The ankh (/ˈæŋk/ or /ˈɑːŋk/; Egyptian: IPA: [ʕaːnax]; U+2625 ☥ or U+132F9 𓋹), also known as key of life, the key of the Nile or crux ansata (Latin meaning "cross with a handle"), was the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic character that read "life", a triliteral sign for the consonants ꜥ-n-ḫ.
It represents the concept of eternal life, which is the general meaning of the symbol.[citation needed] The Egyptian godsare often portrayed carrying it by its loop, or bearing one in each hand, arms crossed over their chest.
Origin[edit]
| Ankh in hieroglyphs | |||||||||
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The origin of the symbol remains a mystery to Egyptologists, and no single hypothesis has been widely accepted. One of the earliest suggestions is that of Thomas Inman, first published in 1869:
It is by Egyptologists called the symbol of life. It is also called the "handled cross", or crux ansata. It represents the male triad and the female unit, under a decent form. There are few symbols more commonly met with in Egyptian art. In some sculptures, where the sun's rays are represented as terminating in hands, the offerings which these bring are many acrux ansata, emblematic of the truth that a fruitful union is a gift from the deity.[2]
E. A. Wallis Budge postulated that the symbol originated as the belt buckle of the mother goddess Isis,[3] an idea joined by Wolfhart Westendorf[citation needed] with the notion that both the ankh and the knot of Isis were used in many ceremonies. Sir Alan Gardiner speculated that it depicts a sandal strap, which is also written with the ankh hieroglyph.[4]
In their 2004 book The Quick and the Dead,[5] Andrew Hunt Gordon and Calvin W. Schwabe speculated that the ankh,djed, and was symbols have a biological basis derived from ancient cattle culture (linked to the Egyptian belief thatsemen was created in the spine), thus: