Description:  The top, bottom and right hand side of the small, stone Horus stela are broken off. The front of the stela bears a three-dimensional representation of Horus the Child subduing dangerous animals. Horus the Child's legs, arms and most of his body are preserved; his head, shoulders and upper torso have been broken away with the top of the stela. The god is depicted naked, with his genitalia visible. In his right hand, the deity holds an oryx by its horns, two snakes, whose heads rear upwards, and one scorpion, emerging from the top of the hand. In his left hand, a lion hangs, held by its tail, and two further snakes are just visible emerging from the top of the hand. The animals are carved in raised relief. Although they are no longer present, it is safe to assume that Horus would originally have stood upon one or more crocodiles.

To the right of Horus the Child is a three-dimensional representation of the goddess Isis, his mother. Her head, arms and torso are preserved, while the legs and the lower parts of the arms and body are broken away. The base of a headdress is visible on her head.

There are hieroglyphic inscriptions on the back surface (C, 8 columns) and the left hand side (D, 2 columns). Inscription C on the back surface is part of a spell found on the majority of such stelae, commonly referred to as 'Spell/Text A' (cf. Sternberg-El Hotabi 1999, Teil I: 8-9, 47 with n. 148); the spell invokes the protection of Horus. Only a small part of inscription D is preserved; it mentions the well-being of the body.

Inscriptions / Translations:  C (back): (1) [Hail to you god, son of a god! Hail to you heir, son of the heir!] Hail to you bull, [son of a bull,] who the goddess (Isis) bore! Hail to you Horus, who came forth from [Osiris, born of Isis]. (2) [I have pronounced your name], I have recited your magic, I have spoken with your power, and I have conjured with [your] spells [which you created. It is your spells which are in my mouth], (3) [those which your father] Geb [ordained for you], which your mother Nut gave to you, which your brother Khenty-khem taught you (in order to) make/achieve [your protection, in order to renew your safety,] (4) [in order to seal the mouth of every serpent] which is in the sky, on the earth and in the water, in order to cause the people to live and in order to [satisfy the gods and to satisfy Re with your praises.] (5) [Come to me! Hurry! Hu]rry on this day like the one who steers in the divine barque did for you. May [you] repulse [for me every lion in the desert,] (6) [every crocodile in] the river and every mouth [that bites;] (7) [make them for me like the pebbles] in the desert, like [the broken potsherds in the street] [...]

(Note on inscription C: The passages in square brackets have been restored using other known examples of this text, e.g. Brooklyn Museum no. 60.73, Jacquet-Gordon 1965-1966: 59-62, figs. 5-6.)

D (left-hand side): (1) [...] cause the blood vessels in his body to be warm in order to cool [...] (2) [...] come out from the cavern and return to [??] like [...]

Bibliography:  A. Cabrol, ‘Les voies processionnelles de Thèbes’, Leuven 2001, 660-661.
H. Jacquet-Gordon, “Two Stelae of Horus-on-the-Crocodiles”, ‘Brooklyn Museum Annual’ VII, Brooklyn 1965-1966, 53-64.
H. Sternberg-El Hotabi, ‘Untersuchungen zur Überlieferungsgeschichte der Horusstelen’, Teil I-II, Wiesbaden 1999.

Notes:  The Horus stela can be dated to the Ptolemaic Period on the basis of style, iconography and orthography (for example, the spelling of the name of Geb in inscription C, column 3; cf. Wb V, 164).

Horus stelae, or cippi, are magical stone stelae inscribed with spells and carved with depictions of the child god Horus (Horpakhered or Harpocrates) subduing dangerous animals; the images and spells together were intended to provide protection from harmful creatures and to cure their stings and bites. Many such stelae were set up in small chapels or niches within temples, positioned above a basin for the collection of water, which was poured over the stela, absorbing the prophylactic power of the spells and images; this water was then probably drunk or applied to stings and bites in an effort to either ward off harmful animals or to cure those already bitten/stung (Sternberg-El Hotabi 1999, Teil I: 85). Examples are known as early as the New Kingdom, but most date to the 26th Dynasty or later.

A downloadable 3D Model is available here.

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