Akhet (horizon) in hieroglyphs

Akhet (Ancient Egyptian: Ꜣḫt; Gardiner: N27) is an Egyptian hieroglyph that represents the sun rising over a mountain. It is translated as "horizon" or "the place in the sky where the sun rises".^[1] Betrò describes it as "Mountain with the Rising Sun" (The hieroglyph for "mountain" is 𓈋) and an ideogram for "horizon".^[2]

Akhet appears in the Egyptian name for the Great Pyramid of Giza (Akhet Khufu),^[3] and in the assumed name of Akhetaten, the city founded by pharaoh Akhenaten.^[4] It also appears in the name of the syncretized form of Ra and Horus, Ra-Horakhty (Rꜥ Ḥr Ꜣḫty, "Ra–Horus of the Horizons").^[5]

In ancient Egyptian architecture, the pylon mirrored the hieroglyph.^[6][7] The symbol is sometimes connected with the astrological sign of Libra^[8] and the Egyptian deity Aker, who guards the eastern and western horizons.

References

Citations

Bibliography

• Betrò, Maria Carmela (1995), Hieroglyphics: The Writings of Ancient Egypt, New York: Abbeville Press, ISBN 978-0-7892-0232-1
• David, Rosalie (1998). Handbook to Life in Ancient Egypt. Facts on File. ISBN 9780816033126.
• Krupp, Ed (1993) . Echoes of the Ancient Skies: The Astronomy of Lost Civilisations. Old Saybrook, Connecticut: Konecky & Konecky. ISBN 1-56852-460-9.
• Verner, Miroslav (2001). The Pyramids: The Mystery, Culture, and Science of Egypt's Great Monuments. Grove Press. ISBN 0-8021-1703-1.
• Watterson, Barbara (2013) . Gods of Ancient Egypt (e-book ed.). Stroud, Gloucestershire: The History Press. ISBN 978-0-7524-9502-6.
• Wilkinson, Toby (2005). The Thames and Hudson Dictionary of Ancient Egypt. Thames & Hudson. ISBN 978-0500051375.

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