The common inspirational source of Huwawa and Bes: the African dwarf

• Authors: Nagy A.
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

Huwawa and Bes were very popular in the sphere of thought of the ancient Mesopotamians and Egyptians. Their relationship is recognisable by their iconographical likenesses, and also by the fact that both were active in the world of popular religion by effective apotropaic means. If we examine their functional relationship, the fact that they both show the same peculiarity can be crucial: their legs are represented as jambes arquées (i.e. they are bow-legged). This position may be the indication of some kind of dance. However, there is also a third example representing this dance: the Mesopotamian bow-legged dwarf. Maybe we are not far from the truth when we suppose a common source of inspiration. From the reign of Pharaoh Isesi, African dwarfs or pygmies were imported to the Egyptian court. In author's opinion, it is this dwarf which represents for the first time the jambes arquées-dance in the ancient Near East and in him we can identify the common source of the jambes arquées peculiarity of Huwawa, Bes and the bow-legged dwarf.

Keywords

EN

BES; BOW-LEGGED DWARF; HUWAWA; JAMBES ARQUÉES; PYGMY

Discipline

• PHILOLOGY_&_LINGUISTICS: PHILOLOGY & LINGUISTICS

• Publisher: Akadémiai Kiadó
• Journal: Antik Tanulmanyok (Studia Antiqua)
• Year: 2007
• Volume: 51
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 289-298
• Document type: ARTICLE

Contributors

author

Nagy A.

• A. Nagy, no address given, contact the journal editor

Identifiers

CEJSH db identifier

08HUAAAA03927788