Believe it or not, this seemingly plain piece was probably one of my favorite objects that I saw in the Petrie Museum. I was so excited when I saw it, because Hatshepsutβs π³π¦π throne name appears on it! Since I absolutely love anything to do with Hatshepsut π³π¦π, I was incredibly excited to see something with her name ππ on it. I also think this piece is unpublished, so it was a total surprise for me to see that it even existed! Since her name ππappears on the blade, it means that it was most certainly made during her time as pharaoh ππ».
While it doesnβt look like much, this piece is actually a bronze ππ€ππ¦ blade that was once attached to a handle.
Letβs read some hieroglyphs πΉππͺ!
π€πΉ – Great God
(π³π¦π) – Maatkare (Hatshepsutβs Throne Name – translates to βTruth π¦ is the Soul π of Re π³.β)
ππ π – Amun
ππ¦π¦- Holiest of Holies (the name given to Hatshepsutβs temple at Deir el-Bahri. It can also be written as ππ¦π¦π or most commonly as π¦ππ¦π₯π).
πΊπ – Beloved
Put together, the inscription reads: π€πΉ(π³π¦π)ππ πππ¦π¦πΊπ βThe Great God Maatkare, Beloved of Amun, Holiest of Holies.β
Interestingly, Hatshepsut ππ ππΉππππΌπͺ is referred to as βThe Great God π€πΉβ instead of the βGreat Goddess π€πΉπβ as she usually is in inscriptions πππ₯. I honestly think this is a spacing issue because the blade is so small πππ΄π ©. A lot of the words on this blade are the shortened version. For example, Amun is written as ππ π instead of ππ ππ, and Holiest of Holies is very shortened to the point of almost being unrecognizable (ππ¦π¦ instead of π¦ππ¦π₯π). There are also many variations of Beloved πΊπ, but this shortened version of the word is very commonly seen in inscriptions πππ₯.