New – The Archaeology of Ancient Magic & Ritual Practice

Quote from the prayer in a Coptic Magic Handbook

The prayer in this Coptic magic book from Egypt tells us interesting details about how the practitioner understood ancient magic and especially the power of…

Anubis, bronze with gilt, gold inlay, ca. 747-525 BCE, Egypt, Karnak, Temple of Amun 20.8 x 14.4 x 5.3 cm. The Walteres Art Museum, 54.400. CC0 1.0

A Worshipper Kneeling Before the Egyptian God Anubis

Date: ca. 747-525 BCE Findspot: Egypt, Karnak, Temple of Amun (Karnak Cachette) Location: The Walters Art Museum, 54.400 A bronze statuette of the anthropomorphic god…

Chronological Order of Ancient Egyptian Funerary Texts: Pyramid Texts, Coffin Texts, Book of the Dead

All of these funerary texts contain spells to protect the deceased in the afterlife. Pyramid Texts: Old Kingdom – First Intermediate Period+ Written on the…

Scene from a Magical Papyrus, 664-525 B.C.E. Papyrus, ink. Dimensions: 4 15/16 × 92 11/16 in. (12.5 × 235.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, 47.218.156a-d. Bequest of Theodora Wilbour from the collection of her father, Charles Edwin Wilbour. Photo: Brooklyn Museum.

Bes-Pantheos as Polymorphic Deity and Atum as Serpent Deity

This ancient Egyptian magical papyrus contains spells against snakes and scorpions for the protection of women and children at night. Seen here are Bes-Pantheos as…

Charm against snakebite (?), Egypt, Byzantine-Medieval 6th-7th century, 24.2 x 22.9 cm P.CtYBR inv. 1792 qua, Yale University, Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library

Coptic Charm against Poisonous Snakes with Satôr Square and Alpha-Leôn Square

This applied Coptic charm against poisonous snakes includes a Satôr square as well as an Alpha-Leôn square. This combination of the Sator square and the…

Solid cast bronze figure of the ancient Egyptian crocodile god Sobek, Ptolemaic?, Egypt. British Museum, London, EA37450 © The Trustees of the British Museum

The Crocodile God Sobek

The crocodile was particularly feared because not only did it kill, it ate the body of its victim without which there could be no afterlife.…

Pantheistic Bes, ca. 250-100 BCE, Egypt. Walteres Art Museum, 54.540. Creative Commons License

A Pantheistic Bes Statuette

This bronze statuette shows a composite deity who has the attributes of various different gods: the face of the god Bes, the twin plumes and…

Amulet against the Evil Eye, Gold, 2 cm, Roman, ca. 1st - 4th century. British Museum 1814,0704.1172 © The Trustees of the British Museum (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)

A Gold Amulet Against the Evil Eye

This amulet consists of a small disc made of gold. It was stamped with an eye in the centre which is attacked by eleven protectors:…

The ancient Egyptian Goddess Repit

Relief of the ancient Egyptian goddess Repit. Repit (also Repyt) is commonly depicted as a lion-headed goddess with the sun-disc on her head guarded by…

New Valley Museum Kharga_843_Demotic Dice. From: Minas-Nerpel, A Demotic Inscribed Icosahedron

An Ancient 20-sided Dice Inscribed with the Names of Egyptian Deities

Overview This so far unique dice was made of limestone. Instead of numbers it was inscribed with the names of 20 different Egyptian deities. These…