Hypocephalus

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A hypocephalus is a small disk-shaped object made of papyrus, stuccoed linen, bronze, gold, wood, or clay, which ancient Egyptians placed under the head of their dead ("hypocephalus" = hypó {Greek: "under, below"} + cephalus {Latin, transliterated from Greek kephalos: "head"}). They believed it would magically cause the head and body to be enveloped in flames or radiance, making the deceased divine.

Hypocephali symbolized the eye of Ra or Horus, representing the sun, and the scenes portrayed on it relate to the Egyptian concept of the resurrection and life after death. To the Egyptians the daily rising and setting of the sun was a vivid symbol of the resurrection. The hypocephalus itself represented all that the sun encircles — the whole world. The upper portion represented the world of men and the day sky, and the lower portion the nether world and the night sky.

Hypocephali first appeared during the Egyptian Saite Dynasty (663–525 B.C.) and their use continued down to at least the Christian era. It is in the Saite version of the Book of the Dead, chapter 162, that directions for the construction and use of hypocephali are given. The section to which this chapter belongs (chapters 162–65) contains words and concepts that some egyptologists believe contain foreign influences, possibly Semitic or Nubian.

Hypocephali are found in several museums in Europe and the Middle East, and few in the United States — three in the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology and one in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. No two hypocephali are the same, and there are just over 100 known samples of them.