Examples of ushabtis found in Egyptian coffins

Episode 32 Ancient Egyptian Magic

The History of Ancient Egypt

Professor Robert Brier

Film Review

Although Egyptian magic was a totally separate realm from their religion, they had a goddess of magic (Heca) and many Egyptian magicians were also priests.

Examples of Egyptian magic rituals included drawing protective circles around people to protect them from harm. For example, to protect someone from scorpion bites at night, a magician would use a magical rod made of bone or ivory to draw a circle around the bed.

Another ritual included burying people with servant statues (called ushabtis) to work for them. Some deceased nobles were buried with seeds and farm implements, along with their ushabtis, as well as an overseer ushabti for every ten workers.

Another form of of magic were oracle statues (usually of a god) that could speak. They were often used to solve crimes and as an alternative to legal trials to establish innocence or guilt.

All Egyptians wore small magical amulets (most made of faience* because it was cheap) for protection. The eye of Horus was the mot popular amulet. This related to the myth that Horus’s eye was magically regenerated after Set gouged it out (see The Ancient Egyptian Origin Myth). Wearing Horus’s eye amulet was intended to protect your health.**

The scarab was also a common amulet.The Egyptian word khepri means both “beetle” and “to exist.” Scarab amulets became popular in Egypt owing to the mistaken belief that female dung beetles reproduced without sex.

The Ankh amulet was the rarest. It was believed the gods brought pharaohs to life by touching their nose with an Ankh amulet.

*Egyptian faience was a ceramic material made of sand, alkaline salts (either naturally occurring sodium bicarbonate known as natron or potash) and a metallic colorant.

*The use of the abbreviation Rx (for prescriptions) in is a corruption of the eye of Horus.

Film can be viewed free with a library card on Kanopy.

https://www.kanopy.com/en/pukeariki/watch/video/1492791/1492868