Egyptian Baboon Sculpture

Illustration

by James Blake Wiener
published on 29 September 2017

This ancient Egyptian sculpture made of basalt dates from the 13th century BCE and depicts a seated baboon. The baboon was associated with Thoth--the god of wisdom, science, and measurement. Baboons were thus often represented with water clocks or scales weighing the hearts of humans awaiting final judgment. Baboons were also regarded as "solar animals" in ancient Egypt, and there are many murals with their arms outstretched to worship the sun. (Georgian National Museum, Tbilisi)

About the Author

James is a writer and former Professor of History. He holds an MA in World History with a particular interest in cross-cultural exchange and world history. He is a co-founder of Ancient History Encyclopedia and its Communications Director.

License

Uploaded by James Blake Wiener, published on 29 September 2017 under the following license: Creative Commons: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike. This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon this content non-commercially, as long as they credit the author and license their new creations under the identical terms. Please note that content linked from this page may have different licensing terms.

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