Egyptian Staff

Product Information

The Hemhem crown is usually depicted on top of Nemes, Pschent, or Deshret crowns. It is an ornate, triple Atef with corkscrew sheep horns and usually two uraei. The depiction of this crown begins among New Kingdom rulers during the Early Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt. Moreover, priests believed that ḥeka could protect them from poisonous snakes and other natural dangers, as the Coffin Texts make clear: “The serpent is in my hand and cannot bite me” (spell 885). [23] A visual depiction of this appears on a number of cippi that depict the so-called “Horus of the Crocodiles,” such as the aforementioned Metternich stele, in which the young god Horus stands upon crocodiles while holding a variety of noxious animals by their tails, including serpents, thus sympathetically conferring protection on the stele’s owner from snake bites and other forces of chaos (Fig. 12). Grabbing the Serpent by the Tail wnỉs pỉ wnm rmṯ ʿnḫ m nṯrw… wnỉs pỉ wnm ḥkꜣ=sn ỉʿm ꜣḫw=sn. See James P. Allen, A New Concordance of the Pyramid Texts. Vol. III PT 247-421 (Brown University, 2013), §23, §33. For an English translation of the texts, see James P. Allen, The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts (Writings from the Ancient World, 38; Atlanta, GA: SBL Press, 2015). The white crown of Upper Egypt, the Hedjet, was worn in the Predynastic Period by Scorpion II, and, later, by Narmer. Mark, Joshua (2 September 2009). "Pharaoh – World History Encyclopedia". World History Encyclopedia. Archived from the original on 20 April 2021 . Retrieved 20 December 2017.

These three accounts of the water/Nile being likened to blood in Egyptian literature certainly bear on the blood plague in Egypt, especially since that plague, like the Egyptian accounts, shares in common a theme of destruction. The Red Water of the Bloody Nile There is another possible analogue, though it is not as exact and rather late. The Tale of Setne II (BM P. 604) relates how a Nubian expert of ḥeka told his mother that her drinking water (and the sky) would turn to the color of blood if the Egyptians defeated him while performing sorcery. The extant text dates to the 7th year of Claudius (46-47 CE). James, T. G. H. “A Wooden Figure of Wadjet with Two Painted Representations of Amasis.” The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 68 (1982): 156–65. https://doi.org/10.2307/3821635. But does the Bible’s portrayal of these magicians fit what we know of them from Egyptian sources? Their roles as literary figures encourage one to ponder whether they represent bonafide Egyptian functionaries and whether their marvelous feats depict real or imagined Egyptian practices. After all, biblical narratives set in Egypt often evince a knowledge of Egyptian customs and beliefs: [1] Bianchi, Robert Steven. 2022. "A Bronze Reliquary for an Ichneumon Dedicated to the Egyptian Goddess Wadjet" Arts 11, no. 1: 21. https://doi.org/10.3390/arts11010021ḥʿ pỉ ỉr [ dšr]. See Jürgen Osing, Hieratische Papyri aus Tebtunis I (Carsten Niebuhr Institute of Ancient Near Eastern Studies, 17; Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press, 1998), p. 253. What is Sengol, symbol of Chola legacy set to stand tall in India's new parliament?". WION . Retrieved 2023-05-24. Ptah is easily recognizable by the sceptre he holds in his hands. Ptah's sceptre has the particularity of combining several divine forces at the same time: power, life and stability. Wadjet is occasionally depicted as other animal headed beings or depicted as other animals such as a lion, mongoose, Ichneumonidae. Notably the depiction of the mongoose serves as an antithesis to that of the cobra as it is a natural predator. While the Icheumon probably serves as a depiction of Wedjat's role in seeing for Horus. Many bronze statues of Wadjet are argued to contain Icheumon remains however confirmation on this being forensic or a visual observation is unknown. [8]

The Egyptian sceptres are relics of the divine power granted to the pharaoh. Through these sceptres, the gods were supposed to give legitimacy to the ruler of Egypt. Wondering about the roles of the different sceptres in ancient Egypt? Would you like to discover all the pharaohs' attributes? Or, perhaps, would you like to understand the myths behind each of these sceptres-symbols? Coffin Texts: “I have swallowed the seven uraei-serpents” (spell 612), and “I have eaten truth (lit. Maat), I have swallowed ḥeka ”(spell 1017). [27]

The Western Hyksos Come, Conquer and Change Everything!

As a central figure of the state, the pharaoh is the obligatory intermediary between the gods and humans. To the former, he ensured the proper performance of rituals in the temples; to the latter, he guaranteed agricultural prosperity, the defense of the territory and impartial justice. Yahuda, The Languages of the Pentateuch in Its Relation to Egyptian, pp. 66-67. The Hebrew expression appears elsewhere only in reference to Yahweh inscribing the tablets of the law (Exod 31:18, Deut 9:10). Of course, chief Egyptian lector-priests also were master scribes, and Thoth was the patron god of scribes. I thank my graduate student, Corinna Nichols, for drawing my attention also to Luke 11:20, in which Jesus uses the same expression (i.e., δακτύλῳ θεοῦ) for exorcising demons. From left to right: Set, Horus and Anubis holding in their right hand a Was sceptre and in their left hand an a nkh cross. B) The Sceptre of Ptah Strong's Hebrew Concordance - 6547. Paroh". Bible Hub. Archived from the original on 2022-10-18 . Retrieved 2022-10-20. Clayton 1995, p. 217. "Although paying lip-service to the old ideas and religion, in varying degrees, pharaonic Egypt had in effect died with the last native pharaoh, Nectanebo II in 343 BC"

As we have seen, the sceptres are not only instruments of power but also symbols that allow the authority of the pharaoh to be asserted. In addition to the pharaonic attributes, the pharaoh is also linked to the symbols from Egyptian mythology. In this section, we will highlight the most important symbols coming from legends of Egypt. A) The Udjat eye Pope, George Uglow (1886). The Sacred Kurral of Tiruvalluva Nayanar (PDF) (Firsted.). New Delhi: Asian Educational Services. ISBN 8120600223. a b c d e f Bianchi, Robert Steven (2022). "A Bronze Reliquary for an Ichneumon Dedicated to the Egyptian Goddess Wadjet". Arts. 11 (1): 21. doi: 10.3390/arts11010021. ISSN 2076-0752. Thus, we may see the devouring of the ḥarṭummīm’s staffs by Aaron’s “staff of God” (Exod 4:20) as depicting the destruction of their authority and absorption of their power. [29] Superpositioning and Control of the Ḥarṭummīm

COPPENS, FILIP, and HANA VYMAZALOVÁ. “MEDICINE, MATHEMATICS AND MAGIC UNITE IN A SCENE FROM THE TEMPLE OF KOM OMBO (KO 950).” Anthropologie (1962-) 48, no. 2 (2010): 127–32. JSTOR 26292902.

Indeed, it is composed respectively of the Was sceptre, the ankh cross and the djed pillar. Assembled together, these three symbols represent the powers and might of Ptah, the creator god. C) The Sekhem Sceptre This sceptre is composed at its lower end of a two-pointed fork, originally used to capture snakes, and at the upper end of a head of Set, god of chaos. Further information: Pharaoh §Scepters and staves Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia [ edit ] The Code of Hammurabi stela depicts the god Shamash holding a staff. Statue of Jupiter in the Hermitage, holding the sceptre and orb. Under the Roman Empire, the sceptrum Augusti was specially used by the emperors, and was often of ivory tipped with a golden eagle. It is frequently shown on medallions of the later empire, which have on the obverse a half-length figure of the emperor, holding in one hand the sceptrum Augusti, and in the other the orb surmounted by a small figure of Victory. Moreover, as contemporary scholarship has shown, the definition of both magic and religion is fraught, and the dichotomy “magic vs. religion” is problematic, having its roots in an outdated and pejorative understanding of “primitive” (read: non-monotheistic) religions as “superstitious.” [7] Regrettably, such views have informed early interpretations of the biblical ḥarṭummīm. [8] Therefore, while Egyptian priests evoked ḥeka to empower apotropaia (repulsion of harm), heal ailments, induce love, produce rain, harm Egypt’s national enemies, and even enliven the dead in the afterlife, it is more accurate to think of the ḥarṭummīm as highly learned priests, masters of their ancient literary traditions and rituals of perceived power. [9]In the early dynasties, ancient Egyptian kings had as many as three titles: the Horus, the Sedge and Bee ( nswt-bjtj), and the Two Ladies or Nebty ( nbtj) name. [6] The Golden Horus and the nomen and prenomen titles were added later. [7] A Demon of Bastet: A ritual text that identifies one of seven demons of the goddess Bastet (here a manifestation of Sekhmet) as “The one who is in the Nile-flood who makes blood” (924-889 BCE). [14] As Thomas Schneider observes: “This could be understood as a demon who creates carnage in the Nile, and thus turns the Nile into blood (Exod 7:17-20).” [15] Such a reconstruction certainly accounts for how Israelite narratives could exhibit such a close knowledge of Egyptian ritual and literary texts. It also explains why many of the individuals connected to the early Israelite priesthood possess Egyptian names (e.g., Aaron, Assir, Hophni, Hur, Miriam, Moses, Phinehas, etc.). Yet, such a model also bears significantly on how we understand these and other so-called “Egyptianisms.” See Scott B. Noegel, “The Egyptian Origin of the Ark of the Covenant,” in Israel’s Exodus in Transdisciplinary Perspective, pp. 223-242. Narmer wearing the red crown Deshret A guardian statue wearing the red crown which reflected the facial features of the reigning king, probably Amenemhat II or Senwosret II, and which functioned as a divine guardian for the imiut. Made of cedar wood and plaster c. 1919–1885 BC [29]