In the Middle Kingdom, and above all between the Twelfth and Thirteenth Dynasties, the Egyptians produced objects as beautiful as they are enigmatic: curved blades of ivory, as long as a forearm, incised with a procession of fantastic creatures. Scholars call them apotropaic wands or "magic knives". They were not meant for cutting: they were instruments of protection tied to the most delicate moment of life, birth and early infancy.
Material and shape
Most wands are made from a hippopotamus tusk, split lengthwise. The natural curve of the tooth gives the object its crescent shape. The choice was not accidental: the female hippopotamus, protective and fearsome, was the animal of the goddess Taweret, guardian of women in childbirth. Using her ivory meant transferring the animal's strength into the object.
Many wands end in a lion's or jackal's head at one tip. Some show clear wear along one edge, as if they had been passed repeatedly over a surface or drawn along the ground.
The incised figures
On one or both faces a series of protective beings files past. The most common figures are:
| Figure | Symbolic role |
|---|---|
| Taweret, upright hippopotamus | Protection of the mother and of childbirth |
| Bes, or his earlier form Aha | Defence of the newborn against hostile presences |
| Falcon-headed griffin | A force that watches and repels |
| Cat, lion, lioness | Guardian animals, often armed with knives |
| Frog | Fertility and the goddess Heqet |
| Udjat eye and sun disc | Wholeness and the light of the rising sun |
| Turtle, snake | Dangerous forces rendered harmless |
Many of the creatures grip knives. They are not threatening figures for those under protection: they are armed against whatever might do harm. Their frightening appearance serves defence.
The inscriptions
Some wands bear short texts that make their purpose explicit. The formulas say, in essence, that the figures have come to protect a named person, often called "the lady of the house" or a child whose name is given. A recurring phrase speaks of protection "by night and by day".
This detail is valuable: the wands were not generic objects, but were dedicated to specific individuals. Some carry more than one name, a sign that they could pass from one birth to the next within the same family.
The link with the sun
Many scholars believe the figures on the wand represent the gods who accompany the sun on its night journey and defend it against dangers until its rebirth at dawn. The newborn was thus likened to the infant sun: fragile, threatened by darkness, yet destined to rise. It is an analogy typical of Egyptian thought, which tied the fate of every being to the cycles of the cosmos.
How they were used
The sources do not describe the rite precisely, but archaeology and the wear on the objects suggest some widely shared hypotheses:
- the wand was perhaps used to trace a circle around the place of birth or the child's bed, marking out a protected space;
- it could be laid beside the mother or the newborn during the night;
- in some cases it was finally placed in its owner's tomb, as a personal object.
A wand of this kind was also found in the Ramesseum papyrus box, together with other tools of a ritual specialist: a sign that those who used them could be professionals, not only family members.
Taweret and Bes in the home
The wands belong to a wider group of household objects connected with birth. These included the birth bricks on which a woman squatted, decorated with scenes of mother and child, and later headrests, beds and mirrors decorated with Bes and Taweret. Together they created an environment in which every object spoke of protection.
An art of the threshold
The ivory wand shows us an essential aspect of Egyptian magic: it concentrated on moments of passage, when life is most exposed. Birth, like death, was a threshold. Maestro Cornelio stresses how the same images that accompany the sun through the night also watched over the cradle: for the Egyptians, cosmos and home were governed by the same law.
In short
- Middle Kingdom apotropaic wands are made from hippopotamus tusks.
- They bear protective figures such as Taweret, Bes, griffins, lions and frogs, often armed with knives.
- Inscriptions dedicate them to named mothers and children, for protection by night and day.
- Wear suggests they were used to trace a protected space around childbirth.
- The figures recall the gods who protect the sun on its night journey.
