A Collection of Hypocephali

Last updated May 18, 2012

Egyptian Museum in Cairo1

There are approximately 100 known hypocephali that have been preserved.2 The following images are provided for convenience in comparing the similarities and differences between each hypocephalus. Some images are public domain, having been published in books, journals, and periodicals where copyrights have expired. Other images are used by permission and are copyright protected; my sincere appreciation to those who have allowed me the privilege of posting these pictures. Any contributions to this post by way of submitting additional pictures taken or renditions thereof, will be greatly appreciated, and contributions will, of course, be attributed to the provider. Eventually I'd like to have all known hypocephali available posted online here.

Sheshonq Hypocephalus (Facsimile 2 in the Book of Abraham);

Times and Seasons, 3/10 (March 15, 1842):720-721;

also available online at http://www.lds.org/ (here)

Hypocephalus 8445 in the British Musuem (unnamed owner);

PSBA 6 (14th Session, May 6, 1884):185; also available

online at http://www.britishmuseum.org/ (here)3

Tasherenkohns Hypocephalus 8445a British Museum 37909;

PSBA 6 (14th Session, February 5, 1884):107; also available online

at http://www.britishmuseum.org/ (here), identified as Tasheritkhons

Hypocephalus 8445a, British Museum (unnamed owner) 37095;

PSBA 6 (14th Session, May 6, 1884):185

Hypocephalus 8445a, British Museum 37907 (unnamed owner);

PSBA 6 (14th Session, Mar 4, 1884):129; also available

online at http://www.britishmuseum.org/ (here)

  Har Hypocephalus 8445c in the British Museum 35875;

PSBA 6 (14th Session, Jan 8, 1884):52

Neshorpakhered Hypocephalus 8445e, British Museum 36188;

PSBA 6 (14th Session, Mar 4, 1884):129; available online at:

http://www.britishmuseum.org/ (here or here)

Asiemkheb Hypocephalus 8445f in the British Musuem 37908;

PSBA 6 (14th Session, May 6, 1884):185; also available online at

http://www.britishmuseum.org/ (here); identified as Hesikheb

Shai-enen Hypocephalus of the Henry Bruce Meux, Bart. Collection;

PSBA 6 (14th Session, Dec 4, 1883):37; also published in Budge,

Egyptian Magic, 117; held in the Royal Museums of Art and History, Brussels,

Belgium, 6319, available online at Global Egyptian Museum (here).

Tatu Hypocephalus in the Louvre Museum

 PSBA 6 (14th Session, Mar 4, 1884):126

Harnetatf Hypocephalus 8446 in the British Museum, Henry Salt Collection;

PSBA 6 (14th Session, Apr 1, 1884):171; also available online at

http://www.britishmuseum.org/ (here), identified as Hornedjitef

The colors here are semi-inverted; this hypo is black with yellow inscription.

Takarheb Hypocephalus, National Archaeological Museum, Florence, Italy, 5704;

Archaeologia: or, Miscellaneous Tracts Relating to Antiquity, 36 (1855):174

available online at Global Egyptian Museum (here)

 Hypocephalus (bronze), Egyptian Museum in Cairo 10691 (unnamed owner);

Abydos, Part I (The Egypt Exploration Fund, 1902), Plate LXXVI, G.50.B;

available online at Religious Education Archive (here)

Djed-Hor Hypocephalus from Abydos (bronze);

Abydos, Part I (The Egypt Exploration Fund, 1902), Plate LXXVII, G.50.D;

Held in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston http://www.mfa.org/ (here).

Note: illustration excludes two individuals on the boat in the middle panel  

Zed-her Hypocephalus from Abydos (bronze), 37330 British Museum;

Abydos, Part I (The Egypt Exploration Fund, 1902), Plate LXXVII, G.50.C

E.A. Wallis Budge identifies this hypocephalus as Tche-hra (or Tche-her) in:

British Museum: A Guide to the First and Second Egyptian Rooms, 135 and

Mummy: A Handbook of Egyptian Funerary Archaeology, 477;

available online at http://www.britishmuseum.org/ (here)

Hypocephalus from the Walter Myers Collection, England (unnamed owner);

PSBA 7 (15th Session, Jun 2, 1885):213

Hypocephalus from the Walter L. Nash Collection (unnamed owner);

PSBA 19 (27 Session, Apr 6, 1897):146

Back of Hypocephalus from the Waler L. Nash Collection (above);

PSBA 19 (27th Session, Apr 6, 1897):146

Hypocephalus (unnamed owner);

Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland,

33 (119th Session, May 8, 1899):472

Tashenkhons Hypocephalus from the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford;

Available online at http://www.ancient-egypt.co.uk/ (here).  Used by permission.

Tashenhapy Hypocephalus from the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford;

Available online at www.ancient-egypt.co.uk (here). Used by permission.

Hypocephalus (unnamed owner);

(C) Petrie Museum (University College London); available online at:

http://www.digitalegypt.ucl.ac.uk/ (here); used by permission.

Also, in Petrie's, Amulets (1914), 111 (Plate XX, 134b)

Back of Hypocephalus above from University College in London;

Amulets (Petrie 1914), 111 (Plate XX, 134a)

Hypocephalus (unnamed owner);

(C) Petrie Museum (University College London); available online at:

http://www.digitalegypt.ucl.ac.uk/ (here); used by permission. 

Also, in Petrie's Amulets (1914), 111 (Plate XX, 134c)

Hypocephalus (unnamed onwer);

(C) Petrie Museum (University College London); available online at:

http://www.digitalegypt.ucl.ac.uk/ (here); used by permission.

Hypocephalus, Victoria Museum of Egyptian Antiquities (unnamed owner);

Per: www.gustavianum.uu.se (here).  Used by permission.

Hypocephalus, British Museum 73705 (unnamed owner); available

online at www.britishmuseum.org (here); used by permission.

Back of Hypocephalus, British Museum 73705; available

online at www.britishmuseum.org (here), used by permission.

Hypocephalus, British Museum 74908, (unnamed owner);

available online at www.britishmuseum.org (here), used by permission.

 Ta(net)irt Hypocephalus, Museum of Antiquities, Leiden, Netherlands;

available online at Global Egyptian Museum (here) and Flickr (here);

used by permission.

Hypocephalus, Egyptian Museum in Cairo 10686 (unnamed owner);

available online at Religious Education Archive (here); 
used by permission, courtesy of D. Kelly Ogden.

Reverse of 10686 above;
M.G. Daressy, Textes et Dessins Magiques, Pl. XIII

Hypocephalus, Egyptian Museum in Cairo 10688 (unnamed owner);

available online at Religious Education Archive (here);
used by permission, courtesy of D. Kelly Ogden.

Hypocephalus, Egyptian Museum in Cairo 10699 (unnamed owner);

available online at Religious Education Archive (here);
used by permission, courtesy of D. Kelly Ogden.

Hypocephalus, Egyptian Museum in Cairo 10685 (unnamed owner);
used by permission, courtesy of D. Kelly Ogden.

Hypocephalus, Egyptian Museum in Cairo 10687 (unnamed owner);
used by permission, courtesy of D. Kelly Ogden.

Hypocephalus, Egyptian Museum in Cairo 10692 (unnamed owner);
used by permission, courtesy of D. Kelly Ogden; also see Michael Lyon's
rendition in Appreciating Hypocephali as Works of Art and Faith, pg 26 (figure 12).

Hypocephalus, Egyptian Museum in Cairo 10700 (unnamed owner);
used by permission, courtesy of D. Kelly Ogden.

________________________________

1 Image of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo is posted by permission, courtesy of James L. Carroll; per james.jlcarroll.net (here).

2 Hugh Nibley and Michael Rhodes, One Eternal Round (Provo, UT: Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, Brigham Young University, 2010), 192, 230, 591; Hugh Nibley, "Figure 6 of Facsimile 2," (Transcript of a lecture presented as part of the FARMS Brown Bag Lecture Series; Provo, UT: Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 1995), 2-3; Michael Lyon indicates that there are approximately 150 known hypocephali; see Michael P. Lyon, "Appreciating Hypocephali as Works of Art and Faith,"(FARMS Book of Abraham Lecture Series; Provo, UT: FARMS, 1999), 6
3  All references above to PSBA refer to the Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology.