Talisman of Ancient Egyptian Googly-Eyed Dwarf God Bes Discovered

Talisman of Ancient Egyptian Googly-Eyed Dwarf God Bes Discovered
(livescience.com)

As if we needed any further proof just how superstitious the ancient Egyptians were...

A newly identified googly-eyed artifact may have been used by the ancient Egyptians to magically protect children and pregnant mothers from evil forces.

Made of faience, a delicate material that contains silica, the pale-green talisman of sorts dates to sometime in the first millennium B.C. It shows the dwarf god Bes with his tongue sticking out, eyes googly, wearing a crown of feathers. A hole at the top of the face was likely used to suspend it like a bell, while a second hole, used to hold the bell clapper, was apparently drilled into it in antiquity.

Photo Caption: The god's tongue is sticking out, his eyes are googly and he is wearing a crown of feathers. CREDIT: Photo courtesy Egypt Centre/Swansea University

Bes was:

A dwarf god and protector of pregnant mothers and young children, Bes may look goofy to us with his tongue sticking out, however, his appearance, tongue and all, had a purpose. Graves-Brown explained that he would sometimes bare sharp teeth and "it's assumed, but it's not known, that this [appearance] was supposed to scare off evil spirits and evil entities." That may well have been the intent of this object. Flinders Petrie, an archaeologist who encountered items similar to this, wrote in 1914 in his book "Amulets" (Constable and Company, 1914) that bells like these were probably "worn by children against the evil eye."

(FYI: Flinders Petrie was the archeologist who also discovered what became known as the 'Petrie rocker', a wooden construct which may have helped Egypians move large blocks of stone.)

Looks Chinese.

Prett cool.

This is a long shot but i have a feeling several of these are throughout the globe.One is a reason for doubt.

Is it wrong for my psychologically damaged American mind to immediately mentally reach for this?

reply to post by Blackmarketeer
Hiya BM, thanks for posting about this little guy.

Bes is one of my favourite figures - he stands for the protection of children and women against evil people and spirits. There aren't many gods in our history that have the qualities of fun and kindness and this is one of the reasons I like him.

I suspect he's a very ancient figure who pre-dates Old Kingdom Egypt. This would make him at least 5000 years old and something of an archetypal figure in human consciousness. We can speculate because nobody knows his origins and he's considered an unusual figure in the Egyptian pantheon.

In the west, Christianity included a lot of Pagan motifs and festivals and rebranded them. In the same way, I think Bes came from earlier traditions and kept his place as a god for the working classes.

Originally posted by Kandinsky
Bes is one of my favourite figures - he stands for the protection of children and women against evil people and spirits. There aren't many gods in our history that have the qualities of fun and kindness and this is one of the reasons I like him.

Do you ever wonder if ancient deities were marketed in similar fashion to commercial products today? It wouldn't be too hard to imagine this guy on some children's snake oil, would it?

That's a direct question, as I feel like we lose a lot of context in history and generally replace it with sunshine and happiness.

If you don't think religion is used to market things like products and war, I understand.

reply to post by JDINFOWARRIOR

If you don't think religion is used to market things like products and war, I understand.

I think religion is a creation of human nature as much as war and marketing are. Sometimes I wonder what life could be like if human nature stood in the open and was less concealed by justifications of religious beliefs. It wouldn't be any prettier and likely be just as bloody, but at least we'd get a clearer picture of ourselves.

A character like Bes seems to me like one of the seminal deities. These wouldn't have been marketed, but more likely originated in the minds of smaller cultures as archetypes. In his case, I suspect he was conjured from a fear of infant mortality and the grief of families.

Ever since we've been able to express our thoughts to each other, we've had a natural inclination to populate the world with spirits and deities. The examples that reflect our kind and hopeful sides are ones I like.

Originally posted by Kandinsky
reply to post by JDINFOWARRIOR

 

If you don't think religion is used to market things like products and war, I understand.

I think religion is a creation of human nature as much as war and marketing are. Sometimes I wonder what life could be like if human nature stood in the open and was less concealed by justifications of religious beliefs. It wouldn't be any prettier and likely be just as bloody, but at least we'd get a clearer picture of ourselves.

A character like Bes seems to me like one of the seminal deities. These wouldn't have been marketed, but more likely originated in the minds of smaller cultures as archetypes. In his case, I suspect he was conjured from a fear of infant mortality and the grief of families.

Ever since we've been able to express our thoughts to each other, we've had a natural inclination to populate the world with spirits and deities. The examples that reflect our kind and hopeful sides are ones I like.

The only issue I take with that is that our current world view stands on the ashes of a bunch of previous 'religions' that didn't make the cut.

We really don't know our history, and I'm sure that we would have a lot more in common with our ancestors that we think possible, but not for the same reasons most people think.

We look at the past with romance, but we are taught to believe that way. It's a great psychological control mechanism to have something to look back on that makes you smile, even if you look all around you and weep while wondering if there will be a tomorrow.

The past was so great, before the corruption, we should get back to that. I'm not saying you believe it, but you know most do. Shouldn't humanity be moving forward? It seems to only ones calling for that are the same ones altering the past.

Interesting. Bes is the only Egyptian god that makes me think of Maori (or any other Polynesian) depictions of faces.

For example the following comparison:

click me for image

from

source with more images

resembles

click me for image 2

from

source

It's not like it's a direct match but still, the two locations are miles apart and the people so different. Yet there is one god (Bes) that doesn't resemble any other egyptian god, but does -at least slightly- resembles the other.

How do you think about this?