In Egyptian burials of the Late and Ptolemaic periods one finds an object with no equivalent in earlier times: a flat disc, usually of stiffened and plastered linen, sometimes of bronze or papyrus, placed under the head of the mummy. It is covered with figures arranged in circles and registers, some upside down relative to the others. Egyptologists call it a hypocephalus, from the Greek for "under the head". It is one of the most symbol-laden objects in the entire Egyptian funerary tradition.
Chapter 162 of the Book of the Dead
The purpose of the hypocephalus is explained by chapter 162 of the Book of the Dead, one of the chapters added to the collection in the Late Period. Its title says, in essence, that it is a spell "for causing a flame to arise under the head" of the deceased.
The text recalls a myth: a divine cow was created by Ra to warm him and surround him with light. The spell invokes this cow, called Ihet, to do the same for the deceased. The instructions prescribe drawing the image of the cow on a sheet of new papyrus, or on a gold support, and placing it under the head. The hypocephalus is the fulfilment of this prescription.
Warmth and light
The "warmth" of chapter 162 should not be understood in a physical sense. For the Egyptians warmth was a quality of life, linked to the sun. The cold corpse was the sign of death; giving warmth meant passing on to the deceased the vital force of the sun and allowing him to be reborn as the sun is.
The circular shape is not accidental. Many scholars interpret the hypocephalus as an image of the eye of the sun or the solar disc: placed under the head, it wrapped the head of the deceased in light, like the sun at its rising.
What a hypocephalus shows
The decoration varies from one example to another, but certain elements recur:
| Element | Usual position | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| God with four ram heads | Central register | Solar power embracing the four directions |
| Baboons in adoration | Beside the central god | Greetings to the rising sun |
| Ihet cow | Lower register | The protection and warmth of chapter 162 |
| Solar barques | Various registers | The sun's journey by day and by night |
| Circular text | Outer edge | The chapter 162 spell with the name of the deceased |
| Inverted figures | Opposite half | The underworld facing the upper sky |
The inversion of half the figures is one of the most remarkable features. The disc seems to represent at once the day sky and the night sky, the upper world and the Duat, like two hemispheres of a sphere.
The four-headed god
The central figure, with four ram heads, is often identified with a form of Amun-Ra or with an image of the creator god uniting several divine souls within himself. The ram was linked to the ba, the vital and manifesting force; the four heads may indicate the totality of the cosmos, oriented to the cardinal points.
Around him, baboons, serpents, udjat eyes and small deities form a dense whole, almost a summary of the entire solar cycle.
Distribution
Hypocephali appear between the end of the Late Period and the Ptolemaic period, especially in certain areas such as Thebes and the region of Akhmim. They were never an object common to all: they belonged to the burials of people of some rank, often linked to priestly circles. This explains their complexity: they were intended for the dead who knew, or could afford, an elaborate religious knowledge.
A sky in miniature
The hypocephalus is an extraordinary example of the Egyptian tendency to condense the cosmos into an object. In a disc a few centimetres across are the sun, the heavenly cow, the creator god, day and night. The deceased rested his head on it as on a portable sky. Studio Esoterico Cornelio regards it as one of the most complete images of the Egyptian idea of rebirth: not a return to the body, but union with the light that rises again each day.
In short
- The hypocephalus is a disc placed under the head of the mummy in the Late and Ptolemaic periods.
- Its purpose is explained by chapter 162 of the Book of the Dead.
- The spell invokes the cow Ihet, created to surround Ra with warmth and light.
- The decoration combines the four-ram-headed god, baboons, solar barques and inverted figures.
- The disc represents the sun and the sky, giving the deceased the strength to be reborn.
