The ankh symbol-sometimes referred to as the key of life or the key of the nile-is representative of eternal life in Ancient Egypt. Created by Africans long ago, the ankh is said to be the first--or original--cross.
While the ankh is a widely known hieroglyph, its origins are somewhat unclear. There is little agreement on what physical object the sign originally represented. Many scholars believe the sign is a knot formed of a flexible material such as cloth or reeds. Early examples of the ankh sign date to the First Dynasty (c. 30th to 29th century BC).
The Form and Meaning of the Ankh
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".
One of the common uses of the word Ꜥnḫ was to express a wish that a particular person live. 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 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.
Interpretations of the Ankh's Origins
Many scholars believe the sign is a knot formed of a flexible material such as cloth or reeds, 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. These early versions bear a resemblance to the tyet symbol, a sign that represented the concept of "protection".
Read also: History of the Ankh Necklace
Hieroglyphic writing used pictorial signs to represent sounds, so that, for example, the hieroglyph for a house could represent the sounds p-r, which were found in the Egyptian word for "house". This practice, known as the rebus principle, allowed the Egyptians to write the words for things that could not be pictured, such as abstract concepts.
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. Gardiner's hypothesis persists; James P. Various authors have argued that the sign originally represented something other than a knot.
Some have suggested that it had a sexual meaning. 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. Victor Loret, a nineteenth-century Egyptologist, argued that "mirror" was the sign's original meaning.
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: the was-sceptre, representing "power" or "dominion", and the djed 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 belief semen was connected with life and, to some extent, with "power" or "dominion", and some texts indicate the Egyptians believed semen originated in the bones.
Read also: Gods of Egypt: Hathor
The Ankh and the Gods
The ankh is often shown in the hands of important Egyptian figures, such as pharaohs and kings, preserving their immortality. Moreover, the ankh is commonly depicted in temples and in the grasp of major Egyptian gods such as Osiris, Isis, and Ra.
Isis offering the ankh to Seti I
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. Sustaining life was thus the central function of the deities 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. 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 Ankh as a Symbol of Life and Sustenance
It could also have a more physical connotation: the ankh may represent water, air, and the sun, which were meant to provide and preserve life in Ancient Egyptian culture. Additionally, ankhs were traditionally placed in sarcophagi to ensure life after death. By extension of the concept of "life", the ankh could signify air or water.
Read also: Riddles of the Sphinx
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.
The Mysterious Origins and Meaning of the Ankh
The Ankh in Art and Decoration
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 and sistra, were also shaped like the sign.
The sign appeared very commonly in the decoration of architectural forms such as the walls and shrines within temples. In contexts such as these, the sign often appeared together with the was and djed signs, which together signified "life, dominion, and stability". In some decorative friezes in temples, all three signs, or the ankh and was alone, were positioned above the hieroglyph for a basket that represented the word "all": "all life and power" or "all life, power, and stability".
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 the Old 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. Ankh signs in two-dimensional art were typically painted blue or black.
The earliest ankh amulets were often made of gold or electrum, a gold and silver alloy.
Adoption by Other Cultures
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 represent the word for "life", and the sign was used in the artwork of the Minoan civilization centered on Crete. Artwork in the Meroitic Kingdom, which lay south of Egypt and was heavily influenced by its religion, features the ankh prominently. Use of the ankh persisted in Israel into the Iron Age.
In 2015, a clay seal (or bulla) belonging to King Hezekiah of Judah (c.
The Ankh in the Christian Era and Modern Times
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.
Much more recently, the ankh has become a popular symbol in modern Western culture, particularly as a design for jewelry and tattoos. Its resurgence began when the counterculture 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 by people of African descent in the United States and Europe as a symbol of African cultural identity.
The sign is incorporated twice in the Unicode standard for encoding text and symbols in computing.
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