Biology:Crook and flail
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| crook in hieroglyphs |
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| "flail" in hieroglyphs |
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The crook and flail (heka and nekhakha) were symbols used in ancient Egyptian society. They were originally the attributes of the deity Osiris that became insignia of pharaonic authority.[1] The shepherd's crook stood for kingship and the flail for the fertility of the land.[1]
The earliest known example of a crook is from the Gerzeh culture (Naqada II), and comes from tomb U547 in Abydos. By late Predynastic times, the shepherd's crook was already an established symbol of rule. The flail initially remained separate, being depicted alone in some earliest representations of royal ceremonial. Approximately by the time of the Second Dynasty, the crook and flail became paired.{{Citation needed|date=April 2022} d crook were crafted during the 18th Dynasty of the New Kingdom period in ancient Egypt, dating to roughly 1323 BCE.
In Ancient Egypt, only the pharaohs and specific deities were allowed to hold and touch the crook and flail. These iconic instruments—which symbolized the king's role as a shepherd guiding his people and protecting the land—were restricted for a few specific reasons
- Divine Rule: The tools were originally the attributes of Osiris, the mythical first god-king of Egypt. By holding them, pharaohs visually demonstrated that their earthly power was legitimate and directly tied to the gods.
- Funerary Significance: The crook and flail were buried with the pharaohs, ensuring they retained this ultimate status and authority in the afterlife
- Priestly Access: In certain specific mythological and religious texts, the Chief Lector priest was granted access to touch and maintain them in the vaults of the House of Life, but only for ceremonial rituals, not as a symbol of their own rule.
The only extant pharaonic examples of both the crook and flail come from the Tomb of Tutankhamun.[2] Their staffs are made of heavy bronze covered with alternating stripes of blue glass, obsidian, and gold, while the flail's beads are made of gilded wood.[3]
Theories on significance
Traditionally crossed over the chest when held, they probably represented the ruler as a shepherd whose beneficence is formidably tempered with might.[2]
In the interpretation of Toby Wilkinson, the flail used to goad livestock was a symbol of the ruler's coercive power: as shepherd of his flock, the ruler encouraged his subjects as well as restrained them.[4] Still another interpretation, by E. A. Wallis Budge, is that the flail is what was used to thresh grain.[5]
Percy Newberry, a specialist on ancient Egypt, speculated that the "flail" or "whip/scourge" of Osiris was more likely an instrument for collecting labdanum similar to that used in nineteenth-century Crete.[6] He examined archaeological remains of such items and their representations in art, and found that they were mechanically incapable of acting as either a flail or whip and so must be some other instrument. Similarly to crooks, he further noted that these items were also associated with shepherds, who used them to gather labdanum while their flocks grazed on and among the bushes from which the gum was gathered.
See also
- Sekhem scepter
- Was scepter
- Pharaoh-seated, with flail & red crown (hieroglyph)
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Steele, Philip (2002). Ancient Egypt. The Rosen Publishing Group. p. 12. ISBN 1435851730.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Tutankhamun "Wonderful Things" From The Pharaoh's Tomb". Herkimer Community Museum. p. 75. http://www.herkimercommunitymuseum.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/TUT-Illustrated-Catalog.pdf.
- ↑ Allen, Susan (2006). Tutankhamun's Tomb: The Thrill of Discovery. Metropolitan Museum of Art. p. 100. ISBN 1588391892.
- ↑ Wilkinson, Toby A.H. (1999). Early Dynastic Egypt. Routledge. p. 190. ISBN 0-415-18633-1.
- ↑ Budge, Wallis (1971). Egyptian Magic. Dover. p. 72. ISBN 0486226816. https://archive.org/details/egyptianmagic00budg/page/72.
- ↑ Newberry, Percy E. (1929), "The Shepherd's Crook and the So-Called 'Flail' or 'Scourge' of Osiris", The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 15 (1/2): 91–92, doi:10.2307/3854018. Page 91, note 9: "Was the 'false beard' which was worn below the chin by the god Osiris originally a labdanum-laden goat's beard?"
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