Amulet of the god Horus as a falcon. Ancient Egypt, Lower Epoch, 664-323 B.C.

Amulet of the god Horus as a falcon. Ancient Egypt, Lower Epoch, 664-323 B.C.
Fayenza.
Provenance: private collection in Paris. Acquired on the art market in the 1980s.
In good state of preservation.
Measurements: 2.8 cm (height); 4 cm (height with stand).

Amulet entirely worked in faience. As it is a falcon it is evident that it is the representation of the god Horus, one of the most important ancient Egyptian deities that fulfilled many functions, especially as god of royalty and heaven. He was worshipped from at least late prehistoric Egypt to the Ptolemaic Kingdom and Roman Egypt. Different forms of Horus are recorded in history, and Egyptologists treat them as distinct gods. These various forms may be different manifestations of the same deity in which certain attributes or syncretic relationships are emphasized, not necessarily in opposition but complementary to each other, in keeping with the way the ancient Egyptians viewed the multiple facets of reality. He was most often depicted as a falcon, most likely a lanner falcon or peregrine falcon, or as a falcon-headed man.