Ancient Egyptian Symbols

Egyptian civilization is one of the oldest civilizations, in fact I would call it the wonder civilization that grew on the banks of Nile and achieved marvelous things, which amazed the whole world and still is considered as an exemplar of human innovation. There is something that is spectacular about Egyptian culture and pins our attention with things like science in prejudice. There is nothing that can be caste off as primitive vestige. Their mythology, their script and their symbols are all so arresting that a whole lifetime would be less to solve the mystery and psychological intricacy that has worked behind all this. Here we would discuss some of the ancient Egyptian symbols.

Some common Ancient Egyptian Symbols

Ankh

This was a symbol that was considered to signify eternal life. It supposedly revealed the enigmas of heaven ands earth. It was popularly known as "Breath of life" and most of the Egyptian gods and goddesses are seen holding an ankh on their lips. Some people also called it "Key of life" and is said to have been made out of the cross of Osiris and the oval that is symbolically associated with Isis. It was believed that people needed the "breath of life" after their death and priests and the pharaoh mostly carried it.

Amenta

This symbol signifies the World beneath the real world and that could mean the Realm of the dead or the Underworld. It symbolized that part of land where the dead were buried which was generally the west bank as the sun sets there unlike the previous belief, which meant horizon where the sun sets which was vague to an extent.

Djed Pillar

This pillar symbolized the backbone of Osiris in particular and the human backbone in general. It stood for strength and stability and the other mythological allusion associated with it is the creation of Ptah who is at times referred to as the "Noble Djed" but with time as the popularity of Osiris increased, it came to be known as his backbone. Sokar is another God, who is associated with the Djed Pillar. Since it symbolizes Osiris who is the God of Dead, it is often in depicted on coffins but the pharaoh who first carried out the Raising of the djed pillar actually did to imply stability of his rule. So this pillar meant stability in general, it could be stability of the dead in the other world and the stability of the living in this world.

Ba

The concept of the symbol of Ba is very interesting and it would throw some light on why mummies were made by the Egyptians. Ba was actually believed to be the spirit of the dead man, which left the body at the time of death. Ancient belief was somewhat like this that the Ba returned to the tomb of the dead at night and looked for the individual it belonged to. So to make things easier for the Ba, Egyptians made mummies so that the Ba could rest in the mummy but in case the Ba could not find its mummy, there was also a statue that looked like the mummy for the Ba to enter.

Wedjat or Udjat

This symbol stood for the Eye of Horus and the legend goes somewhat like this that once in a heated argument, Horus’s brother Seth tore out his eye though it was restored later. Though after restoration Horus made a present of his eye to the God of Underworld, Osiris to help him rule the underworld. So it is believed that eye of Horus became the moon. Apart from this legend there are many beliefs that are associated with this symbol, which are as follows:

• It symbolizes perfection, a "whole".
• It symbolizes restoration and healing.
• It also symbolizes the eye of a falcon.
• It also symbolizes magic and intuition.

Some people also believe that it is associated with sun and also with Ra who is the Sun God.

Winged Disk

This symbol signifies one of the forms of God Horus Behudety, which is taken up by him for the purpose of a battle. It is a sun disk that has wings and is a common symbol and can be found in most of the cultures of the world. Across all the cultures, which have this symbol, it is actually considered as a symbol of sun. According to Egyptian mythology, God Thoth used his magic to transform God Horus in to a sun disk and then Goddesses Uazet and Nekhbet joined him in the form of snakes at his side.

Feather of Maat

This is a very common Egyptian symbol and "Maat" can be seen very frequently in Egyptian painting and art since the Pharaoh also wore it. Actually it was the feather that adorned a goddess called Maat. It was a common belief of the Egyptians that this feather was kept on the heart of a person after he or she died and if the heart weighed more than the feather it meant that the heart was filled with sins and thus as a punishment he or she was devoured by Ammit but if the heart weighed lesser than the feather, it meant that the heart was free of sins and the person had access to the world of Osiris. Feather of Maat also meant morality, stability, balance and justice and this is the reason the Pharaoh wore it and in case a Pharaoh died it was imperative to choose the next Pharaoh as the belief was that in the absence of a Pharaoh to bear it, the feather would get lost and the world would be tossed into pandemonium.