Uncommon · Knowledge
Horus name
Oldest known crest of ancient Egyptian rulers
The Horus name is the oldest known and used crest of ancient Egyptian rulers. It belongs to the "great five names" of an Egyptian pharaoh. However, modern Egyptologists and linguists are starting to prefer the more neutral term "serekh name".
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This is because not every pharaoh placed the falcon, which symbolizes the deity Horus, atop his (or in some cases, her) serekh. It changed its meaning during the Ptolemaic period, when it was still used by pharaohs, but was also adopted by some of queens consorts. The picture of the Horus name is made of two basic elements: A sitting or walking figure of a certain deity holds a rectangular, ornamental vignette, imitating the floor plan of a palace facade and the royal courtyard. The rectangular vignette is called serekh, after the Egyptian word for "facade". There are countless variations of the facade decor in the serekh. The complexity and detail of the facade decor varied remarkably depending on the object on which it was present. It seems that no strict artistic rules for the design of the serekh itself existed.
Text: Wikipédia, CC BY-SA 4.0. · Image: Guillaume Blanchard (CC BY-SA 1.0) ·