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Egyptian Artifacts Reading Hieroglyphs

Cartouches of Akhenaten

Let’s read some hieroglyphs π“ŠΉπ“Œƒπ“ͺ!

Today π“‡π“‡‹π“ˆ–π“‡³ we are going to be looking at a fragment of a relief that has some gorgeous π“„€ hieroglyphs π“ŠΉπ“Œƒπ“ͺ on it – the cartouches π“ π“ˆ–π“ˆ™π“·π“¦ of the pharaoh 𓉐𓉻 Akhenaten π“‡‹π“π“ˆ–π“‡³π“…œπ“π“ˆ–!! This fragment is from present day Amarna, which during Akhenaten’s π“‡‹π“π“ˆ–π“‡³π“…œπ“π“ˆ– rule was known as Akhetaten π“ˆŒπ“π“‰π“‡‹π“π“ˆ–π“Š–. Akhetaten π“ˆŒπ“π“‰π“‡‹π“π“ˆ–π“Š– translates to β€œHorizon of the Aten,” and Akhenaten π“‡‹π“π“ˆ–π“‡³π“…œπ“π“ˆ– named it the capital of Egypt π“†Žπ“…“π“π“Š– during year five 𓏾 of his reign.Β 

Cartouches of Akhenaten
The Cartouches of Akhenaten on a fragment of a relief from the city of Akhetaten (The MET)

This relief is probably from after year five 𓏾 of his reign, just based off of the throne name variant that is used in the hieroglyphs π“ŠΉπ“Œƒπ“ͺ! 

Let’s start from the top row of hieroglyphs π“ŠΉπ“Œƒπ“ͺ! We will start reading from the right since that is where the snake points to! This is a very popular phrase that you may recognize: 𓆖𓏙𓋹. This translates to β€œGiven 𓏙 Eternal 𓆖 Life π“‹Ή.” 

Under that, we are also going to start reading from the right since that is where the directional symbols point to! 

π“†₯ – King of Upper and Lower Egypt

π“‹Ή – Life

𓐝 – On

𓁧 – Maat (Truth)

π“ŽŸπ“‡Ώπ“‡Ώ – Lord of the Two Lands

π“‡³π“„€π“†£π“‡³π“¦π“Œ‘π“ˆ–- Neferkheperura-waenre which means “Beautiful are the Forms/Manifestations of Re, the Unique one of Re” (Akhenaten’s throne name)

On to the next set of hieroglyphs π“ŠΉπ“Œƒπ“ͺ! 

𓅭𓇳 – Son of Ra

π“‹Ή – Life

𓐝 – On

𓁧 – Maat (Truth)

π“‡‹π“π“ˆ–π“‡³π“…œπ“π“ˆ– – Akhenaten (the β€œbirth name” variant, since Akhenaten’s actual birth name was Amenhotep (IV))

π“ŽŸπ“ˆπ“₯ – Lord of Appearances 

What always gets me is Akhenaten’s throne name of π“‡³π“„€π“†£π“‡³π“¦π“Œ‘π“ˆ–- Neferkheperura-waenre. This particular spelling of the throne name is only seen after he changed his given name from Amenhotep IV π“‡‹π“ π“ˆ–π“Š΅π“ŠΉπ“‹Ύπ“Œ€ to Akhenaten π“‡‹π“π“ˆ–π“‡³π“…žπ“π“ˆ–. The original spelling, before the name π“‚‹π“ˆ– change was β€œπ“œπ“„€π“†£π“¦π“‡³π“Œ‘π“ˆ–.” The name π“‚‹π“ˆ– is still pronounced the same and has the same meaning, but the falcon glyph π“œ was changed to just the sun disc 𓇳 (both pronounced Re/Ra).  Also, all of Akhenaten’s other names (Horus name, etc) underwent a change, to remove the other deities π“ŠΉπ“ŠΉπ“ŠΉ, but this one didn’t. 

I wonder why Akhenaten didn’t change the throne name (π“‡³π“„€π“†£π“‡³π“¦π“Œ‘π“ˆ–) to represent the Aten π“‡‹π“π“ˆ–π“‡³, just like how all of his other names π“‚‹π“ˆ–π“¦ were changed. He also kept the title β€œSon of Ra 𓅭𓇳,” instead of changing it to an Aten-based title. There are probably some mysteries that we will never fully comprehend about this time period!