Cowroid
Ancient Egyptian amulet
The cowroid (or cauroid) was an ancient Egyptian seal-amulet that imitated the cowrie shell.
01Use
When incorporated into a woman's girdle, cowroids would've had an apotropaic use protecting the wearer from unwanted forces affecting this area of the body, particularly during pregnancy.
02History
In Pre-dynastic Egypt and Neolithic Southern Levant, cowrie shells were placed in the graves of young girls. The modified Levantine cowries were discovered ritually arranged around the skull in female burials. During the Bronze Age, cowries became more common as funerary goods, also associated with burials of women and children.
Dynastic Egypt
From the late Old Kingdom onwards, cowrie shells were being imitated in blue-glazed composition and other semi-precious stones, with gold and silver examples known from the Middle Kingdom. As time progressed, they corrupted into a simple back design devoid of a ventral opening and were usually inscribed. Cowroids were commonly used during the Middle Kingdom, the Second Intermediate period, the 18th and 19th Dynasties, and the Saitic period.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Cowroid”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Cowroid Seal Inscirbed for Maatkare MET 27.3.238 bot.jpg by Unknown author, CC0
- Cowrie Shell Girdle of Sithathoryunet MET DP348611.jpg by Unknown author, CC0
Fathomly is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Wikimedia Foundation. Spotted a problem? Tell us.
