Magic knife

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A magic knife, Walters Art Gallery
Two magic knives, Egyptian Museum of the University of Leipzig

Magic knife (Engl. Birth wall , Birth tusk or Magic knife ) is the modern term for half-round, decorated knife-like objects that are primarily in tombs of the late Egyptian Middle Kingdom found (ca. 1850-1750 v. Chr.). They served as apotropaion , protective objects against evil forces.

Details

These magic knives are mostly cut from the ivory of hippopotamus teeth. On one side, they are usually decorated with a number of protective deities and demons . There is the figure of Bes , or that of Aha ( the fighter , a human figure who holds snakes in his hands), of hippos, crocodiles, but also of fantastic figures such as snakes with a human head and a human head grasping from their back appears.

function

The function of these knives can be seen from some inscriptions on them. You should protect mother and child. The deities depicted on the magic knives are those who also defended the sun god Re against enemies on his night journey in the underworld. There was obviously the idea that the good spirits who protect the sun god at night can also protect mother and child.

literature

  • Hartwig Altenmüller : The Apotropaia and the gods of Middle Egypt: a typological and religious-historical investigation of the so-called "magic knives" of the Middle Kingdom. Dissertation, Munich 1965.
  • Wolfgang Helck , Eberhard Otto: Small Lexicon of Egyptology. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1999, ISBN 3-447-04027-0 , p. 334.
  • Peter Hubai: The broken wand. From the benefit of magic or the apotropaion to Budapest. In: Studies on Ancient Egyptian Culture. Volume 37, 2008, pp. 169-198.
  • Stephen Quirke: Birth Tusks: the Armory of Health in Context - Egypt - 1800 BC (= Middle Kingdom Studies. Volume 3). Golden House Publications, London 2016, ISBN 978-1-906137-49-6 .

Web links

Commons : Magic Knife  - collection of images, videos and audio files