Represented in a pose unique to young gods—not quite sitting, but not fully standing either—this statuette likely depicts Horus the Child (in Egyptian, Horpakhered), the Egyptian child god par excellence. Under the Greek form of his name, Harpocrates, this young but effective god came to be worshipped far beyond Egypt’s borders. Here he raises his right hand to his face, touching his index finger to his slightly smiling lips, a tender pose associated with infants and young children dating back millennia (see cat. 1). His large navel emphasizes the softness of his childlike body. Although he is unclothed, as is typical for children in Egyptian art, bracelets adorn the god’s wrists, armlets envelop his upper arms, and a broad collar and pendant necklace hang around his neck.1

A combination of headdresses crowns the child god’s head, each rendered in exquisite detail. A striped nemes headcloth, adorned in the center with a protective uraeus serpent, frames his face. A braided lock of hair descends from the right side of his head, coming to rest in a curl on his shoulder. This “sidelock of youth” was a hairstyle associated with childhood in ancient Egypt. Atop it all is an elaborate crown made up of three bound bundles of reeds, each surmounted with a solar disk, with additional sun disks incised on their bases. These bundles are flanked by ostrich feathers and uraei, their tails curling around the back (fig. 1).^[1] Together these elements form the Egyptian hemhem, a crown with regenerative solar connotations that was worn by the king as well as gods. Combined with the royal nemes headcloth, this composite headdress evokes the god’s ties to renewal, both in terms of the sun’s daily journey of death and rebirth and his status as the heir to an uninterrupted royal line.^[2]2

Child Gods in Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egyptians worshipped a large pantheon of gods, each of whom had close affinities with the localities where his or her temple(s) (literally the “house of the god”) was built. In most cities, worship was focused not on a single god, but a triad of deities comprised of a god, a goddess, and their offspring—often (but not always) a son. In Memphis, Ptah, Sekhmet, and their son Nefertum were the principal deities. In Thebes (now Luxor), Amun, Mut, and the moon god Khonsu were supreme. Osiris, Isis, and Horus, the triad centered at Abydos, became the preeminent triad throughout the land, as their mythology formed the base of many ancient Egyptian beliefs about the afterlife.3

In sculpture, child gods are depicted in various poses. Sometimes they are shown cradled in their mother’s lap as part of a sculpture group (see cat. 75). Other times, they appear on their own, standing, enthroned, or even emerging from the top of a lotus blossom (a reference to the cyclical rebirth of the sun). Regardless of format, child gods are often shown nude, wearing the sidelock of youth, and/or holding a single finger to their mouths. This shared iconography is diagnostic of youth but can make it difficult to identify which child god is shown. For example, although many statuettes of child gods wearing the hemhem crown are identified by inscription as Horus the Child, some are labeled as other deities, such as Khonsu the Child or Nefertawy.^[3] Thus, when there is no identifying inscription and the location of the statue’s discovery, which might indicate a cult center, is unknown, it may be unclear which of the gods is represented.^[4]4

Like statuettes of adult gods, those of child gods were presented in temples by worshippers in order to express thanks and devotion or to petition the god for assistance or good favor. Such statuettes have been found at sacred sites in great quantities. Notably, a hoard of copper alloy statues that included forty-one examples depicting a child god was found at the site of Athribis in Lower Egypt.^[5] Those that still bear inscriptions were dedicated to Horus the Child, and it has been suggested that he was worshipped at a temple in Athribis, in which these statuettes were offered.^[6]5

Horus the Child was the posthumously conceived son of Osiris, ruler of the underworld, and his sister and wife Isis. According to myth, Isis hid her son Horus in the marshes following his birth, protecting him from being discovered by his uncle Seth (who wanted the throne of Egypt for himself) with magic—magic which Horus the Child could in turn draw upon to aid his followers. For this reason, Horus the Child was a popular subject for votive statuary and amulets that provided protection to those that wore them.6

Additional Views of Cat. 25

For more on copper alloy statuettes, see About Copper Alloy Statuettes.7

Provenance

The Art Institute of Chicago, acquired in 1894.8

Publication History

Roberta Casagrande-Kim, ed., When the Greeks Ruled Egypt: From Alexander the Great to Cleopatra, with contributions by Mary C. Greuel et al., exh. cat. (New York: Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, 2014), 83, fig. 5-13; 100, no. 98.
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