(or cippus), dating

Abstract: Submission 2
This paper is a detailed study of a very well preserved Egyptian “magical” stela (or cippus), dating to
the Late or Ptolemaic period (c. 700-100BCE). The object provides very interesting insights into
Egyptian religious iconography, healing practices, and the power of hieroglyphic signs in the ritual
context – when they were not even designed for reading.
The paper begins by providing an overview of the iconography, including the key gods and demons
shown on the obverse of the stela, as well as the hieroglyphic signs inscribed on the reverse. There is
also a short section on the object history, which is deeply unclear but provides an interesting insight
into the antiquities market of the early 20th Century.
The main focus of the essay is on how such stelae were used, and in particular on the role of
hieroglyphic inscriptions. The standard explanation is that water was poured over the stela,
absorbing “magical” healing properties from its surface. It could subsequently be applied to patients’
skin or ingested, acting as a “magical” remedy. Sometimes, the hieroglyphic inscriptions are
inscribed magical spells, which would fit this hypothesis well. However, on this stela, the hieroglyphs
are incoherent. While acknowledging the possibility of deliberate fraud, this paper argues that the
signs themselves were imbued with so much “magical” significance that they could serve as
remedies in their own right, even without forming words. This in turn has important implications for
understanding the production and socio-cultural function of such stelae, suggesting that they could
be considered effective even if not inscribed by scribal specialists. Such an inference is highly
significant for broader attempts to understand the nature of popular religion in the Egyptian Late
Period, emphasising that literacy was not everything.
Word count: 2997
A Cippus of Horus on the Crocodiles (Musuem of Archaeology and Anthropology, Cambridge)
Description (accession no: 1947.1072)
A small cippus stela, with maximum height 77mm, width 61mm, and thickness 7mm, doubling to 14mm at the base,
made of a very hard, dark material, possibly haematite. The total mass is 121g. The base is flat, but the cippus is
nonetheless unstable in a vertical position. The top is gently curved. The principal scene on the obverse is in raised
relief, with hieroglyphs and subsidiary scenes in sunken relief. All images and hieroglyphs on the reverse are likewise
in sunken relief.
Obverse (fig. 1)
The principal scene shows the god Horus as a naked child with the side-lock of youth, standing atop two crocodiles
with left leg thrust forward. His left hand grasps a snake and a gazelle, held by the horns or on a leash. It may
represent a demon, as discussed later. His right hand holds a scorpion and a lion, both by their tails, and also another
snake. Directly above Horus is a large head of Bes, its top protruding above the curving boundary of the stela. On
either side are two unidentified figures, probably guardian deities. Flanking Horus are a lotus stalk representing
Nefertum on his left and a falcon-topped papyrus plant on his right. The preservation state is near perfect, except for
substantial damage to the face of Horus. A register of hieroglyphs covers the base, with further signs by the
shoulders of Horus. The stela sides are inscribed too, but most signs are too small and faded to identify.
Bes head
Standing
protective
figure
Papyrus plant
with falcon
Squatting
protective
figure with
knife,
possibly
falconheaded
Lotus stalk
of Nefertum
77
mm
Scorpion and
lion in right
hand
Snake and
gazelle in
left hand
Pair of
subdued
crocodiles
Horus as Ḥrpɜ-ẖrd
(Harpocrates
or Horus the
Child)
Fig. 1. Obverse
61mm
Page Word Count: 243
Cumulative Word Count: 243
1
Reverse (fig. 2)
The uppermost register depicts what is apparently a procession of gods. They include two squatting falcon-headed
deities with knives, resembling the one in the upper right corner of the obverse, who cannot be securely identified.
Iconographically they match some of the knife-wielding zoomorphic guardians of Amun-Re from the Amduat – the
cosmological treatise describing this god’s nightly journey through the Underworld (Hornung & Abt 2007: 47). There
is also a ram-headed deity; possibly Amun or one of his syncretised forms, and an anthropomorphic, probably
female figure of unclear identity. Finally, the procession also contains a falcon on a goat. This curious image cannot
be fully understood: while falcons are common in divine iconography, goats generally are not, although they can
represent revered ancestors (Faulkner 1962: 214). Underneath are six registers of hieroglyphs written from right to
left. Only a narrow range of common signs is present, and these do not fit together coherently. Nonetheless, they
likely still had great meaning, as discussed later.
Squatting falconheaded protective
figures with
knives
Probable ramheaded deity
Falcon
perched on a
goat
Commonly
recurring sign
group. Syllabic
reading ikt (no
semantic
meaning), found
twice on
obverse and six
times on reverse
(with further
minor variants
elsewhere)
Another
group
common in
other
religious
Fig. 2. Reverse
inscriptions,
read as wrt
(great)
Group
common in
other
religious
inscriptions,
read as ḏt
(eternity)
Otherwise
unattested
sign
Standard
group for ɜst
- the goddess
Isis
Biliteral found in the standard spelling of
nsw (king), again common in inscriptions
Fig. 2. Reverse
(dimensions as
for obverse)
Provenance
The original provenance is unknown, but some information on the stela’s movements and owners in the 20th century
is available. It was catalogued in the Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in May 1992 (MAA
Catalogue), having previously been in the Mackintosh Collection. Unfortunately, the collector has left little historical
trace, apart from the name L. Mackintosh, the collection catalogue, and the name of a presumably related Miss H. J.
Mackintosh (MAA Catalogue). The latter is listed as responsible for transferring the stela to the MAA, but other than
that nothing is known of her too. Nonetheless, while the Mackintoshes themselves remain mysterious, the
remaining transaction record is remarkable. The catalogue exists in at least four meticulously detailed editions,
2
Page Word Count: 248
Cumulative Word Count: 491
released between 1919 and 1944. Over this 25-year period, Mackintosh, whoever this was, created an impressive
collection of Egyptian amulets, apparently inspired by Petrie’s earlier work (Mackintosh 1944: 1, Petrie 1914). This
task involved extensive travel between Cairo, Paris, London and many other private dealers and UK auction houses.
In 1943, the itinerant Mackintosh purchased a “Horus-on-the-Crocodiles” stela at Guildford in a private transaction
from a certain Sapirstein (Mackintosh 1944: 64). This is our object.
Various contemporary records of the Surrey Archaeological Society mention a Nathan Sapirstein of Quarry Street,
Guildford (Surrey 1931: xxxv, 1936: xli & 1937: xxxvii). He is listed as a member of the Society since 1925, but never
published anything in its journal. His name appears for the last time in 1946, when he apparently moved to Epsom
Road, Guildford (Surrey 1946: liii). Nothing else is firmly known about him: the Hebraic first name and Ashkenazi
surname suggest a possible Jewish background, but no corroborating evidence is available. What is recorded,
however, are Sapirstein’s dealings with Mackintosh in 1943; involving the sale of faience busts of the four sons of
Horus, a crowned faience hawk amulet, a faience wɜs-amulet, and our stela (Mackintosh 1944: 77, 102, 112). The
agreed price was £6.10.0 – an “expensive deal” (Mackintosh 1944: 152). The wide variety of objects, alongside their
good condition, high price and Sapirstein’s long-standing membership of an established antiquarian society, all
strongly imply that he was either a professional antiquities dealer, or at least took this very seriously. Where he
managed to obtain the stela would be fascinating to discover, but no more is known to help with this.
The stela was likely discovered outside an official excavation, since it ended up on the antiquities market. Since cippi
are not tied to any particular area of Egypt, and indeed also occur outside of Egypt altogether, linking this object to a
specific site is a thankless task. A likely scenario would involve it being sold in a major Egyptian commercial hub, such
as Cairo, perhaps in the late 19th or early 20th century. Here, it could either have been bought directly by Sapirstein,
himself unlikely to have access to archaeological sites, or by an intermediary. It may be worth noting that Egypt in
the early 20th century had a large Jewish population of around 80,000 (Beinin 1998: 4) and if Sapirstein were indeed
Jewish himself, he could perhaps have operated through cultural connections. That is however pure speculation – all
that is known for certain is that the object was treated well even if it repeatedly changed hands, still being in
excellent condition.
Cippus
discovered at
unknown site
(not even
necessarily in
Egypt). 19th
century(?)
Cippus enters
antiquites
market and
passes through
an unknown
number of
intermediaries.
Late 19th/early
20th century.
Obtained by N.
Sapirstein, a
Jewish
antiquities dealer
connected to
Egypt (?). Early
20th century.
Sold by Sapirstein
to the collector
L. Mackintosh in
Guildford. 1943.
Part of
Mackintosh
collection,
eventually
passing to Miss
H. J. Mackintosh.
Post-1944.
Obtained by
MAA, with Miss
Mackintosh listed
as the "source"
(possibly
posthumously).
1992
Fig. 3. Summary of known object history
Dating
Horus cippi underwent iconographic changes over time, making dating reasonably straightforward. Early examples
from Ramesside times to the 26th Dynasty generally show Horus in a sideways striding posture (Johnson 1975: 144),
which is clearly inapplicable here. The latest examples from the Roman period are generally associated with
relatively poor quality relief, disproportionately thin or broad Horus figures, and very flat or steeply sloping tops
(Johnson 1975: 145). This too can therefore be discounted. The remaining options are Late Period or Ptolemaic - so a
date between the 7th and 1st centuries BCE emerges.
This is obviously still very broad, but narrowing the date down further is considerably harder. The Late Period cippi
all depict Horus in a nude, full frontal form, and so do the Ptolemaic examples. The only fairly consistent difference is
the curvature on the top of the stela - Ptolemaic cippi tend to have gentler curves than their Late Period
counterparts (Johnson 1975: 145). The curvature of our stela is quite gentle, making a Ptolemaic date slightly more
likely. However, earlier examples are not necessarily all steep without exception, so it could conceivably be older.
Page Word Count: 561
Cumulative Word Count: 1052
3
Distribution
Cippi are not only attested all over Egypt, but also travelled very widely, emerging at sites such as Byblos (Lebanon),
Hama (Syria), Meroe (Sudan), Axum (Ethiopia), Rome (Italy) (Ritner 1989: 106), Nippur (Iraq) (Johnson 1975: 143)
and Susa (Iran) (Abdi 2002: 203). Their distribution therefore spans three continents and is an obvious indication of
their importance as exports. They may have travelled alongside Egyptians living abroad (Abdi 2002: 210); perhaps
serving as messengers or soldiers during Egypt’s integration into larger political units like the Persian, Macedonian
and ultimately Roman empires. An alternative interpretation is that they were exported into non-Egyptian cultural
contexts, perhaps being considered somehow symbolic of Egypt. An argument can be made that Horus-on-theCrocodiles, although not necessarily theologically understood, became emblematic of Egypt in the late Neo-Assyrian
Empire, where the image seems to have percolated into literary sources as well as the archaeological record1.
Considering this, it seems probable that similar associations could have occurred in other areas later on, with cippi
becoming a stock export seen as par excellence representative of Egyptian culture as a whole.
Function and Iconography
Cippi were used for curing the bites of noxious animals (Shaw & Nicholson 1995: 133), such as snakes and scorpions.
Water poured over them was believed to absorb the healing power in the iconography and spells on the cippus,
which sufferers could then drink or apply to afflicted body parts (Ritner 1989: 105-107). Indeed, the verb ‘to swallow’
(cm), had very strong connections with magic (ḥkɜ) from the New Kingdom onwards (Ritner 1989: 107-108) so by
swallowing this water, collected in basins under the stelae, sufferers would also swallow magic deemed capable of
defeating disease. This probably had a considerable placebo effect, and the endurance of cippi for over a millennium
suggests that the consequences were indeed beneficial enough to warrant their continued use for so long.
From an iconographic viewpoint, the cippus studied here is very typical and reflects established theology. Crocodiles
and scorpions were believed to have wounded Horus as a child (Ritner 1989: 105), but he recovered from their bites
through the magic of his mother Isis. The stela shows him triumphing over the animals who had harmed him. The
lion and snakes are added as they were clearly also dangerous, but the usually harmless gazelle is more mysterious.
It probably represents a one-horned gazelle demon who opposes the Sun-God Amun-Ra in some New Kingdom
cosmological texts (Piankoff 1964: pl.3). Incidentally, this demon can be accompanied by snakes and crocodiles (fig.
4), perhaps reflecting the dual dangers of water and desert. As Horus defeats them all, the sufferer could be
identified with him, hence recovering through the same divine assistance. The Bes head over Horus is meant to
further strengthen the recovery, Bes being a guardian deity (Wilkinson 2003: 102-104), and the contrast between his
elderly features and the youthful Horus may also indicate rejuvenation (Ritner 1989: 111). While these features are
generally present on all cippi, the curious falcon-on goat motif in the divine procession in the upper register of the
reverse is perhaps more original. However, the rest of that scene is more explicable: the knife-wielding deities clearly
being protective, and the ram-headed figure probably being Amun-Ra; not out of place considering both his vast
cosmic role and the belief that he too was once cured of a snake-bite by Isis (Borghouts 1978: 51-56). Overall, the
reverse scene therefore does not undermine the general iconographic typicality of the cippus.
Page Word Count: 591
Cumulative Word Count: 1643
1
This is the key theme of my current BA dissertation, and consequently cannot be expanded here owing to University
regulations. The crucial textual attestation is in The Underworld Vision of an Assyrian Prince (Livingstone 1989: 71: 4).
4
Cippus iconography is largely based around the powerful
magic of Isis, namely spells principally invoking the powers of
Thoth and the combined rejuvenating forces of Osiris and the
sun disk (Borghouts 1978: 62-69). Excerpts from these are
usually written on all available cippi surfaces, with the most
complete example containing all the spells being the 4th
century BCE Metternich Stela (Scott 1951: 201-217). Most
other cippi contain spells found there, and comparison
therefore allows them to be reconstructed and translated. It is
here that the cippus of this study is distinct: not only is it
unmatched on the Metternich Stela, but it cannot be read at
all despite plentiful hieroglyphs. So what were these signs for?
Interpreting the “inscription”
This illegible hieroglyphic sequence is surely the most striking
feature of this stela. From an epigraphic perspective, care was
taken to make it look like a genuine inscription: there are
many combinations of narrow, tall signs and broader, low
signs stacked atop one another, creating sign blocks of even
height. These are common both in lapidary inscriptions and
hieratic group-writing. The repeated ikt-groups (fig. 2)
exemplify this. Moreover, a number of important words from
a lexical register appropriate to a coherent magico-religious
inscription quickly become recognisable (fig. 2), including wrt
(great), ḏt (eternity), and ɜst (Isis). However, these outward
indications of legibility can only satisfy individuals who have
Fig. 4. Demons around the sun, with gazelleseen Egyptian inscriptions before and visually know what to
demon at top and bottom right. (Tomb of Seti II.
expect, but ultimately have very little or no reading knowledge.
Image from Piankoff 1964: pl.3)
The signs cluster in repeated groups, whose combined phonetic
values yield no semantic meaning. Additionally, several signs and groups unattested in legible Egyptian inscriptions
are present. The hieroglyphs were therefore not designed to be read, but still not chosen randomly. This raises
interesting questions about the socio-cultural context in which this object was produced.
It seems likely that the stela was produced in an illiterate environment, or at least for use by illiterate individuals.
The Late and Ptolemaic periods are well-known for commercialisation of religion and ritual, and fraud was not out of
the question. Notably, studies of vast animal cemeteries indicate complex processes of breeding, killing, and
mummification of animals done on a vast commercial scale (Ikram & Dodson 1998: 131-136), with mummies
subsequently sold to worshippers even when poorly prepared or incomplete. Indeed, the same applies even to
human mummies (Ikram & Dodson 1998: 130). It seems quite feasible that, in a society where fake mummies were
sold, stelae with fake inscriptions could be too. They would certainly be easier to produce, as the Metternich stela
texts needed for a “genuine” inscription may not have been widely available, and one would need considerable
scribal proficiency to write them down correctly. Finding experts capable of this would probably be difficult and
expensive, while carving a few signs which simply looked similar was a much easier, faster and cheaper task. Thus,
more cippi could be made to satisfy high demand. In any case, if purchasers were unable to verify that the inscription
made no sense, they would probably accept cippi with “fake” inscriptions just as eagerly. Economically, producing
such cippi would therefore make very good sense, just like quickly producing poor-quality mummies.
Page Word Count: 505
Cumulative Word Count: 2148
5
An interesting question is to what extent does the “fakeness” of the hieroglyphs constitute real fraud – was the
actual content of the spell all-important, effectively meaning that faking made the entire object meaningless, or was
the essential feature in fact not the content but the hieroglyphs themselves? Thus, was the producer deliberately
duping naïve, illiterate consumers, callously maximising profit by selling cheap but theologically unacceptable items?
Obviously, one cannot know, but a strong argument can be made for an alternative view.
A possible theory of use for cippi with “fake”
inscriptions
This interpretation revolves around discoveries of
large statues holding cippi (fig. 5; Oakes & Gahlin
2002: 313, 452), which are also covered in inscriptions
from the Metternich Stela. The standard
interpretation is that they were designed to maximise
space for healing spells (Oakes & Gahlin 2002: 452),
thereby increasing their perceived efficacy. Some
statues also have evidence of rubbing (Ritner 1989:
108), so direct contact with hieroglyphs was probably
another way in which sufferers hoped to alleviate
symptoms. However, the present author would like to
suggest that the statues can also be taken at face
value, as representations of people holding cippi
during a ritual where water was poured over
themselves as well as the cippus, and where the
emphasis was very much on the intrinsic sacred
nature of the signs.
Hieroglyphs, known as words of the gods (mdw-nṯr) to
the Egyptians (Allen 2010: 2), possessed perceived
divine qualities irrespective of semantic meaning.
Looking at the cippus studied here, it has already been
noted that many of the individual signs stand for
crucial cosmic concepts like eternity, greatness and
Isis, the “great of magic” (Wilkinson 2003: 147).
Perhaps this is not out of a desire to fool illiterate
purchasers into thinking that the inscription is correct,
but rather because the presence of these groups is Fig. 4. Inscribed statues bearing cippi. (Images from
Oakes and Gahlin 2002: 313-right & 452-left)
powerful in itself, and amplified further by the
surrounding hieroglyphs. Thus, if a sufferer held the cippus, the power of these sacred signs would seep into them,
and pouring water over the sufferer and cippus combined would effectively join the two together. The power of the
signs would then flow over all body parts, initiating a corporeal transformation from illness to blessedness through
the pouring. It is striking that mummies were divinised (snṯr) through similar processes of pouring incense, oils and
resin over them (Ikram & Dodson 1998: 106): the two rites could quite conceivably be related, with the pouring
triggering a perceived ontological change through powers dissolved in each liquid. Within this framework, it matters
little whether the inscription is coherent – it merely serving as a trigger for broader magical forces. This would also
explain why so much of the stela, sides included, is covered in signs. Put simply, the more signs, the better.
Surviving examples of statues holding cippi support this explanation. They frequently stand inside basins, supporting
the idea that water was poured over all of them (Ritner 1989: 107, Oakes & Gahlin 2002: 452). Texts written on
Page Word Count: 425
Cumulative Word Count: 2573
6
statues as well as cippi may reflect the absorption of magic onto bodies as water was poured. One question that
does emerge is why should such statues even be made if real people could use their own bodies in the procedure,
and moreover why do many have correct inscriptions while stelae like the one studied here do not? A likely answer
lies in differences of function: the elaborate statues (or even larger, ornate cippi like the Metternich stela) were
designed for eternity: stating the names of their owners, they were probably made to protect them forever, in the
afterlife as well as on earth. Accounting for this, it seems logical to assume that particular care would be taken to
fashion these objects to very high standards of workmanship and textual coherence. However, the cippus here was a
working object - small, portable, relatively cheap and above all designed for immediate relief in this world. Here, the
mere presence of hieroglyphs could comfortably suffice, so its manufacture is probably not deliberate fraud.
Moreover, such an interpretation makes it quite feasible that non-literate classes could make such objects without
recourse to high-order specialists, which seems highly likely considering the overall popularity of cippi in the Late and
Ptolemaic periods.
Concluding comments
This cippus is an interesting case study on at least three levels. Firstly, it highlights the complexities of reconstructing
object histories when the initial date and provenance is unknown and documentation on subsequent owners is
missing. Nonetheless, studying it does give an interesting insight into the antiquities trade of the early 20th century
and some specific people involved in it. Secondly, the difficulty in locating the original findspot highlights the fact
that a cippus like this could come from almost anywhere, as such objects travelled widely and were perhaps
considered symbolic of Egypt. This is an interesting avenue for potential research into perceptions of Egyptian
culture in the outside world. Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, close examination of this cippus forces a reevaluation of rituals associated with such stelae, focussing on the intrinsic power of signs and pouring in contexts
where the spells themselves were incoherent. Sufferers’ bodies were transformed with the pouring of water, making
them healthy and akin to Horus. That is a fitting conclusion for a project seeking to transform approaches to cippi,
pouring in comparanda from mummification and statuary to obtain a more realistic overall picture.
Total Word Count (excluding all headings, captions, bibliography, references and acknowledgements): 2997
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank the staff of the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, and in particular Imogen Gunn, for
granting me access to the MAA collection and the Mackintosh catalogue, and for permitting me to take photographs
of the object. I am also grateful to Dr. Derek Welsby of the British Museum for introducing me to graphics pad
technology, which has proved very useful in understanding the materiality of this object.
Appendix: Photographs of Stela (taken by A. Loktionov)
- See next two pages.
Page Word Count: 424
Cumulative Word Count: 2997
7
Obverse
8
Reverse
9
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