The Hypocephalus: An Ancient Egyptian Funerary Amulet av Tamas Mekis

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The hypocephalus is an element of Late Period and Ptolemaic funerary equipment ¿ an amuletic disc placed under the head of mummies. Its shape emulates the sun¿s disc, and its form is planar, although it occasionally has a concave shape (in such cases, it protects the head as a funerary cap). The earliest known example can be dated to the 4th century BC and the latest to the 2nd/1st century BC. <i>The Hypocephalus: an Ancient Egyptian Funerary Amulet </i>analyses both the written records and iconography of these objects. So far, 158 examples are known; several, unfortunately, from old descriptions only. The relatively low number shows that the object was not a widespread item of funerary equipment. Only priest and priestly families used them, those of Amon in Thebes, of Min in Akhmim, and the ones of Ptah in Memphis. Among the examples, no two are identical. In some details, every piece is an individualized creation. Ancient Egyptian theologians certainly interpreted hypocephali as the