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Egyptian Artifacts Reading Hieroglyphs

Sphinx of Senwosret III (Part II)

Here is a link to Part I!

The Horus Name is one of five 𓏾 ways to write the name π“‚‹π“ˆ– of a pharaoh 𓉐𓉻, and it is the oldest way to do so. The purpose of the Horus Name was to identify the king 𓇓 as an earthly representation of the god π“ŠΉ Horus π“…ƒπ“€­.Β 

The Horus Name consists of three elements: the palace facade π“Š, Horus the Falcon π“…ƒ standing on top of the palace π“Š, and the name π“‚‹π“ˆ– of the pharaoh 𓉐𓉻 within the palace π“Š. The palace π“Š hieroglyph π“ŠΉπ“Œƒ is pronounced like β€œserekh” and some Egyptologists are now referring to the Horus Name as the Serekh Name. This was basically the early version of the cartouche! 

On the sphinx π“Ž›π“…±π“ƒ­ of Pharaoh 𓉐𓉻 Senwosret III π“‡³π“ˆπ“‚“π“‚“π“‚“, you can see the Horus name, however, the throne name is also in the serekh! This is unusual to see both names π“‚‹π“ˆ–π“¦ in the serekh! 

Let’s read some hieroglyphs π“ŠΉπ“Œƒπ“ͺ! 

π“ŠΉπ“†£π“…± – β€œHorus, Divine of Form” (Neter-kheperu) (Horus Name)

π“‡³π“ˆπ“‚“π“‚“π“‚“ – β€œThe Souls of Ra have Appeared” (Kha kau ra) (Throne Name)

Something I love about this sphinx π“Ž›π“…±π“ƒ­, is that it is made out of gneiss, which is one of my favorite rocks π“‡‹π“ˆ–π“‚‹π“ˆ™π“¦! Gneiss is a foliated metamorphic rock π“‡‹π“ˆ–π“‚‹π“ˆ™ which means that it was subjected to such extreme heat and pressure during its formation (probably due to mountain π“ˆ‹π“…³ building or plate tectonics), that the minerals π“‡‹π“Œ»π“‚‹π“…±π“ˆ™π“¦ have separated into bands of light (felsic) and dark (mafic) colored minerals π“‡‹π“Œ»π“‚‹π“…±π“ˆ™π“¦! This gives gneiss a natural zebra-like appearance! 

Gebel el-Asr is the only quarry π“Ž›π“π“π“‰ in Egypt π“†Žπ“…“π“π“Š– where gneiss can be found, and gneiss was prized from the Predynastic to Middle Kingdoms for statue 𓏏𓅱𓏏𓀾 making!

The following pictures 𓏏𓅱𓏏 show a close up of one of my samples of gneiss, so you can see this banding! 

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