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Reading Hieroglyphs

“Lord of the Two Lands”

π“ŽŸπ“‡Ώπ“‡Ώ β€œLord of the Two Lands,” is an extremely common title that is seen across many different types of monuments across Egypt π“†Žπ“…“π“π“Š– and museums around the world. A title is a phrase that appears before a cartouche, which is the oval that encloses the name π“‚‹π“ˆ– of a pharaoh 𓉐𓉻. I have been highlighting various titles seen commonly because they are a great way to practice reading hieroglyphs π“ŠΉπ“Œƒπ“ͺ.

π“ŽŸπ“‡Ώπ“‡Ώ β€œLord of the Two Lands” is in reference to Upper 𓇓 and Lower 𓆀 Egypt and the unification of both by Narmer 𓆒𓍋 who is regarded as the first pharaoh 𓉐𓉻 of a fully united Egypt π“†Žπ“…“π“π“Š–. The current pharaoh 𓉐𓉻 always wanted to be associated with the pharaohs 𓉐𓉻𓏦 of the past (most of the time not so much Akhenaten π“‡‹π“π“ˆ–π“‡³π“…œπ“π“ˆ–) because that association would legitimize their own rule π“‹Ύ.

Let’s break down the hieroglyphs π“ŠΉπ“Œƒπ“ͺ:
π“ŽŸ – Lord
𓇿𓇿 – Two Lands

The title can also be written as π“ŽŸπ“π“‡Ώπ“‡Ώ or β€œLady of the Two Lands” if the pharaoh 𓉐𓉻 was female! This was the case for Hatshepsut π“‡‹π“ π“ˆ–π“ŽΉπ“π“„‚π“π“€Όπ“ͺ!

β€œπ“ŽŸ Lord” becomes β€œπ“ŽŸπ“ Lady” with the addition of the 𓏏!

Soon you will be able to read a full inscription π“Ÿπ“›π“₯! This is very exciting!!