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Theodore M. Davis Collection, Bequest of Theodore M. Davis, 1915
metmuseum.org |
Usually ancient Egyptian seal amulets were fashioned in the form of scarab beetles. This one, set into a ring, is a mouse. Its seal is the cartouche of Menkheperre, the throne name of Pharaoh Thutmose III (reigned 1479-1425 B.C.). Across the mouse's shoulders are inscribed the words "Menkheperre, living forever." Was there a link between the sentiment and the creature? Mice and rats raided Egyptian grain stores, but that very ability to be small and destructive gave them top billing in a passage from Herodotus in which they devoured the bowstrings of an invading army. Did this mouse remind the wearer not to discount the insignificant?
Makes you think he might have been something of an original thinker. I think I read somewhere that to an Egyptian, if his name was remembered, he lived one. So I guess we're helping him to live forever.
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