on the cake came late one evening. We were working in the old Wellcome Museum in North Arts (now called Kier Hardie) and had been discussing the Gods case for quite a few hours. As Anthony was a ponderer and liked everything to be perfect, we were rapidly running out of time to make the deadline before the grand opening. Anthony had to delegate some cases and went into the back room and produced a Sainsbury’s carrier bag and handed it to me explaining he needed me to research the contents and finish the Amulets case. I slowly opened the bag and gazed in wonder at the assortment of amulets!

For the next few weeks, Amulets of Ancient Egypt by Carol Andrews, and Petrie’s Amulets became my constant companions as I ploughed through the carrier bag! Following on from this literature, I decided to theme the amulets into the following subsections: human-headed gods, animal-headed gods, animal gods, amulets of assimilation, amulets of powers, amulets of offerings, possession, and property, and protective amulets. I proceeded to research and write labels, pin each small amulet safely to the back board (very scary at times!) and write an information booklet to accompany the display. My favourite part of the case design was arranging the wadjet eyes in the shape on an eye! The Amulets case, twenty-five years later, is largely the same design, although I really would love to have a new case with clear stands and a ‘floating amulet’ effect rather than amulets pinned to the board (fig. 1).

Fig. 1: The Amulets case

All went well and the museum was ready for the grand opening in September 1998. The Amulets case was well-used by schools as part of the hands-on mummification activity as children practiced placing replica amulets in the correct place on the dummy mummy! However, in 2001 we received a phone call from the VC’s office to say the person who had loaned a collection of amulets for the launch of the museum would like their nineteen amulets returned! Sadly, the collection to be returned comprised some of the more important pieces on display and I admit I did cry while I was taking them off display!

However, not all was lost, Dr Kasia Szpakowska, Egyptology lecturer at the Dept of Classics, Ancient History, and Egyptology, suggested asking the British Museum for a loan to replace them. So, on 2^nd October 2001, I wrote to Vivian Davies, Keeper of Egyptian Antiquities, who asked Dr John Taylor to arrange a suitable loan. Carolyn and I very excitedly went along to the British Museum to meet John who showed us around the vast stores, whilst making suggestions to fill gaps in our amulet collection. I did feel like a kid in a sweet shop especially when John asked if we wanted other objects too! I asked if we could have things connected with food and drink and costume as new activities had been introduced for schools. It was agreed we could have forty-two objects on long-term loan, for which we had a special launch and published a booklet (Goodridge & Williams 2005) to accompany the loan (fig. 2). The amulet case is the reason why the majority of items were amulets. As there are many amulets in the case, I will highlight one or two from each subsection.

Fig. 2: British Museum booklet

Amulets are an expression of the ancient Egyptians’ belief in magic/heka. They are a charm or talisman to give the wearer power, capabilities, or protection by magical means. The ancient Egyptian word for amulet was meket, nehet or, sa or wedja. The first three mean to guard or protect, and the last means well-being.

The living wore amulets for magical power or protection, while the dead had them wrapped up in their mummification bandages or laid on the outer surface to protect and aid them on the journey to the afterlife. Sometimes amulets were drawn on the bandages themselves, which in turn became protective amulets. Some amulets, such as the Four Sons of Horus and Anubis were particularly used for mummies, but other amulets, such as Bes and Taweret, could also be worn in life. Even a drawing of an amulet on linen, papyrus, or painted on a coffin would become endowed with the magical power of the amulet. For example, the Coffin Texts and Book of the Dead were placed in the tomb or in the compartment of a Ptah-Sokar-Osiris figure. Amulets drawn on the skin and licked off meant the magical essence of the amulet would then be taken into the body for a more powerful effect!

We know a bit about the different amulets and their intended use from spells in the Pyramid Texts, Coffin Texts and Book of the Dead. There is a list of amulets on a doorway in a room dedicated to Osiris on the roof of the Ptolemaic temple to Hathor at Dendera. Some Late Dynastic funerary papyri show how amulets were placed on mummies and where a particular amulet is placed on the body was important. However, there is a dilemma! Amulet positions were not always recorded when mummies were unwrapped. However, X-rays and modern techniques are helping to establish that New Kingdom mummies, and up until the Ptolemaic period, the positioning of amulets on the body appears to follow a certain pattern. After this period, they are more randomly scattered.

Amulets occur as early as Predynastic times (c. 5500 BC) and were made of many different types of materials such as stone, metal, glass, or more commonly faience. Very often the material from which the amulets were made was important to their use. For example, the red-coloured carnelian amulets are connected with blood, aggression, energy, and power. Many of the amulets in the case are made out of faience, which was easily moulded into a variety of shapes. It also had a religious significance as it is shiny like the blessed dead and the gods.

Human-headed god amulets were worn to place the wearer under the protection of a particular god or to gain access to their power or characteristic. Wearing a particular amulet depicting a deity showed your patronage and devotion to this particular god, which may be a local god associated to the area where you are from.

Neith (fig. 3) is the most ancient warrior goddess, often referred to as ‘mistress of the bows’ and ‘ruler of the arrows’. Her earliest emblem is a shield with crossed arrows. She is also a creator and mother goddess and was worshipped as the mother to all gods, particularly the crocodile god Sobek. Her cult centre was Sais in the Delta, and the elaterid beetle was her sacred creature. She is depicted as a woman wearing the Red Crown from the Fifth Dynasty (2494–2345 BC), as the most important goddess of Lower Egypt. From the Old Kingdom (2686–2181 BC) she was believed to watch over the deceased Osiris along with Isis, Nephthys, and Serqet. Together, the four goddesses guarded the sides of the coffin (Neith at the east side). They also watched over one of the canopic guardians, the Four Sons of Horus. Neith protected Duamutef while he guarded the stomach of the deceased.

Fig. 3: Amulet of Neith

Animal-headed god amulets were made in the likeness of only a small proportion of the hundreds of gods of Egypt. The Egyptians believed most of their gods could take animal form and some are represented as more than one type of animal. For example, Thoth could take the form of an ibis or baboon.

Horus the Elder is an ancient falcon-headed creator god whose eyes were the sun and moon and who battled with Seth for 80 years. EA54222 (fig. 4) depicts him wearing a shendyt kilt, the Double Crown, and the body of a man. This type of amulet first appeared only in royal burials, while crowned falcon-type amulets were seen in non-royal graves as early as the Middle Kingdom (2055–1650 BC). Horus the Elder would protect the wearer against the evil god Seth.

Fig. 4: Amulet of Horus the Elder

 

Animal gods. The worship of deities in the guise of animals survived in Egypt for thousands of years. The abundance of sacred animals found shows how important and well thought of they were.

The vulture was the manifestation of the goddess Nekhbet who was a protective mother goddess of Upper Egypt. The earliest standing vulture amulets were found in late Old Kingdom burials (2686–2181 BC) and were made of ivory, bone, copper, and faience. The goddesses Isis and Hathor were associated with the precious metal gold. An amuletic vulture of gold (fig. 5) was placed around the mummy’s neck during the New Kingdom (1550–1069 BC) and Late Period (747–332 BC). It was connected with Isis and believed to impart her protection. Vultures were a threat to the corpse and the amulet would also serve an apotropaic function protecting the very object of their desire.

Fig. 5: Amulet of a vulture

 

Amulets of Assimilation are Egypt’s earliest form of amulet. Parts of the human body and animals are meant to endow the wearer with the characteristic powers or capabilities of the represented form. For example, an eagle’s feather could endow the wearer with enhanced vision, or a leopard’s claw would provide fleetness of foot. Only part of the creature was sufficient to represent the whole. Amulets representing parts of the human body also act as substitutes in case the real part was damaged or destroyed.

The fly, afef, first appeared in Predynastic burials (before 3100 BC) and was made of stone. Later materials included lapis lazuli, carnelian, faience, glass, and gold. Golden flies were believed to be given to honour individuals for military valour. The ‘order of the golden fly’ was given by the pharaohs of the New Kingdom (1550–1069 BC). We cannot be certain as to the meaning of the fly amulet. Flies may have bestowed the wearer with fertility and persistence or protected them from disease, or even functioned apotropaically to ward off the creature they represented. EA30564 (fig. 6) is a blue-glazed fly that has a cartouche-shaped base inscribed with the name of Amenhotep II (1427–1400 BC).

Fig. 6: Amulet of a fly

 

Amulets in the form of a greyhound-type breed may have been worn to enable the wearer to run fast. In the Graeco-Roman Period (332 BC–AD 395), dog amulets appear depicting the dog in profile with its head turned, which may symbolise a guard dog worn for protection. However, it is also possible that amulets of dogs serve as a reminder of a beloved pet in the afterlife (fig. 7).

Fig. 7: Amulet of a dog

Amulets of Power are objects of authority and power, many of which have royal connections. Their appearance marks the democratisation of funerary religion in Egypt; what had once been available exclusively for royals and their favourites was now available for all.

The White Crown, hedjet, is a symbol of Upper Egypt, the land south of the Delta (fig. 8). It is a tall conical headdress with a bulbous top and is sometimes called Nefer or White Nefer. All amulets found of this type are green in colour, reflecting the close association of nefer with the colour green. The amulet is meant to infuse the wearer with the authority and power associated with the royal crown. Due to democratisation of funerary religion in Egypt, amulets in the form of royal regalia were not exclusive to royalty and their favoured subjects.

Fig. 8: Amulet of the White Crown

Amulets of Offerings, Possession, and Property represent possessions of the living, which were taken to the tomb for use in the afterlife. Funerary goods and food offerings were made in amulet form in case these items were destroyed, stolen, or not presented and could act as magical substitutes. It didn’t matter how small they were as they were representations of the real thing.

Instead of pillows, the Egyptians used headrests of wood or stone, which were placed in the tomb for use in the afterlife and have been found in tombs from the beginning of the Old Kingdom (2686–2181 BC). Usually, they consist of a curved upper piece on which the head rested, mounted on a pillar and set in a supporting base. The importance of the headrest is shown by the fact that even the poorest graves at Giza had a brick or rough stone block beneath the head of the dead person. Headrest amulets (fig. 9) are found only in royal tombs from the Eighteenth Dynasty (1550–1295 BC) until the Late Period (747–332 BC) when they are more commonly used. Most amulets are made of dark stone but some red, blue, and green amulets, colours associated with regeneration, have been found. The headrest is a symbol of rebirth and was connected with the sun, which like the head was lowered in the evening and arose in the day. The headrest also represents the hieroglyph for the sun in the horizon. This amulet may have been used as a substitute, but it is also mentioned in the Coffin Texts and Chapter 166 of the Book of the Dead, which states the headrest provides physical comfort and protects the deceased from being decapitated!

Fig. 9: Headrest amulet

Protective amulets were worn to offer the wearer protection and good luck in life as well as death.

The Girdle of Isis (also known as a ‘tie’ or ‘tit’ amulet) is closely connected with the Osiris myth and was worn in life as well as death (fig. 10). It is mentioned in Chapter 156 of the Book of the Dead and was to be made of red jasper, the colour of the blood of the goddess. If this amulet was placed on the neck of the mummy, “the power of Isis will be the protection of his body”. This may represent a cloth worn by women during menstruation. Such amulets date from the New Kingdom onward.

Fig. 10: Girdle of Isis

Lastly, we come to my all-time favourite object in the case, the heart scarab of Padiamun (W233). The heart scarab was meant to ensure the heart was “good and true of voice” in order to pass the weighing of the heart and to allow the deceased an afterlife. The Egyptians believed they would be held accountable in the afterlife, being judged before Osiris for any bad actions in this world. They worried the heart would fail the test. To counter this, the heart scarab was inscribed with Chapter 30B of the Book of the Dead, which ensures the heart would remain silent and “would not tell lies in the presence of the God” about the owner. The Book of the Dead also specifies the scarab should be made out of a “green stone” (nemehef), but this has not been identified. Examples found have been made from a wide range of green or dark-coloured stones. W223 (fig. 11) was unpierced and placed, not sewn, within the mummy wrappings. It is inscribed with the opening words of spell 30B of the Book of the Dead: ‘Words spoken by the Osiris, Padiamun, true of voice. My heart, he says: my heart of my mother, my fore-heart of my forms, do not stand”. Due to a lack of space, the rest of the chapter has been omitted. The name of the owner is Padiamun, a common name of the Third Intermediate Period.

Fig. 11: Heart scarab of Padiamun

I am sure we all have different favourites, but I do believe that when you spend time researching your very first artefacts this investment becomes imprinted and holds a special place in your heart. This is why, for me, the amulet case is the most wonderful case in the museum!

On behalf of all those who took the five-week course, I want to say a big thank you to Ken for such interesting sessions, encouraging and patiently answering so many questions. Additionally, to Sam Powell who co-hosted and worked very hard to ensure the sessions ran smoothly. We look forward to the next one!

Bibliography:

Andrews, Carol 1994. Amulets of ancient Egypt. London: British Museum Press.

Goodridge, Wendy R. & Stuart J. Williams 2005. Offerings from The British Museum. Swansea: The Egypt Centre.

Petrie, W. M. Flinders 1914. Amulets: illustrated by the Egyptian collection in University College, London. London: Constable.