Hypocephalus

A hypocephalus is a small disk-shaped object generally made of stuccoed linen,British Museum Dept. of Egyptian Antiquities, "A General Introductory Guide to the Egyptian Collections in the British Museum", Published by Trustees of the British Museum, 1971, p.146] but also of papyrus,William Matthew Flinders Petrie, Edward Russell Ayrton, Charles Trick Currelly, Arthur Edward Pearse Brome Weigall, "Abydos", 1902, p.50] bronze, gold, wood, or clay, which ancient Egyptians from the Late Period on placed under the heads of their dead. It was believed to magically protect the deceased, cause the head and body to be enveloped in light and warmth, [Geraldine Pinch, "Magic in ancient Egypt", University of Texas Press, 1995, p.157] making the deceased divine. It replaced the earlier cow-amulet.

Etymology

The word is derived from ηυποκέφαλος "hypocephalus" = "hypó" {Greek: "under, below"} + "cephalus" {latinization of Greek "kephalos": "head"}; a literal translation of the Egyptian "kher tep" ["Xr": Ermann & Grapow, "Wörterbuch der ägyptischen Sprache" vol. 3, 386.1-388.15
"tp": "ibidem" vol. 5, 263.3-265.10; 266.5-6] which has the same meaning).

ymbolism

Hypocephali symbolized the Eye of Ra or the Eye of Horus, representing the sun, and the scenes portrayed on them relate to Egyptian ideas of resurrection and life after death, connecting them with the Osirian myth. [Alfred Wiedemann, "Religion of the Ancient Egyptians", 2001, p.306] To the ancient Egyptians the daily setting and rising of the sun was a symbol of death and rebirth. The hypocephalus represented all that the sun encircles — the world of the living, over which it passed during the day, was depicted in the upper half, and that of the dead, which it crossed during the night, in the lower oortion.

Hypocephali first appeared during the Egyptian Saite Dynasty (663–525 B.C.) and their use continued for centuries. Chapter 162 of the Book of the Dead version of that period contain directions for the making and use of hypocephali. [E. A. Wallis Budge, (1893), "Mummy: A Handbook of Egyptian Funerary Archaeology", Kessinger Publishing 2003, p.476] The foreign loanwords used in this section have led some Egyptologists to believe in foreign influences, possibly Semitic or Nubian. [http://abish.byui.edu/reserve/LenhartM/110/TheJosephSmithHypocephalus.htm Michael D. Rhodes, "The Joseph Smith Hypocephalus", accessed 16 August 2008] ]

Preservation

Hypocephali are kept in museums in Europe (including several examples of the British Museum), the Middle East, and 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.

ources

* [http://abish.byui.edu/reserve/LenhartM/110/TheJosephSmithHypocephalus.htm Michael D. Rhodes, "The Joseph Smith Hypocephalus", accessed 16 December 2005]

Footnotes

ee also

*

External Links

Images of hypocephali may be found at:

* [http://scriptures.lds.org/en/abr/fac_2]
* [http://essenes.net/hypo.htm]
* [http://www.digitalegypt.ucl.ac.uk/abydos/late/hypoc.html]
* [http://www.ancient-egypt.co.uk/ashmolean/pages/2005-mar-11%20472.htm]

Although translations/interpretations on these sites may not be accurate, the images are authentic.