In Ancient Egyptian belief, Ammit (also spelled Ammut or Amamet) was the personification of punishment, a final threat to those who fail to live a just life. With a body part lion, part hippopotamus, and part crocodile; the three largest and most dangerous animals known to the Egyptians, her name translates to “Devourer“, she is...
In Ancient Egyptian art, when a king is depicted touching the Was sceptre, it is a symbolic gesture signifying his divine authority and legitimate rule. The Was sceptre, often held by gods such as Thoth or Osiris, represents power, dominion, and the control of chaos. By touching it, the king affirms his connection to the...
The High Priest Ramessesnakht sits with his legs crossed under him the typical pose of a scribe another office he held, his head is bent over his work, his own biography, in his left hand is poised to continue writing. The baboon embracing his head, offering him protection and counsel represents Thoth, god of the...
It is actually a statue within a statue: Minemheb kneels to present a small altar, upon which squats a statue of the god Thoth in baboon form. Carved in extremely hard stone, Minemheb’s statue is nonetheless carefully detailed and superbly modeled. Special attention was given to the rendering of the baboon’s face. The heavy-lidded eyes...
This bronze statue may have been offered in the temple of Thoth at Hermopolis or one of the numerous sites sacred to this god. The cult of Thoth, god of learning, wisdom, medicine, and writing was popular in pharaonic Egypt. The wooden base is original. Bronze votives in the form of figurines of gods, men,...
In this faience statuette, Thoth, the God of Writing and Knowledge, represented as a baboon. Thoth, god of wisdom, learning, science, and medicine, was also a patron of art and scribes who recorded the judgment on the dead in the underworld. Often the god is depicted with the head of a sacred ibis bird and...
A statuette of the god Thoth depicted as an ibis. The body of this statuette is made of wood, which was covered with fine stucco. The head with the atef crown, the neck, the tail feathers and the legs are made of silver. The eyes are in stucco with black glass. Thoth, as the embodiment...
This statue represents the god Thoth in the form of a sitting ibis. The artist’s careful choice of materials, the bronze of the head and the white limestone of the body, give the statue the appearance of a real bird. The feathers of the body are in light relief while the tail, which is separate...
Vignette from a papyrus depicting the Weighing the Heart of the deceased in a balance. The Two Maat in the Judgment Hall weigh the heart of the deceased against a statue of Maat. The goddess Maat was the symbol of the cosmic order and it was believed that there were two of them: One for...
