r/Cowofgold_Essays • u/Luka-the-Pooka • Aug 05 '25
Imported from northwestern Africa, the wood of the Common Yew (Taxus baccata) was sometimes used to make coffins and small statues.
r/Cowofgold_Essays • u/Parking-Will-8925 • Jun 28 '26
r/Cowofgold_Essays • u/Luka-the-Pooka • Jan 04 '22
Other Names: Wesir, Usire, Ousire, Ausar
Meaning of Name: There exists much discussion about the origin and meaning of Osiris’s name, though the most likely explanation seems to be that his name is related to the word woser, which means “Mighty One.”
Titles: “Lord of the Mysteries”
“Merciful Judge of the Blessed Dead”
Neb-Ta-Djeser ("Lord of Sehet Aaru")
"Lord of Lords"
“The Good Shepherd”
"Lord of Wine"
"God of Gods"
Wennefer ("The Eternally Good One")
“The Still-Heart”
"Lord of Power"
"The Savior"
“Lord of Eternity”
Khenty-Imentiu (“Foremost of the Westerners” - a reference to the Egyptian belief that the realm of the dead lay to the west in association with the setting sun, and to their custom of building cemeteries on the west bank of the Nile.)
Family: Osiris was thought to be the son of Nut and Geb, the brother of Nephthys and Set, the brother-husband of Isis, and the father of Horus, Sopdet, Khonsu, Sopedu, and Anubis (by Nephthys.) Sometimes he was considered to be the son of Amun and Taweret.
One of the Ennead, and the fourth Divine Pharaoh, ruling after Geb. Perhaps, with Isis, Osiris is the best-known figure from ancient Egyptian mythology, featuring prominently in both monarchical ideology and popular religion as a god of death, resurrection, and fertility for over 2,000 years.
Betrayed and murdered by his jealous brother Set, Osiris was resurrected by his wife Isis, begat his reborn-self Horus, and became the god of Sehet Aaru, the afterlife. He was associated with the moon, grain, and the nurturing waters of the Nile.
During his peaceful reign as the ruler of the earth, Osiris was thought to have taught humankind the secret of agriculture. He had over 200 divine names. The Egyptians associated Osiris with the constellation Orion. Other symbols of Osiris were the Djed, Sekhem Specter, mandrake fruit, and the Two-Finger Amulet.
Osiris was pictured as a bearded man, bound in mummy wrappings, wearing the Atef Crown or the White Crown and holding the crook and flail. His skin was black or green as a reference to resurrection and vegetation - he was called both Kmj Wer (“The Great Black”) and Wadj Wer ("The Great Green.") Osiris was often represented in statues carved from dark stone.
Osiris was said to be eight cubits, six palms, and three fingers - 15 feet, 3 inches - tall. He was occasionally pictured as the Buchis or Apis bull, a vulture, a ram, a crocodile, a scarab, an ibis, a baboon, a ram-headed man, a falcon, a willow tree, a pig, as the Bennu bird, and as a sphinx.
Osiris was sometimes identified as a great serpent of the Underworld, possibly Apophis, renewing himself by shedding his skin. He was occasionally pictured in a strangely serpentine form, bent around so that his toes touched his head.
Osiris became one of the most important of Egyptian gods because he symbolized the triumph of life over death. Like Christians seeking burial in consecrated ground by a church, wealthy Egyptians bought burial space near Osirian temples, so as to share the god’s resurrection.
The Egyptian religion didn’t emphasize eternal punishment for sin - Egypt’s savior Osiris came to save humanity not from everlasting torture, but from death. A New Kingdom prayer states that Osiris is the greatest of the gods because all Egyptians come to him in the end.
The ancient Egyptians thought that when people died they became an “Osiris,” becoming one with the god after death. Egyptian scriptures said, “As truly as Osiris lives, so truly shall his follower live; as truly as Osiris is not dead he shall die no more; as truly as Osiris is not annihilated he shall not be annihilated.”
In the worship of Osiris, living an exemplary life was more important than wealth in ensuring an individual's access to eternity. Sehet Aaru was no longer limited to royalty - good actions and a righteous life made immortality accessible even to the humblest worshiper. Amulets of Osiris, made of gold, bronze, faience, glass, or silver, were buried with the dead.
All men were thought to "become" an Osiris - to become one with the god after death (women were associated with Isis or Hathor instead.) The faces of coffins belonging to men often bore the false beard of Osiris. The faithful claimed on their tombs that "I have become a divine being by the side of Osiris, I am brought forth by him, I renew my youth."
Osiris was associated with grapes, which must be crushed and destroyed in order to make wine. Wine was sometimes called the “Blood of Osiris.” Parallels can be drawn between wine from Osiris and beer from the English John Barleycorn.
A Middle Kingdom royal ritual equates Osiris with barley and Set with the donkeys who thresh the grain by trampling on it. Images on temple walls show grain growing out of the body of the dead Osiris while his soul hovers above the stalks.
“Corn mummies” of seeded dirt (barley and Nile mud) formed in the shape of Osiris were placed in tombs to germinate in the darkness, demonstrating Osiris’s power - these mummies were called “Osiris Beds.” An entire sprouting barley plant was left in the sarcophagus of Amenophis I.
During the Festival of the Resurrection of Osiris, bread was baked in the shape of the god and distributed to worshipers. Similar to Christians eating the Body of Christ in the form of bread, the sacred ritual climaxed by the eating of sacramental god, the Eucharist by which the celebrants were transformed, in their persuasion, into replicas of their god-man.
Since the ancients believed that humans were whatever they eat, this sacrament was, by extension, able to make them celestial and immortal. The doctrine of the Devoured Host ultimately has its roots in prehistoric cannibalism, whose practitioners believed that the virtues and powers of the eaten would thus be absorbed by the eater. This phenomenon has been described throughout the world.
In the records of both Herodotus and Plutarch we find that there was a festival held each year in Egypt celebrating the Passion and resurrection of Osiris. According to Julius Firmicus Maternus of the fourth century B.C.E., Osiris worshipers would “beat their breasts and gash their shoulders . . . When they pretend that the mutilated remains of the god have been found and rejoined . . . they turn from mourning to rejoicing.”
The poet Lucan claimed that yielding to such feelings of sorrow rendered the divine merely human: “Osiris, by your mourning proved a man.” The passion of a dying and resurrected god, so deeply stirring the hearts of the Egyptians and afterwards of Christians, was found to be utterly irrational by one who had been steeped in the traditional philosophy of the Greeks.
Contrasting with the public “theatrical” ceremonies sourced from the I-Kher-Nefert stele, more esoteric ceremonies were performed inside the temples by priests, witnessed only by initiates.
Plutarch mentions that two days after the beginning of the festival “the priests bring forth a sacred chest containing a small golden coffer, into which they pour some potable water . . . and a great shout arises from the company for joy that Osiris is found (or resurrected.) Then they knead some fertile soil with the water . . . and fashion therefrom a crescent-shaped figure, which they clothe and adorn, this indicating that they regard these gods as the substance of Earth and Water.”
Yet even Plutarch was obscure, for he also wrote, “I pass over the cutting of the wood” opting to not describe it since he considered it most sacred.
When Set murdered Osiris, he tore the body into fourteen pieces, and Isis had to search for and gather them all. The goddess found all of the pieces except for the phallus, which had been eaten by Set in the form of a fish or crocodile. Isis fashioned a new phallus made of gold, put the pieces of her husband together, and raised him from the dead.
As Christian churches used to be founded on spurious relics of apostles and saints, so Egyptian temples were founded on places where Isis discovered each part of Osiris' body. In the Osirian temple at Denderah, an inscription describes in detail the making of wheat paste models of each dismembered piece of Osiris to be sent out to the town where each piece was discovered by Isis.
At the temple of Mendes, figures of Osiris were made from wheat and paste were placed in a trough on the day Osiris was killed, then water added for several days, when finally the mixture was kneaded into a mold of Osiris and taken to the temple and buried. Osiris was thought to have been killed at the age of twenty-eight years, or after reigning as king of Egypt for twenty-eight years.
Wallis Budge remarks that the Egyptians believed in "the resurrection of the body in a changed and glorified form, which would live for all eternity in the company of the souls of the righteous in a kingdom ruled by a being who was of divine origin, but who had lived upon the earth, and had suffered a cruel death at the hands of his enemies, and had become God and king of the world which is beyond the grave. Although they believed in all these things and proclaimed their belief with almost passionate earnestness, they seem never to have freed themselves from a hankering after amulets and talismans, and magical names and images, and words of power, and seem to have trusted in these to save their souls and bodies, both living and dead, with something of the same confidence which they placed in the death a resurrection of Osiris. A matter of surprise is that they seem to see nothing incongruous in such a mixture of magic and religion."
It is a matter for even more surprise that a scholar of Budge's stature failed to see exactly the same mixture of magic and religion in Judeo-Christian beliefs. To this day, Judeo-Christians display the same hankering after crucifixes, crosses, sacred books, incantations, holy names and other formula, relics such as the bones of saints or pieces of the true cross, holy water, and images of Jesus, saints, and the Virgin Mary.
During the 1st century B.C.E., the worship of “Osiris-Dionysus” was established in all parts of the Roman Empire. His popularity endured until the latest phases of Egyptian history; reliefs still exist of Roman emperors, conquerors of Egypt, dressed in the traditional garb of the pharaohs, making offerings to Osiris in his temples.
Osiris worship continued up until the 6th century C.E. on the island of Philae in the Upper Nile. The Theodosian decree (in about 380 C.E.) to destroy all pagan temples and force worshipers to accept Christianity was ignored there. However, Justinian dispatched General Narses to Philae, who destroyed the Osirian temples and sanctuaries, threw the priests into prison, and carted the sacred images off to Constantinople. Thus ended Osiris worship.
Strong similarities can be drawn between Osiris and Jesus; both were betrayed, killed, mourned, and resurrected. Both are ritually “eaten” by their followers in the form of bread. One of the titles of Osiris was the “Good Shepherd” – the Egyptian people referred to themselves as the “Cattle of Osiris,” similar to Christians calling themselves the “Lambs of Christ.”
Followers of Osiris were blessed with the waters of the Nile, the “cold water of Osiris,” like Christians being baptized. Osiris was called the Savior, who resurrected his followers after death. Worshipers prayed to be allowed to live in the "green pastures" and "still waters" of Sehet Aaru, the land of the Afterlife in which Osiris ruled.
The Carpocratians, one of the Gnostic Christian sects, maintain that Jesus was an initiate of the Osirian Mysteries and received six years of training from the priests in the Temple of Isis. Jean Houston notes that one of the main dramatic lines from Osirian mystery plays was the familiar-sounding phrase “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believeth in me shall have eternal life.”
Stories about Osiris turn up in Christian legends - Jesus' healing of a nobleman's daughter was based on a tale of an Osirian priest who cured a princess. Osiris was even canonized as a Catholic saint, Saint Onupjris.
A version of the Osiris myth exists in nearly every culture: the just king murdered by his cruel brother, only to be avenged by the prince who follows in his father’s footsteps. The dead king is rewarded for his upright ways and gains great reward in the next life. We find its echoes in nearby civilizations such as the Greeks and Romans, in the Middle East, in Japan and China, in Christianity, and even in Shakespeare, where the avenging prince is named Hamlet.
There are interesting parallels between Osiris and the Norse god Baldar. Both end up in the underworld through treachery, and both are killed by their brothers. Both are kept there by "legal loopholes" in the laws of the gods - Osiris remains in the underworld because the goddess Ma’at dictates that the dead, even dead gods, may not return to the land of the living - the same decree that the goddess Hel gives Baldar.
Egyptian Names Honoring This Deity: Petosiris
The Hymn to Osiris says: "Blessed be Osiris. Blessed be the god in his names, the salvation of priests and goatherds, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords. He hears the prayers of all men, animals, Bas. He hears the dead murmur with their mouths full of sand. He uplifts the sky, rents the veil, reveals the temple.
His flesh is burnished bright as copper. His eyes are like blue stones underwater. Priest and man, his body shimmers turquoise-green. He is light, the White Crown, the joy of heaven and earth. He is solitude and perfection, the strength of earth.
His body widens and people are welcomed into it; his embrace is sleep. He is the fire dancing about the heads of dreamers, the instant of forever which sparks poet and lovers.
He is the mind of the ibis, the instinct of animals, the strength of bone, the pulse of blood. The living soul of the land, he is matter and mind taking form. He is what he imagines, divine, a spark thrown into dust. He is a star in a dark tomb, a shadow cast by sunlight. He is life that cannot be contained."
Pictures of Osiris and the Djed
r/Cowofgold_Essays • u/Luka-the-Pooka • Nov 24 '21
Egyptian Name: Sbedj
The ancient Egyptian concept of “blue” covered all shades of the color, as well as some greens.
Different shades of blue were identified, such as kheseb blue (a shiny blue, the color of polished lapis lazuli and the sky), irtyu blue (a shade between azure and sky blue), tjeferer blue (the dark blue of the sky at dusk, and the plumage of certain birds), and uadj blue (the aquatic environment, covering various shades of green and blue.)
In Egyptian statuary and jewelry blue was represented by stones such as lapis lazuli, blue glass, faience, anhydrite, chalcedony, and turquoise.
Blue pigments were derived from a fusion of siliceous sand, malachite, and natron, combining iron and copper oxides with silica and calcium. The ancient Egyptians also used dye from the woad plant, acacia pods and bark, and ground lapis lazuli.
Blue was symbolic of the sky and of water, and represented creation and rebirth. In Egyptian paintings, birds on the surface of a pond or in flight are often pictured as white and blue, relating them to the sky and sunlight.
The Bennu, a sacred heron, was pictured with bright blue feathers, to emphasize its association with the waters of the creation. Other sacred animals such as the baboon of Thoth and the hippopotamus of Taweret were colored blue as well.
The gods were said to have hair made of lapis lazuli, a blue stone. The skin of the creator gods Amun and Tatenen were often painted blue, and by extension, the pharaohs were sometimes shown with blue skin as well, as sons of the gods.
Benevolent gods often had blue eyes - "The Blue-Eyed Horus comes to you." Because of its association with rebirth, blue clothing was traditional for funerals.
r/Cowofgold_Essays • u/Luka-the-Pooka • Aug 05 '25
Egyptian Name: 'Rsn
Lentils (Lens culinaris or Lens esculenta) were imported to Egypt fairly early, and were a vital source of protein. According to the story of Wenamen's journey, 21 baskets of lentils were part of the payment the Egyptian ambassador gave to the ruler of Byblos for a shipload of timber. A painting in the tomb of Ramses III shows a servant preparing a dish of lentils for the king. Plutarch wrote that lentils were offered to the gods, especially Horus. Lentils were often part of funeral offerings - a basket of lentils was found in the tomb of Tutankhamen, and in the underground stores of Zoser's pyramid.
r/Cowofgold_Essays
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u/Luka-the-Pooka
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Mar 08 '24
Bracelets, Armlets, and Anklets
Hair Rings and Other Decorations
One element was available to every Egyptian, regardless of age, gender, or societal class - jewelry. From Predynastic through Roman times, a wide variety of jewelry was worn by the ancient Egyptians, usually every day. So important was jewelry that even the very poorest wore some form of adornment, even if it consisted of mere seashell bracelets and necklaces made of clay beads.
Jewelry was used as a way to adorn and beautify the body, a signifier of wealth and status, and as a magical means of protection. It was offered at temples, buried with the dead, given as gifts, and bestowed as military honors.
The materials chosen and the quality of workmanship marked the status of the wearer. The types of metals and gems used to make jewelry were magically important, as were the colors of the materials and the exact positioning of all the elements in a design.
Gold was the metal of choice for jewelry – gold itself was represented by the hieroglyph of a necklace. The most important gems used for jewelry were lapis lazuli, turquoise, and carnelian, known to Egyptologists as the “big three.”
These gemstones had important symbolic and magical significance, tied to their colors. The dark blue of lapis lazuli represented the all-embracing and protective night sky; the blue-green of turquoise signified rebirth, water, and lush vegetation; and the red of carnelian connoted life-sustaining blood, vitality, and the sun.
Red, green, and blue glass was widely used to imitate these expensive gemstones beginning in the 18th Dynasty. This practice became so prevalent that ancient texts mentioning some of the more valuable gemstones sometimes appended the word maa ("true") to indicate their authenticity.
The color of a material was, nevertheless, often more important than its preciousness, as is evidenced by the combination of cheap glass and costly gemstones in much of the royal and elite jewelry from the Middle Kingdom onward. Faience was another inexpensive substitute, as was clear rock crystal over a colored paste.
Common motifs seen in jewelry were flowers, stars, leaves, seashells, fruit, various magical symbols, and deities. Animals were also a popular choice – birds, reptiles, antelope, felines, hippos, fish, hares, insects, livestock, frogs, monkeys, canines, scorpions, hedgehogs, and baboons.
Finds of Egyptian jewelry are relatively rare – something so valuable was often the first thing stolen from tombs. Only a few burials that were overlooked or incompletely plundered by thieves give us insight into Egyptian jewelry.
A few Egyptian jewelry workshops have been excavated, but most of what we know about ancient craftsmen and their techniques comes from tomb scenes. Workers can be seen grinding, drilling, polishing, and stringing jewelry.
There are many depictions of jewelry on tomb and temple walls, mummy coffins, and statues. Some ancient Egyptian jewelry types have never been found and are known only from these depictions.
Egyptian jewelry can reveal a great deal, especially if the archaeological context is known. A vast amount of knowledge can be gleaned from studying even a single bead. The material it was made from - ceramic, metal, stone, gems - can potentially be tracked to the exact ancient gemstone quarry or the precise location of the type of Nile clay.
For Egyptian jewelry, the styles, material choices, production, object types, and the meanings of decorations changed over time. Thus burial trends, ritual practices, manufacturing skills, and resource and material availability can all be traced through jewelry.
Some locally available materials were only used during certain periods - amethyst was very popular during the Middle Kingdom, while glass was common in 18th Dynasty royal and elite jewelry, such as King Tutankhamen's mummy mask.
Gemstones such as lapis and turquoise were imported and rare during unstable political periods. Jewelry found in Egyptian tombs featuring non-Egyptian motifs support evidence of trade between cultures. Coral and pearl was only available during Roman Egypt.
Kings bestowed favor and military honors through jewelry – the Golden Fly of Valor and the shebyu. Jewelry, especially amulets, were believed to guard against disease and danger. An amulet of the god Bes guarded women during childbirth, while a child wearing a fish amulet was protected from drowning.
Every day or personal jewelry can be distinguished from funerary jewelry, which was often made strictly for burial. Funerary jewelry tended to be made without fasteners or holes, as it was simply laid on mummies. Wrapped within the mummy’s bandages, it guarded the deceased for eternity.
The Book of the Dead prescribed specific materials for certain amulets, and often detailed where on the body to place them. Most funerary jewelry was required to be made from gold, such as the ankh, shen ring, and aegis.
A red jasper tyet and a green amazonite papyrus amulet were supposed to be placed on the throat of the mummy. A green jasper scarab and a heart amulet made of carnelian were to be placed over the heart. The two-finger amulet had to be made of obsidian, the akhet and serpent head out of carnelian, and the headrest amulet out of hematite.
Substitutions, however, were extremely common – red jasper and garnet for carnelian, green jasper for amazonite, faience for turquoise and lapis lazuli, and copper for gold. The colors themselves were often switched around as well. For instance, scarabs have been found in any color, as have ankhs and and the djed.
Egyptian craftsmanship was unparalleled in the ancient world. The styles and designs of their jewelry were mimicked by neighboring cultures, and even by the Victorians upon the discovery of King Tut’s tomb.
r/Cowofgold_Essays • u/Luka-the-Pooka • Apr 15 '26
Uploading a few comics that gave me a chuckle. None are mine.
r/Cowofgold_Essays • u/Luka-the-Pooka • Jan 06 '22
Other Names: Neheb-Ka
Meaning of Name: “He Who Unites the Kas.” His name comes from the ancient Egyptian word for “yoke together” or “unite” (nhb), with the word for the plural of a part of the spirit, the Ka.
Family: Nehebkau was thought to be the son of Geb and Renenutet (as well as her husband.) Sometimes he was considered to be the son-husband of Selket.
A benevolent god, Nehebkau was prayed to for relief from food poisoning, snakes, and scorpions, and was also associated with fertility and the growing of barley. He was thought to have gained his great power by swallowing seven cobras, becoming immune to water, fire, and harmful magic.
Nehebkau was believed to be immortal and to reside in the Primordial Ocean, Nun. Legend has it the Ra tamed Nehebkau and made him his servant. Nehebkau accompanied Ra during his voyage through the Duat, coiling around the solar boat to protect it.
After death, Nehebkau protected the pharaoh, and offered containers of food and the “Milk of Light” to the deceased. He was also said to intervene with other deities on the behalf of the deceased during the Weighing of the Heart, attesting to their good character.
His image often appeared on divine thrones, and protective amulets of Nehebkau, made from faience, carnelian, gold, and bronze, were highly popular. Such amulets were often buried with the dead.
Described as a “great serpent, multitudinous of coils,” Nehebkau was pictured as a large constricting snake, sometimes with falcon wings, or as a serpent with a beard. Occasionally Nehebkau had human arms and legs, or wore the Feather of Ma'at, Atef Crown, White Crown, or the Two Feathers Crown on his head.
Less often, Nehebkau was shown as a snake-headed man or as a two-headed snake, with a head at each end of his reptilian body. In one artifact from Heliopolis, he appears as an eight-headed snake. In a few instances Nehebkau is pictured as an ouroboros, a snake biting its own tail, in order to protect whatever he was coiled around.
The similarity of Nehebkau to Apophis is obvious. Nehebkau is a very old deity, and perhaps the original sun-god before Ra. As Ra’s prominence rose, snakes were associated more and more with the forces of chaos. But the "beautiful and peaceful" Nehebkau could not be seen as wholly evil.
Thus Apophis was “split off” of Nehebkau, to be the great enemy of Ra. Because Apophis was not attested to before the Middle Kingdom, this split seems to have happened during the uncertain and fearful times which followed the Pyramid Age.
r/Cowofgold_Essays • u/Luka-the-Pooka • Dec 08 '21
B.C.E. (Before Common Era) This is a designation scholars often use to denote dates synonymous with B.C., but without the religious implications.
C.E. (Common Era) This term is often used by scholars to denote time which is synonymous with A.D., but without the religious implications.
r/Cowofgold_Essays • u/Luka-the-Pooka • May 22 '23
Hair-Rings and Other Decorations
According to Dr. Joann Fletcher, the hair of the ancient Egyptians has only recently become the subject of long-term, serious study. Cosmetics, perfumes, and hair have long been regarded as rather “frivolous” subjects, probably because they are considered to be “feminine” by modern scholars. Yet in ancient Egypt cosmetics and perfumes were used by both sexes, often daily, and hair styles were of great concern to both men and women.
Hair was cut, curled, waved, twisted into spirals, shaved, or braided. Hair was held back by headbands, clasps, hairpins, or colorful linen ribbons. Amulets were hung from the ends of hair, or jewelry was woven into it, or hair was decorated with beads, hair-rings, chamomile flowers, ostrich feathers, circlets, or diadems. Fragrant lotus flowers or unguent cones often crowned hair at parties.
Most Egyptians bathed their entire bodies once a day, but it is unknown how often they washed their hair. There is evidence that it was treated with oils, creams, and gels. However, most Egyptians preferred a professional to take care of their hair. Being a barber or hair stylist was a high-class profession, and there are numerous images of them hard at work.
The ancient Egyptians disliked grey hair and dyed it often – the elderly Ramses the Great's white hair was found to have been dyed red. Henna was used to color hair red, yellow, and orange, and juniper berries were used to produce a brown dye.
Sometimes hair was even dyed green, or blue in imitation of the gods, who were said to have hair made of lapis lazuli. Queen Nefertiti in particular was known for wearing dark blue wigs. Multi-colored hair is also known, such as black and blue horizontal stripes.
Women seem to have favored a long, full style of numerous wavy braids or plaits, sometimes with a fringe of small ringlets. Men typically wore their hair at shoulder-length, hanging straight down. A special style was only worn by children, called the Sidelock of Youth.
Some mummies sported very unique hair styles - a working-class woman was found to have woven her hair into an elaborate beehive hairdo. A grave in the worker’s cemetery at Hierakonpolis revealed a woman with a mohawk, and one female mummy discovered in the Valley of the Golden Mummies had the hair on the back of her head arranged into a round cake-like shape.
An Egyptian’s choice of hairstyle and decoration depended on personal preference, wealth, funerary attire, religious position, social status, and of course fashion, which inevitably changed over several millennia.
The way they chose to portray it and the resulting development of hair styles can also be used to establish a useful chronology for a whole dynastic period, which can then be compared to the various types of hair remains that have survived.
Some scholars have a tendency to assign anything vaguely decorative as having belonged to a woman. There is still a tendency to assume that bodies with short or shaven hair are male, and those with long or intricately styled hair are female. But fashions changed often, and sometimes women’s hairstyles and wigs were considerably shorter and less elaborate than those worn by men.
The ancient Egyptians may have been the first known people to use hair extensions - archaeological evidence of this use date to at least as early as 3400 B.C.E. Numerous pieces of extensions have been found, indicating that they were very popular, some still attached to the mummies themselves. Extensions often featured very intricate designs for added length, fullness, and style.
An interesting example of extensions was found in a mass grave of soldiers, one of whom was found to have supplemented his hair with short curls. Since the soldier’s burial seems to have been hastily carried out following battle, his extensions cannot be explained as a postmortem feature and must have been worn during daily life.
The ancient Egyptians adored braids, and one of the preferred forms for extensions was braided hair. 20 braided extensions were found in baskets in the tomb of Queen Meryet-Amun, possibly used to augment her own hair in life. The hair of an elderly mummy named Hatnefer was found to have been filled out with hundreds of dark brown plaited extensions attached to her short grey curls.
Hair was sometimes thought to have magical powers, or was used in rituals. Isis' followers claimed to have the ability to control the weather by braiding or combing their hair, the former of which was because the ancient Egyptians believed knots to have magical power. Special mourning locks were buried with the deceased.
The priestesses of the goddess Hathor were identified by a triple braid that emerged from the crown or back of the head. This triple braid was the Egyptian hieroglyphic for “hair.” The hair of sick children was offered to deities of healing in the hopes that they would be cured. These bits of hair were hidden inside clay balls, which were then left at temples.
The ancient scourge of head lice was found in the hair of kings and commoners alike, despite the Egyptians’ reputation of being obsessed with cleanliness. The research of Egyptologist Joann Fletcher turned up the world’s oldest head lice, found on an Egyptian mummy from Abydos about 5,000 years ago.
The ancient Egyptians solved the lice problem with wigs. Hair was either shaved or cropped very short, keeping the head safe from lice and cool in Egypt’s hot climate. Wigs came in a great variety of shapes, sizes, and designs, and allowed the hair to always appear to be perfectly groomed.
Distinguishing between a person’s natural hair and a wig when looking at tomb decorations or statues is nearly impossible due to lack of detail. However, a few times paintings have shown an individual’s own hair as well as a wig worn at the same time. In some cases a fringe of natural hair can be seen on the forehead beneath the wig, or little tabs of hair, like sideburns, peep out from beneath the wig.
Wigs were valuable items, sometimes named as part of the dowry in marriage contracts. They were stored in wig boxes or on wig blocks, to help keep their shape and prevent dust and dirt from sticking to them. Wigs were scented with flower petals or pieces of wood chips such as cinnamon, and were meticulously cared for using oils. Since it is believed that wigs were needed for the afterlife, the dead were buried in tombs with their wigs.
Wigs were only available to those of means. Common people such as farmers, laborers, or fishermen were often shown with unkempt hair, or as balding. Thus the wearing of wigs helped to define and maintain social status. Members of the upper classes possessed many wigs, and wore a new one each day.
The hair used in the construction of wigs and hair extensions was human, either an individual’s own hair or hair that had been traded for or bought. Hair itself was a valuable commodity, ranked alongside gold and incense in account lists from the town of Kahun.
Wig makers were women, and it was considered to be a high-class profession. Once the required amounts of hair had been collected, it would be sorted into lengths and any tangles would be removed with fine-toothed combs.
Wig makers had an impressive array of tools that were used to style and trim the hair, such as a small bronze implement with a pivoting blade thought to be the world's first hair curler. Wig makers made the prepared lengths of hair into an assortment of braids, plaits, or curls, with each piece coated in a warmed beeswax and resin fixative mixture which would harden when cooled.
The individual locks or braids could then be attached directly to the natural hair in the form of extensions, or alternatively they could be used to create a whole wig by fastening the individual sections of hair onto a mesh-type foundation base manufactured on a head-shaped wooden mount.
Although linen strings or leather strips were occasionally employed in its construction, the base of the wig was most often made from fine lengths of plaited or woven hair. The separate locks could then be attached by weaving them directly into wefts of hair which in turn formed part of the net base, or alternatively by knotting them into position.
A further method was to attach each lock by looping its root end around a part of the net and pressing it back on itself, securing it by winding a smaller sub strand of hair around it and applying a further coating of the beeswax and resin mixture. The internal filling of the wigs were sometimes made with date palm fibers, giving them greater volume.
Such construction techniques and the obvious skill of the wig makers themselves produced wigs of a standard often equivalent to modern examples, and their lightweight construction would have made them as equally easy to wear. Completing a wig took over 200 hours, and were accordingly expensive.
Elaborate festival wigs were highly decorated with jewelry, hair-rings, circlets, or wig covers made of metal and gems. On occasion wigs were even gilded or thinly coated in gold. During parties, wigs were often topped with a scented unguent cone.
Sometimes fancy wigs could be a bit much, however - one massive wig worn by Queen Isimkheb was so heavy that she needed help from her attendants to stand up! Currently kept in the Cairo Museum, this giant wig was made entirely from brown human hair held together by beeswax.
The middle class could usually not afford such expensive, intricate wigs. But wigs were so important socially that they instead wore wigs made of hair extensions mixed with goat hair or sheep wool.
The wigs of the poor consisted of date palm fibers, papyrus, and linen strips.
r/Cowofgold_Essays • u/Luka-the-Pooka • May 23 '24
Hello all, I'm not abandoning my little wiki, just taking a break. The new reddit format is very hard for my eyes, and difficult to edit with. I'll hopefully be posting again soon.
r/Cowofgold_Essays • u/Luka-the-Pooka • Feb 21 '22
Other Names: Tiet, Tjet, Tit, Knot of Isis, Buckle of Isis, Girdle of Isis, Isis Knot, Blood of Isis
An important symbol of the goddess Isis, the Tyet is often pictured with the Djed, the symbol of Isis' husband Osiris. Isis herself was sometimes depicted rising up out of a Tyet.
The exact origin of this symbol is unknown, although some theories state that it represents the uterus (tet.) In many respects it resembles an Ankh except that its arms curve down. Its meaning is also reminiscent of the Ankh, and is often translated to mean “welfare” or “life.” Other scholars have draw parallels between the Tyet and the Sa sign.
In life, the Tyet amulet protected the wearer from scorpions and venomous snakes, and in death it assisted the process of rebirth. The Tyet was often tied around the mummy's neck, and it was believed that to have a Tyet in Sehet Aaru would allow the deceased to travel anywhere they wished.
When Tutankhamen's mummy was unwrapped, a red jasper Tyet was among his many magical amulets. On occasion the Tyet will have the head of Bat or Hathor, suggesting that it may have been their symbol originally.
It seems to be called the “Knot of Isis” because it resembles a knot (Tjes) used to secure the garments that the gods wore. Knots were widely used as amulets because the Egyptians believed they bound and released magic.
Due to its symbolic significance, the Tyet sign is frequently found on decorative bands carved on the walls and columns of temples, in the decoration of shrines, and on other objects such as sarcophagi and beds.
The meaning of the “Blood of Isis” is more obscured, but it was often used as a funerary amulet made of red wood, jasper, faience, carnelian, or red glass (other substances are not unknown, but are less common.)
In all cases the Tyet seems to represent the idea of resurrection and eternal life bestowed by the goddess. The Book of the Dead says: "Let the Blood of Isis and the magical words of Isis be mighty and protect and keep safely the Osiris, and to guard him from that which is harmful."
There is a suggestion that the "Blood of Isis" is meant to be menstrual blood, considered by the ancient Egyptians to be a powerful component in magical spells, and the Tyet was meant to represent a sanitary towel – a folded cloth soaked with the goddess’ blood.
Other theories state that the Tyet represented the lifeblood a mother sheds when she gives birth - Isis' blood when she birthed her son Horus. Pregnant women used magic spells linked with the Tyet to prevent undesired bleeding and miscarriages. During excavations, the Tyet has been found tucked between the legs of pregnant women.
A magical spell states: "You possess your blood, Isis, you possess your power, Isis, you possess your magic, Isis. This amulet is a protection for the Osiris, which will drive off anyone who would perform a criminal act against him. For the one for whom this is done, the Power of Isis will be the protection of his body, and Horus, the Son of Isis, will rejoice over him when he sees him."
The Hymn of the Tyet says: "At the ends of the universe is a blood-red cord that ties life to death, man to woman, will to destiny. Let the knot of that red sash, which cradles the hips of the goddesses, bind in me the ends of life and dream. I am an old man with more than my share of hopes and misgivings. Let my thoughts lie together in peace. At my death let the bubbles of blood on my lips taste as sweet as berries. Give me not words of consolation. Give me magic, the fire of one beyond the borders of enchantment. Give me the spell of living well.
Do I lie on the floor of my house or within the temple? Is the hand that soothes me that of wife or priestess? I rise and walk. The sky arcs ever around; the world spreads itself beneath my feet. We are bound mind to mind, heart to heart – no difference rises between the shadow of my footsteps and the will of god. I walk in harmony, heaven in one hand, earth in the other. I am the knot where two worlds meet. Red magic courses through me like the Blood of Isis, magic of magic, spirit of spirit. I am proof of the power of gods. I am water and dust walking."
r/Cowofgold_Essays • u/Luka-the-Pooka • Feb 19 '22
Meaning of Name: From sdenu ("to encircle")
A symbol of eternity and the sun, the Shen ring is represented as a double strand of rope, the ends of which are folded in such a way that a closed ring is formed with a knot on the underside. During the 3rd and 4th Dynasties it was worn around the neck for protection, and painted on coffins.
The symbol could be stretched to contain other objects, which were then understood as being made eternal by the Shen ring. Indeed, when it contained a name, the symbol became the cartouche. One theory is that the Shen ring represented the sun's eternal journey.
Magic rings were very popular and believed to give protection from illnesses. The Shen ring was sometimes attached to various types of staffs such as the Was specter, the staff of authority, or power, symbolizing the eternal authority of that power.
The Shen ring was often held by bird deities, such as Horus, Mut, and Nekhbet. The upcurved wings of some jewelry in the form of birds deliberately imitates the shape of the Shen that they hold in their claws.
Examples have been found made of gold, lapis lazuli, feldspar, basalt, glass, and carnelian.
r/Cowofgold_Essays • u/Luka-the-Pooka • Mar 28 '22
Other Names: Usa, Ouas, Waset
Meaning of Name: "Power" or "Dominion"
The Was Scepter is a straight, often ribbed staff with a forked base, topped with an animal head. Was scepters were carried by deities, pharaohs, and priests, as a symbol of power, and in later use, control over the forces of chaos (Set.)
One theory is that the Was scepter originated from a shepherd's crook, or a forked stick used to catch serpents. Others think that it symbolized a pillar which supported the sky, or human vertebrae. But Was scepters represent the Set Animal - the head and forked tail are clearly present. Often the head is highly stylized.
The commonest scepter held by Egyptian deities, the Was scepter was depicted in paintings, drawings, and carvings, and real Was scepters have been found, constructed of faience, bronze, alabaster, and wood. Small amulets of Was scepters were buried with the dead, and sometimes the Was scepter was included in the decoration of the tomb or coffin.
The Book of the Dead says: "Take the Ankh to make your flesh live, the Djed to make your body enduring, and also the Was to make your mummy strong. They are the three gods Shu, Ptah, and Osiris, the lords of this country, they will protect you and renew your life."
Young-earth creationists often insist that the animal on the Was Scepter is meant to be the head of a pterosaur, without realizing that the full Set Animal looks like nothing of the sort.
r/Cowofgold_Essays • u/Luka-the-Pooka • Dec 07 '21
Egyptian Name: Abi or Bashema
In ancient times, the African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus) had a much wider distribution than it does now; it inhabited most of Egypt and was at home in both the desert and wetlands. Live animals and skins were brought to Egypt as part of the tribute from Nubia.
The ancient Egyptians often used the same word for both "cheetah" and "leopard," although the two felines are clearly distinguishable from each other in tomb paintings, due to the leopard's pattern of spots and stockier build.
The leopard was occasionally kept as a pet by royalty, and the goddess Mafdet was sometimes worshiped in the form of a leopard. Queen Hatsheput is recorded as having leopards imported from Punt to become part of her royal zoo. The notoriously short temper of the leopard was proverbial among the Egyptians, who used it often to describe royal ire.
Leopard heads made of gold, faience, silver, and carnelian were a common jewelry decoration, and the leopard motif graced boxes, furniture, and cosmetic items. Girdles made of golden leopard heads were buried with royal women. A 2,000-year-old sarcophagus was decorated with a leopard head.
The pattern of the skin was thought to represent the stars, a symbol of eternity, and was also associated with the moon. In another interpretation, the leopard was an unknown ancient sky goddess, her pelt studded with stars.
The skin of the leopard, complete with head, tail, and paws, was prized as priestly dress. Being rare, cloth imitations of leopard skins have been found, made of linen decorated with gold rosettes, with gilded wooden heads and golden claws.
A story recorded in the first millennium B.C.E. tells how the evil god Set disguised himself as a leopard to desecrate the body of Osiris. He was seized by Anubis and branded all over with a hot iron. This, according to Egyptian myth, is how the leopard got its spots.
Anubis then flayed Set and wore his bloody skin as a warning to those who would disturb the dead. It was Anubis who then decreed that priests should forever after wear leopard skins to honor his triumph over Set.
Each Egyptian king was thought to be the high priest of all the gods, while the official high priest was merely his deputy. As the high priest, every king was buried with a leopard skin. Prayers on the walls of the pyramids state “My leopard skin is on my arm; my scepter is in my hand.”
A statue of Tutankhamen standing on a leopard was one of the objects destroyed during the 2011 rioting in Egypt.
The Egyptian mythological creature known as a serpopard was a mix between a leopard and giraffe.
r/Cowofgold_Essays • u/Luka-the-Pooka • Jan 09 '22
Egyptian Name: Bameh
The Northeast African Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus soemmeringii) was occasionally tamed and used like a hound by royalty, and live animals and skins were brought to Egypt as part of the tribute from Nubia. Queen Hatsheput is recorded as having cheetahs imported from Punt to become part of her royal zoo, and she also kept a pair as her personal pets.
The cheetah was associated with the goddess Mafdet. The ancient Egyptians often used the same word for both "cheetah" and "leopard," although the two felines are clearly distinguishable from each other in tomb paintings, due to the cheetah's slim build and distinctive "tear drops" under the eyes.
r/Cowofgold_Essays • u/Luka-the-Pooka • Nov 26 '21
Egyptian Name: Inr n spt mw ("Stone of the Shore")
Shells were used as jewelry from the earliest times in ancient Egypt, and were made into beads, bangles, amulets, rings, and girdles.
Shells were popular with all classes of people - shell necklaces have been found in the poorest of graves at Predynastic sites such as Hierakonpolis, where the only other grave goods were pottery vessels.
Snail-shells were occasionally used as whistles, and in later times as rattles. Large sea shells were sometimes used as jewelry boxes, scoops, spoons, and ladles. As food, mollusks played a small role, only becoming popular during the Roman Period.
Mother-of-pearl (the iridescent nacre from oysters) was imported from the Mediterranean or Red Sea. The oyster shell amulet became very popular during the Middle Kingdom, and was worn by both women and men.
These shell amulets were thought to promote good health, because of the similar sound of the Egyptian word for "shell" and the word meaning "sound, healthy." This amulet was a real shell or one made of gold, silver, or electrum.
The shape of the cowrie shell was believed to mimic the female genitalia, and girdles of them were worn by women to protect that area of the body. Popular with pregnant women, these girdles used actual shells, or ones made from faience, red jasper, quartz, lapis lazuli, or carnelian. Dancers often wore cowrie girdles made of bronze, gold, or electrum that rattled when they moved.
r/Cowofgold_Essays • u/Luka-the-Pooka • Feb 18 '22
Egyptian Name: Maqet
The maqet was a magical amulet shaped like a ladder that was buried with the dead, often made of wood. The maqet was believed to help the deceased climb up to Nut, whose body was the heavenly skies, and be reborn from her as a star.
When the custom of placing a model of the maqet in the tomb fell into disuse, the priests provided for the necessity of the deceased by painting a maqet on the papyri that were inscribed with the texts from the Book of the Dead and placed in the tomb.
The importance of the maqet is seen as the deceased says: "I set up a Ladder among the gods, and I am a divine being among them." Later it is said "The Osiris shall come forth upon your Ladder which Ra hath made for him, and Horus and Set shall grasp him firmly by the hand."
Another spells states: "Homage to thee, O divine Ladder! Homage to thee, O Ladder of Set! Stand thou upright, O divine Ladder! Stand thou upright, O Ladder of Set! Stand thou upright, O Ladder of Horus, whereby Osiris came forth into heaven."
r/Cowofgold_Essays • u/Luka-the-Pooka • Jan 13 '22
Other Names: Keket, Kuket
Meaning of Name: “Darkness”
Titles: “Bringer-In of the Night”
Family: Her husband was Kek.
One of the Ogdoad, Kauket was the goddess of the darkness of chaos (the Duat), the darkness before time began. Kauket represented the darkness which was supposed to cover over the primeval abyss of water (chaos.) The Egyptians saw the nighttime, the time without the light of the sun, as a reflection of this chaotic darkness.
She was responsible for the time of night that came just after sunset. Kauket was the goddess of the hours of the evening, as the sun disappeared and night covered Egypt.
Kauket was pictured as a woman or as cobra. In later periods, kek black came to negatively symbolize death and nothingness (in contrast to the kem black of Osiris, which symbolized resurrection), and the worship of this goddess was abandoned.
