Triple Twig (mes) means born, and is a symbol of birth. Thus ibis and mes together form the rebus Thothmes, which name thus means, “born of Thoth.”
In this particular cartouche will be noticed a small scarabeus or beetle, which is an emblem of existence and immortality, and probably indicates the self-existent nature and immortality of Thothmes; but this part of the obelisk is much defaced, and what follows is well nigh obliterated.
In ancient times kings and great persons were frequently named after the god they worshipped; thus among the Egyptians, Rameses from Ra, Amen-hotep from Amen, Seti from Set, etc. Similarly in Scripture we find Joshua, Jeremiah, Jesus, derived from Jehovah; Jerubbaal, Ethbaal, Jezebel, Belshazzar, and many others, from Baal or Bel, the sun-god; Elijah, Elisha, Elias, Elishama, etc., from El or Eloah, the true God. The same mode of deriving names from deities prevailed more or less among all ancient nations. On this principle Thothmes, the mighty Egyptian monarch, was named after the god Thoth.
What follows on this side of the obelisk is well nigh obliterated, but the hieroglyphs were probably the same as those following the cartouche of Thothmes at the bottom of the central column on the second and fourth sides of the obelisk, and therefore would mean, “Beloved of Haremakhu, ever living.”
| “Beloved of Haremakhu, ever living.” |
Hawk (bak), as has been already explained, is the emblem of any solar deity, but surmounted by the aten or solar disk, and accompanied by two ovals called khu, which indicate the two horizons, in the east and west parts of the sky, the hawk, as here, stands for Horus, or Haremakhu, the sun in the horizon.
The hoe, called mer or tore, is equal to the phonetic m, and was one of the commonest implements used in agriculture. It is sometimes spoken of as a hand-plough, or pick or spade, and probably it answered all these purposes. In shape it somewhat resembled our capital letter A, as it consisted of two lines tied together about the centre with a twisted rope. One limb was of uniform thickness, and generally straight, and formed the head; while the other, curved inwards, and sometimes of considerable width, formed the handle. The hoe stands here for the phonetic sound of m, the first letter of the word mai, which means beloved.
Two Reeds. One reed is equal to a, the double reed equals phonetic i, and is generally a plural sign. Here the double reed is an intensive, so that the hoe and double reeds spell mai, which means “much beloved.”
These hieroglyphs, taken in the order in which they ought to be translated into English, consist of a hoe, two reeds, a hawk, two ovals, and a solar disk.
The last group of hieroglyphs consists of a long serpent, a semicircle, and a straight line. The long serpent is equal to the phonetic t, or th, or g. The semicircle, which represents the upper grindstone for bruising corn, equals phonetic t. It is often called a muller or millstone. The straight line is a phonetic equal to ta. The three hieroglyphs therefore form the word getta or tetta, a term which means everlasting.