An Egyptian bronze Oxyrhynchus Fish, Late Period, ca. 664 - 332 BCE

The distinctive appearance of this cast bronze fish, wearing a crown of cow horns and the sun disk, easily identifies it as the oxyrhynchus, a common African variety whose name means "pointed nose." The oxyrhynchus is closely associated with the god Osiris, playing an integral role in the events leading up to the resurrection of the god. In the most complete account of the Osiris myth, recorded by the Greek Historian Plutarch in the first to second centuries AD, Osiris was dismembered by his vengeful brother, Seth. After Seth scattered the body parts throughout Egypt, Osiris's phallus was eaten by the oxyrhynchus. Despite its participation in the downfall of Osiris, the fish was considered sacred. The Roman author Aelian, writing in the second to third centuries AD, attested that fishermen took great pains to remove the oxyrhynchus from their nets, though tomb representations do show the fish being caught for food.The oxyrhynchus was also associated with the goddess Hathor and was freq