symbol
Ankh
The Egyptian looped cross, a hieroglyph and amulet of life. Later occult-Egyptomania borrowed the shape; that borrowing is not a New Kingdom spell.
Also known as crux ansata · key of life
Egyptian religion · Nile valley
Ankh belongs to Egyptian religion.
The ankh is an Egyptian hieroglyph and amulet of life. Faulkner’s funerary corpus is one home of the sign.
from Raymond O. Faulkner (translation) · Book of the Dead, New Kingdom spells; Faulkner trans. 1972
belongs to · sourced · documented
Ankh is associated with Rebirth.
The sign writes life. Funerary hope and offering scenes use it; that is not a later occult “key of the mysteries.”
from Raymond O. Faulkner (translation) · Book of the Dead, New Kingdom spells; Faulkner trans. 1972
associated with · sourced · documented
Eighteenth-century Europe
Ankh is associated with Egyptomania.
Eighteenth- and later European fashion borrowed the looped cross as an Egyptian look. Court de Gébelin’s Egypt is a modern claim about tarot, kin to that fashion.
from Antoine Court de Gébelin · Monde primitif, 1781 (tarot essay)
associated with · sourced · modern interpretation
Ankh resembles Key.
Europeans later called the ankh a “key of life.” The hieroglyph is a looped cross; it is not a lock-key of Roman doors.
from Antoine Court de Gébelin · Monde primitif, 1781 (tarot essay)
resembles · sourced · modern interpretation
sources
- Book of the Dead · Raymond O. Faulkner (translation)
Raymond O. Faulkner, The Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead.
- Monde primitif · Antoine Court de Gébelin
Antoine Court de Gébelin, Monde primitif (volume on tarot).