Funerary Amulets
Funerary amulets were consistently placed on the body or mummy between the 13th to 18th dynasties. In the Ptolemaic and Roman periods, the amulets would be found scattered throughout the body. The amulets mentioned here, are just a few that have been consistently found on mummies. In addition, there would also be tokens of food, jewelry, or other valuables buried with the mummies that would serve them in their afterlife.
Book of the Dead
The Book of the Dead
reads:
Hail,
Father Osiris! I shall possess my body
for ever; I shall not be corrupted; I shall not disintegrate; nor will I fall
prey to worms. I exist. I am alive. I am strong.
I have awoken and am at peace.
There is no destruction in my organs, or in my eyes; my head has not
been removed from my neck…my body is permanent; it will not perish; it will not
be destroyed in this eternal land.[7]
The Book of the Dead
was on a roll of papyrus and placed in the coffin with the deceased. It contained “spells” to help guide and
protect the deceased to their journey into their afterlife. The hieroglyphics
had scenes that had depicting a “map of the afterlife”, so they could “find the
way to the kingdom of the blessed”.[7] Ancient Egyptians believed the deceased were
confronted with a series of tests and the Book
of the Dead contained the magical spells to assist their passage. The Book of the Dead didn’t appear until the
(Sample
of the Book of the Dead of the scribe Nebqed, around 1300 BC)[14]
The Heart-Scarab
(Beetle)
This
amulet was used form the late Middle Kingdom until Roman times and it was
usually made of a hard green stone. It
would usually be situated within the bandages of the mummy placed over the
heart. In some mummies the heart scarab
has been found on a wire around the neck or mounted on a small rectangular slab
on the chest. Within the Book of the
Dead, the text of Spell 30b, the
objective of the heart scarab was to prevent “the heart from giving evidence
against the deceased in the Judgment before Osiri…these amulets were originally
designed to replace or stimulate the functions of the dead man’s back, his
blood and his heart respectively.” [11] There was great concern that the heart of
the deceased would not pass the “scales of Truth” in the presence of Osiris and
would be condemned. The scarab also
signifies the symbol of “self-created life and resurrection.”[11] Others have noted in the Book of the Dead, spells 76-88 were translated, and ‘scarab’ means ‘to transform oneself’ so the
“amulet which was to bear the heart-spell …will enable the deceased to make all
transformations according to the dictates of his heart.” or to transform one’s
self back to his original form for life
in the afterworld.[11] The
scarab beetle was also the symbol of the
Sun-god, “the principle of life out of nothing. The amulet was intended to stimulate the dead heart once more to
life.” [11]
The Two Fingers
This amulet was explained as “the two fingers of Horus which the latter extended to his father Osiris, in order to assist him to mount to the top of the heavenly ladder”.[11] This belief was not translated from the Book of the Dead, but from the Pyramid Text, the oldest found hieroglyphs of spells,[12] and it stated that the deceased king, “springs up to the sky, to the two fingers of the god, the lord of the ladder”. [11] Another theory for this amulet is that symbolizes the two fingers of Anubis, the embalmer of Osiris. This is because the amulet was usually found on the left side of the pelvis where the first incision was made, into which the two fingers of the embalmer may have been inserted at the start of the mummification process.[11]
The Name-bead
The amulet was
usually just worn around the throat of the mummy, with the name of the
deceased. It was in the shape of a
barrel or flattened bead and made out of carnelian, which is a pale to deep
reddish brown of clear chalcedony (which is also a translucent to transparent
grayish quartz with microscopic crystals).
The name beads were found in the Middle Kingdom coffins or anthropoid coffins. Some beads were also found to have short text
inscribed on it, “Works spoken by Osiris…’Give light to
The Serpent-head
amulet
This amulet is a
representation the uraeus, a figure
of the scared serpent, worn by the Sun-god, to help protect the dead from the
dangerous serpents of the Underworld.
The belief was the deceased laying in the tomb could possibly be bitten
in the throat, so the amulet could protect the deceased.”[11]
“The deceased person is, for the purpose of the spell,
identified with Isis, possibly in reminiscence of the protection afforded by Re
to Isis and Horus when they were living in the papyrus swamps, then Thǒth
was sent to bring the infant Horus back to life after he had been stung by a
scorpion”.[11] This amulet
has been found around the neck of the mummy along with the name-bead.
The Golden
Falcon-head Collar
This amulet is a miniature collar with two falcon heads and appears in the Late Period (664-332 BC, under Saite ruler Psamtek I[13]). This amulet actually is a descendant of “the large full-sized falcon-collars depicted in the Middle-Kingdom coffin paintings” and the one that was found on the actual mummy of Tutankhamun. The small amulet was still made of sheet gold in Saite times and inscribed with the Spell 158 from the Book of the Dead. Then in the Graeco-Roman times, the amulet was later made out of guilded wood or wax. The text of Spell 158 was translated as the following;
Spell for a collar of gold to be placed on the neck of the deceased. Recitation by Osiris N. ‘O my father! O my brother! O my mother Isis! Unswathe me! Behold me! I am one of the unswathed ones who see Gēb![11]
The purpose for this amulet was to help free the deceased by Osiris, Isis and Horus from their “mummy-wrappings so that he may live once more.”[11]
The Flying Vulture
The amulet also did not start to surface until the Saite period and was usually made from gold sheet metal with the spell inscribed below. This amulet actually is a miniature standing vulture and shares a similar history of the Golden Falcon-headed collar and Horus-collar. The vulture collar and the miniature standing vulture amulet were a representation of the goddess Nekhebet which also “corresponds to the collar and amulet of the uraeus-goddess, Uto”.[11] The flying vulture amulets were usually inscribed with the text of Spell 157, which refers to the vulture amulet as Isis in vulture form. The text was translated as the following:
Isis
has come, she traversed the city, she has sought out the secret places of Horus
when he came forth from his swamps…, he has obtained protection, and there is
decreed to him the sovereignty of the names after he has waged a great battle…,
he plants the fear of him, he creates the dread of him, his mother, the Great
Lady, protects him against those who attack Horus.[11]
The vulture was seen as Isis, who will protect the deceased, as he had protected her son, Horus.
The Djed Pillar or
‘tet’ amulet –
This amulet was a symbol of stability and protection.[7] Another source deciphered this amulet as a ‘tet’ which resembles a mason’s table and is an emblem that symbolizes Osiris the lord of Tettu, great god of the Underworld.[41] The word ‘tet’ means “firmness, stability, preservation”, this emblem would sometimes be on “plumes, disk and horns, and directly painted on the mummies and tombs”.[41] The amulet could be made of faience, gold, wood, carnelian, or lapis-lazuli. The spell 155 would be inscribed on the tet, and it stated that the tet was suppose to made of gold:
“Chapter of a tet of gold placed on the neck of the
deceased. Rise up thou, O resting of
heart this, shine thou, O resting of heart, place thou thyself upon place
thy. Come I, bring I to thee a tet of
gold, rejoice thou in it.”[41]
It was believed if the deceased knew this chapter (spell 155), would be granted through the gates of the underworld and he could “rise up as a perfect soul in the underworld, he would not be repulsed at the gates there, and cakes would be given to him, and joint of meat from the altars of ‘Ra’.[41]
Looped cross or the Buckle-
This
amulet was believed to give the breath of life.[7, 16]
Another source called this amulet the ‘buckle’ or the ‘tie’ and it was responsible for protection.[41] These amulets were usually made of red jasper, carnelian, red porphyry, red glass or faience, sycamore wood, and even solid gold or covered with gold leaf. The amulet would sometimes be inscribed with the spell 156 if two or more were found together and placed around the mummy’s neck.[41] The text would say:
“Chapter of the buckle of red jasper placed on the neck
of the deceased. The blood of Isis, the
incantations of Isis, the power of
Udjat eye-
This
amulet was supposed to have protective powers for it was symbolic of the eye of
the god Horus. Amulets of the Udjat eye
were used from the
Two Frogs-
The
amulet of two frogs was seen as a symbol of eternal life.
Frogs were found in the swaps and seen as primordial waters from which all life rose.[7] A frog amulet is also associated with the goddess of Heqt, which is a form of the goddess Hathor, and she was connected with the idea of resurrection.[41]
Burial Masks
The burial mask was considered a key element in sealing the mummy for the afterlife. It was considered just as important as the sarcophagus, especially for the royalty. In the Greco-Roman period, the funeral mask was replaced with a portrait painted on a wooden panel and placed within or top of the linen wrappings. [7,14]
The famous mask of King Tutankhamun, he was the 12th Pharaoh of the
Eighteenth dynasty of