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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? I cut up the binder-snake/worm, which destroys the grain, I split it in two. I grasp its head in my right The Nesu Bity name, also known as prenomen, was one of the new developments from the reign of Den. The name would follow the glyphs for the "Sedge and the Bee". The title is usually translated as king of Upper and Lower Egypt. The nsw bity name may have been the birth name of the king. It was often the name by which kings were recorded in the later annals and king lists. [30] Nebty name Egyptian reliefs typically depict lector-priests as donned in a white kilt and sash (see Fig. 1 above). Elsewhere they appear without the sash and carrying a sacred scroll or other ritual implements (Fig. 3), or with a longer kilt and a shaved head (Fig. 4). They were Egypt’s elite religious professionals and the prime players in major rituals connected to the pr ʿnḫ, i.e., “House of Life,” an institution of higher learning associated with temples. They also presided over the “Opening of the Mouth” ceremony, by which the deceased entered the afterlife as a transfigured being.

The Udjat eye is one of the most popular divine symbols in Egyptian mythology. It represents the magic eye of the god Horus. The Mask of Tutankhamun from tomb KV62 in the Valley of the Kings. Pharaohs' tombs were provided with vast quantities of wealth Among the Etruscans, sceptres of great magnificence were used by kings and high priests. Many representations of such sceptres occur on the walls of the painted tombs of Etruria. The British Museum, the Vatican, and the Louvre possess Etruscan sceptres of gold, elaborately and minutely ornamented. Because of his knowledge of sacred lore, only the lector-priest could serve in temples and officiate in ceremonies for the dead. Some appear to have served the village community as well, composing spells and making medicines. See Serge Sauneron, The Priests of Ancient Egypt. David Lorton transl. (Ithaca, NY/London: Cornell University, 2000), pp. 61-64, 108, 158, 163-164. For a collection of learned spells, see J. F. Burghouts, Ancient Egyptian Magical Texts (Nisaba, 9; E. J. Leiden: Brill, 1978). On the duties of the lector-priest, see Emily Teeter, Religion and Ritual in Ancient Egypt (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011), pp. 16-38.

The sceptre of Sekhem takes its name from the goddess Sekhmet. This lion-headed warrior goddess alone is a symbol of power. Feared by all, in Egyptian mythology, Sekhmet is at the head of the divine Egyptian army. She is often depicted as Ra's instrument of vengeance. Indeed, Ra is said to have created Sekhmet with the aim of slowing down the incessant conflicts of mankind. Pope, George Uglow (1886). The Sacred Kurral of Tiruvalluva Nayanar (PDF) (Firsted.). New Delhi: Asian Educational Services. ISBN 8120600223. See David Frankfurter, “Ritual Expertise in Roman Egypt and the Problem of the Category ‘Magician,’” in Peter Schäfer and Hans G. Kippenberg, eds., Envisioning Magic: A Princeton Seminar and Symposium (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1997), pp. 115-135. A vignette found in the tomb of the vizier Rekhmire (ca. 1400 BCE) shows a collection of items produced by temple artisans. The utensils include, inter alia, three curved ivory “magic” wands for use in birthing rituals and two copper serpent wands (Fig. 11). [22]

Hagen, Rose-Marie; Hagen, Rainer See Scott B. Noegel, “The Egyptian Origin of the Ark of the Covenant,” in Israel’s Exodus in Transdisciplinary Perspective, pp. 223-242.The Heka sceptre (or "Heka"), considered to be the pharaoh's shepherd's staff, is the symbol of his power of control over the people but also of his mission as a guide. ḥʿ 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. Thomas Schneider, “Modern Scholarship Versus the Demon of Passover: An Outlook on Exodus Research and Egyptology through the Lens of Exodus 12,” in Israel’s Exodus in Transdisciplinary Perspective, pp. 537-553, see p. 546, n. 32.

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] Such parallels, which could be multiplied, suffice to demonstrate that the biblical depictions of the ḥarṭummīm reflect a knowledge of Egyptian priestly arts. Yet, how did the Israelite writers obtain this knowledge? Indeed, the texts involving the ḥarṭummīm reflect a grasp of Egyptian priestly performative praxis that goes well beyond the sort of information that one might have obtained from Egyptian literary traditions. Recall that some parallels occur only in ritual texts. Moreover, one must ask how Israelite authors could have known any Egyptian literary traditions, since most of the literary parallels cited above predate the Israelite monarchy by many centuries. Egyptian Learning Outside of Egypt The white crown of Upper Egypt, the Hedjet, was worn in the Predynastic Period by Scorpion II, and, later, by Narmer. 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] Clayton, Peter A. Chronicle of the Pharaohs the Reign-by-reign Record of the Rulers and Dynasties of Ancient Egypt. London: Thames & Hudson, 2012. Print.

26- Egyptian Sistrum

Informing the aforementioned Egyptian texts, and thus also the biblical story, is the color of the water when it turns to blood. In Egyptian, the word “blood” (i.e., dšr) also means “red.” In Egyptian ritual practice, red is the color of Apep, the serpent of chaos, and it serves as a synonym for “evil.” As such, it plays a key role in the ritual of execration, in which priests drowned, stabbed, crushed, burned, dismembered, buried, or otherwise destroyed red pots or red human figurines as proxies for Egypt’s enemies. Thus, the biblical account also evokes Egyptian execration. Calligraphic representation of the Udjat Eye, symbol of healing and vision of the invisible. B) The Maat's feather