Ancient Egyptian Mummified Body of a Falcon Representative of Horus the Falcon headed God (1069 BC to 945 BC Egypt)

Falcon, cloth

Provenance: Ex Ballard collection, Colchester, Essex
Acquired in Egypt between 1890 – 1920

Many ancient Egyptian gods were conceived wholly or partly in animal form, and each god and goddess of human form also held a particular animal sacred, and the members of that species were regarded as manifestations of that deity. The Greek historian Herodotus said that 'among the Egyptians all animals both wild and tame are without exception held to be sacred.' He noted that the penalty for deliberately killing a sacred animal was death, and even an accidental casualty met with whatever punishment the priests saw fit.
The god Horus was usually depicted as a falcon or as a man with the head of a falcon. He was the god of the sky and the embodiment of divine kingship protecting the reigning Pharaoh.

An Ancient Egyptian Mummified Body of a Falcon Representative of Horus the Falcon headed God
Third intermediate period, 21st Dynasty 1069 – 945BC

Size: 23cm long – 9 ins long