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Amulet of Thoth

Ptolemaic Period (332–30 BCE)

Medium: Glazed steatite
Classification: Costume and Accessories
Dimensions: 4 × 1.5 × 1.5 cm (1 5/8 × 9/16 × 9/16 in.)
Culture: Egypt
Museum: Art Institute of Chicago, Arts of Africa
Credit line: Gift of Henry H. Getty and Charles L. Hutchinson
Rights: Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
Who can see it: Teens profiles and older: its subject is for older viewers (war, death, the Passion, drink or the like). How works are placed

About this work

Thoth, a god of wisdom and writing, could be shown as an ape or an ibis-headed man. The disk on the ape’s head alluded to his association with the moon.

Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0