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| The four main forms of writing the word "god" in Egyptian hieroglyphics: 1: a seated (female or male) deity 2: a falcon (often on a stand) 3: a flag-topped pole 4: a five-pointed star All meant "god" but appeared in different contexts and periods. |
hi·er·o·glyph Noun /ˈhī(ə)rəˌglif/
hieroglyphs plural
A stylized picture of an object representing a word, syllable, or sound, as found in ancient Egyptian and other writing systemsThe 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"...
