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

old sun-god at evening is hiding.

114 The sun-god is "the aged one, who rejuvenates himself in his time, the old one, who achieves youthfulness" ,

{{T> who sends an effective aid from his solar bark, in the form of a dwarf (who by nature unifies in himself the two extremes of age), of whom it is said: "the protection of Horus is the dwarf, who traverses the two lands at twilight."

116 On the Pataikoi, behind and beside the central figure there can be found Isis in the double role of the mother and protectress: "the magic of his mother, Isis is his protection."

117 Isis' lament and moan even stopped the bark of Ra, so that the healing should be very effective indeed.

118 In this last activity her companion was Nephthys, represented on the other side of the Pataikos composition: "There came Nephthys weeping and her jammer filled the Delta."

119 There were several further powers who partook in the protection, his traditional companions were signaled by animal forms, like the scarab on the head ("The protection of Horus is the august scarab, who flies in the sky"

120

) and the hawks on his shoulders ("The protection of Horus is the great hawk, which flies in the sky, on the earth and in the Netherword"

121 ). Naturally, all this magical support for Horus also happened for the sake of the person who relied on the power of the amulet, as the above quotations always continue with "and the protection of the patient is likewise"

, since these statuettes were not decorations but protective instruments worn with the help of their suspension loop. The Pataikos statuette of the Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest, dated to the Late Period, should thus be interpreted as a representation of the idea that the person wearing the dwarf figure becomes the beneficiary of the divine protection by the ordinance of Atum, exactly like the child Horus received it in the mythical event. This protective power was delivered either by two hawk-shaped guardians, who represented mostly the Horus aspect (also in the shape of two statues), or personally by Isis, the one "great of magic"

, the protecting divine mother who intervenes on behalf of the new life, represented on the reverse. The defeated enemy, symbolized by crocodiles and snakes as is usual

122

, are Chaos and the negative forces that on a mythical level, are incarnated in Seth. HEDVIG GYŐRY Translated by the autor 114 Cf.. e.g., el-Aguizy, O., Dwarfs and Pygmies in Ancient Egypt, ASAE 71 (1987) 53-60, and Sternberg-el-Hotabi, H., Zwei Horusstelen aus einer österreichischen Privatsammlung, GM 194 (2003) 65-78. 115 Metternichstele (n. 38) Spell V, 38. p. 30. 116 Metternichstele. Spell XIV, 223. p. 66. Cf. the Bes mask above the Horus child on the Horus cippi. 117 Metternichstele, Spell XIV, 230. p. 67. 118 Metternichstele, Spell XIV, 207, p. 64. 119 Metternichstele. Spell XIV. 203. p. 64. 120 Metternichstele, Spell XIV. 227. p. 66. 121 Metternichstele. Spell XIV, 226, p. 66. 122 The crocodile personifies the harmful beings of the water, the snake those of the earth; see: Scott Morschauer, Threat-Formulae in Ancient Egpt. A Study of the History. Structure and Use of Threats and Curses in Ancient Egypt, Baltimore 1991, p. 112.