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| crook inhieroglyphs | ||
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| "flail" inhieroglyphs | ||
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Thecrook and flail (heka andnekhakha) were symbols used inancient Egyptian society. They were originally the attributes of thedeityOsiris that became insignia ofpharaonic authority.[1] Theshepherd's crook stood for kingship and theflail for the fertility of the land.[1]
The earliest known example of a crook is from theGerzeh culture (Naqada II), and comes from tomb U547 inAbydos.[citation needed] By latePredynastic times, the shepherd's crook was already an established symbol of rule. The flail initially remained separate, being depicted alone in some earliest representations of royal ceremonial. Approximately by the time of theSecond Dynasty, the crook and flail became paired.[citation needed]
The only extant pharaonic examples of both the crook and flail come from theTomb of Tutankhamun.[2] Their staffs are made of heavy bronze covered with alternating stripes ofblue glass,obsidian, and gold, while the flail's beads are made of gilded wood.[3]
Traditionally crossed over the chest when held, they probably represented the ruler as a shepherd whose beneficence is formidably tempered with might.[2]
In the interpretation ofToby Wilkinson, the flail used to goad livestock was a symbol of the ruler's coercive power: as shepherd of his flock, the ruler encouraged his subjects as well as restrained them.[4] Still another interpretation, byE. A. Wallis Budge, is that the flail is what was used to thresh grain.[5]
Percy Newberry, a specialist onancient Egypt, speculated that the "flail" or "whip/scourge" of Osiris was more likely an instrument for collectinglabdanum similar to that used in nineteenth-centuryCrete.[6] He examined archaeological remains of such items and their representations in art, and found that they were mechanically incapable of acting as either a flail or whip and so must be some other instrument. Similarly to crooks, he further noted that these items were also associated with shepherds, who used them to gather labdanum while their flocks grazed on and among thebushes from which the gum was gathered.
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