Ancient Egyptian Magic by Christina Riggs

Author:Christina Riggs
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Thames & Hudson
Published: 2020-11-15T00:00:00+00:00

The magical child

At the end of the last chapter, we met a triumphant and ferocious winged figure, treading his serpent-feet over the successfully corralled animals of evil. A similar figure appears in many contexts connected to protective magic and healing practices, under different names (or no name at all) and on objects made in a range of materials, from faience amulets to top-quality carved stone monuments. One such monument is a Horus-on-the-crocodiles cippus known as the Metternich Stela, after the Austrian diplomat Prince von Metternich-Winneberg, to whom it was given by the ruler of Egypt, Mohammed Ali, in 1828. Standing around 84 centimetres (33 inches) high, the stela once stood inside a temple dedicated to the sacred Mnevis bull, which was connected to the worship of Ra at Heliopolis. The stela was set up by a priest named Nesu-Atum during the reign of King Nectanebo II (c. 350 BCE), in order to offer healing magic to people who came to the temple to seek the help of priests, magicians, and healers like Nesu-Atum. Like the statue of the priests of Bastet (see page 59), the Metternich Stela was incised on every surface with magical figures and spells that offered healing and protection. No one but a priest would have been able to read the spells or explain in any detail the imagery alongside them. But the presence of the spells and images together was essential to the stela’s power. Water poured over them would absorb the words, and those who drank the water took that magic into their own bodies, in hope of the relief of whatever ailed them.

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