Horus Falcon-Form Coffin
664–30 B.C.E.
1 of 10
Object Label
The god Horus was the son of the first king and queen, Osiris and Isis. Thus, in human form, he is often worshipped as a child. But Horus was strongly associated with the falcon and, as a sky god, with the sun. Images of Horus as a child are often found in falcon mummy cemeteries mixed together with falcon-shaped mummy coffins, as if they have similar votive functions.
Caption
Horus Falcon-Form Coffin, 664–30 B.C.E.. Bronze, gold, 11 3/4 x 2 3/4 x 11 1/2 in. (29.8 x 7 x 29.2 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 05.394. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum (Gavin Ashworth, photographer))
Gallery
Not on view
Gallery
Not on view
Frequent Art Questions
Horus takes many different forms when he is depicted in Egyptian art: a falcon, a falcon-headed man or a sun. He symbolizes rule over disorder--something that Egyptian pharaohs wanted their subjects to understand and feel under their leadership.
Why did some animal shaped coffins have different animals inside?
There could be a couple reasons. Falcon-shaped coffins could have a shrew inside as a stand in for a mongoose or ichneumon, like a cat can stand for a lion. The representative of the mongoose was meant to protect the falcon from snakes.Thanks!What does this headpiece represent?
That is the crown of Upper and Lower Egypt, which was a common headdress for the pharaoh as the unifier of the two lands. The falcon was often associated with the king as the god of kingship, Horus. As a bird, he could be a symbol of the king as a link between the heavens and earth.
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