Enthroned Harpocrates

Enthroned Harpocrates

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Date
Early 3rd century
Dimensions
Height: 220mm
Medium
Terracotta
Two-part mould
Back unworked

Figure of a naked Harpocrates, the Greek version of the god Horus, son of Isis and Osiris, sitting on a backless throne with his legs together placed on a plain plinth. His feet rest on a footstool. He touches his lips with the index finger of his right hand, in a gesture typical of child representations of deities in Egypt. An enormous phallus, a symbol of fertility, is visible on the thighs of the young god. On the head are left two strands of hair above the forehead and a long lock of youth flowing down to the right shoulder, an attribute of royal children. The double crown of Lower and Upper Egypt adorns the head of the deity. Numerous terracotta and bronze statuettes, showing Harpocrates on a throne, arereplication of his cult image from the sanctuary dedicated to him, the so-called mammisi or house of birth. The earliest examples of figurines of Harpocrates on a throne (from the 2nd century BC) with a crown of the god Amun on his head were found during Polish excavations at Tell-Atrib 

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