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hi·er·o·glyph
Noun
/?h?(?)r??glif/
hieroglyphs
plural
A stylized picture of an object representing a word,
syllable, or sound, as found in ancient Egyptian and other
writing systems
The Egyptian word "netcher" or
"god" was usually written by means of one of a number of
hieroglyphic signs which were added as "determinatives"
or group of indicators at the endof names of deities, as
well as being used alone. One of the commonly used signs
found from Old Kingdom times was a seated divine figure
(1) which could be male or female and thus was used
specifically for Egyptian gods and goddesses. Variants of
this sign which signified individual deities (in a few
cases standing or depicted in some other position) were
also used, especially in the New Kingdom and later
periods. From much earlier times the word "god" could
also be written by means of a hieroglyph depicting a
falcon (2) - sometimes on a perch - doubtless indicative
of the great antiquity of many of the falcon gods of
Egypt. The most commonly used sign for god, however,
which was also very ancient, resembles in its developed
form a flag atop a pole (3) - the symbol of divine
presense which fronted Egyptian temples and shrines back
to predynastic times. John Baines stated that this sign
has a complex history and may have developed as a means
of signally the presence of a deity without having a
narrow, individual meaning associated with a specific
divine power. Very late in Egyptian history the
hieroglyph of a star (4) could also be used to write the
word "god", but this is found only from the Ptolemaic
Period on. All these signs could be written twice for
dual numbers or three times for the plural "gods" and
sometimes in even large numbers such as three groups of
three signifying an ennead or group of nine gods; a
writing which could also connote a "plurality of
plurality" or "all the gods"...
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 The
Complete Gods and
Goddesses of Ancient Egypt
Book
Since you are interested in
the Egyptian gods and
goddesses, you will certainly
find this book interesting and
very informative. As a matter
of fact, most of the articles
here are inspired by, or even
directly taken from, this
book.
What makes this book so
special? I find this book so
special and different because
it is something that both
experts and new learners can
learn from. It introduces you
to the famous Egyptian gods and
goddesses, but it also gets you
deep inside the ancient
Egyptian religious life and
mysterious practices, even it
has a few pages dedicated to
the demons of ancient Egypt. I
strongly recommend this book
for you if you want to get
closer insight of the ancient
Egyptian religious doctrines.
The
book is available on
Amazon.
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