Tilapia Lamp
100 B.C.E.–200 C.E.
1 of 2
Object Label
Fish mummies were among the first kinds of animal mummies created by the Egyptians. The shilbe fish was associated with the goddess Hatmehit, whose name means “chief of the fishes.” And the tilapia fish represented fertility. Nevertheless, royalty could not eat fish, as the working class did, because according to myth, fish nibbled at the body of the drowned Osiris before his resurrection in the next world.
Caption
Tilapia Lamp, 100 B.C.E.–200 C.E.. Bronze, 3 1/2 x 1 3/4 x 6 1/4 in., 0.7 lb. (8.9 x 4.4 x 15.9 cm, 0.34kg). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of the Ernest Erickson Foundation, Inc., 86.226.12. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum (Gavin Ashworth, photographer))
Gallery
Not on view
Gallery
Not on view
Title
Tilapia Lamp
Date
100 B.C.E.–200 C.E.
Period
Late Ptolemaic Period to Roman Period
Medium
Bronze
Classification
Dimensions
3 1/2 x 1 3/4 x 6 1/4 in., 0.7 lb. (8.9 x 4.4 x 15.9 cm, 0.34kg)
Credit Line
Gift of the Ernest Erickson Foundation, Inc.
Accession Number
86.226.12
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