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One of the most intriguing motifs of Egyptian religious iconography is the representation of ‘pantheos’, a composite deity with additional animal heads and other animal attributes, as well as magical and religious symbols. This group is commonly described in Egyptology as pantheistic, although the new definition of ‘polymorphic’ has recently been proposed. This term does not lean towards any particular area of interpretation, but simply refers to a single visual aspect of the motif.The group of Late Egyptian, Ptolemaic and Roman objects with this type of representation consists of statuettes, magical stelae, amulets, illustrations on papyri and gems. The main feature of polymorphic deities is their additional animal elements, which are attached to the basic corpus. These elements are mostly heads, wings and other parts of the animal’s body, although polymorphic depictions also sometimes contain ithyphallic or androgynous elements. The most important element of polymorphic iconography and its interpretation is the multi-headed nature of the images. This suggests both that complicated thought processes created the composition of the depictions and that they had a close relationship to magic and religion. A polymorphic representation was not a simple visualisation of just one religious idea or god, but was testament to the diverse thinking behind popular and official beliefs in ancient Egypt in the second half of the 1st millennium BC and in later times. The debate on polymorphism centres either on the possible search for a personal, universal god with a solar, hidden aspect or focuses on the magical, practical dimension, which provided protection for the people from evil powers and dangers.
One of the most intriguing motifs of Egyptian religious iconography is the representation of ‘pantheos’, a composite deity with additional animal heads and other animal attributes, as well as magical and religious symbols. This group is commonly described in Egyptology as pantheistic, although the new definition of ‘polymorphic’ has recently been proposed. This term does not lean towards any particular area of interpretation, but simply refers to a single visual aspect of the motif.The group of Late Egyptian, Ptolemaic and Roman objects with this type of representation consists of statuettes, magical stelae, amulets, illustrations on papyri and gems. The main feature of polymorphic deities is their additional animal elements, which are attached to the basic corpus. These elements are mostly heads, wings and other parts of the animal’s body, although polymorphic depictions also sometimes contain ithyphallic or androgynous elements. The most important element of polymorphic iconography and its interpretation is the multi-headed nature of the images. This suggests both that complicated thought processes created the composition of the depictions and that they had a close relationship to magic and religion. A polymorphic representation was not a simple visualisation of just one religious idea or god, but was testament to the diverse thinking behind popular and official beliefs in ancient Egypt in the second half of the 1st millennium BC and in later times. The debate on polymorphism centres either on the possible search for a personal, universal god with a solar, hidden aspect or focuses on the magical, practical dimension, which provided protection for the people from evil powers and dangers.
Topic: polymorphic iconography in Egyptian religious iconography - special and separate types of mixed, theriomorphic and combined images / icons / forms, always with animal heads, double pairs of wings, phallus, and other magical symbols. Archaeological evidence: images appear on small size flat amulets, papyri fragments (also serving as amulets), bronze statuettes and magical healing statues. Textual evidence: lack of distinctive proper names Place: Egypt, without special area of provenance Date: Late Period (7th – 4th centuries BC), Ptolemaic and Roman Periods (from 4th century BC) Important terms:Pantheistic as an idea of all-embracing god (Pantheos)ba as an emanation / form / manifestation of a god, significantly associated with the image of the god. The animals were ba of gods.bau - strength, power, good and bad at the same time, affecting the whole world, and humans in particular. With the help of magic bau can be manipulated, to ensure people health and success. DeitesBes – Egyptian god – demon, present in magical context, protector of maternity, life, music, safety, with strong solar interpretation, often depicted as a dwarfTutu (Tithoes) – popular especially as Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt deity; main role was to repel negative powers and to protect people in danger; depicted as sphinx with mixed animal and magical attributesLamashtu – female Mesopotamian goddess / demon, who preys on mothers and children, depicted in magical context with animal elementsPazuzu – male Babylonian and Assyrian demonic god with rather beneficent, magical role, depicted with animal elementsNine–Shaped (Enneamorfos) – figure present in written Greek Magical Papyri, defined as composed of nine forms, especially of animal origin with magic function and Egyptian genesis Key problem: distribution of polymorphic iconography in other cultures, parallels, influences on the visual level (codification of symbols) and also on the ideological level (magical activity hidden / symbolised in a representation) Question of the talk: to define potential influences in the Near Eastern perspective - is the polymorphic idea specific to one culture or common to all ancient religious thinking about deities?
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