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Hathor Head Amulet

Late Period
664–332 BCE
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 127
The goddess face on this small piece is less angular than those seen on many sistra: although broad through the cheeks, the brow and chin are rounded, and her features are less drawn out and stylized. The goddess wears a vulture cap whose pattern of small feathers can be seen above and at the sides of her head over her typical wig, creating a busy pattern equally atypical of many Saite sistra. The busy detail and more normalized features suggest a different place or date of production than the sistra: the piece may be closer in date to the Ptolemaic Period.

Over her head appears the podium crown. On either side is a uraeus cobra, the marker of the goddess’s very close relation to the king-like gods Horus and Re – and related to the goddess’s own sky and sun aspects – and to the king. The cobra on the left wears the white crown and the one on the right the red crown. The elaborate markings on the cobra hood are visible in side view.

The back is flat. Four vertical piercings indicate this element is a spacer.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Hathor Head Amulet
  • Period: Late Period
  • Dynasty: Dynasty 26–29
  • Date: 664–332 BCE
  • Geography: From Egypt
  • Medium: Faience
  • Dimensions: H. 3.2 × W. 3.1 × D. 1.1 cm (1 1/4 × 1 1/4 × 7/16 in.)
  • Credit Line: Purchase, Edward S. Harkness Gift, 1926
  • Object Number: 26.7.1041
  • Curatorial Department: Egyptian Art

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