Ancient Egypt · c. 3100 BCE – 400 CE

Funerary tool & body amulets

Meaning

These amulets imitate the tools and gestures of the embalmers and the needs of a resurrected body. The two-finger amulet represents the embalmer's fingers, perhaps sealing the incision. The headrest lifts the head of the dead as the sun is lifted. The plummet and set square stand for balance and rightness, the papyrus column for green flourishing youth, and the serpent head for protection from snakebite.

Intent

They were made for the mummy, not the living. Placed within the wrappings, often loose on the abdomen or chest, each made sure a specific need of the resurrected body was met: a raised head, a sealed wound, good order, renewed vigour.

Significance

They show how literally Egyptians imagined resurrection as the physical reassembly of the body. They are also a speciality of the Late Period (664–332 BCE), when funerary amulet sets were standardised, and are important for dating mummies and understanding embalming practice.

History

Headrest and papyrus-column amulets appear in the New Kingdom, but the full set of 'tool' amulets, mostly in black obsidian or haematite, belongs to the Saite and Late Periods (26th–30th Dynasties). They disappear with the decline of full mummification in Roman Egypt.

Making yours

Mostly black obsidian or hematite, 1–4 cm, highly polished and undrilled because they lay loose on the body.

Ancient Egypt: the tradition

Amulets appear in Egyptian graves before writing, in the Badarian and Naqada cultures of the fifth and fourth millennia BCE, as shells, stones and simple animal shapes. With the Old Kingdom the repertoire grew into a systematic vocabulary of hieroglyph signs, gods and animals, and by the New Kingdom the Book of the Dead prescribed which amulet went where on the mummy. Mass production in faience from open moulds put them within reach of almost everyone. The Late and Ptolemaic periods (664–30 BCE) are the peak of variety, when a single mummy might carry dozens. The tradition outlived the pharaohs, feeding Graeco-Roman magical gems, Coptic Christianity and, through Phoenician traders, the whole Mediterranean. Flinders Petrie's 1914 catalogue counted 275 types.

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Papyrus stem amulet, blue-green glazed composition, Egypt, Late PeriodEgypt · 664 BC - 332 BC

Amulet of a Papyrus ColumnEgypt · Third Intermediate Period, Dynasty 21–25 (1070–656 BCE)

Standing WadjetEgyptian third intermediate period · between 1070 and 730 BC (Third Intermediate)

Amulet depicting two fingers title QS:P1476,en:"Amulet depicting two fingers " label QS:Len,"Amulet depicting two fingers " label QS:Lit,"Amuleto raffigurante due dita"between 722 and 332 BC date QS:P,-0500-00-00T00:00:00Z/6,P1319,-0722-00-00T00:00:00Z/9,P1326,-0332-00-00T00:00:00Z/9 Lat

Papyrus scepter (wadj) amuletEgyptian 21st dynasty · circa 1070 date QS:P571,+1070-00-00T00:00:00Z/9,P1480,Q5727902 –945 B.C. Period: Third Intermediate Period Dynasty: Dyna

Menqebit (snake's head) amuletEgyptian late period · 664–332 B.C.

Jasper amulet of headrestGreco-Roman Egypt · 664–30 B.C.

Headrest amulet, jewellery, huvudstödsamulett, huvudstöd amulet from EgyptEgypt

Two Fingers AmuletEgyptian 15th dynasty

Winged Collar Amulet (Tutankhamun 2012)Tutankhamun

Part of a menat of Harsiesi, high priest of Amun of Thebes, circa 870 BC, 22nd Dynasty, gold, silver and copper inlays, from Thebes, Egypt, ÄM 23733, in the Ägyptisches Museum BerlinEgyptian 22nd dynasty

Snake head amulet, blue-green glazed composition, Egypt, Late PeriodEgypt · 664 BC - 332 BC

Amulet of a Papyrus ColumnEgypt · Third Intermediate Period, Dynasty 21–25 (1070–656 BCE)

Wadj (papyrus stalk) from string of amuletsEgyptian 21st dynasty · circa 1070 date QS:P571,+1070-00-00T00:00:00Z/9,P1480,Q5727902 –945 B.C. Period: Third Intermediate Period Dynasty: Dyna

Headrest amuletEgyptian late period · 664–332 B.C.

Sceptre, jewellery, wadj pillar, wadj-pelare amulet from EgyptEgypt

Papyrus Wadj amulets Tutankhamun 2019Tutankhamun

Papyrus stem amulet, blue-green glazed composition, Egypt, Late or Ptolemaic PeriodEgypt · c. 664 BC - 30 BC

Amulet of a Papyrus ColumnEgypt · Late Period, Dynasty 26–30 (664–343 BCE)

Headrest amulet title QS:P1476,en:"Headrest amulet " label QS:Len,"Headrest amulet " label QS:Lit,"Amuleto raffigurante un poggiatesta"between 722 and 30 BC date QS:P,-0500-00-00T00:00:00Z/6,P1319,-0722-00-00T00:00:00Z/9,P1326,-0030-00-00T00:00:00Z/9 Late

Papyrus scepter (wadj) amuletEgyptian 21st dynasty · circa 1070 date QS:P571,+1070-00-00T00:00:00Z/9,P1480,Q5727902 –945 B.C. Period: Third Intermediate Period Dynasty: Dyna

Headrest amuletEgyptian late period · 664–332 B.C.

Jewellery, headrest amulet, huvudstödsamulett, huvudstöd amulet from EgyptEgypt

Amulet of a Cat Sitting on a Papyrus ColumnEgypt · Third Intermediate Period, Dynasty 21–25 (about 1069–664 BCE)

Headrest amulet title QS:P1476,en:"Headrest amulet " label QS:Len,"Headrest amulet " label QS:Lit,"Amuleto raffigurante un poggiatesta"between 722 and 332 BC date QS:P,-0500-00-00T00:00:00Z/6,P1319,-0722-00-00T00:00:00Z/9,P1326,-0332-00-00T00:00:00Z/9 Lat

Papyrus scepter (wadj) amuletEgyptian 21st dynasty · circa 1070 date QS:P571,+1070-00-00T00:00:00Z/9,P1480,Q5727902 –945 B.C. Period: Third Intermediate Period Dynasty: Dyna

Jewellery, headrest amulet, huvudstödsamulett, huvudstöd amulet from EgyptEgypt

Amulet of Two FingersEgypt · Late Period (664–332 BCE)

Jewellery, headrest amulet, huvudstöd, huvudstödsamulett amulet from EgyptEgypt

Amulet of a PlummetEgypt · Late Period, Dynasty 26–31 (664–332 BCE)

Jewellery, headrest amulet, huvudstödsamulett, huvudstöd amulet from EgyptEgypt

Amulet of Two FingersEgypt · Late Period (664–332 BCE)

Jewellery, plummet amulet, lodamulett amulet from EgyptEgypt

Amulet of a HeadrestEgypt · Late Period–Ptolemaic Period (7th –1st century BCE)

Papyrus column amulet664–30 B.C. Period: Late Period–Ptolemaic Period

Jewellery, plummet, lod amulet from EgyptEgypt

Amulet of a HeadrestEgypt · Third Intermediate Period, Dynasty 21–25 (1070–656 BCE)

Jewellery, plummet, lod amulet from EgyptEgypt

Amulet of a PlummetEgypt · Late Period, Dynasty 26–31 (664–332 BCE)

Headrest amulet title QS:P1476,en:"Headrest amulet " label QS:Len,"Headrest amulet " label QS:Lit,"Amuleto raffigurante un poggiatesta"between 1076 and 332 BC Third Intermediate Period of Egypt (1069 BC date QS:P,-1069-00-00T00:00:00Z/9 –664 BC date QS:P,

Plummet, jewellery, lod amulet from EgyptEgypt

Amulet of a HeadrestEgypt · Late Period, Dynasties 26–31 (664–332 BCE)

Two fingers amulet664–332 B.C. Period: Late Period Dynasty: Dynasty 26–30

Jewellery, plummet amulet, lodamulett amulet from EgyptEgypt

Amulet of a HeadrestEgypt · Late Period, Dynasty 26 (664-525 BCE)

Jewellery, plummet, lod amulet from EgyptEgypt

Amulet of a HeadrestEgypt · Late Period, Dynasties 26–31 (664–332 BCE)

Amulet depicting the goddess Wadjet (?) title QS:P1476,en:"Amulet depicting the goddess Wadjet (?) " label QS:Len,"Amulet depicting the goddess Wadjet (?) " label QS:Lit,"Amuleto raffigurante la dea Ubetween 722 and 30 BC date QS:P,-0500-00-00T00:00:00Z/6,P1319,-0722-00-00T00:00:00Z/9,P1326,-0030-00-00T00:00:00Z/9 Late

Jewellery, wadj pillar, wadj-pelare amulet from EgyptEgypt

Amulet of a HeadrestEgypt · Late Period, Dynasty 26–31 (664–332 BCE)

Jewellery, wadj pillar, wadj-pelare amulet from EgyptEgypt

Amulet of a Papyrus ColumnEgypt · Third Intermediate Period, Dynasty 21–25 (1070–656 BCE)

Amuleto con figura de Uadyet, British Museum1069-664 a.C.

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