Bes Pantheos

Dimensions :-

Height - 16 cm / 6-1/4 inches

Width - 12 cm / 4-3/4 inches

Depth - 2 cm / 3/4 inch

* Combined postage available on all pieces

On offer here is a highly detailed, large amuletic tablet of Bes Pantheos. This is a realistic replica of an actual ancient artifact that will add a little ancient magic to your collection.

Made of a limestone and quartzite composition stone it is coloured in a well developed ancient green patina. A bronze ring inserted through the top allows for the piece to be hung as would have been done in ancient times.

Background information

Bes Pantheos is a curious development in Egyptian mythological iconography during the late period of Egyptian history. The familiar form of Bes appears to be embellished with a multitude of symbols and additional attributes that set it apart from earlier examples. Some of these are listed below:-

* His entire body is covered in eyes.

* He has an extra set of arms allowing him to hold extra items.

* His feet take the form of jackals although they could be interpreted as Anubis shoes.

* He has the tail of Horus, holds an Ankh and a Was sceptre of dominion in his primary hands.

* Emanating from his head are eight small animal heads.

What is going on here in what looks like and is a complex tablet, is the harnessing of Bes to become master of and thus protector from, all the animals and creatures that troubled mankind in the land of Egypt.

It is a magical tablet. Bes stands on a serpent that encircles a jackal, tortoise, crocodile, snake, hippopotamus and a lion thus Bes takes away their powers fusing them with his own.

In his spare hands he holds knives, spears, scorpions and yet more snakes. The sting of the scorpion appears symmetrically below the center of the bottom wing.

He wears an elaborate Atef crown composed of plumes of ostrich feathers, ram's horns, protective cobras and sun discs. Peculiar to this example of the Atef crown, knives can be seen here as well as sharp angled triangles.

What appears as a decorative border around the piece are co-joined scorpion stings which can be interpreted as a 'force field' around the whole scene. Bes the protector being in this way protected himself.

Quite a lot of meaning in this piece and then the attributes of Heka should be considered.

Heka is a complex subject but can be translated from the hieroglyphs as 'activating the Ka' - the part of the soul that signified personality. Egyptian thought suggests a belief in the power of the soul.

If the soul could be aligned in the physical world to achieve a heightened sense of awareness of the natural and spiritual realms, this was the key to how magic could work effectively and invoke power and influence.

To own this tablet in ancient times helped the owner achieve such aims.