A cartouche is an oval circle with a name written in it, rather like a nameplate. In the early days of ancient Egypt, a cartouche was attached to the coffins of kings and queens. As time went on, many people hired an artist to create a cartouche for their own coffins.
The cartouche hieroglyph also appears in many decorative contexts such as finger rings and decorated cartouche-shaped boxes. Some of these rings and chests were based on the form of the twin cartouches which framed both the king's most important names, though in these examples the cartouches often encircle small representations of a solar-related deity or the king himself rather than his name. In many instances, solar disks with uraei and plumes surmounted cartouches, possibly alluding to the solar connotations of the device as well as the solar element in the names of kings, such as Tutankhamun (Nebkheperure) and Ramesses.
Click on "name" see what a cartouche of your name would look like.
We saw many carved cartouches on monuments while cruising the Nile and making stops at Edfu, Karnak and Luxor.
EDFU
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"May Ra look over us each and every day!"
I love ancient Egypt. I read somewhere that if one is particularly drawn to a certain period in history it could be because of past life memories. I dunno if that's true, but I do know that my name looks cool in glyphs. I think I'll make one and hang it outside my front door. Or maybe in the garden! How cool would that be?!
ReplyDeleteThat's an awesome idea! I'll make one for the garden. What are you going to make it out of?
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