Ancient Egyptian royal titulary
The royal titulary or royal protocol is the standard naming convention taken by the pharaohs of ancient Egypt. It symbolised worldly power and holy might, also acting as a sort of mission statement for the duration of a monarch's reign (although sometimes it even changed during the reign).
The full titulary, consisting of five names, did not come into standard usage until the
Origins
In order that the pharaoh, who held divine office, could be linked to the people and the gods, special epithets were created for them at their accession to the throne. These titles also served to demonstrate one's qualities and link them to the terrestrial realm. The five names were developed over the centuries beginning with the
Horus name
𓅃𓊁
The Horus name is the oldest form of the pharaoh's name, originating in prehistoric Egypt. Many of the oldest-known Egyptian pharaohs were known only by this title.[6]
The Horus name was usually written in a serekh, a representation of a palace façade. The name of the pharaoh was written in hieroglyphs inside this representation of a palace. Typically an image of the falcon god Horus was perched on top of or beside it.[6]
At least one Egyptian ruler, the Second Dynasty pharaoh Seth-Peribsen, used an image of the god Set instead of Horus, perhaps signifying an internal religious division within the country. He was succeeded by Khasekhemwy, who placed the symbols of both Set and Horus above his name. Thereafter, the image of Horus always appeared alongside the name of the pharaoh.[6]
By the time of the New Kingdom, the Horus name was often written without the enclosing serekh.
Nebty ("two ladies") name
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The Nebty name (lit. "two ladies") was associated with the so-called "heraldic" goddesses of Upper and Lower Egypt:
- Nekhbet, patron deity of Upper Egypt, represented by a vulture, and
- Wadjet, patron deity of Lower Egypt, represented by a cobra.
The name is first definitively used by the
This particular name was not typically framed by a
Horus of Gold
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Also known as the Golden Horus name, this form of the pharaoh's name typically featured the image of a Horus falcon perched above or beside the hieroglyph for gold.
The meaning of this particular title has been disputed. One belief is that it represents the triumph of
Similar to the Nebty name, this particular name typically was not framed by a cartouche or serekh.
Throne name (prenomen)
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The pharaoh's
The epithet nb tꜣwy, "Lord of
Personal name (nomen)
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This was the name given at birth. The name itself was preceded by the title "Son of
Modern historians typically refer to the ancient kings of Egypt by this name, adding ordinals (e.g. "II", "III") to distinguish between different individuals bearing the same name.
Examples of the full titulary
Senusret I
In the Middle Kingdom, the full titulary was sometimes written in a single cartouche, as in this example from Senusret I, from Beni Hasan.
Hatshepsut
The full titulary of
- Horus name: Wesretkau, "Mighty of Kas"
- Nebty name: Wadjrenput, "She of the Two Ladies, Flourishing of years"
- Golden Horus: Netjeretkhau, "Divine of appearance" (Netjeret is the feminine form of netery meaning 'godly' or 'divine', and khau, 'appearances')
- Praenomen: Maatkare, "Truth [Ma'at] is the Ka of Re"
- Nomen: Khnumt-Amun Hatshepsut, "Joined with Amun, Foremost of Noble Ladies"
Thutmose III
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| Thutmose III in hieroglyphs | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Era: New Kingdom (1550–1069 BC) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The full titulary of
- Horus name: Kanakht Khaemwaset, "Horus Mighty Bull, Arising in Thebes"
- Nebty name: Wahnesytmireempet, "He of the Two Ladies, Enduring in kingship like Re in heaven"
- Golden Horus: Sekhempahtydjeserkhaw, "Horus of Gold Powerful of strength, Sacred of appearance"
- Praenomen: Menkheperre, "He of the Sedge and the Bee, Enduring of form is Re"
- Nomen: Thutmose Neferkheperu, "Son of Ra, Thutmose, beautiful of forms"
References
- ISBN 978-1-134-66420-7.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-58983-736-2.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-135-11983-6.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-9952844-0-1.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-521-77483-3.
- ^ ISBN 0-415-18633-1, p. 74-75.
- ^ Sethe, Kurt (1911) “Das Wort für König von Oberägypten” in Zeitschrift für Ägyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde, vol. 42, issue 1-2
- ^ Ewa Wasilewska, Creation Stories of the Middle East, 2000, 130f.
- ^ Peust, Carsten (2007) “Zur Bedeutung und Etymologie von nzw ‘König’” in Göttinger Miszellen, 213, pp. 59-62.
- ^ Schenkel, Wolfgang (1986) “Das Wort für König (von Oberägypten)” in Göttinger Miszellen, 94, pp. 57-73.
Bibliography
- Allen, James P. (1999). Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-77483-3.
- Dodson, Aidan Mark; Dyan Hilton (2004). The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt. Cairo, London, and New York: The American University in Cairo Press and Thames and Hudson. ISBN 978-977-424-878-8.
- Ronald J. Leprohon (2013). The Great Name: Ancient Egyptian Royal Titulary. Society of Biblical Literature. ISBN 978-1589837355.
- Gardiner, Alan Henderson (1957). Egyptian Grammar; Being an Introduction to the Study of Hieroglyphs (3rd ed.). Oxford: Griffith Institute.
- Quirke, Stephen G. J. (1990). Who Were the Pharaohs? A History of Their Names with a List of Cartouches. London: British Museum Publications Limited.
- Schneider, Thomas (1993). "Zur Etymologie der Bezeichnung 'König von Ober- und Unterägypten'". Zeitschrift für ägyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde. 120 (2): 166–181. S2CID 193377499.
- Shaw, Garry J. (2012). The Pharaoh, Life at Court and on Campaign. London and New York: Thames and Hudson. pp. 20–21.
- von Beckerath, Jürgen (1999). Handbuch der ägyptischen Königsnamen (2nd ed.). Mainz am Rhein: Verlag Philipp von Zabern.
External links
- The Gold name, the Horus name, the Royal Titulary, the Two Ladies and Thutmose I on Digital Egypt
