The ankh has aT-shape topped by adroplet-shaped loop. It was used in writing as atriliteral 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 inEgyptian art as a physical object representing either life or related life-giving substances such as air or water. Commonly depicted in the hands ofancient Egyptian deities, sometimes being given by them to thepharaoh, it represents their power to sustain life and to revive humansouls inthe afterlife.
The ankh was a widespread decorative motif in ancient Egypt, also used decoratively by neighbouring cultures.Copts adapted it into thecrux ansata, a shape with a circular rather than droplet loop, and used it as avariant of the Christian cross. The ankh came into widespread use inWestern culture in the 1960s, appearing as a symbol of African cultural identity,Neopagan belief systems, and later, thegoth subculture.
Inancient Egyptianhieroglyphic writing, the ankh was a triliteral sign: one that represented a sequence of threeconsonant sounds. The ankh stood for the sequenceꜤ-n-ḫ, wheren is pronounced like the English lettern,Ꜥ is avoiced pharyngeal fricative, andḫ is avoiceless orvoiced velar fricative (sounds not found in English).[2] In theEgyptian language, these consonants were found in the verb meaning "live", the noun meaning "life", and words derived from them, such assꜤnḫ, which means "cause to live" or "nourish";[1]Ꜥnḫ evolved into ⲱⲛϩ (onh) in theCoptic stage of the language.[3] 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.[4]
One of the common uses of the wordꜤnḫ 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 phraseꜤnḫ wḏꜣ snb, meaning "alive, sound, and healthy", was used as anhonorific for thepharaoh when he was mentioned in writing. The Egyptian word for "oath" was alsoꜤnḫ, because oaths in ancient Egypt began with a form of the word "live".[5]
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.[6] The three consonants also compose the word for a looped rope-like object found in illustrations on many coffins from theMiddle Kingdom[4] (c. 2050–1650 BC).[7] TheEgyptologistsBattiscombe Gunn andAlan Gardiner, in the early 20th century, believed these objects to besandal 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".[4]
First Dynasty stone dish in the shape of an ankh embraced by a pair of arms representing theka[8]
Early examples of the ankh sign date to theFirst Dynasty[9] (c. 30th to 29th century BC).[7] There is little agreement on what physical object the sign originally represented.[10] Many scholars believe the sign is a knot formed of a flexible material such as cloth or reeds,[10] as early versions of the sign show the lower bar of the ankh as two separate lengths of flexible material that seem to correspond to the two ends of the knot.[6] These early versions bear a resemblance to thetyet symbol, a sign that represented the concept of "protection". For these reasons, the Egyptologists Heinrich Schäfer and Henry Fischer thought the two signs had a common origin,[11] and they regarded the ankh as a knot that was used as anamulet rather than for any practical purpose.[10][12]
Hieroglyphic writing used pictorial signs to represent sounds, so that, for example, the hieroglyph for a house could represent the soundsp-r, which were found in the Egyptian word for "house". This practice, known as therebus principle, allowed the Egyptians to write the words for things that could not be pictured, such as abstract concepts.[13] Gardiner believed the ankh originated in this way. He pointed out that the sandal-strap illustrations on Middle Kingdom coffins resemble the hieroglyph, and he argued that the sign originally represented knots like these and came to be used in writing all other words that contained the consonantsꜤ-n-ḫ.[4]Gardiner's list of hieroglyphic signs labels the ankh as S34, placing it within the category for items of clothing and just after S33, the hieroglyph for a sandal.[14] Gardiner's hypothesis persists;James P. Allen, in an introductory book on the Egyptian language published in 2014, assumes that the sign originally meant "sandal strap" and uses it as an example of the rebus principle in hieroglyphic writing.[1]
Various authors have argued that the sign originally represented something other than a knot. Some have suggested that it had a sexual meaning.[15] For instance,Thomas Inman, an amateur mythologist in the nineteenth century, thought the sign represented the male and female reproductive organs, joined into a single sign.[16]Victor Loret, a nineteenth-century Egyptologist, argued that "mirror" was the sign's original meaning. A problem with this argument, which Loret acknowledged, is that deities are frequently shown holding the ankh by its loop, and their hands pass 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 related to two other signs of uncertain origin that often appear alongside it: thewas-sceptre, representing "power" or "dominion", and thedjed pillar, representing "stability". According to this hypothesis, the form of each sign is drawn from a part of the anatomy of a bull, like some other hieroglyphic signs that are known to be based on body parts of animals. In Egyptian beliefsemen was connected with life and, to some extent, with "power" or "dominion", and some texts indicate the Egyptians believed semen originated in the bones. Therefore, Gordon and Schwabe suggest the signs are based on parts of the bull's anatomy through which semen was thought to pass: the ankh is athoracic vertebra, thedjed is thesacrum andlumbar vertebrae, and thewas is the dried penis of the bull.[17]
In Egyptian belief, life was a force that circulated throughout the world. Individual living things, including humans, were manifestations of this force and fundamentally tied to it.[18] Life came into existence at thecreation of the world, and cyclical events like the rising and setting of the sun were thought of as reenactments of the original events of creation that maintained and renewed life in the cosmos. Sustaining life was thus the central function of thedeities who governed these natural cycles. Therefore, the ankh was frequently depicted being held in gods' hands, representing their life-giving power. The Egyptians also believed that when they died, their individual lives could be renewed in the same manner as life in general. For this reason, the gods were often depicted in tombs giving ankh signs to humans, usually the pharaoh.[19] As the sign represented the power to bestow life, humans other than the pharaoh were rarely shown receiving or holding the ankh before the end of the Middle Kingdom, although this convention weakened thereafter. The pharaoh to some extent represented Egypt as a whole, so by giving the sign to him, the gods granted life to the entire nation.[20]
By extension of the concept of "life", the ankh could signify air or water. In artwork, gods hold the ankh up to the nose of the king: offering him the breath of life.Hand fans were another symbol of air in Egyptian iconography, and the human servants who normally carried fans behind the king were sometimes replaced in artwork by personified ankh signs with arms. In scenes of ritual purification, in which water was poured over the king or a deceased commoner, the zigzag lines that normally represented water could be replaced by chains of ankh signs.[21]
The ankh may have been used decoratively more than any other hieroglyphic sign. Mirrors, mirror cases, and floral bouquets were made in its shape, given that the sign was used in writing the name of each of these objects. Some other objects, such as libation vessels andsistra, were also shaped like the sign. The sign appeared very commonly in the decoration of architectural forms such as the walls and shrines withintemples.[6] In contexts such as these, the sign often appeared together with thewas anddjed signs, which together signified "life, dominion, and stability". In some decorativefriezes in temples, all three signs, or the ankh andwas alone, were positioned above the hieroglyph for a basket that represented the word "all": "all life and power" or "all life, power, and stability". Some deities, such asPtah andOsiris, could be depicted holding awas scepter that incorporated elements of the ankh anddjed.[22]
Amulets made in the shape of hieroglyphic signs were meant to impart to the wearer the qualities represented by the sign. The Egyptians wore amulets in daily life as well as placing them in tombs to ensure the well-being of the deceased in the afterlife. Ankh-shaped amulets first appeared late in theOld Kingdom (c. 2700 to 2200 BC) and continued to be used into the late first millennium BC, yet they were rare, despite the importance of the symbol. Amulets shaped like a composite sign that incorporated the ankh,was, anddjed were more widespread.[23]
Ankh signs in two-dimensional art were typically painted blue or black.[24] The earliest ankh amulets were often made of gold orelectrum, a gold and silver alloy.Egyptian faience, a ceramic that was usually blue or green, was the most common material for ankh amulets in later times, perhaps because its color represented life and regeneration.[25]
Imprint of a seal impression of KingHezekiah with ankhs
The people ofSyria andCanaan adopted many Egyptian artistic motifs during theMiddle 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 theancient Near East. It was sometimes used to represent water or fertility.[26] Elsewhere in the Near East, the sign was incorporated intoAnatolian hieroglyphs to represent the word for "life", and the sign was used in the artwork of theMinoan civilization centered onCrete. Minoan artwork sometimes combined the ankh, or the relatedtyet sign, with the Minoandouble axe emblem.[27]
Artwork in theMeroitic Kingdom, which lay south of Egypt and was heavily influenced by its religion, features the ankh prominently. It appears in temples and funerary art in many of the same contexts as in Egypt, and it is also one of the most common motifs in the decoration of Meroitic pottery.[28]
Use of the ankh persisted in Israel into theIron Age. In 2015, aclay seal (or bulla) belonging to KingHezekiah ofJudah (c. 700 BC) was discovered inJerusalem, which featured ankhs on either side of a winged sun figure.[29]
"Crux ansata" redirects here. For the book by H. G. Wells, seeCrux Ansata.
Acrux ansata inCodex Glazier, a Coptic manuscript of theNew Testament, 4th to 5th century ADCrux ansata signs on a piece of cloth, 4th to 5th century AD
The ankh was one of the few ancient Egyptian artistic motifs that continued to be used after theChristianization of Egypt during the 4th and 5th centuries AD.[30] The sign resembles thestaurogram, a sign that resembles aChristian cross with a loop to the right of the upper bar and was used by early Christians as amonogram forJesus,[31] as well as thecrux ansata, or "handled cross", which is shaped like an ankh with a circular rather than oval or teardrop-shaped loop.[32] 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.[33] The earliest known example of acrux ansata comes from a copy of theGospel 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.[32]
According toSocrates of Constantinople, when Christians were dismantlingAlexandria's greatest temple, theSerapeum, in 391 AD, they noticed cross-like signs inscribed on the stone blocks. Pagans who were present said the sign meant "life to come", an indication that the sign Socrates referred to was the ankh; Christians claimed the sign was their own, indicating that they could easily regard the ankh as acrux ansata.[34]
There is little evidence for the use of thecrux ansata in the western half of theRoman Empire,[35] but EgyptianCoptic Christians used it in many media, particularly in the decoration of textiles.[30]
Much more recently, the ankh has become a popular symbol in modernWestern culture, particularly as a design for jewelry and tattoos.[16] Its resurgence began when thecounterculture of the 1960s stirred a greater interest in ancient religions. In the 21st century it is the most widely recognized symbol of African origin in the Western world, and it is sometimes used bypeople of African descent in the United States and Europe as a symbol of African cultural identity. The ankh also symbolizesKemetism, a group of religious movements based on the religion of ancient Egypt.[36] In 1982, the bandKISS added guitarist Vinnie Vincent, who's makeup centered around an ankh.[37]
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Finnestad, Ragnhild Bjerre (1989). "Egyptian Thought about Life as a Problem of Translation". In Englund, Gertie (ed.).The Religion of the Ancient Egyptians: Cognitive Structures and Popular Expressions. S. Academiae Upsaliensis. pp. 29–38.ISBN978-91-554-2433-6.
Gardiner, Alan (1915). "Life and Death (Egyptian)". In Hastings, James (ed.).The Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics. Vol. VIII. pp. 19–25.
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Hill, Jane A. (2010). "Window between Worlds: The Ankh as a Dominant Theme in Five Middle Kingdom Funerary Monuments". InHawass, Zahi; Houser Wegner, Jennifer (eds.).Millions of Jubilees: Studies in Honor of David P. Silverman. American University in Cairo Press. pp. 227–247.ISBN978-977-704-084-6.
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Fischer, Henry G. (1973). "An Eleventh Dynasty Couple Holding the Sign of Life".Zeitschrift für Ägyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde.99 (2):16–28.doi:10.1524/zaes.1973.99.2.16.S2CID195039128.(subscription required)
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