Hovering Birds, the Sun Disk, and the Powers of Kingship

Randy Shonkwiler, Ph.D.

Saturday, February 7, 2015

LaSalle Banks Room, Oriental Institute

ARCE Chicago Chapter February Meeting

Although we now understand that the king of Egypt was not actually a divine being, he never-the-less was believed to have received certain divine powers when he ascended the throne.  Among these were the Royal Ka and a power called bau (b3.w).  The king is frequently shown with hovering sun disks, falcons and vultures above his head long recognized as representing divine protection from the gods they represent: Horus the Behdetite (or Horus of Behdet) represented as the sun disks and falcons, and Nekhbet and Wadjet represented as the vultures.  This talk will explore the possibility that these hovering birds and sun disks may have an additional meaning representing the divine powers received by the king.
 
Randy Shonkwiler received his BA in History from the University of Memphis in 1997, an MA from the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the University of Chicago in 2000 and defended his dissertation "The Behdetite: A Study of Horus the Behdetite from the Old Kingdom to the Conquest of Alexander" at the University of Chicago in March 2014.

Winged Sun Disk, Photo by Bailleul-LeSuer