Collection
/
Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

Isis Nursing Horus

332 B.C.E.–30 C.E.

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Caption

Isis Nursing Horus, 332 B.C.E.–30 C.E.. Bronze, 8 3/4 x 2 3/4 x 2 1/8 in. (22.2 x 7 x 5.4 cm) mount (display dimensions): 9 5/8 x 2 3/8 x 3 1/8 in. (24.4 x 6 x 7.9 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 08.480.49. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.08.480.49_NegA_print_bw.jpg)

Title

Isis Nursing Horus

Date

332 B.C.E.–30 C.E.

Period

Late Period to Ptolemaic Period

Geography

Place made: Egypt, Place collected: Akhmim, Egypt

Medium

Bronze

Classification

Sculpture

Dimensions

8 3/4 x 2 3/4 x 2 1/8 in. (22.2 x 7 x 5.4 cm) mount (display dimensions): 9 5/8 x 2 3/8 x 3 1/8 in. (24.4 x 6 x 7.9 cm)

Credit Line

Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund

Accession Number

08.480.49

Rights

Creative Commons-BY

You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.

Frequent Art Questions

  • What's this hat all about? Sorta looks like bull horns?

    Exactly! Those are two horns with a sun disk between them! You're looking at a statue of the goddess Isis, commonly shown with this headdress, along with the child Horus. The kind of cows native to Egypt also have horns like this.
    When she isn't wearing this sun disk with horns, Isis is shown crowned with the throne hieroglyph, a method of writing her name.

  • What is the thing protruding from their foreheads?

    That thing on their foreheads is known as a uraeus, a term which refers to the cobra included in ancient Egyptians royal headdresses. This cobra was a protective symbol worn by royalty and associated with the Egyptian goddess Wadjet. She used her fearsome powers as a cobra to defend the nation.
    Awesome! Thank you.

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