Akhet (hieroglyph)

This article is about the hieroglyph. For other uses, see Akhet (disambiguation).

Akhet (Ancient Egyptian: Ꜣḫt; Gardiner: N27) is an Egyptian hieroglyph that represents the sun rising over a mountain. It is translated as "horizon" or "the place in the sky where the sun rises".^[1] Betrò describes it as "Mountain with the Rising Sun" (The hieroglyph for "mountain" is 𓈋) and an ideogram for "horizon".^[2]

Akhet (horizon) in hieroglyphs

Akhet appears in the Egyptian name for the Great Pyramid of Giza (Akhet Khufu),^[3] and in the assumed name of Akhetaten, the city founded by pharaoh Akhenaten.^[4] It also appears in the name of the syncretized form of Ra and Horus, Ra-Horakhty (Rꜥ Ḥr Ꜣḫty, "Ra–Horus of the Horizons").^[5]

Hieroglyphic for the horizon guarded by Aker.

In ancient Egyptian architecture, the pylon mirrored the hieroglyph.^[6][7] The symbol is sometimes connected with the astrological sign of Libra^[8] and the Egyptian deity Aker, who guards the eastern and western horizons.

References

Citations

1. Gardiner, Alan H. (1957). Egyptian grammar : being an introduction to the study of hieroglyphs. 1969 printing (3rd ed.). London: Published on behalf of the Griffith Institute, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, by Oxford University Press. p. 489. ISBN 9780900416354. OCLC 229894.
2. Betrò (1995), p. 161.
3. Verner 2001, p. 189.
4. David 1998, p. 125.
5. Watterson 2013, p. 59, Stroud, Gloucestershire.
6. Wilkinson 2005, p. 195.
7. Krupp 1993, p. 308-310.
8. Nozedar, Adele (2010). The illustrated signs & symbols sourcebook : an A to Z compendium of over 1000 designs. Sterling Publishing Company, Incorporated. ISBN 978-1-4351-6181-8. OCLC 960951107.

Bibliography

• Betrò, Maria Carmela (1995), Hieroglyphics: The Writings of Ancient Egypt, New York: Abbeville Press, ISBN 978-0-7892-0232-1
• David, Rosalie (1998). Handbook to Life in Ancient Egypt. Facts on File. ISBN 9780816033126.
• Krupp, Ed (1993) [1983]. Echoes of the Ancient Skies: The Astronomy of Lost Civilisations. Old Saybrook, Connecticut: Konecky & Konecky. ISBN 1-56852-460-9.
• Verner, Miroslav (2001). The Pyramids: The Mystery, Culture, and Science of Egypt's Great Monuments. Grove Press. ISBN 0-8021-1703-1.
• Watterson, Barbara (2013) [1984]. Gods of Ancient Egypt (e-book ed.). Stroud, Gloucestershire: The History Press. ISBN 978-0-7524-9502-6.
• Wilkinson, Toby (2005). The Thames and Hudson Dictionary of Ancient Egypt. Thames & Hudson. ISBN 978-0500051375.