This is another picture my Nonno took! Iโve always thought this cast of Khafreโs ๐ณ๐๐ cartouche was super interesting! As a kid I loved it because Khafre ๐ณ๐๐ was one of the pharaohs ๐๐ป๐ฅ who built a pyramid ๐๐ ๐๐ด at Giza in the 4th Dynasty, and my Nonno would always point this piece out to us because of that. As I started studying hieroglyphs ๐น๐๐ช though, this piece became even more interesting to me!
The cartouche reads: ๐ ญ๐ณ๐๐๐ณ๐ฅ, which translates to Son of Ra, Khafre, King of Upper and Lower Egypt.
Whatโs interesting about this cartouche though is usually โSon of Ra๐ ญ๐ณโ and โKing of Upper and Lower Egypt ๐ฅโ appear as titles above the cartouche, instead of inside of it! I donโt know why itโs written like this, but Iโve always found it to be an interesting piece because of this!
This statue is very interesting because it was originally made for the pharaoh ๐๐ป Amenemhat II ๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐ during the 12th ๐๐ป Dynasty. However if you look at the hieroglyphs ๐น๐๐ช, the cartouches of Rameses II can be read! The pharaohs ๐๐ป๐ฅ used to recycle statues all the time – this is a process known as usurping (taking one pharaohโs monuments, erasing their name, and putting yours!). Itโs kind of like ancient plagiarism!!
Letโs read some hieroglyphs ๐น๐๐ช!ย
๐ฅ(๐ณ๐๐ง๐ณ๐๐) King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Usermaatre ๐ ญ๐ณ(๐ฉ๐๐๐๐ด๐) Son of Ra, Rameses
This statue is made of granodiorite, a type of volcanic (igneous) rock. It was quarried at Aswan and then transported up the Nile to Memphis, where it was sculpted.
๐๐น๐๐๐ณ๐ โGiven Everlasting Life for all Eternity.โ
This is one of my absolute favorite Egyptian phrases – it appears a lot in hieroglyphic inscriptions ๐๐๐ฅ whether its on stelae ๐๐ ฑ๐๐ธ๐ช or tomb/temple walls. The Egyptians ๐๐๐๐๐ช spent their time on Earth preparing for the afterlife and their journey to the Underworld ๐ผ๐ฟ๐๐ to meet Osiris ๐น๐จ๐ญ. I interpret the phrase โ๐๐น๐๐๐ณ๐โ two ๐ป different ways. When they died, the Egyptians ๐๐๐๐๐ช wanted to be remembered, hence the purpose of stelae ๐๐ ฑ๐๐ธ๐ช. Also, they believed death was the beginning of a journey to eternal life ๐น๐.
๐ – Given ๐น – Life ๐ – Everlasting/Eternal ๐๐ณ๐ – Eternity
Eventually everyone is going to get tired of me talking about Hatshepsut ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ but I donโt care! I love anything that has her cartouche on it, and the scarab collection at the MET is no exception!! The MET has a new way of displaying the scarabs that makes it much easier to take pictures, and you can really see each one close up! There are a lot of the scarabs, so eventually you guys will see them all!
These two scarabs have very similar inscriptions carved into them, however one little symbol makes a total difference in the meaning of the inscription! The scarab on the left says โ๐ณ๐ฆ๐๐๐ฟ๐ฟโ which translates to โMaatkare, Lord of the Two Landsโ while the scarab on the right says โ๐ณ๐ฆ๐๐๐๐ฟ๐ฟโ which translates to โMaatkare, Lady of the Two Lands.โ
The symbol โ๐โ makes the phrase feminine! Itโs really interesting to see a scarab with just the symbol for Lord ๐ because while Hatshepsut ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ was the Pharaoh ๐๐ป, most of the inscriptions that pertain to her use the female form of words.
Here is a small quartzite Sphinx of Thutmosis III ๐ณ๐ ๐ฃ. This little statue is interesting for a couple of reasons. One of which is the way that Thutmosis III ๐ณ๐ ๐ฃ is commonly sculpted – he usually has a very child-like face. This is significant because it is thought that Thutmosis III ๐ณ๐ ๐ฃ was shown in a child-like way to visually justify the fact that Hatshepsut ๐๐ ๐๐น๐๐๐๐ผ๐ช was co-ruler and then eventually the sole pharaoh ๐๐ป.
Another interesting point is the inscription, which reads: ๐ค๐น(๐ณ๐ ๐ฃ) ๐ป๐. โThe great God, Menkhepra, beloved.โ
The part of the inscription where Amunโs ๐๐ ๐ name should be, has been erased. The inscription should read: ๐ค๐น(๐ณ๐ ๐ฃ) ๐๐ ๐ ๐ป๐ โThe great God, Menkhepra, beloved of Amun.โ
Why was Amunโs ๐๐ ๐ name erased? Well, we can thank Akhenaten ๐๐๐๐ณ๐ ๐๐ for that! When Akhenaten ๐๐๐๐ณ๐ ๐๐ banned the worship of the traditional pantheon, he tried to have Amunโs ๐๐ ๐ name erased everywhere!
Todayย ๐๐๐๐ณ, we are going to be looking at an inscriptionย ๐๐ ฑ๐ย that is on a statue ๐๐ ฑ๐๐พ of Thutmosis IIIย ๐ณ๐ ๐ฃ.
This statue ๐๐ ฑ๐๐พ of Thutmosis IIIย ๐ ๐ ๐ดย depicts him in an offering position. An offering position is when the pharaoh ๐๐ป is depicted as kneeling, with nemset jarsย ๐๐๐ย in his hands. The only being a pharaoh ๐๐ป would kneel for is another god ๐น, and the god ๐น that Thutmosis IIIย ๐ ๐ ๐พ๐ย is making an offeringย ๐ต๐๐ช๐๐๐ฆย to is Amun-Raย ๐๐ ๐๐ณ๐บ. Based on the inscriptionย ๐๐ ฑ๐, this statue ๐๐ ฑ๐๐พ was probably intended to be placed in the Temple of Amun-Raย ๐๐ ๐๐ณ๐บย at Karnak.ย
Letโs read some hieroglyphs ๐น๐๐ช!ย
Since the directional hieroglyphs ๐น๐๐ช are pointing to the right, we will start reading from the right! Hieroglyphs ๐น๐๐ช are always read from top to bottom, so we will start with the top line too!
๐น – Life/Living
๐น๐ค – Perfect God
๐ณ๐ ๐ฃ – Menkhepperra (Lasting is the Manifestation of Ra)
๐ ญ๐ณ – Son of Ra
๐ ๐ ๐พ๐ – Thutmosis (Thoth is Born, Ruler of Maat)
Here is the bottom line (we will also start reading from the right):
๐๐ ๐๐ณ๐บ๐ญ – Amun-Ra
๐๐ผ๐ผ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฟ – Lord of the Thrones
๐๐๐น๐น๐น – King of the Gods
๐ธ๐ – Beloved
๐น – Life
๐ – Eternal/Eternity
So here is the full inscription: โLife, the Perfect God, Menkhepperra, Son of Ra, Thutmosis, Beloved of Amun-Ra, Lord of the Thrones, King of the Gods, Eternal Life.โ
This statue ๐๐ ฑ๐๐พ is dated to the reign ๐พ of Thutmosis III ๐ ๐ ๐พ๐ (c. 1479โ1425 B.C.E.) which was during the 18th Dynasty (New Kingdom).
In order to commeorate 100 ๐ฒ year anniversary of the discovery of Pharaoh Tutankhamunโs ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ฑ๐๐น๐พ๐บ๐ tomb ๐๐ซ๐๐, let’s take a look at some artifacts related to Tutankhamun ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ฑ๐๐น๐พ๐บ๐!
This gold ๐๐๐๐ ring ๐๐๐๐ช (the one in the back of the photo ๐๐ ฑ๐), which was also used as a seal, has the throne name ๐๐ of Tutankhamun ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ฑ๐๐น๐พ๐บ๐ on it!
Letโs read some hieroglyphs ๐น๐๐ช!
In the middle of the ring ๐๐๐๐ช, we see the throne name of Tutankhamun: ๐ณ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ (Nebkheperure). Broken down, the name means:
๐ณ – Ra
๐ฃ๐ฆ – Forms/Manifestations
๐ – Lord So โ
Nebkheperure ๐ณ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐โ means โLord of the Manifestations of Ra.โ
On either side of Nebkheperure ๐ณ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐, there are other hieroglyphs ๐น๐๐ช too!
๐๐ ๐ – Amun
๐๐ณ๐ – Eternity
๐ Lord
๐ป – Beloved
So the full inscription ๐๐๐ฅ reads: โ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ณ๐๐๐ป Beloved of Amun, Lord of Eternity.โ
Something really interesting about the inscriptionย ๐๐๐ฅย is that the sun disc ๐ณ symbol in the word โeternityย ๐๐ณ๐โ has the Ankh ๐น or symbol for โLifeโ with it, which was a common way to write โeternityย ๐๐ณ๐โ during the reign ๐พ of Akhenatenย ๐๐๐๐ณ๐ ๐๐! Itโs meant to represent the Ankhs ๐น๐น๐น that usually appeared in depictions of the Atenย ๐๐๐๐ณ.ย
This sunken relief and inscriptionย ๐๐ ฑ๐ย is from the sarcophagusย ๐๐น๐๐๐ญย of a man named Harkhebit who lived during Dynasty 26 (c. 595-526 B.C.E.). This sarcophagusย ๐๐น๐๐๐ญย is one of the better examples of Late Period ancient Egyptian stonework and is at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC.
One of the best things about Egyptian art is that sometimes the hieroglyphsย ๐น๐๐ชย act as โcaptionsโ and tell you exactly which deity ๐น you are looking at! The name ๐๐ of the deity ๐น usually appears above their head in an inscriptionย ๐๐ ฑ๐!
Duamutefย ๐ผ๐ ๐๐ and Imsetiย ๐๐ ๐๐ฟ.
On the left, we can see Duamutef ๐ผ๐ ๐๐ who is one of the Four Sons of Horus that was tasked with protecting ๐ ๐๐ก๐ the stomach ๐๐ฃ๐ป. ! Duamutef can also be spelled like ๐ผ๐๐๐, and it would be pronounced the same! A lot of the names ๐๐๐ฆ of gods ๐น๐น๐น, goddesses ๐น๐น๐น๐, and even pharaohs ๐๐ป๐ฆ had variants. A variant is just an alternate spelling of a word! A determinative could also appear at the end of the name ๐๐, which would make them appear as ๐ผ๐ ๐๐๐ญ and ๐ผ๐๐๐๐ญ.
On the right, we can see Imsetiย ๐๐ ๐๐ฟย who is also one of the Four Sons of Horus who was tasked with protectingย ๐ ๐๐ก๐ย the liver ๐ ๐๐๐น๐ธ๐ธ๐ธ! Imsetiย ๐๐ ๐๐ฟ can also be spelled likeย ๐๐๐ด๐๐, and that variation is the one you will see most often so it was very cool to see this particular spelling!ย A determinative could also appear at the end of the name๐๐ , which would make them appear asย ๐๐ ๐๐ฟ๐ญ andย ๐๐๐ด๐๐๐ญ.ย
Hapyย ๐๐ช๐ and Qebehsenuef ๐๐ข๐ข๐ข๐
On the left, we can see Hapyย ๐๐ช๐, who is one of the Four Sons of Horus.ย Hapy ๐๐ช๐ had the head of a baboon and protectedย ๐ ๐๐ก๐ย the lungs ๐๐ด๐ฅ๐ ฑ๐บ. Hapyโs name ๐๐can also be spelled like in โ๐๐๐ช๐โย hieroglyphsย ๐น๐๐ช. The spelling seen on this sarcophagus (๐๐ช๐)is a less common variant! Even in English, Hapyย ๐๐ช๐ย can also be spelled like โHapi!โย
On the right, we can see Qebehsenuef ๐๐ข๐ข๐ข๐ who is another one of the Four Sons of Horus.ย Qebehsenuef ๐๐ข๐ข๐ข๐ย had the head of a falconย ๐๐๐ก๐ andย protectedย ๐ ๐๐ก๐ย the intestines ๐๐ช๐ ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ผ. The way thatย Qebehsenuef ๐๐ข๐ข๐ข๐ is spelled on this sarcophagusย ๐๐น๐๐๐ญย is the most common way I have seen the name ๐๐ spelled!ย
A determinative could also appear at the end of the name๐๐ , which would make them appear asย ๐๐ช๐๐ญ andย ๐๐ข๐ข๐ข๐๐ญ.ย
Much like Osiris ๐น๐จ๐ญ and Anubis ๐๐๐ช๐ ฑ๐ฃ were popular deities ๐น๐น๐น to see on funerary equipment ๐๐๐ด๐๐๐ญ, the Sons of Horus were as well because they were tasked with protecting ๐ ๐๐ก๐ organs ๐๐ง๐๐น๐ฆ of the deceased ๐ ๐๐ฑ. That is certainly an important job! Anubis ๐๐๐ช๐ ฑ๐ฃ does appear on this sarcophagus ๐๐น๐๐๐ญ, heโs just in a different spot!
The โRipple of Water ๐โ has always been one of my favorite symbols because โ๐โ is a uniliteral phonogram that has a sound like โNโ! As a kid ๐๐๐ I loved it because you use โ๐โ to write both โNicole ๐๐๐ก๐ฏ๐ญ๐โ and โNonno ๐๐ฏ๐๐๐ฏ๐โ in hieroglyphs ๐น๐๐ช! I also loved this symbol because it is an easy one to write/draw! I am no artist and while I can definitely read hieroglyphs ๐น๐๐ช, writing them is another story! I would have failed scribe ๐๐ school!!
While a simple symbol, the โRipple of Water ๐โ has many uses in Middle Egyptian! On its own, ๐ can mean: to, for, of, through, in, because, not, cannot, unless, no, they, we, us, and our! Thatโs a lot of words! When reading inscriptions, you can figure out the meaning based off of the context clues!
โWe, us, and ourโ can also be written as: ๐๐ฅ. โTheyโ can be written as: ๐๐ฎ or ๐๐ญ.
The โRipple of Water ๐โ is used a lot on its own but is also used a lot as part of larger words and names! Here are some examples:
Todayย ๐๐๐๐ณ we are going to be looking at an inscriptionย ๐๐ ฑ๐ย that includes the name ๐๐ of a god ๐น, and the honorific that follows the name ๐๐ of the god ๐น!ย
Hereโs a breakdown of the inscription ๐๐ ฑ๐:
๐๐ ๐๐ณ๐ญ – Amun-Ra
๐ – Lord
๐ผ๐ผ๐ผ – Thrones
So the inscription fully reads โ๐๐ ๐๐ณ๐ญ๐๐ผ๐ผ๐ผ – Amun-Ra, Lord of the Thrones.โ โLord of the Thrones ๐๐ผ๐ผ๐ผโ was a popular honorific to use after the name ๐๐ of a deity ๐น like Amun-Ra ๐๐ ๐๐ณ๐ญ because as he rose to popularity during the New Kingdom, he was considered to be the King of the Egyptian Gods. Amun-Ra ๐๐ ๐๐ณ๐ญ was also referred to as the โSupreme Godโ and is the combination of the individual deities Amun ๐๐ ๐ and Ra ๐ณ๐.
Here are some variants of Amun-Raโs name ๐๐ in hieroglyphs ๐น๐๐ช:
