Description:
A limestone stela showing a person with the arms raised, surrounded by various symbols, of which especially a scorpion is remarkable; according to an earlier, possibly incorrect interpretation, the scorpion, as a sign in the zodiac, could refer to the birthday of person depicted. Above is a name, preceded by a cross. The reverse of the stela is decorated with a cross-hatch design.
At first glance, this appears to be a fairly common funerary stela, depicting the deceased in an attitude of prayer, the name of the deceased written above, and various symbols all around. However, when we take a closer look at the details, it becomes clear that there is much more to it.
First of all the name, written at the top, is a typical female name, but the clothing of the figure depicted suggests that this is a man. The figure's remarkable, asymmetrical hairstyle is atypical. And also the objects around him, especially the scorpion, are more reminiscent of a magical context than that of a funerary monument.
The Real Purpose of the Stela
In fact this is a very rare magical object in stone, the design of which was in all likelihood based on an ancient Egyptian object, the so-called Horus-stela.
But the maker may not have fully understood the symbolism and meaning of the template, or has given it a different interpretation, or perhaps has based his work on just a description given to him which, after so many centuries, may have diverged from the original.
Horus-stelae depict a figure of the young Horus, the son of Isis, usually naked to emphasise that he is a small and vulnerable child. He is standing on crocodiles and grasping snakes and scorpions with his hands; this expresses that he has conquered them, equivalent to triumphing over the forces of evil in general. Usually, the face of the protective god Bes is shown above Horus. For Horus as an effective figure embodying the taming of crocodiles in Roman and Late Roman Egypt, see Frankfurter (2003), esp. p. 374-375.
The larger magical stelae were usually erected in the courtyards and chapels of Egyptian temples, where water was poured over them to absorb the magic of the images and spells with which they were decorated. When drunk, this water would afford prophylactic protection against noxious animals or cure those who were already stung or bitten. One of the largest, and most famous, is the Metternich Stela in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. For such stelae see Sternberg (1999), vol. I, p. 94f. Smaller versions existed as well, which could equally bring protection to a house or, being transportable, during a trip. Also amulets in the form of miniature stelae were worn or carried on the body, see for example Draycott (2011).
Pagan and Christian Funerary Stelae
It was not uncommon in Roman Egypt, before the arrival of Christianity, but also afterwards, to depict a person in an attitude of prayer, similar to the person on our stela. Often they are flanked by two animals representing ancient Egyptian gods; see for example Anubis and Wepwawet on a stela in the British Museum London, inv.no. EA57358 (1st century C.E.), or on a stela from Kom Abu Billo in the Archaeological Museum of Kraków, inv.no. MAK/AS/1447 (2nd century C.E.). Similarly Horus and Anubis on a stela in the Musées Royaux d'Art et d'Histoire, Bruxelles, inv.nr. E.8210 (3rd century C.E.), or a stela in the Alexandria National Museum, Egypt (illustrated Gianfranco Agosti, Les inscriptions grecques métriques et la christianisation de la ville antique - Liège, 2021) (3rd-4th century C.E.). Usually such stelae do not exhibit Christian symbolism but are purely pagan (Hooper (1961), p. 20).
However, there are also monuments, far less in number, which do combine Christian and pagan motifs. See for example a stela in the British Museum London, inv.nr. EA679, combining the Christian Chi-Rho and two ancient Egyptian ankhs (5th-7th century C.E.). Another remarkable example is an amulet (6th-7th century C.E.) showing a male creature, corresponding to the image of Christ on the other side of the amulet; he has wings and is holding the tails of scorpions with both hands and standing on two crocodiles, surrounded by magical signs of various shapes and forms (Lidova, p. 95-97). And also our stela displays indications that are of Christian origin, such as the cross in front of the name, and possibly the cross on the right hand side; but other elements are purely pagan.
Magic within the Christian Religion
It may seem strange that, in a Christian, monotheistic world, there was a return to older, pagan representations, and also that magic could play a role in this religion. In our modern world religion and magic are very distinct: in religion one humbly asks from a god, in magic one tries to force something by imposing one's will on a god. In ancient Egypt this distinction did not exist, priests could be magicians, and even medical doctors, at the same time.
It is not correct to think that the arrival of Christianity in Egypt meant a sudden conversion for everybody, after which the old religious beliefs were abandoned. Instead, Christian and pagan customs coexisted for a long time, and were even combined. A clear example is the magic used against scorpions.
Scorpions
These animals have always posed a threat, and there are indications that especially in the Graeco-Roman Period scorpions infested Egypt (Tod (1939), p. 55).
As a result the Egyptians developed rituals for repelling them, as well as for healing their stings. The earliest known texts, spells to repel snakes and scorpions, can be found in the burial chamber of the pyramid of Unas, and are therefore more than 4300 years old. The spells were intended to protect the king in the afterlife, but were probably used in daily life as well.
Ever since, not only spells but also amulets against scorpions have been made; there was no major distinction between some of the methods used by ancient Egyptian, pagan snake charmers and by Christian holy men. In some cases the texts used were different (claims based on a passage from the New testament (Luke 10:19): "Behold, I have given you the power to tread upon serpents and scorpions"), but we also know of a sixth century C.E. spell from Egypt (p.Oxy. 1060) to drive off a scorpion and reptiles and referring to Horus, Aphrodite, and the Jewish-Christian deity Iao Sabaoth Adonai. The text also mentions Phocas, a Syrian saint, who was credited with the power, even after death, of healing those suffering from snake-bites (Tod (1939), p. 60, no. 5; Juliussen (2016), p. 355-356). Similarly pVindob. Inv. K 7110 (10-11th century C.E.) with a drawing of a scorpion, accompanied by the names of the archangels Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael in Coptic. See also Berkes (2019), p. 214-215 for a drawing of a scorpion accompanied by a text in Arabic.
Many of these texts contain pagan features, survivals from older, non-Christian practices, within a primarily Christian context (being marked at the beginning with crosses, mentioning Judaeo-Christian names, and invocating Christian saints or even Jesus), see Dosoo (2022).
Details of the Stela
The Name
The inscription reads ♰Thermou(th)oi; the last part of the inscription is slightly damaged, so a few letters are not completely certain. But in any case it is a female theophoric name, derived from Thermouthis, which in ancient Egyptian goes back to the name Ta-Renenet (T3-Rnn.t). As a personal name Ta-Renenet already appears in the 7th century B.C. (Kockelmann (2008) 2, p. 261, no. 113). The Trismegistos People database currently contains 1043 attestations of 492 individuals for the name Thermouthis in documentary texts from Egypt. For the development of the name, originally of a snake goddess, from the full form Rnnwtt in the Pyramid Texts of the Old Kingdom, through a reduced form (Rnwtt or Rnwt) in the New Kingdom, to the forms used in Ptolemaic times, including Thermouthis, see Satzinger (1983), p. 238-245, esp. 238-239; 241.
Renenutet was a benevolent deity with a protective and nurturing role. She was a goddess of fecundity and harvest, but was also associated with clothing (for example the linen robe worn by the king, or mummy bandages). She was also a divine mother, and had extensive interrelationships with other deities (Broekhuis (1971); Satzinger (1983), p. 238-239; Evans (2013); Journal of Intercultural and Interdisciplinary Archaeology (2015); Argyros (2018), p. 40-43). In the Graeco-Roman Period she became Thermouthis, and has survived the pagan era, acting as the underlying concept for the Christian saint, Thermuthis, who originally was the daughter of pharaoh in the time of Mozes (Argyros (2018), p. 42-43). Her cult centre was at Terenouthis (Kom Abou Billou) in the western Nile Delta; here hundreds of funerary stelae from the late third and early fourth centuries C.E. have been found, on many of which we see a figure in the attitude of praying (Hooper (1961), passim).
It should be noted that the name Thermouthis is written on top of the stela, exactly there where on the older Horus-stelae we see the face of Bes. This goddess is invoked here as a protective power. Because of the design of the stele, there seems to be a parallel between Bes as a protector of Horus (above-below) and Thermouthis as a protector of the person depicted (above-below).
The cross before the name stems from the custom of having the name of a Christian person preceded by a cross, a common feature on funerary stelae and elsewhere. However, in this case it seems likely that the creator of the object, who may or may not have been a Christian, and who may or may not have understood the purpose of the stela he was commissioned to make, or its symbolism, put the cross in front of the name from the assumption that Thermouthis was the person depicted, possibly thinking of a deceased person.
The Hairstyle
Supposing that the person depicted is the magus, it is possible that what seems to be the hair is in fact a wreath. There are Coptic magical texts which describe that the magus must wear a wreath, which could be made of roses or, according to another text, of an unidentified plant called shapshap. On the one hand, the smell of this wreath was supposed to protect against harmful demons, and on the other, to attract the invoked spirit or god, whose favourite plant this was (Kropp (1930), p. 151).
However, given the asymmetrical shape it is also possible that the hair was influenced by the way of portraying Horus on magical stelae, with the sidelock of youth, which was hanging on the right side of his otherwise bald head. The artist who made the stela probably did not understand or recognise the ancient iconography.
The Objects
In an earlier description of the stela, by Dr. Pieter Sijpesteijn of Amsterdam University, it was noted that it was difficult to be exact about the significance of the symbols. He wrote that "the cross obviously is Christian, and the scorpion is presumably the zodiac sign, and refers to the birthday of the lady concerned ... The other two symbols may have a religious significance, or they may be purely decorative. In Coptic iconography such designs are often employed, and although originally they may have had significance, by the 4th-5th century they were simply stylised motifs".
However, if the hypothesis is accepted that this is a magical object, it is worth looking at the objects from a different point of view. The object in the lower right corner is indeed seen sometimes on Coptic reliefs; it most likely originally represented a tripod with a bowl on it; this bowl may have been used for a burnt offering of incense or something else, but may not have been understood later. It is certain, however, that such burnt offerings played a role in Coptic religious texts; for example, there is a magical text about fish, which refers to the book of Tobit, in which Tobias, with the help of the archangel Raphael, burns the heart and liver of a fish to chase away a demon and cure his father's blindness.
It may also be a magic bowl, the purpose of which was to banish gods, souls of the dead or even the living into the bowl; such bowls should, according to the ancient texts, be made of glass, without a handle, probably because the handle could interfere with the magic effect like the knot of a robe, and be raised (sometimes on ritually pure stones, sometimes on a stand with three legs) to avoid contact with the ground (Kropp, p. 153-154, compare pl. 4, fig. 7).
Left of the head a ring is depicted, the purpose of which is not quite clear. It may be an indication for marriage: possibly the person involved is asking for protection for his (or her) spouse. More likely though is that the ring played some role in magical rituals, the details of which escape us.
The long shapes on either side of the person may represent columns. On many funerary stelae the scene with the deceased is set within an architectural frame, perhaps meant to represent the tomb. Here, they could be part of the magical setting. But it has also been suggested that they might be an attenuated (or reinterpreted) form of the serpents depicted on Thermouthis stelae, or even of the snakes in the hands of Horus of the earlier magical stelae.
Summary
Although the stela shows similarities with funerary monuments, it is, because of the scorpion, the bowl for burnt offerings on a tripod, and the figure's hairdo, more likely to be a magical object in which the goddess Renenutet plays the role that Bes used to play, commissioned to be used in a magical ritual, probably for protection against scorpions (and other, related evils). In that case the person depicted is not deceased (a woman named Thermouthis) but a living person, either someone who has to be protected or the magus invoking protection. As such, in stone, it is an extremely rare object.
Literature:
- Ariadne Argyros, Reviving Ophidia: Godly Serpents in Ancient Egyptian Magic and Mythology (UVM Honors College Senior Theses. 234) (University of Vermont, Department of Classics, 2018);
- Lajos Berkes, "An Arabic Scorpion-Amulet on Paper from the 10th-11th c. and its Coptic and Hebrew Parallels", Chronique d’Égypte XCIV (2019), fasc. 187, p. 213-215;
- Jan Broekhuis, De godin Renenwetet (Assen, Van Gorcum, 1971);
- Theodore S de Bruyn, Making Amulets Christian: Artefacts, Scribes, and Contexts (Oxford Early Christian Studies) (Oxford, 2017);
- Korshi Dosoo, "Suffering Doe and Sleeping Serpent: Animals in Christian Magical Texts from Late Roman and Early Islamic Egypt" in Jean-Charles Coulon - Korshi Dosoo (eds.), Magikon zōon (Aubervilliers, Institut de recherche et d’histoire des textes, 2022), p. 495-544;
- Jane Draycott, "Size matters: Reconsidering Horus on the Crocodiles in Miniature" in Amy C. Smith - Marianne E. Bergeron, The Gods of Small Things (Pallas, 86) (Toulouse, 2011) p. 123-133;
- Linda Evans, "The Egyptian Goddess Renenutet: Why did a Cobra Symbolize Abundance?", Göttinger Miszellen 238 (2013), p. 41-50;
- Christopher A. Faraone, “Magical Gems as Miniature Amuletic Statues” in K. Endreffy - Á.M. Nagy - J. Spier (eds.), Magical Gems in their Contexts (Rome, 2019) p. 85-101;
- David Frankfurter, "Syncretism and the Holy Man in Late Antique Egypt", Journal of Early Christian Studies, Volume 11 - 3 (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003), p. 339-385;
- Finley A. Hooper, Funerary Stelae from Kom Abou Billou (University of Michigan, Kelsey Museum of Archaeology Stuides, 1) (Ann Arbor, Kelsey Museum of Archaeology, 1961);
- Heather Juliussen-Stevenson, Egyptian Pagans through Christian Eyes (diss. University of Maryland, College Park, Department of History, 2016);
- Holger Kockelmann, Untersuchungen zu den späten Totenbuch-Handschriften auf Mumienbinden. Band I: Die Mumienbinden und Leinenamulette des memphitischen Priesters Hor, Band II: Handbuch zu den Mumienbinden und Leinenamuletten (Studien zum Altägyptischen Totenbuch, 12) (Wiesbaden, Harrassowitz Verlag, 2008);
- Journal of Intercultural and Interdisciplinary Archaeology. Thematic Issue: Renenutet/Isis Thermouthis: Diffusion of this Anguiform Deity from East to West (2015);
- Angelicus M. Kropp, Ausgewählte koptische Zaubertexte, Band III: Einleitung in koptische Zaubertexte (Bruxelles, Édition de la Fondation Égyptologique Reine Elisabeth, 1930);
- Maria Lidova, "Old Habits, New Faith: A Late Antique Amulet from Egypt (BM 1938,1010.1)" in Metamorphoses, volume 2023-1 (Sofia, Institute of Art Studies, 2024), p. 87-102;
- Ildikó Maaßen, “Schlangen- und Skorpionbeschwörung über die Jahrtausende” in Andrea Jördens (ed.), Ägyptische Magie und ihre Umwelt (Philippika - Altertumswissenschaftliche Abhandlungen, 80) (Wiesbaden, Harrassowitz Verlag, 2015), p. 171-188;
- Robert K. Ritner, “Horus on the Crocodiles: A Juncture of Religion and Magic in Late Dynastic Egypt,” in James P. Allen (ed.), Religion and Philosophy in Ancient Egypt (Yale Egyptological Studies, 3) (New Haven, 1989), p. 103–116;
- Helmut Satzinger, "Zum Namen der Göttin Thermouthis (Rrwt = Rnnwtt?)", Oriens Antiquus XXII (1983), p. 233-245, pls. VIII-IX;
- Heike Sternberg-el Hotabi, Untersuchungen zur Überlieferungsgeschichte der Horusstelen: Ein Beitrag zur Religionsgeschichte Ägyptens im 1. Jahrtausend v. Chr. (Ägyptologische Abhandlungen, Band 62) (Wiesbaden, Harrassowitz Verlag, 1999);
- Marcus N. Tod, "The Scorpion in Graeco-Roman Egypt", Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, 25 (1939), p. 55-61.
Dating:
Egypt, circa 4th-5th century C.E.
Size:
Height circa 35 cm.
Provenance:
Dutch private collection Mehrtens, Voorschoten, The Netherlands, acquired from Galerij Ancient Art Amsterdam on 27 November 1975; with the original 1975 invoice and a letter from the gallery, also from November 1975, with information and a further analysis of the stela as given to the gallery by Dr. Piet Sijpesteijn (University of Amsterdam).
Condition:
Lower right hand corner missing; minor damage to the right hand side of the inscription; some minor surface wear and staining; else intact. Extremely rare!
Price:
€ 7,500
Stock number:
E2104