Human life takes place in a world of symbols.They accompany us from the charms embroidered vests to the cross and candles on the grave.Posters and signs are present in our celebrations and traditions in art and religion.The first letters were known to ancient civilizations, but today their importance can not be overestimated.
religion of the ancient Egyptians was a complex branched system of deities that might be embodied in different forms.Symbols of Egypt, too, is not as simple as it seems sellers of souvenirs.In this article we will focus more on one of the most important signs of an ancient civilization.
Egyptian Cross
basis of the religious beliefs of inhabitants of ancient Egypt was the belief in the victory over death, resurrection and rebirth to eternal life.To indicate the divine truth priests used special image.The symbol of eternal life, immortality became a hieroglyph Ankh - Egyptian cross.
should be noted that different Egyptologists can interpret the value of the ancient sign.The main treatments are the following:
- symbol is a combination of the two ancient symbols - the circle (the personification of eternity) and the cross (the personification of life).
- Ankh symbolizes him to Egypt (oval - the Nile delta, the cross - the river itself, the giver of life of the inhabitants of the country).
- cross with a loop is the unity of opposites, the union of heaven and earth, air and water, life and death, union of male (cross Osiris) and female (oval Isis) began, leading to the birth of a new life.
- Egyptian cross - the symbol of the rising sun, the birth of a new day.
- Ankh - the key that unlocks the secret knowledge, the gates of death and eternal life (in Christianity, it was used as a symbol of the keys to the gates of Paradise, in the hands of the apostle Peter).
Broadly, symbolizes life in all its manifestations: the existence of an individual, of all mankind, the gods;birth of a child;resurrection and life after death;immortality.Hence - the widespread use of Ankh in art, magic, rituals, everyday way of life.In order to promote health and longevity, protection from natural disasters, the Egyptian cross painted on the temples and amulets, put on the walls of irrigation canals.
At various images gods held the "key of the Nile" in the right hand, or in the mouth, often held out his people like "blowing" a particle of the divine spark of eternal life.According to the myth, Isis Ankh used to make a "paste" from pieces of Osiris immortal and lively.Form crux ansata («cross with a loop") gave the jug liquid offerings for the souls of the dead (bread, bouquets of lotus and papyrus).Amulet placed in sarcophagi, the gods gave the dead afterlife.
sorcerers and magicians at all times Ankh used in their rituals of fortune telling, divination and healing.And it is believed that his magic can be directed only at the good things: the shape of a cross with a loop transmit power than the people around them, but up to God, and then - down to earth.Thus, the operating force acts spell will of God and not human thoughts.
Interestingly, the crux ansata found in other cultures: a symbol of water from the North American Indians, the personification of the immortality of the Scandinavians, a sign of youth and freedom from physical suffering of the peoples of the Maya.Incredibly, the "key of life" found even in the famous statue of a distant Easter Island.In the religion of the Copts (Egyptian Christians) Ankh was used as a traditional Christian cross.For a hippie, he symbolized peace and truth.
At the end of the twentieth century, the ancient Egyptian signs suddenly become popular again.After the release of the 1983 film "Hunger", in which vampires preying on their victims, using scissors hidden in suspensions in the form of the ankh, ancient cross with a loop suddenly became the main attributes of subculture ready.Thus, the life of the old characters continues, and even playing with new faces.
