Cippus of Horus (magical stela)

Ptolemaic Period

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 134

This small stela is representative of the genre of Egyptian art known as the cippus (plural, cippi) or magical stela. An image of the infant Horus on the front beneath a Bes-image is shown subduing dangerous animals. The Metternich Stela (acc. 50.85) is the largest and most elaborate example of the genre.

Texts on such stelae often include a reference to transforming water poured over the stela into a curative libation.

Cippus of Horus (magical stela), Soapstone

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