Oxyrhynchus Fish

Cast Bronze Oxyrhynchus Fish
Ptolemaic Egypt
Balboa Park Museum of Man


Photos ©Joan Ann Lansberry, 2016

I've found many such examples of Hathor-horned fish. I had thought that, because in the Ptolemaic period, Isis also wore the horned-sun disc, these may be more to do with this deity. But perhaps not. Daphna Ben-Tor explains: "The oxyrhynchus fish was also associated with the cult of Hathor and is represented in a temple relief on a naos inscribed 'Hathor, Lady of Esna,' indicating that it was worshipped as a manifestation of the goddess at that city. The sun-disk and horns crown that surmounts many bronze statuettes of the oxyrhynchus fish provide further evidence of its connection with Hathor." - From _The Immortals of Ancient Egypt_, (The Israel Museum, Jerusalem 1997), page 86)