Material – The Archaeology of Ancient Magic & Ritual Practice

Anubis, bronze with gilt, gold inlay, ca. 747-525 BCE, Egypt, Karnak, Temple of Amun 20.8 x 14.4 x 5.3 cm. The Walteres Art Museum, 54.400. CC0 1.0

A Worshipper Kneeling Before the Egyptian God Anubis

Date: ca. 747-525 BCE Findspot: Egypt, Karnak, Temple of Amun (Karnak Cachette) Location: The Walters Art Museum, 54.400 A bronze statuette of the anthropomorphic god…

Inscribed magical brick of Amenemopet

Inscribed magical brick of Amenemopet New Kingdom, Egypt The brick was inscribed with a protective curse in seven lines of Hieratic when the clay was…

Solid cast bronze figure of the ancient Egyptian crocodile god Sobek, Ptolemaic?, Egypt. British Museum, London, EA37450 © The Trustees of the British Museum

The Crocodile God Sobek

The crocodile was particularly feared because not only did it kill, it ate the body of its victim without which there could be no afterlife.…

Pantheistic Bes, ca. 250-100 BCE, Egypt. Walteres Art Museum, 54.540. Creative Commons License

A Pantheistic Bes Statuette

This bronze statuette shows a composite deity who has the attributes of various different gods: the face of the god Bes, the twin plumes and…

Amulet against the Evil Eye, Gold, 2 cm, Roman, ca. 1st - 4th century. British Museum 1814,0704.1172 © The Trustees of the British Museum (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)

A Gold Amulet Against the Evil Eye

This amulet consists of a small disc made of gold. It was stamped with an eye in the centre which is attacked by eleven protectors:…

Set of Magical Bricks from the Tomb of the Priestess Henutmehyt

The four magic bricks guarded the four directions.The shabty guarded North, the djed amulet West, a reed torch South, and a figure of Anubis East.…