Under the Spell of Bes

Arts, 2020

The popular yet demonic guardian of ancient Egypt, Bes, combines dwarfish and leonine features, and embodies opposing traits such as a fierce and gentle demeanor, a hideous and comical appearance, serious and humorous roles, an animalistic and numinous nature. Drawing connections with similarly stunted figures, great and small cats, sacred cows, baboons, demonic monsters, universal gods and infant deities, this article will focus on the animalistic associations of the Bes figure to illustrate that this leonine dwarf encompassed a wider religious significance than apotropaic and regenerative functions alone. Bes was thought to come from afar but was always close; the leonine dwarf guarded the sun god Ra along the diurnal solar circuit; the figure protected pregnant women and newborn children; it was a dancer and musician; the figure belonged to the company of magical monsters of hybrid appearance as averter of evil and sword-wielding fighter. Exploring the human and animal, demonic and numinous aspects of this leonine dwarf will not only further our understanding of its nature and function, but also its significance and popularity.

2017

Bes-image played several protective roles in ancient Egypt. He was a protector of women and children during and after childbirth as well as during sleep. He was also god of warfare and death. In addition he was closely associated with sexuality, music, dance, and alcoholic beverages. Bes-images are found on many items: Bedroom furniture, toiletry items, amulets, jewelry, musical instruments, stelae, weapons, equipment, game pieces, as well as on reliefs, frescoes, ostraca and papyrus. This study aims to highlight the role of Bes as a protector deity in general and explore the aspects of Bes-image protective role in particular for women and children. Historical and analytical methodology is used to achieve the aims of this paper. Findings of this study reveal that the most significant aspects of the protective role of Bes image for women and children are mostly represented in the magic knives, Bes vessels, Bes figurines and Tattoos of Bes. They were mostly applied during critical periods of women and children particularly during childbirth.

RESUMEN: Este trabajo tiene el propósito de presentar las representaciones iconográficas del dios Bes halladas en Tell el-Ghaba, norte de Sinaí, Egipto, e inferir el papel que estos hallazgos puedieron haber desempeñado en la religiosidad de sus habitantes. Tell el-Ghaba yace la llanura costera del Sinaí, en lo que alguna vez fue el antiguo Delta oriental. Conforme al repertorio cerámico recuperado en el sitio, Tell el-Ghaba fue datado a comienzos del Tercer Periodo Intermedio-periodo Saíta temprano, cuando fue destruido y abandonado. Palabras claves: Egipto-Tell el-Ghaba-Bes-Tercer-Periodo Intermedio-periodo Saíta Temprano. ABSTRACT: This paper aims to present the god Bes figurines recovered at Tell el-Ghaba, in North Sinai, Egypt, and the role these finds may have played regarding the religiousness of its people. Tell el-Ghaba lies in the northern coastal plain of the Sinai Peninsula, in what was once the Eastern Nile Delta. According to the ceramic repertoire recovered at the sit...

Current Research in Egyptology (CRE) 2020-2021, University of the Aegean, Rhodes, 2021

Paléorient, 2007

There and Back Again – the Crossroads II, 2015

Until very recently, there were only the most indirect iconographical hints that the Egyptian demon Bes had ever come to Bronze Age Crete. Now, Bes-like images have appeared on two engraved gems from eastern Crete, at least one of which can be dated to MM IIB (contemp. early 13th Dynasty). Perhaps surprisingly, the Minoans imported the rarer female demon, so-called Beset, rather than male Bes. In this paper, I examine the contemporary Egyptian iconography of Beset, consider how the original imported image might have looked, and how it was adapted by the Minoans.

Изкуствоведски четения [Art Readings] , 2024

This paper analyzes a faithful copy of a 6 th /7 th-century amulet which exemplifies the parallel use of multiple distinct varieties of religious imagery within a single art work. The amulet combines a detailed Christological cycle, engraved on the one side, with a representation of a winged creature, standing on two crocodiles, on the other, derived from images of Horus, an ancient Egyptian god. Such an intriguing combination of religious imagery taken from distinct cultural contexts testifies to the survival and integration of earlier beliefs in early Byzantine Egypt and to the various strategies employed by worshippers in the hope of reaching out to several divine forces at once.

2019

in D. Aston, B. Bader, C. Gallorini, P. Nicholson, S. Buckingham (eds.), Under The Potter’s Tree. Studies on Ancient Egypt Presented to Janine Bourriau on the Occasion of her 70th Birthday, Orientalia lovaniensia analecta 204, Leuven, p. 287-323, 2011