CHAPTER 4: Symbols
Symbols are all around us – stop signs, peace signs, handicapped signs, medical symbols,
even sports logos. Signs, or symbols, have pretty much been around since FOREVER, and
ancient Egypt was no different – they had a ton of signs and symbols, too. Aren’t your grades
symbols? The stock market is full of symbols, and computer languages are symbolic, too.
ANKH
One ancient symbol you might recognize is the ankh. It basically meant
“eternal life” or “key of life.” Today, anybody can wear an ankh, but back in the
day it most definitely could not be carried by ordinary Egyptians. It was reserved
for special people (like pharaohs or priests) and was often seen carried by gods in
hieroglyphs. The ankh represented a powerful key that would allow pharaohs to pass through
the gates of death and into the afterlife.
THE SPHINX
This huge, recognizable symbol has the
body of a lion and the head of a pharaoh. It is one of the
largest stone sculptures in the world, and it’s been there for
over four thousand years. Somewhere along the way it lost
its nose, and at one point it was covered up to its neck in sand (when Napoleon’s army found
it), but today the sand has been cleared away.
It is thought the sphinx represents the powerful sun god, Ra, and is also symbolic of
wisdom, strength, and intelligence. Pharaohs, Ra, and the sphinx are all linked together because
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the sphinx seems to be guarding the gigantic pyramids of the pharaohs behind it, who are
considered god-kings. Why do you think the sphinx was built?
There is no known entrance that leads straight inside the sphinx, as in there’s no front
door. Why is that? Modern technology shows that there are tunnels nearby and beneath it. Is a
secret room down there? To the natural eye, the sphinx appears to be a big brown piece of
sand-colored rock, but historians think that at one time it was quite colorful. It also used to
have a beard, which has been broken off and is in several smaller pieces. That beard can be
found inside the British Museum in London.
EYE OF HORUS
This symbol meant things like protector, royal power, and good
health. Horus was the god of the sky and protector of Egypt. An
ancient Egyptian myth says Horus, the falcon god, lost an eye in a
dispute with another god named Seth, and that the eye was magically healed by Hathor, a
goddess of healing. Because of that story, the Eye of Horus has come to mean health, or the
protection of health. Horus also had four sons who protected the special jars that body organs
went into upon a person’s death.
TALKING POINTS
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Search online for ‘sphinx in color’. What colors might it have originally been?
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Have you ever been in an underground tunnel before? How was it formed?
•
Have you known someone healed of a serious injury?
•
What is one of your favorite symbols? Sketch it on a piece of paper.
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