Horus figures

The article considers monuments in the Egyptian collection of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts showing Egyptian deities dressed as Roman warriors: I, 1a 2985 – a statuette of the falcon-headed god Horus in the double crown and in the Roman armour and dress; I, 1a 2794 – a similar statuette of smaller size and worse preservation; I, 1a 6667 – a statuette of the dog- or jackal-headed god Anubis; I, 1a 3389 – a bust showing the falcon-headed god Horus wearing nemes, with the sun-disc and snake over his head; I, 1a 5382 – a stela showing the sphinx-god Tutu with a lion head on his armour-plate. The aim of the article is to propose an interpretation of these objects’ iconographic type, which also includes Apis’ images and a singular image of Khnum. The most numerous are the images of Horus, which seem to reflect the concept of the Roman principes’ rule in Egypt: the Egyptians were ruled not by a Roman strong-man but rather by Horus embodied in him and absorbing his personality. This concept of “derivative sacrality” dated back to the First Persian Domination and played a compensatory role, as it made a foreign rule more tolerable. In the Roman time it was reflected in emperors’ titularies, with the Horus’ name shaped of epithets conveying upon a ruler the qualities of the god Horus. Probably the concept manifested itself in the images of Horus and Anubis, perhaps Khnum; images of Tutu and Apis rather manifest the iconographic standard developed in Horus’ imagery