Golden cockerel, brass goose, stone raven: Magical statues in a medieval Arab-Islamic narrative on Ancient Egypt

A. A. Banshchikova

Golden cockerel, brass goose, stone raven: Magical statues in a medieval Arab-Islamic narrative on Ancient Egypt

A. A. Banshchikova

EDN: DWBSRS

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Abstract

Based on a study of an extensive compilation by PseudoMasudi, “Abridgement of the Curiosities [of Egypt]” (first quarter of the 2nd millennium AD), this article examines the understanding of the Arab-Muslim tradition (i. e., primarily the Arabic-speaking Islamized Egyptians of the Middle Ages) of ancient Egyptian statues and their magical features. Various groups of statues in this tradition are identified and classified according to their functional and other traits. The functions of the statues reproduce, to a high degree, the corresponding clichés in the ancient Egyptian literary tradition and actual ritual practice, developing them through literary and fairy-tale fantasy, in combination with impressions of the numerous ancient statues easily visible in Egypt, even though they had ceased to be objects of active cultural practices. Less reproduced is that part of ancient Egyptian literary clichés where wax or clay, rather than stone, is used as the material for sculptures (stone statues were observed in reality). More direct ancient Egyptian relics can be seen in examples where magic statues differ from the rest in their mode of action, correlating with ancient Egyptian magical practices. This material confirms the continuity of cultural history from the ancient Egyptians to their direct medieval Arabized and Islamized descendants.

Keywords

Egypt, Islamic-Egyptian tradition, Copts, magic statues, Pseudo-Masudi, L’abrege des merveilles, rites

About the Author

A. A. Banshchikova

Institute of World History of the Russian Academy of Sciences ; Institute for African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Russian Federation

Anastasia Alekseevna Banshchikova, Cand. Sci. (History) Senior Research Fellow, research group for the project of the Russian Science Foundation 24-18-00378; Senior Research Fellow, Center of History and Cultural Anthropology

119334, Moscow, Leninsky Prospekt, 32a

123001, Moscow, Spiridonovka Str., 30/1

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Review

For citations:

Banshchikova A.A. Golden cockerel, brass goose, stone raven: Magical statues in a medieval Arab-Islamic narrative on Ancient Egypt. Shagi / Steps. 2026;12(1):77-98. (In Russ.) EDN: DWBSRS

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