Ankh
This article is about a Thelema topic
The ankh or key of life is an ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic symbol used to represent the word for "life" and, by extension, as a symbol of life itself.
The ankh has a T-shape topped by a droplet-shaped loop. It was used in writing as a triliteral sign, representing a sequence of three consonants, Ꜥ-n-ḫ. This sequence was found in several Egyptian words, including the terms for "mirror", "floral bouquet", and "life". The symbol often appeared in Egyptian art as a physical object representing life or related life-giving substances such as air or water. Commonly depicted in the hands of ancient Egyptian deities, sometimes given by them to the pharaoh, it represents their power to sustain life and revive human souls in the afterlife.
The ankh was a popular decorative motif in ancient Egypt and was also used decoratively by neighboring cultures. The Copts adapted it into the crux ansata, which features a circular loop instead of a droplet, and used it as a variation of the Christian cross. The ankh gained popularity in Western culture during the 1960s, emerging as a symbol of African cultural identity, Neopagan belief systems, and ultimately, the goth subculture.
in hieroglyphs
In ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic writing, the ankh was a triliteral sign that represented a sequence of three consonant sounds. The ankh stood for the sequence Ꜥ-n-ḫ, where n is pronounced like the English letter n, Ꜥ is a voiced pharyngeal fricative, and ḫ is a voiceless or voiced velar fricative (sounds not found in English). In the Egyptian language, these consonants were found in the verb meaning "live", the noun meaning "life", and words derived from them, such as sꜤnḫ, which means "cause to live" or "nourish"; Ꜥnḫ evolved into ⲱⲛϩ (onh) in the Coptic stage of the language. The sign is known in English as the "ankh", based on the hypothetical pronunciation of the Egyptian word, or as the "key of life", based on its meaning.
One of the common uses of the word Ꜥnḫ was to express a wish that a particular person live. For example, a phrase meaning something like "may you be healthy and alive" was used in polite contexts, similar to the English phrase "if you please", and the phrase Ꜥnḫ wḏꜣ snb, meaning "alive, sound, and healthy", was used as an honorific for the pharaoh when he was mentioned in writing. The Egyptian word for "oath" was also Ꜥnḫ, because oaths in ancient Egypt began with a form of the word "live".
The same consonants were found in the word for "mirror" and the word for a floral bouquet, so the sign was also used in writing these words. The three consonants also compose the word for a looped rope-like object found in illustrations on many coffins from the Middle Kingdom (c. 2050–1650 BC). The Egyptologists Battiscombe Gunn and Alan Gardiner, in the early 20th century, believed these objects to be sandal straps, given that they appear in pairs at the foot of the coffin and the accompanying texts say the objects are "on the ground under his feet".
Origins
Early examples of the ankh symbol date back to the First Dynasty (c. 30th to 29th century BC). There is little consensus on what physical object the symbol originally represented. Many scholars believe the symbol is a knot made of a flexible material such as cloth or reeds since early versions show the lower bar of the ankh as two separate lengths of flexible material that appear to correspond to the two ends of the knot. These early versions resemble the tyet symbol, which represented the concept of "protection." For these reasons, the Egyptologists Heinrich Schäfer and Henry Fischer believed the two symbols had a common origin, and they considered the ankh to be a knot used as an amulet rather than for any practical purpose.
Hieroglyphic writing utilized pictorial signs to represent sounds. For instance, the hieroglyph for a house could signify the sounds p-r, which are found in the Egyptian word for "house." This practice, known as the rebus principle, enabled the Egyptians to write words for concepts that could not be represented visually, such as abstract ideas. Gardiner believed the ankh originated in this manner. He noted that the sandal-strap illustrations on Middle Kingdom coffins resemble the hieroglyph, arguing that the sign originally depicted knots like these and was subsequently used to write all other words containing the consonants Ꜥ-n-ḫ. Gardiner's list of hieroglyphic signs identifies the ankh as S34, categorizing it with clothing items, just after S33, the hieroglyph for a sandal. Gardiner's hypothesis endures; James P. Allen, in an introductory book on the Egyptian language published in 2014, suggests that the sign originally meant "sandal strap" and uses it as an example of the rebus principle in hieroglyphic writing.
Various authors have argued that the sign originally represented something other than a knot. Some have suggested it had a sexual meaning. For instance, Thomas Inman, a nineteenth-century amateur mythologist, believed the sign represented the male and female reproductive organs joined into a single symbol. Victor Loret, a nineteenth-century Egyptologist, contended that "mirror" was the sign's original meaning. A problem with this argument, which Loret acknowledged, is that deities are often depicted holding the ankh by its loop, with their hands passing through it where the solid reflecting surface of an ankh-shaped mirror would be. Andrew Gordon, an Egyptologist, and Calvin Schwabe, a veterinarian, argue that the origin of the ankh is linked to two other signs of uncertain origin that frequently appear alongside it: the was-sceptre, symbolizing "power" or "dominion," and the djed pillar, symbolizing "stability." According to this hypothesis, the shape of each sign is derived from a part of a bull's anatomy, much like some other hieroglyphic symbols known to be based on animal body parts. In Egyptian belief, semen was associated with life and, to some extent, with "power" or "dominion"; some texts suggest that the Egyptians believed semen originated in the bones. Therefore, Gordon and Schwabe propose that the signs are based on parts of the bull's anatomy through which semen was thought to pass: the ankh represents a thoracic vertebra, the djed corresponds to the sacrum and lumbar vertebrae, and the was signifies the dried penis of the bull.
Use in religion and art
In Egyptian belief, life was a force that flowed throughout the world. Individual living beings, including humans, were manifestations of this force and fundamentally connected to it. Life began at the world's creation, and cyclical events like the sun's rising and setting were viewed as reenactments of the original creation events that maintained and renewed life in the cosmos. Sustaining life was thus the central function of the deities who governed these natural cycles. Therefore, the ankh was frequently depicted in the hands of the gods, symbolizing their life-giving power. The Egyptians also believed that upon death, their individual lives could be renewed in the same way as life in general. For this reason, the gods were often illustrated in tombs giving ankh signs to humans, typically the pharaoh. As this sign represented the ability to bestow life, individuals other than the pharaoh were rarely depicted receiving or holding the ankh before the end of the Middle Kingdom, though this convention gradually weakened thereafter. To some extent, the pharaoh embodied Egypt as a whole, so by giving the sign to him, the gods granted life to the entire nation.
By expanding the notion of "life," the ankh can also symbolize air or water. In artwork, gods present the ankh to the king's nose, granting him the breath of life. Hand fans represent another symbol of air in Egyptian iconography, and the human servants who usually carried fans behind the king are sometimes depicted in artwork as personified ankh symbols with arms. In scenes of ritual purification, where water is poured over the king or a deceased commoner, the zigzag lines that typically signify water may be replaced with chains of ankh signs.
The ankh may have been used more decoratively than any other hieroglyphic sign. Mirrors, mirror cases, and floral bouquets were crafted in its shape since the sign represented the names of these objects. Other items, like libation vessels and sistra, were also designed in the form of the ankh. It frequently appeared in the decoration of architectural elements, such as the walls and shrines within temples. In these contexts, the sign often appeared alongside the was and djed signs, which together symbolized "life, dominion, and stability." In some decorative friezes in temples, all three signs, or just the ankh and was, were placed above the hieroglyph for a basket that symbolized the word "all": "all life and power" or "all life, power, and stability." Certain deities, such as Ptah and Osiris, could be depicted holding a was scepter that incorporated elements of the ankh and djed.
Amulets shaped like hieroglyphic signs were intended to impart the qualities represented by each sign to the wearer. The Egyptians wore amulets in their daily lives and placed them in tombs to ensure the well-being of the deceased in the afterlife. Ankh-shaped amulets first emerged during the late Old Kingdom (c. 2700 to 2200 BC) and continued to be used into the late first millennium BC; however, they were rare despite the symbol's significance. Amulets shaped like a composite sign incorporating the ankh, was, and djed were more common.
Ankh symbols in two-dimensional art were typically painted either blue or black. The earliest ankh amulets were often crafted from gold or electrum, a gold and silver alloy. In later times, Egyptian faience—a ceramic that was usually blue or green—became the most common material for ankh amulets, perhaps because its color symbolized life and regeneration.
The people of Syria and Canaan adopted many Egyptian artistic motifs during the Middle Bronze Age (c. 1950–1500 BC), including hieroglyphs, of which the ankh was by far the most common. It was often placed next to various figures in artwork or shown being held by Egyptian deities who had come to be worshipped in the ancient Near East. It was sometimes used to represent water or fertility. Elsewhere in the Near East, the sign was incorporated into Anatolian hieroglyphs to define the word for "life", and the sign was used in the artwork of the Minoan civilization centered on Crete. Minoan artwork sometimes combined the ankh, or the related tyet sign, with the Minoan double axe emblem.
Artwork from the Meroitic Kingdom, located south of Egypt and significantly influenced by its religion, prominently features the ankh. It appears in temples and funerary art in many of the same contexts as in Egypt and is also one of the most common motifs found in the decoration of Meroitic pottery.
The use of the ankh continued in Israel during the Iron Age. In 2015, a clay seal (or bulla) belonging to King Hezekiah of Judah (c. 700 BC) was found in Jerusalem, featuring ankhs on either side of a winged sun figure.
Christianity
"Crux ansata" redirects here. For the book by H. G. Wells, see Crux Ansata.
The ankh was one of the few ancient Egyptian artistic motifs that continued to be used after the Christianization of Egypt during the 4th and 5th centuries AD. The sign resembles the staurogram, a sign that resembles a Christian cross with a loop to the right of the upper bar and was used by early Christians as a monogram for Jesus, as well as the crux ansata, or "handled cross", which is shaped like an ankh with a circular rather than oval or teardrop-shaped loop. The staurogram has been suggested to be influenced by the ankh, but the earliest Christian uses of the sign date to around AD 200, well before the earliest Christian adoption of the ankh. The earliest known example of a crux ansata comes from a copy of the Gospel of Judas from the 3rd or early 4th century AD. The adoption of this sign may have been influenced by the staurogram, the ankh, or both.
According to Socrates of Constantinople, when Christians were dismantling Alexandria's greatest temple, the Serapeum, in 391 AD, they noticed cross-like signs inscribed on the stone blocks. Pagans stated that the sign meant "life to come," suggesting that the sign Socrates referred to was the ankh. Meanwhile, Christians claimed the sign was their own, asserting that they could easily regard the ankh as a crux ansata.
There is minimal evidence of the crux ansata's use in the western half of the Roman Empire; however, Egyptian Coptic Christians employed it in various mediums, especially for decorating textiles.
Modern use
More recently, the ankh has become a popular symbol in modern Western culture, especially as a design for jewelry and tattoos. Its resurgence began with the counterculture movement of the 1960s, which sparked a greater interest in ancient religions. In the 21st century, it is the most widely recognized symbol of African origin in the Western world. It is occasionally used by individuals of African descent in the United States and Europe to represent African cultural identity. Additionally, the ankh symbolizes Kemetism, a collection of religious movements rooted in the beliefs of ancient Egypt. This symbol is also favored in the goth subculture, mainly connected to vampires, as an ankh pendant features prominently in the 1983 vampire film The Hunger.
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