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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. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum (Gavin Ashworth, photographer), 86.226.12_Gavin_Ashworth_photograph.jpg)

Title

Tilapia Lamp

Date

100 B.C.E.–200 C.E.

Period

Late Ptolemaic Period to Roman Period

Medium

Bronze

Classification

Fire/Heat

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

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.

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