The god Horus stands on a boat, and spears a tiny hippopotamus -a manifestation of the god Seth. Relief at the Egyptian temple of Horus at Edfu, early 1st century BC.
Why is Seth depicted so small in this artwork?
A sequence of inscriptions and reliefs are shown at the temple of Horus at Edfu, which tell of the struggle between the forces of chaos (represented by the god Seth), and the forces of order (represented by the god Horus).
Compared to the overpowering, commanding figure of Horus, this evil manifestation of Seth is shown on a minuscule scale. While this may seem strange from an artistic point of view, for the Egyptians, it was essential that evil was shown as bound to fail, and good, triumphant. Depicting evil powers was thought to be dangerous, and, as Pinch notes: ”reducing the power of the enemy by reducing his scale was a magical technique as well as an artistic convention.”
Recommended further reading: Geraldine Pinch’s Magic in Ancient Egypt (University of Texas Press, 1995). Photo taken by David Berkowitz.
(via tinsnip)
