Bull (ka hieroglyph)

E1
Bull
ka
in hieroglyphs
Painted Thutmosis III cartouches (temple relief), Deir el-Bahari.

The ancient Egyptian Bull (hieroglyph), Gardiner sign listed no. E1, is the representation of the common bull. The bull motif is dominant in protodynastic times (see Bull Palette), and also has prominence in the early dynastic Egypt, famously on the Narmer Palette.

The bull is presented as a symbol of power, with an Egyptian language meaning of ka, where ka, bull, and 'power' are all interchangeable, and refer to the Pharaoh and his ultimate chiefdom. The bull hieroglyph is sometimes reinforced with a complementary hieroglyph, the arm w/ "stick of authority" (see photo, Deir el-Bahari).
E1
D40

The common definition of bull (as a hieroglyph for language), as ka, relates to the 'bull'; other uses with additional hieroglyphs are: divine bull, "Great Bull", "Red Bull", etc.[1]

Palermo Stone usage, 2390 BC

Palermo piece (at Palermo Museum), of the 7—piece Palermo Stone.

The bull (hieroglyph) figures prominently in the Palermo Stone of the 24th to 23rd century BC, (the annals and history of the previous ~700 years, ~3200 to 2280 BC). It has two motifs in the Palermo text, one being the "cattle count", a repeated theme for discussing a 'year-event' of an individual Pharaoh. The other theme using the bull (hieroglyph), is the recording of the Running of the Bull (the Apis Bull), for example "first 'running of the bull' ".


See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bull (hieroglyph).

References

  1. ↑ Budge, 1991. A Hieroglyphic Dictionary to the Book of the Dead, p. 406-7.

Further reading

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