Statue of Horus as a Falcon Protecting King Nectanebo II in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, January 2026

Title: Statue of Horus as a falcon protecting King Nectanebo II

Period: Late Period

Date: 360–343 BCE

Medium: Metagraywacke

Dimensions: H. 72 × W. 20 × D. 46.5 cm, 55.3 kg (28 3/8 × 7 7/8 × 18 5/16 in., 122 lb.)

Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1934

Object No.: 34.2.1


Standing protectively over a miniature image of King Nectanebo II, the falcon Horus wears a double crown and uraeus, or rearing cobra, signifying his role as the mythological king of a united Egypt. Nectanebo II’s Egyptian name, Nakhthorhebyt ("Horus of Hebyt is Strong"), references a specific form of Horus associated with the site Hebyt (present-day Behbeit el-Hagar) in the Nile Delta. The statue therefore speaks to Horus’s importance as both a state-level and a local deity.


Text from: www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/divine-egypt/exhibition-objects