Penn Museum

Isis

Title: Isis Nursing Horus

Year: Late Period, 575 B.C.

Material: Bronze

Creator: Saqqara, Egypt

Collection: University of Pennsylvania Museum

This object is a statuette of the Egyptian goddess Isis nursing her son, the god Horus. Isis is the goddess of motherhood, magic, and fertility.

Horus is the god of war, sky, and protection. He is the most important god in the Egyptian religion.

Horus

This object is mostly important to scholars today, although it still has some importance to Egyptian culture. Scholars can learn a great deal about ancient Egyptian culture and religion by studying the gods and goddesses. The relationships between the gods reveal a lot about the complex nature of the Egyptian religion. For example, Isis was married to Osiris, the god of the dead; he was murdered by another god, Set, and cut into pieces. Later after Horus was born, Seth was enraged and tried to catch Isis and Horus. Isis hid in the Nile River Delta and invoked divine powers to protect them. This object is also and important art piece. Is important to see the evolution of Egyptian craftsmanship.

This object might not be important to people that aren’t interesting in ancient cultures. This object may not be interesting to people that practice and orthodox religion that condemns polytheism.

This object was most likely acquired during the museum’s early collection period. I assume that is was a gift or part of an expedition of some kind. The statuette is on display in a glass case sitting on a red box. It looks like this statuette was part of an alter or another decoration. The object is next to other statuettes and a large mural. These objects contribute to our understanding of Egyptian art and religion. This object is on display to represent two of the most important figures in the ancient Egyptian religion. The label for this object includes the typical information: item, date, location, material, and size. Below this there is a short paragraph explaining the story of the birth of Horus. The text seems to be written from the point of view of a curator, however the text is easy to comprehend. I felt like the text missed a key point. It doesn’t directly talk about Isis, but Horus. It also doesn’t directly mention that Isis is Horus’s mother. The context is hard to understand unless you read all of the text before this object. An opposing point of view about this object might be from someone in the cult of Isis. They would view Isis as a more important god than Horus. Another opposing point of view might be anyone who doesn’t believe in mythology. They might tell a narrative that doesn’t highlight the importance of Isis as a goddess, but as a mythological being. 

Other fields of study that would add to your understanding of the object includes: Egyptology, mythology, book of the dead, Osiris, and ancient Greece.

Tyet

To engage visitors with this object I would like to have other versions of the same statue and compare them to its Christian counterpart. The image of Isis nursing Horus was the precursor to images of Mary and Jesus. I think it would also be interesting to tell the story of Isis and Horus in the gallery. This could be done several ways. I think paper theater would be cool. However, there are some parts of the story that are inappropriate for kids. I am not sure if it would be right to omit those parts or just not make them explicit. Isis also has a symbol associated with her, tyet. This would be a fun craft to make with kids. A tyet was usually used as a funerary amulet.