Baboon with a wedjat eye

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

From the beginning of Egyptian history, the baboon had a role in Egyptian religion. Initially, he was known as a deity called the "Great White One" (that is, the moon), but soon this god was conflated with Thoth, the better known ibis-headed god of writing and recording. Thoth's responsibilities included the calendar, which in ancient Egypt was lunar based, facilitating the integration of the two deities. Baboon amulets probably were offerings to shrines honoring Thoth, but could also have been placed with the deceased as a representative of the deity who recorded Osiris' judgment. This baboon holds a wedjat eye, the eye stolen from Horus and healed by Thoth.

Egyptian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Met collection of ancient Egyptian art consists of approximately 30,000 objects of artistic, historical, and cultural importance, dating from about 300,000 BCE to the 4th century CE. A signifcant percentage of the collection is derived from the Museum's three decades of archaeological work in Egypt, initiated in 1906 in response to increasing interest in the culture of ancient Egypt.

Metropolitan Museum of Art