<em>Hathor Heads, Scarab, and Disk Beads</em>, ca. 1390–1353 B.C.E. Faience, 1/4 x 17 11/16 in. (0.6 x 45 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Mrs. Lawrence Coolidge and Mrs. Robert Woods Bliss, and the Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 48.66.37. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.48.66.37_NegL1009_12_print_bw.jpg)

Hathor Heads, Scarab, and Disk Beads, ca. 1390–1353 B.C.E. Faience, 1/4 x 17 11/16 in. (0.6 x 45 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Mrs. Lawrence Coolidge and Mrs. Robert Woods Bliss, and the Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 48.66.37. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.48.66.37_NegL1009_12_print_bw.jpg)

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Is there a reason the ancient Egyptians wore these necklaces? Did it have anything to do with the necklaces bringing them good luck?

Great question, we are all discussing which label says that and we are unsure. I know that that particular necklace depicts Hathor Heads and Scarabs, so we are looking up the significance of those images.

We do know that Hathor was the “mistress of joy, dance, and music,” She was a protective “mother” and nourisher of the gods and humanity, and she was also a funerary deity associated with rebirth. Often shown as a cow with the sun disk between her horns, she represented fertility and heaven. The scarab’s basic symbolism was also rebirth, but it could often have other amuletic (good luck) values as well--so yes, you are right, these necklaces may have been worn as amulets!

What did scarabs and hippos represent to ancient Egyptians?

This kind of beetle was highly symbolic to ancient Egyptians, it represented rebirth and renewal. They believed that the sun was pushed across the sky every day by a giant scarab, the god Khepri. In real life, the scarab beetle lays its eggs in a ball of dung and rolls the ball ahead of it wherever it goes. When the young beetles hatch they pop out through the dung which seemed like a miracle to the Egyptians!

As for hippos -- they were a common sight along the Nile river, for one thing. They are powerful animals and dangerous ones, they were hazards to boats and to humans.

Some sculptures of hippos are decorated with designs of plants that were common to the Nile region. Do you see any like this?

We did!

Was it a blue hippo?

Yeah! Is that color special for Egyptians?

Yes, incredibly special!

For the Egyptians the lighter shade of blue was almost interchangeable with green, the color of the sea, plants, vegetation, and thus health and life. Turquoise, a popular stone, mined primarily in the Sinai was closely linked to the goddess Hathor, the Lady of Turquoise.

The darker shade of blue was associated with the dark primordial waters out of which creation first appeared, as well as the night sky through which the sun-god travelled to be reborn every morning. The close links between dark blue and black also evoke the black mineral-rich soil of the Nile valley which was great for agriculture. All of the above hold the significance of creation and resurrection. In sculpture this color usually appears as lapis-lazuli, an imported stone often used to represent dark hair.

Hathor Heads, Scarab, and Disk Beads

Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

On View: Egyptian Orientation Gallery, 3rd Floor

Necklaces

Most ancient Egyptians owned at least one necklace.

The simplest examples were made of tiny beads of shell, bone, faience, metal, or glazed steatite. More complex versions had beads in the form of amulets, including uraeus-cobras, wedjat-eyes (the eye of the falcon-god Horus, symbolizing wholeness), scarabs (charms in the form of beetles), or images of gods such as Hathor. Individual beads as well as complete necklaces had significance. Beads reproducing fruits or flowers, such as the examples in this case, were believed to enhance fertility. Military officers presented fly necklaces to valiant soldiers to acknowledge their tenacity in battle.

MEDIUM Faience

DATES ca. 1390–1353 B.C.E.

DYNASTY late Dynasty 18

PERIOD New Kingdom

DIMENSIONS 1/4 x 17 11/16 in. (0.6 x 45 cm) (show scale)

COLLECTIONS Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

ACCESSION NUMBER 48.66.37

CREDIT LINE Gift of Mrs. Lawrence Coolidge and Mrs. Robert Woods Bliss, and the Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund

EXHIBITIONS

MUSEUM LOCATION This item is on view in Egyptian Orientation Gallery, 3rd Floor

CAPTION Hathor Heads, Scarab, and Disk Beads, ca. 1390–1353 B.C.E. Faience, 1/4 x 17 11/16 in. (0.6 x 45 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Mrs. Lawrence Coolidge and Mrs. Robert Woods Bliss, and the Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 48.66.37. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.48.66.37_NegL1009_12_print_bw.jpg)

IMAGE overall, CUR.48.66.37_NegL1009_12_print_bw.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2013

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