Theroyal titulary orroyal protocol is the standard naming convention taken by thepharaohs ofancient Egypt. It symbolised worldly power and holy might, also acting as a sort ofmission statement for the duration of a monarch's reign (although sometimes it even changed during the reign).
The full titulary, consisting of five names, did not come into standard usage until theMiddle Kingdom but remained in use as late as theRoman Empire.
In order that the pharaoh, who held divine office, could be linked to the people and the gods, special epithets were created for them at their accession to the throne. These titles also served to demonstrate one's qualities and link them to the terrestrial realm. The five names were developed over the centuries beginning with theHorus name.[1][2] This name identified the figure as a representative of the godHorus.[3] TheNebty name was the second part of the royal titular[4][3] of Upper and Lower Egypt.[2] This name placed the king under the protection of two female deities,Nekhbet andWadjet[4] and began sometime towards the end of the First Dynasty as a reference to "The one who belongs toUpper andLower Egypt", along with mention of theTwo Ladies.[2] Beginning sometime in theFourth Dynasty of Egypt, the Gold Falcon name (sometimes called the Horus of Gold) was created.[5] The last two names of the king, theprenomen and thenomen, were generally depicted within the circular, ropedcartouche of the king (eventually the cartouche would contain all royal names, including the queen and the royal children) and were known as the Throne name and the Son of Re name.[5]
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TheHorus name is the oldest form of the pharaoh's name, originating inprehistoric Egypt. Many of the oldest-known Egyptian pharaohs were known only by this title.[6]
The Horus name was usually written in aserekh, a representation of a palace façade. The name of the pharaoh was written inhieroglyphs inside this representation of a palace. Typically an image of the falcon godHorus was perched on top of or beside it.[6]
At least one Egyptian ruler, theSecond Dynasty pharaohSeth-Peribsen, used an image of the godSet instead of Horus, perhaps signifying an internal religious division within the country. He was succeeded byKhasekhemwy, who placed the symbols of both Set and Horus above his name. Thereafter, the image of Horus always appeared alongside the name of the pharaoh.[6]
By the time of theNew Kingdom, the Horus name was often written without the enclosing serekh.
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TheNebty name (lit. "two ladies") was associated with the so-called "heraldic" goddesses ofUpper and Lower Egypt:
The name is first definitively used by theFirst Dynasty pharaohSemerkhet, though it only became a fully independent title by theTwelfth Dynasty.
This particular name was not typically framed by acartouche or serekh, but always begins with the hieroglyphs of a vulture and cobra resting upontwo baskets, thedual noun "nebty".
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Also known as the Golden Horus name, this form of the pharaoh's name typically featured the image of a Horus falcon perched above or beside thehieroglyph for gold.
The meaning of this particular title has been disputed. One belief is that it represents the triumph ofHorus over his uncleSet, as the symbol for gold can be taken to mean that Horus was "superior to his foes". Gold also was strongly associated in the ancient Egyptian mind with eternity, so this may have been intended to convey the pharaoh's eternal Horus name.
Similar to the Nebty name, this particular name typically was not framed by a cartouche or serekh.
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The pharaoh'sthrone name, the first of the two names written inside acartouche, usually accompanied the titlensw-bity (nsw(t)-bjt(j)), traditionally interpreted as "[He] of sedge [and] bee" and often translated for convenience as "King of Upper and of Lower Egypt". (The sedge and the bee symbolised Upper and Lower Egypt, respectively,[7][8] although recent research has thrown this interpretation into doubt.[9][10])
The epithetnb tꜣwy, "Lord ofthe Two Lands", referring to the valley and delta regions of Egypt, often occurs as well.[clarification needed]
Title was used universally regardless of ruler's gender.[11] Female version of the title -nsjt-n-tꜣ-šmꜥ bjtjt-n-tꜣ-mḥw (nesit Ta-szema bitit Ta-mehu), that means "Queen of the land of Upper Egypt (and) Queen of the land of Lower Egypt" - is attested only forCleopatra VII.[12][13]
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This was the name given at birth. The name itself was preceded by the title "Son ofRa", written with the hieroglyph of a duck (za), ahomonym for the word meaning "son" (za), adjacent to an image of the sun, a hieroglyph for the chief solar deity Ra. It was first introduced to the set of royal titles in theFourth Dynasty and emphasizes the king's role as a representative of the solar god Ra. For women who became pharaoh, the preceding title was interpreted as "daughter" also.
Modern historians typically refer to the ancient kings of Egypt by this name, addingordinals (e.g. "II", "III") to distinguish between different individuals bearing the same name.
In theMiddle Kingdom, the full titulary was sometimes written in a single cartouche, as in this example fromSenusret I, fromBeni Hasan.
The full titulary ofEighteenth Dynasty pharaohHatshepsut, providing a guide to pronunciation and its equivalent meaning and showing the differences since this pharaoh is a woman, is as follows,
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| Thutmose III inhieroglyphs | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Era:New Kingdom (1550–1069 BC) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The full titulary ofEighteenth Dynasty pharaohThutmose III, providing a guide to pronunciation and its equivalent meaning, is as follows
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)Ancient Egyptian titulary | ||
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| Royal titulary |  | |
| Religious titulary | ||
| Courtly and administrative titulary | ||
