Over on my Instagram, a lot of people commented how much they loved my X-Men shirt! I’m going to be honest, thereβs a reason I wore it to the MET – it looks like the βarea with an intersection πβ hieroglyph πΉπ! I love it when my interests collide (Iβm a huge Marvel comics fan)!
The βπβ is used as both an ideogram and a determinative! More commonly, βπβ functions as the determinative, or the last symbol in the word that almost acts as punctuation to let the reader know the general meaning of the word. βπβ is the determinative for town (ππΊ – njwt), city, settlement, and even the country of Egypt ππ ππ! βπβ seems to be used for towns/cities in Egypt ππ ππ, while most foreign lands used the determinative of βπ.β
This relief I am standing with shows βPersonified Estates” from the tomb ππ«ππ of a man named Akhithotep. The βpeopleβ in this relief arenβt actually meant to show people – they are personifications of the farms and estates that belonged to the deceased π ππ±. Each of the figures is also carrying food π¬ππ ±ππ₯ – those are offerings π΅ππͺπππ¦ that the estates will continue to provide to the deceased π ππ±!Β Personified Estates do appear frequently in Old Kingdom tomb ππ«ππ art, and it’s a really interesting concept!
Letβs read some hieroglyphs πΉππͺ! Above the first π figure on the left, you can see:
ππππΏππ – Domains of Lower Egypt
ππ§πππ – Bedjet (the estate)
ππ΄ππ – Warm Bread
This inscription ππ ±π means that the Bedjet ππ§πππ estate of Lower Egypt will provide warm bread ππ΄ππ for the deceased π ππ±!
This raised relief is dated to the 4th Dynasty (c. 2575β2551 B.C.E) and is carved in limestone ππππ.Β The relief is also quite high off of the limestone ππππ, which is typical of Old Kingdom (especially 4th Dynasty) art.
This is my personal photograph and original text. DO NOT repost without permission.