Egyptian Staff

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Here again a knowledge of Egyptian priestly praxis is informative. Many iconographic depictions of staffs in the form of serpents exist in Egypt: People Carrying Serpent Staffs

This last fact naturally begs the question of whether it is accurate to label the actions of these figures “magical.” The answer to this question is both yes and no. Yes, in that lector-priests performed numerous spells and rituals that evoked the illocutionary power of ḥkꜣ ( ḥeka), a cosmic force perceived as efficacious, capable of manipulating reality in this world and the next. [6] Yet, no, because Ḥeka also was a deity in his own right, and so invoking his power also constitutes a form of prayer (Fig. 2). The hardening (lit. making heavy) of pharaoh’s heart tendentiously alludes to the Egyptian belief that pharaoh’s heart must be weighed against the feather of truth, maat( mꜣʿ t) to grant him entry to the afterlife. [4] COPPENS, FILIP, and HANA VYMAZALOVÁ. “MEDICINE, MATHEMATICS AND MAGIC UNITE IN A SCENE FROM THE TEMPLE OF KOM OMBO (KO 950).” Anthropologie (1962-) 48, no. 2 (2010): 127–32. JSTOR 26292902. For the Egyptians, the sceptre in the form of an "ankh cross" (or "ânkh cross") symbolizes life. This sceptre represents not only the life of the Egyptians as mortals but also their life in the Afterlife as immortals. Many gods are represented with this cross, such as the goddess Isis, the goddess Maat (goddess of truth), and as we have seen earlier, Ptah and Sekhmet.The text does not explain how they were able to do so when apparently there was no water left to transform. Yahweh already had bloodied the Nile, its streams, canals, ponds, reservoirs, and even the water contained in vessels (Exod 7:19-21). ḥʿ pỉ ỉr [ dšr]. See Jürgen Osing, Hieratische Papyri aus Tebtunis I (Carsten Niebuhr Institute of Ancient Near Eastern Studies, 17; Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press, 1998), p. 253. From the Nineteenth dynasty onward pr-ꜥꜣ on its own, was used as regularly as ḥm, "Majesty". [18] The term, therefore, evolved from a word specifically referring to a building to a respectful designation for the ruler presiding in that building, particularly by the time of the Twenty-Second Dynasty and Twenty-third Dynasty. [ citation needed] The sceptre also assumed a central role in the Mesopotamian world, and was in most cases part of the royal insignia of sovereigns and gods. This continued throughout Mesopotamian history, as illustrated in literary and administrative texts and iconography. The Mesopotamian sceptre was mostly called ĝidru in Sumerian and ḫaṭṭum in Akkadian. [1] P. Leiden 344, Recto: ỉw ms ỉtrw m snfw swrỉ tw ỉm=f nyw tw m rmṯ ỉb tw mw… pḏtyw rwt ỉỉt=tỉ n kmt. The word for “foreign tribes” ( pḏtyw, lit. bowmen) often refers to the Semitic peoples of southern Canaan. For an English translation, see Nili Shupak, “The Admonitions of an Egyptian Sage: The Admonitions of Ipuwer,” in William W. Hallo and K. Lawson Younger, Jr., eds., The Context of Scripture: Canonical Compositions, Monumental Inscriptions and Archival Documents from the Biblical World. Vol. 1 (Leiden: Brill, 2003), pp. 93-98.

Clayton 1995, p. 217. "Although paying lip-service to the old ideas and religion, in varying degrees, pharaonic Egypt had in effect died with the last native pharaoh, Nectanebo II in 343 BC" The white crown of Upper Egypt, the Hedjet, was worn in the Predynastic Period by Scorpion II, and, later, by Narmer. a b Wilksinson, Richard H. (2003) The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt. Thames & Hudson. p. 227

With the advent of Christianity, the sceptre was often tipped with a cross instead of with an eagle. However, during the Middle Ages, the finials on the top of the sceptre varied considerably. [ citation needed]