Csornay Boldizsár - Dobos Zsuzsa - Varga Ágota - Zakariás János szerk.: A Szépművészeti Múzeum közleményei 98. (Budapest, 2003)
GYŐRY, HEDVIG: A Pataikos with Hawks on the Shoulders
rus was also threatened by snakebite when he was a newborn baby. 111 When grown up, however, he could fight Seth as his equal. Thus the association between Horus and Pataikos was self-evident, both in the figurative and literal sense of the word. CONCLUSION The appearance of the two hawks on the shoulders of the Pataikoi was likely the consequence of a concrete idea (either of content or of form) that existed during the Third Intermediate Period. On the basis of the contents, it seems that when they first appeared in the composition together with the god Nofertum, they entered the composition through a Memphite theological circle - but in the Late Period type that has them as a standard complement, they seem always connected with the Horus and Isis circle. It can even be presumed that the exact interpretation of the birds not only changed with time, but that there were differences between the various geographical or social parts of the land. But whether linked to the persons of Ptah or Horus, the explanations all lead to the notions of protection and (re)birth. If this Pataikos amulet type at this earlier stage represented Ptah in his role of creator - in the composition in that capacity equated with other primordial creator-gods, like Khepri (via the scarab on his head 112 ), Atum, and Amun (via the cryptographic names on the Pataikos) - then the two birds would logically appear together with protective deities from the Memphite circle, notably Nofertum and Sakhmet. The birds on the shoulders would in this case be the representations either of the life-force transmitted by the arms, as symbolized by the "Two Guides" of Sokar and the two birds of Ptah, all connected with the shoulders, or of the life-force of the syncretistic Nofertum. During the Late Period, however, the person of Horus (identified with Nofertum, Ptah's son) became the central figure, as also is shown by the additon of the figures of Isis and Nephthys, and the role of Ptah changed into a support for Horus. The latter is reflected in a formulation on the Metternich Stele: "Yours is your forearm , Horus! Fill in the office of your father Osiris! Ptah decided for you on the day of your birth." 113 In general, the Late Period extended complex Pataikos compositions now represent the complete story of the child Horus in one image, analogue to the Horus cippi, of which the texts can now be used to illustrate the contents of this Pataikos composition. The Horus cippi depict the solar cycle by ingeniously combining the Sun's phases of age in one figure: the Horus child, of course, represents the manifestation of the young sungod in the morning, while behind the Bes mask above his head, the manifestation of the 111 Cf. inscription on the statue of Djedher, lines 78-79: "que tu périsses .... qui fait sa fête dans le sang de Re (le jour) ou sa mère Va mis au monde." Jelínková-Reymond, E., Les inscriptions de la statue guérisseuse de Djed-Her-le-saveur, Le Caire 1956, p. 41. 112 RÄRG, p. 585, links the scarab with Ptah's creator's role; hprr "scarab"/ hpr "to come into being". 113 Metternichstele (n. 38) Spell XII. 146-148. pp. 56-57.
