Amulets

In ancient Egypt, amulets were used to protect their bearers against disease and danger. Placed between the mummy’s bandages, they accompanied and protected the deceased in the afterlife. These earthenware figures depict divinities with proven protective and healing virtues. Sekhmet, with her lioness’s head, is a dangerous and powerful goddess who must be appeased and satisfied if her protection is to be obtained. Thoth is a wise god, the inventor of writing, and is represented here in the form of a baboon. With the body of a hippopotamus, the paws of a lioness and the back and tail of a crocodile, Taweret uses her frightening appearance to protect pregnant women and young children. The falcon is the bird of prey in which the many forms of the god Horus are embodied. As for the crocodile with the falcon’s head, it seems to embody the qualities of vigilance and watchfulness associated with two omnipresent predators of the Egyptian landscape and imagination: the crocodile in the river Nile and the falcon in the skies above.