Art Institute of Chicago (Egyptian) · amulet
Amulet of a Heart
Description
Small-scale Egyptian figurines, known as amulets, were thought to promote health and good luck. Amulets were such an important part of Egyptian religious beliefs that they were worn by both the living and the dead. They could be mounted on rings or strung as bracelets or necklaces; and amulets in the shape of human organs were often placed in mummy wrappings near the organ they represented to ensure the well-being of the deceased in the afterlife.The human heart—the seat of the soul and memory in Egyptian belief—was represented as a jar with two small handles. Heart-shaped amulets protected the individual’s intellect and allowed the deceased to make his or her confession before the gods at the judgment of their soul.
Cross-references (1)
- ARTIC-id 132068 tier-2
About this record's data
- From the source institution — accession, description, dimensions, and dating are as catalogued by Art Institute of Chicago (Egyptian).
- AI-inferred — the image-analysis panel (deities, names, signs) is machine-generated and may be wrong.
- Approximate location — most map points are plotted at the site centroid, not the exact findspot.
- Inferred links — cross-references marked with a match method other than explicit-source-field were matched by us, not stated by the source.