Statue of Horus
Ptolemaic Period (332–30 BCE)
- Medium
- Basalt
- Classification
- Sculpture
- Dimensions
- 52 × 48.5 × 18.8 cm (20 1/2 × 19 × 7 3/8 in.)
- Culture
- Egypt
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago, Arts of Africa
- Credit line
- Gift of the Alsdorf Foundation
- 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
View at the Art Institute of Chicago
About this work
From the appearance of the first kings in Egypt (about 3000 BCE), the ruler was considered to be the earthly manifestation of Horus, the god of divine kingship. Statues of Horus in the form of a falcon like this one were displayed in temples as part of the royal cult, which celebrated the ruler’s role as an intercessor between humans and gods.
Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0
