Isis and the infant Horus (Harpocrates): two new acquisitions

I had another thread about this theme some time ago (see https://www.cointalk.com/threads/an...orus-harpokrates-reverse.368637/#post-4959711), but can't simply revive it because it ended up being shut down. So I fervently request that people please refrain this time from risking offense to anyone's sensibilities by analogizing the Isis/Osiris/Horus story to another famous story involving a mother and child and certain other events!

Just as a reminder, these are the two coins I already had on the theme:

Antoninus Pius Billon Tetradrachm, Year 23 (159-160 AD), Alexandria, Egypt Mint. Obv. Laureate and draped bust right, ΑΝΤѠΝΙΝΟϹ - ϹƐΒ ƐVϹƐΒ (counterclockwise from upper right) /Isis crowned with disk, horns, and plumes, seated right offering her right breast to crowned Harpocrates [“Horus-as-Child”] seated on her lap; Harpocrates extends his right hand towards her and holds lotus flower in left hand; crowned falcon [Horus] perched right on left end of back of throne, L - Γ [G] /K [= Year 23] across field. Emmett 1402.23 [Emmett, Keith, Alexandrian Coins (Lodi, WI, 2001)]; Dattari (Savio) 2257 [Savio, A. ed., Catalogo completo della collezione Dattari Numi Augg. Alexandrini (Trieste, 2007)]; RPC IV.4 Online, 13938 (temporary) (see https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coins/4/13938); Köln (Geissen) 1842 [Geissen, A., Katalog alexandrinischer Kaisermünzen, Köln, Band II (Hadrian-Antoninus Pius) (Cologne, 1978, corrected reprint 1987)][same dies, see RPC Online 13938 at the link provided, Example 3]; Sear RCV II 4377; K&G 35.810 [Kampmann, Ursula & Granschow, Thomas, Die Münzen der römischen Münzstätte Alexandria (2008)]. 21x28 mm., 11.67 g. Ex. Harlan J. Berk, Ltd., 168th Buy or Bid Sale, March 16, 2010, Lot 475.



Julia Domna, AR Denarius ca. 201 AD, Rome Mint. Obv. Draped bust right, hair waved vertically and fastened in large bun in back, IVLIA AVGVSTA / Rev. Isis, wearing polos on head, draped, standing three-quarters right, head right, holding the nursing infant Horus (Harpocrates) in left arm against left breast, with her right hand holding a wreath or other ring-shaped object against her chest, her left foot against prow, right, and her left knee bent with Horus resting on it; to left of Isis, rudder rests against altar; SAECVLI FELICITAS. RIC IV-1 577 (p. 170), RSC III 174 (ill.), Sear RCV II 6606, BMCRE 166. 18x20 mm., 3.35 g., 6 h. Ex. A.K. Collection; ex. CNG Triton XX Auction, Jan. 10, 2017, part of Lot # 614, No. E027.



A close-up of the important part:



See https://www.cointalk.com/threads/ro...and-horus-on-the-reverse.359651/#post-4487679 for a further discussion of this coin. Some have questioned whether this scene is actually intended to depict Isis nursing the infant Horus, because Isis wears the "wrong" kind of headgear, namely a polos rather than the sun disk and horns -- even though that was originally an attribute of Hathor, not Isis -- or the stepped throne crown of Isis. I think that the skepticism is probably misplaced, given the absence of any other reasonable candidate who would be recognized as represented in this scene. Not, I believe, Julia Domna herself, the mother of two sons, not one, neither of them an infant. Especially given the fact that it's an Imperial coin, and as well known as the Isis/Horus story may already have been in Rome, I'm not sure the details of Isis's crown were necessarily that familiar to a Roman audience. Besides, why else would she be depicted with a rudder, her foot on a prow -- Isis's exact stance on the well-known Isis Pharia coins of Alexandria?

In any event, here is the first of my two new acquisitions depicting Isis and the infant Horus, with no doubt as to the subject. It's my first Roman Egyptian diobol -- representing 1/12 of a tetradrachm. (There were 6 obols to a drachm, and 4 drachms to a tetradrachm, so an obol was 1/24 of a tetradrachm and a diobol 1/12. See the table at p. 16 of Kampmann, Ursula & Granschow, Thomas, Die Münzen der römischen Münzstätte Alexandria (2008).)

Hadrian, AE Diobol, Year 16 (131/132 AD), Alexandria, Egypt Mint. Obv. Laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right, seen from rear, ΑΥΤ ΚΑΙ - ΤΡΑΙ ΑΔΡΙΑ ϹƐΒ / Rev. Isis as mother, crowned with disk and horns, seated right on throne, offering left breast to infant Harpocrates ("Horus-as-child") sitting on her knee crowned with skhent (the crown of Upper and Lower Egypt) [or wearing sidelock?]; on corners of back of throne, two hawks/falcons (also representing Horus), facing each other, each wearing skhent, L - IϚ [= Year 16] across fields. Emmett 1138.16; RPC [Roman Provincial Coinage] Vol. III 5813 (2015); RPC III Online at https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coins/3/5813; BMC 16 Alexandria 762 at p. 90 & PL. XVI [Pool, Reginald Stuart, A Catalog of the Greek Coins in the British Museum, Vol. 16, Alexandria (London, 1892)]; Dattari (Savio) 1749; Köln 1046; K&G 32.530. Purchased from Shick Coins, Ashdod, Israel, Dec. 2020; Israel Antiquities Authority Export License No. 42927, 02/02/2021.



Thus, Horus actually appears three times on this coin: once as the infant Horus (Harpocrates), and twice in his manifestation as the Horus falcon. The falcons clearly wear the skhent crown; I'm not entirely sure whether Harpocrates wears the same crown, or whether that's simply the childhood sidelock in which he is known for wearing his hair. For comparison, here's my bronze Horus falcon, wearing a skhent (26th Dynasty, 2 1/8” H x 2 1/8” L x 3/4” D inc. integral base, purch. 1/27/1986, Harmer Rooke, NYC):





Finally, here's my second recent acquisition depicting the Isis & infant Horus theme

Egypt, green faience amulet depicting Isis, wearing “stepped throne” crown (in form of hieroglyph for Isis's name, Queen of Throne)*, right breast bare, seated on elaborate chair with cross-hatched/basket pattern on sides; on her lap, her son the infant Horus (a/k/a Harpocrates, “Horus-the-child”), wearing sidelock resting upwards against her body; her left hand holds him up behind his head, with her right hand about to offer her breast to him. 60.3 mm. (2 3/8”) H, 30 mm D. Purchased 1/10/2021, Explorer Ancient Art, NYC, ex. DW Collection, NJ (before 1981).









*See, e.g., https://egyptianmuseum.org/deities-isis (Isis "is known today by her Greek name Isis; however, the ancient Egyptians called her Aset. Her name translates to 'Queen of the Throne' which is reflected in her headdress, which is typically a throne");https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isis ("The hieroglyphic writing of her name incorporates the sign for a throne, which Isis also wears on her head as a sign of her identity"); https://www.metmuseum.org/about-the...n-art/temple-of-dendur-50/cult-and-decoration (the fourth photo down shows a relief from the Temple of Dendur, depicting Isis wearing, on top of her headdress, "a small stepped hieroglyph that depicts a throne and was used to write Isis's name"); http://www.art-and-archaeology.com/asianartglossary.html (referencing "[t]he stepped-throne hieroglyph of Isis").

****

Small amulets and statuetttes/figurines of Isis nursing (or about to nurse) the infant Horus were very common in Ancient Egypt during the Late Period, most notably in bronze (and wearing the sun disk and horns), but also in faience, and wearing Isis's stepped throne crown, as on my artifact. See the examples from the Brooklyn Museum, the Louvre, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, at: https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/117027; https://www.louvre.fr/en/oeuvre-notices/statuette-isis-nursing-horus; and https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/545969 . To quote from the Met's description:

"In the Late Period, the popularity of this important goddess dramatically increased. She is nearly always depicted in anthropomorphic form, standing or seated on a throne. This statuette shows the goddess in her most beloved pose, nursing her son Horus (known also as the lactans pose). Other goddesses sometimes nurse Horus or other child gods, but Isis is preeminent among them in this role. She wears the horned crown that by the Late Period she had adopted from the goddess Hathor, as well as the vulture headdress that emphasized the role of goddesses as royal mothers. Horus, meanwhile, wears an amulet on his chest, a common feature for child gods.

The large number of Isis statuettes in this particular pose demonstrate some of the qualities for which Isis was most valued in the first millennium BC: her role as a life-giver and protector. These types of statuettes were very common, dedicated not just to Isis cults, but seemingly to many temples and shrines, usually in association with Osiris and the child god Horus."

From the Louvre:

"During later periods, Egyptians produced many small bronze statuettes of their deities, which they then gave as tributes during pilgrimages to holy sites. Thousands of them have been found in concealed areas, where they were placed to make room for others. This image of Isis nursing her child only appeared during the last millennium BC. Prior to this time, this role was attributed to other goddesses, such as Mut and Hathor, the Celestial Cow, also called the Temple of Horus, whose cow horns were usually attributed to Isis at the time. This is a good example of a common image that was reproduced in varying degrees of craftsmanship. It is difficult to accurately determine the geographical provenance or the precise date for most of these objects, as Isis was viewed as the universal mother from an early time."

Please post anything Egyptian you like, that you haven't posted before or posted recently -- whether or not it's a coin, and whether or not it concerns Isis and/or Horus/Harpocrates.

 

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It really wouldn't be fair for me to leave out Papa, given how hard Isis had to work to find him and put him back together sufficiently to father Horus.

Egypt, Bronze figure of Osiris, holding crook & flail & wearing the Atef crown (white crown of Upper Egypt between two ostrich feathers) with uraeus serpent in front & royal beard. 26th Dynasty, ca. 663-525 BCE. 4 ¾” H. Purchased 1/27/1986, Harmer Rooke, NYC.

 

Lovely example of that issue, @DonnaML , with a particularly appealing reverse. Very appealing antiquities, too!

As you know, the coin was issued by two mints, the main mint in Rome and by an unknown eastern mint, traditionally attributed to Laodicea but more recently to Antioch.


Julia Domna, AD 193-217.
Roman AR denarius, 3.61 g, 17.7 mm, 12 h.
Rome, AD 196-202.
Obv: IVLIA AVGVSTA, bare-headed and draped bust, right.
Rev: SAECVLI FELICITAS, Isis, wearing polos, standing right, foot on prow(?) (stool?), holding wreath and infant Horus; behind them, a ship’s rudder leans against an altar.
Refs: RIC 577; BMCRE 75-82; Hill 504; Cohen 174; RCV 6606.


Julia Domna, AD 193-217.
Roman AR denarius, 3.07 g, 18.2 mm, 12 h.
Uncertain Eastern mint (Antioch?), AD 196-202.
Obv: IVLIA AVGVSTA, bare-headed and draped bust, right.
Rev: SAECVLI FELICITAS, Isis, wearing polos, standing right, left foot on prow, right hand on breast and holding infant Horus on left arm; behind them, rudder.
Refs: RIC 645; BMCRE 618; Cohen 174; RCV --; CRE 353.

There are a number of features on the reverse that differ between the issues from the two mints:

Isis wears a polos on the Rome mint coin, but not on the eastern mint one. It's unclear on my example whether she is bare-headed and simply has harsh waves in her hair like Julia Domna herself, or whether she is wearing some sort of radiate crown.

Secondly, on the Rome mint example, Isis holds a wreath over her breast, whereas she holds no such object on the eastern mint example, but simply holds her arm up, placing her hand on her (clothed) breast. On many Rome mint examples, the wreath is poorly engraved or poorly preserved and many numismatists have mistaken the wreath for the goddess's bare breast, as if she were nursing the baby.

Lastly, the details of the surface on which Isis stands are different. On the Rome example, she stands on flat ground and rests her foot on a prow or stool and the rudder leans against a box-like object (altar?) behind her; on the eastern mint version, however, she rests her left leg on the prow of a ship and there is no separate box-like object behind her, but it's the same prow, and the rudder leans against it.

ROME MINT. @Sulla80's example clearly shows the wreath held by Isis and calls the identity of the "prow" on which she rests her left foot into question:



EASTERN MINT. My example shows Isis's wavy hair (or radiate crown); Isis doesn't hold a wreath.



I'm not sure what -- if anything -- these differences signify.

 

Another interesting thing is that on @DonnaML's Antoninus Pius tetradrachm from Alexandria, her Hadrian diobol, and on @Sulla80's Rome mint Julia Domna denarius, the baby seems to have wings, such as might be seen on coins depicting Cupid/Eros. Was Harpocrates typically depicted with wings? Absolutely! He is part falcon, you know! This site, for example, states, "Harpocrates developed wings and become Harpocratic Eros, which in turn become Cupid. Cupid is linked specifically with being a child, and the connection with wings suggests the influence of Horus’s falcon wings, that spanned the sky. representing the young morning sun."



Ancient figure of baby Harpocrates:

 

I think that's some sort of radiate crown on Isis on the Eastern Mint coin. If it's her hair, she needs to hire a new hairdresser. I also find it interesting that the infant Harpocrates is reaching up towards her face, rather than to her breast.

I take it you agree that there should be no real doubt that the intent was to portray Isis and Harpocrates on this type, despite the absence of one of Isis's typical crowns?

 

@Roman Collector, that's a fascinating observation about the wings. I think I might see what you're referring to on the Antoninus Pius (but are you sure that's not the lotus bud he's holding? Or do you mean something else?), but I'm not sure what you're looking at on the Hadrian diobol.

 

What wonderful pieces for your collection. My father was a railroad aficionado and took more than one trip to Egypt to ride the Cairo-Aswan railroad, stopping at Luxor often. He brought us back much reading materials concerning the gods and life in ancient Egypt. Right now in NC, the Museum of Art is conducting a show entitled: Golden Mummies of Egypt.

I'm familiar with Isis and Horus in Egyptian culture/mythology. The author Markus Carabas recently had works published about Horus and others related to that period. Also of Seth (Set) and their struggle for the throne. Because of the importance placed on Horus, many modern Egyptians wear jewelry that depict The Eye of Horus.

Eye of Horus pendant

On another note, an item that might be of interest to you is a coin very similar to one you have shown. It was (and may still be) in the collection of a Washington, D.C. numanisist.

Who knows, he might have some period pieces to expand your collection. He and others seemed to have a great variety listed on this web site:
http://www.ancientresource.com/lots/egyptian/egyptian_coins.html

 

Do not open the previous thread.
It could be harmful! Spam!
I reported it right away!

Moderator deleted it! Great!

 

You talking about the one in Vietnamese? I saw that. Didn't open, but best I could get from google translation is it was something about sending/needing money for schools. Best I could get from routing was that it was bouncing around Nha Trang and Ho Chi Minh City. Then it landed in California via the university school system. Weird.

 

Great thread Donna ! Many thanks.

Bought the Payrus and the stone statue in Egypt some 35 years ago while visiting
Egypt in a 1 month roundtour , best holiday ever.

 

Interesting new coins and antiquities Donna. And nice examples all.

 

@DonnaML, thanks for returning to the fray with these, and condolences on what happened to your last thread. (Hope I didn't help....)
In better news, that amulet is Fantastic. Is there any more information on the chrological /dynastic range? ...The Osiris is great, too. Never again will I write off the 26th Dynasty!

 

Thank you. I don't think it's really possible to narrow things down further chronologically, since the vast majority of readily available and affordable (at least to me!) ancient Egyptian artifacts come from the Late Period, specifically the 26th or Saite Dynasty, and to a lesser extent the 30th Dynasty and the Ptolemaic period. (Except for scarabs, since for whatever reason, one often sees scarabs for sale dating back to the New Kingdom and the Hyksos period. Of course, millions of scarabs, quite literally, have been found.) Also, the art and artifacts under the 26th Dynasty were in a deliberately archaizing style, which is another reason, besides availability, why they're so popular.

No, you weren't responsible for what happened to that thread.

 

Those are nice, although I'm no expert on authenticity. From what I understand, it's been difficult for at least the last 50 years or so for tourists to be able to find, buy, and export genuine antiquities from Egypt. There are a great many tourist reproductions that don't even purport to be real. The days of the late 19th and early 20th centuries when one could buy genuine ushabtis, etc. in the gift shop at the Cairo Museum are long gone, I'm afraid! Fortunately for collectors, there's a huge supply of antiquities that were legally exported from Egypt long ago.

 

I reported it as well. That's the second time recently that I've noticed spam posts in Vietnamese appearing in the middle of the night on threads I started. I don't know if there's something about me, or if it's been happening generally on CT!

 

Thanks. I'm familiar with Ancient Resource, they've been around for quite a while. The proprietor is Gabriel Vandervort, who used to be a TV producer of documentaries about ancient history. See http://www.ancientresourceauctions.com/about-us.html. Personally, I like their antiquities but am not always crazy about their stock of ancient coins, which I think are sometimes a bit overpriced given their condition. (Although I did buy one Republican coin from them recently, and am quite pleased with it.)

Here's one artifact I bought there a few years ago:

Egypt, large (70 mm.) pale blue/green faience papyrus pillar/scepter amulet, suspension loop at top, break repaired in middle, Late Period, c. 664-323 BCE. Multiple images in one photo:


And here's an original Eye of Horus amulet, with the original coloring well-preserved, which I bought at the Harmer Rooke Gallery in New York City in January 1983.

Egypt, faience amulet, Eye of Horus (Uzat Eye), green with brown relief, 26th Dynasty, ca.525 BCE. 34 mm. W x 24 mm. H.

 

Very nice coins and antiquities.

 

Isis does appear to wear a polos on the BM specimens of this Eastern aureus and denarius, as described in the text for nos. 617-8 (p. 279), and fairly clearly shown on pl. 43.5-6.

 

Interesting thread.. lovely antiquities @DonnaML. My contribution to your post is one of my favorite pieces:

Bronze statuette of Harpocrates, shown seated wearing the sidelock of youth, sun-disc and tripartite wig, depicted in his child form with finger to the mouth - a recognition of the Egyptian "child" hieroglyph. Dating to Egypt's Late Period, approximately 664-323 BC. A suspension loop at the back would have enabled the figure to be worn as an amulet. Height: 89mm. Ex. ArtAncient Ltd, Ex-Collection of C.E.Best (died 1973).

 

Beautiful! I believe there are also Roman Alexandrian coins portraying Harpocrates with his finger to his mouth. I have my eye out for one. And/or an artifact like yours!