The Hieroglyphics of Thothmes III.
Translation of the First Side.
“The Horus, powerful Bull, crowned in Uas, King of Upper and Lower Egypt, ‘Ra-men-Kheper.’ He has made as it were monuments to his father Haremakhu; he has set up two great obelisks capped with gold at the first festival of Triakonteris. According to his wish he has done it, Son of the Sun, Thothmes, beloved of Haremakhu, ever-living.”
| “Horus, powerful Bull, crowned in Uas.” |
Hawk (bak) Horus. Horus is a solar deity, and represented the rising sun, or the sun in the horizon. Horus is here represented by a hawk, surmounted by the double crown of Egypt called PSCHENT. The hawk flew higher than any other bird of Egypt, and therefore became the usual emblem of any solar deity, just as the eagle, from its lofty soaring, is an emblem of sublimity, and therefore an emblem of St. John. The double crown named PSCHENT is composed of a conical hat called HET, the crown and emblem of Upper Egypt, and the TESHER, or red crown, the emblem of Lower Egypt. The wearer of the double crown was supposed to exercise authority over the two Egypts. The oblong form upon the top of which the sacred hawk, the symbol of Horus, stands, is thought by some to be a representation of the standard of the monarch. Dr. Birch thinks it is the ground plan of a palace, and the avenue and approaches to the palace.
Bull (Mnevis). The Mnevis was the name of the black bull, or sacred ox of Heliopolis. It was regarded as an avatar or incarnation of a solar deity. On the London Obelisk Mnevis appears twelve times on the palatial titles, and twice on the lateral columns of Rameses II.
Arm with Stick (khu) powerful, is the common symbol of power. In the Bible also an arm stands for power. “The Lord brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm” (Deut. xxvi. 8). There are twelve palatial titles on the obelisk, three on each face, and in eleven cases occurs the arm holding a stick in its hand. In each case this hieroglyph may be rendered by the word powerful. The same hieroglyph appears several times in both the central and lateral columns.
Crown (kha) crowned, because placed on the head at the time of coronation. This hieroglyph is thought by some to be a part of a dress.
Owl (em) in, is a preposition.
Sceptre (Uas) Western Thebes. The sceptre here depicted is that carried in the left hand of Theban kings. It is composed of three parts, the top is the head of a greyhound, the shaft is the long stalk of some reed, perhaps that of the papyrus or lotus, while the curved bottom represents the claws of the crocodile, an animal common in Upper Egypt in ancient times. This sceptre, called KAKUFA, was often represented by an ostrich feather, the common symbol of truth, and stands for Uas, the name of that part of Thebes which stood on the western bank of the Nile. The sceptre as an ideograph means power, in the same manner as the sceptre carried by our monarch on state occasions is a badge of authority.