Left eye, right eye
Oct. 31st, 2023 10:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ikhet_sekhmetHere's a helpful snippet. Discussing this amulet, Dr Carol Andrews remarks on the frequent confusion between the lunar left eye and the solar right eye in Egyptian representations. She notes that the lion is lying in the same unusual position as the two Prudhoe Lions in the British Museum.
"The lion on the amulet is identical to the Prudhoe lion which would have stood on the left. It is known that the pair from Soleb represented the eyes of the sun-god, both solar and lunar, and so the lion on the left might be assumed to represent the lunar eye, the entity which the fierce lion-headed goddesses and, in particular, Tefnut embodied. Yet the amulet has been shown to be a right eye. However, texts exist which show that the right and left eyes might be transposed, as for example, Chapter 151 of the Book of the Dead (Allen: 1974, 147): ‘Thy right eye is the night bark, thy left eye is the day bark.’ Perhaps this explains the presence of a lunar manifestation on a right, solar eye." (my emphasis)
I've been confused by this inconsistency a number of times; apparently even the Egyptians got mixed up.
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Carol Andrews. "A Most Uncommon Amulet". in Price, Campbell et al (eds). Mummies, Magic and Medicine in Ancient Egypt: Multidisciplinary Essays for Rosalie David. Manchester University Press, 2016.
"The lion on the amulet is identical to the Prudhoe lion which would have stood on the left. It is known that the pair from Soleb represented the eyes of the sun-god, both solar and lunar, and so the lion on the left might be assumed to represent the lunar eye, the entity which the fierce lion-headed goddesses and, in particular, Tefnut embodied. Yet the amulet has been shown to be a right eye. However, texts exist which show that the right and left eyes might be transposed, as for example, Chapter 151 of the Book of the Dead (Allen: 1974, 147): ‘Thy right eye is the night bark, thy left eye is the day bark.’ Perhaps this explains the presence of a lunar manifestation on a right, solar eye." (my emphasis)
I've been confused by this inconsistency a number of times; apparently even the Egyptians got mixed up.
__
Carol Andrews. "A Most Uncommon Amulet". in Price, Campbell et al (eds). Mummies, Magic and Medicine in Ancient Egypt: Multidisciplinary Essays for Rosalie David. Manchester University Press, 2016.
