The Hellenistic Transformation of Harpocrates Art

The Hellenistic Transformation of Harpocrates'Art

The ancient Egyptian statue of Harpocrates depicts a crawling child in a friendly posture. This sculpture is a significant work of art from the Hellenistic or Roman era. Harpocrates was initially a symbol of the infant Horus and later became the god of silence and secrecy in Greek and Roman culture. Excavations worldwide have uncovered artifacts of Harpocrates the Greek god of silence and secrecy. A major discovery in Saqqara Egypt unearthed a terracotta statue of Harpocrates alongside a statue of the goddess Isis from a tomb dating from the Second and Eighteenth Dynasties. This childlike statue blends Hellenistic realism. 

The Dama Herub papyrus from the 21st Dynasty of ancient Egypt depicts the infant Horus or Harpocrates within a solar circle. The solar circle rests on the lion Ackhet representing the east and west and is surrounded by Ouroboros the serpent biting its own tail symbolizing immortality and the cycle of life.

At the ancient Greek archaeological site of Tirithaca in Crimea a rare 1st century BC bone carving was unearthed depicting the Hellenistic Egyptian god of silence Harpocrates. This striking depiction mirrors the oldest known Egyptian bronze statue of a god in England a particularly remarkable thumb sized bronze piece of Harpocrates was discovered in the ruined Roman city of Hampshire. The statue's mysterious pose represents the god of silence and secrecy. Almost every temple dedicated to Isis and Serapis features a statue of Harpocrates. During the Ptolemaic dynasty Harpocrates was revered as the god of silence inner contemplation secrecy and protector of reputation. 

Harpocrates a plaster statue of the god of silence in ancient Egyptian mythology is on display at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina Archaeological Museum of the Library of Alexandria It originates from the town of Tuna el Gebel.

The Egyptians depicted the god as a child with a finger to his lips. A symbol of childhood but for the Hellenistic Greeks this gesture was a message of silence emphasizing discreetness. Excavations at the facade of the Temple of Car revealed the daily use of hundreds of these amulets in late Ptolemaic and Roman times on coins and small terracotta figurines of the god depicting an infant with a raised finger to his lips a gesture of secrecy that persisted in later legends and cultural fusions.