Usually, a cartouche ๐ ๐๐๐ท enclosed the name ๐๐ of a pharaoh ๐๐ป. The oval surrounding the names ๐๐๐ฆ of the pharaoh ๐๐ป was meant to be protection ๐ ๐๐ก๐ from evil ๐๐๐๐๐ จ both in life ๐น and in the afterlife ๐ผ๐ฟ๐๐. During the 18th Dynasty, the name ๐๐ of the Kingโs Great Wife ๐๐๐ would also sometimes appear in a cartouche ๐ ๐๐๐ท.
Akhenaten ๐๐๐๐ณ๐ ๐๐ was not a pharaoh ๐๐ป that followed tradition! Akhenatenโs ๐๐๐๐ณ๐ ๐๐ reign ๐พ๐๐, which archaeologists sometimes refer to as the โAmarna Revolutionโ is a period of less than 20 ๐๐ years which showed big changes not only to the traditional Egyptian religion, but also changes to the traditional Egyptian art.
This fragment does not contain the cartouches ๐ ๐๐๐ท๐ฆ of the pharaoh ๐๐ป Akhenaten ๐๐๐๐ณ๐ ๐๐. Instead, the cartouches ๐ ๐๐๐ท๐ฆ are very long way to write the name ๐๐ of Aten ๐๐๐๐ณ, the sole sun ๐ณ๐บ deity ๐น in Akhenatenโs ๐๐๐๐ณ๐ ๐๐ new religion.ย
Letโs read some hieroglyphs ๐น๐๐ช! These are two ๐ป of the โearlyโ cartouches ๐ ๐๐๐ท๐ฆ of the Aten ๐๐๐๐ณ, as there were variations during the later part of the Amarna period. The two ๐ป cartouches ๐ ๐๐๐ท๐ฆ are incomplete, but since we know what the cartouches ๐ ๐๐๐ท๐ฆ are supposed to say, I will translate both!
Here is the first two cartouches at the top of the fragment: ๐น๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ป๐๐๐๐
๐น – Living
๐ ๐๐ – Ra-Horakhty
๐๐๐ป๐ – Rejoicing
๐ – in
๐๐ – Horizon
This translates to โThe Living Ra-Horakhty, Rejoicing in the Horizon.โ
This second cartouche got cut off (you can only see the first two symbols), but here it is: ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ฑ๐ณ๐๐๐ป๐๐๐๐๐ณ
๐ – In
๐๐ – Name
๐ – His
๐ – As
๐๐ ฑ๐ณ๐๐๐ป – Light
๐ – In
๐๐๐๐ณ – Aten
This translates to โIn His Name As the Light Which is In the Aten.โ
This is my personal photograph and original text. DO NOT repost without permission.
