The ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...

ian Man-prisoner is one of the oldest hieroglyphs from Ancient Egypt. An iconographic

Iconography

Iconography is the branch of art history which studies the identification, description, and the interpretation of the content of images. The word iconography literally means "image writing", and comes from the Greek "image" and "to write". A secondary meaning is the painting of icons in the...

 portrayal from predynastic Egypt eventually led to its incorporation into the Egyptian language

Egyptian language

Egyptian is the oldest known indigenous language of Egypt and a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. Written records of the Egyptian language have been dated from about 3400 BC, making it one of the oldest recorded languages known. Egyptian was spoken until the late 17th century AD in the...

. Not only rebels from towns or districts, but foreigners from battle were being portrayed.

The nine bows

Nine bows

The nine bows is a term used in Ancient Egypt to represent the traditional enemies of Egypt. The peoples covered by this term changed over time, as enemies changed, and there is no true list of the nine bows...

 concept of internal ancient Egyptian rebels, as well as 'foreign' rebels, began with actual bows, for example under Pharaoh Djoser

Djoser

Netjerikhet or Djoser is the best-known pharaoh of the Third dynasty of Egypt. He commissioned his official, Imhotep, to build the first of the pyramids, a step pyramid for him at Saqqara...

's feet on his seated statue, 3rd dynasty

Third dynasty of Egypt

For the Sumerian Renaissance, see Third Dynasty of Ur.The Third Dynasty of ancient Egypt is the first dynasty of the Old Kingdom. Other dynasties of the Old Kingdom include the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth...

; (his feet rest upon 9 bows). The more prolonged use of the 'prisoner' hieroglyph in language and iconography

Iconography

Iconography is the branch of art history which studies the identification, description, and the interpretation of the content of images. The word iconography literally means "image writing", and comes from the Greek "image" and "to write". A secondary meaning is the painting of icons in the...

 continued into New Kingdom

New Kingdom

The New Kingdom of Egypt, also referred to as the Egyptian Empire is the period in ancient Egyptian history between the 16th century BC and the 11th century BC, covering the Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Twentieth Dynasties of Egypt....

, and Ptolemaic

Ptolemaic dynasty

The Ptolemaic dynasty, was a Macedonian Greek royal family which ruled the Ptolemaic Empire in Egypt during the Hellenistic period. Their rule lasted for 275 years, from 305 BC to 30 BC...

 times with the prisoner hieroglyph, as a "foreign rebel people" presented and named inside of a "cartouche

Cartouche

In Egyptian hieroglyphs, a cartouche is an ellipse with a horizontal line at one end, indicating that the text enclosed is a royal name, coming into use during the beginning of the Fourth Dynasty under Pharaoh Sneferu, replacing the earlier serekh...

". The 'cartouche' was often identified on its perimeter ring with the fortifying blocks of a city fortification, representing either the people, or their city-state

City-state

A city-state is an independent or autonomous entity whose territory consists of a city which is not administered as a part of another local government.-Historical city-states:...

 location.

Example from the Hierakonpolis Palette

One of the oldest examples of the prisoner(Man) hieroglyph is found on the predynastic palette

Cosmetic palette

The cosmetic palettes of middle to late predynastic Egypt are archaeological artifacts, originally used to grind and apply ingredients for facial or body cosmetics. The decorative palettes of the late 4th millennium BCE appear to have lost this function and became commemorative, ornamental, and...

, the Battlefield Palette

Battlefield Palette

The Battlefield Palette is the earliest "battle scene" representation of the dozen or more "ceremonial" or "ornamental" cosmetic palettes of ancient Egypt...

. As some of the palettes involved animals, hunting, and weapons, captives were taken and displayed. Since the prisoners are shown, battles are implied. The famous Libyan Palette

Libyan Palette

The Libyan Palette is the surviving lower portion of a stone cosmetic palette bearing carved decoration and writing. It dates from the Naqada III or Protodynastic Period of Egypt...

 shows towns or districts, surrounded by enclosures, presumed walled fortifications, against outside forces or people.

Language usage of Man-prisoner hieroglyph

Since Egyptian walled reliefs often told stories, battle descriptions with prisoners is common. Of note, stories, and hieroglyphs of piled dismembered body parts are known, partially to show proof of the body count

Killed in action

Killed in action is a casualty classification generally used by militaries to describe the deaths of their own forces at the hands of hostile forces. The United States Department of Defense, for example, says that those declared KIA need not have fired their weapons but have been killed due to...

s.

3000 years later: Rosetta Stone use

The Rosetta Stone

Rosetta Stone

The Rosetta Stone is an ancient Egyptian granodiorite stele inscribed with a decree issued at Memphis in 196 BC on behalf of King Ptolemy V. The decree appears in three scripts: the upper text is Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, the middle portion Demotic script, and the lowest Ancient Greek...

, (the surviving second half, the Nubayrah Stele

Nubayrah Stele

The Nubayrah Stele is a mutilated copy of the Decree of Memphis on a limestone stele; the same decree is found upon the Rosetta Stone...

 being the surviving first half), lists 22 reasons for honoring the pharaoh

Pharaoh

Pharaoh is a title used in many modern discussions of the ancient Egyptian rulers of all periods. The title originates in the term "pr-aa" which means "great house" and describes the royal palace...

 Ptolemy V-(Ptolemy Epiphanous

Epiphany (feeling)

An epiphany is the sudden realization or comprehension of the essence or meaning of something...

-(with pr (hieroglyph)

Pr (hieroglyph)

Pr is the hieroglyph for 'house', the floor-plan of a walled building with an open doorway. While its original pronunciation is not known with certainty, modern Egyptology assigns it the value of per, but purely on the basis of a convention specific to the discipline...

 Eucharistos - the Greek on the stone), and the first third of the Rosetta Stone ends the list of 22. Line 1 summarizes what to do with the rebels from the town-(district): to display them on stakes (in the Demotic script) so everybody will be shown the example). The Nubayrah Stele uses four of the second version of the Man-prisoner hieroglyph, first in line N-19, and three times in line N-22, near the summary of the rebel story. Line 1 of the Rosetta Stone tells of the impaling on the stake

Branch (hieroglyph)

The ancient Egyptian Branch hieroglyph, also called a Stick, is a member of the trees and plants hieroglyphs.The branch is an Egyptian language biliteral with the value t, -; it is an ideogram-, for wood, tree, and the linear measure...

s-(the branch

Branch (hieroglyph)

The ancient Egyptian Branch hieroglyph, also called a Stick, is a member of the trees and plants hieroglyphs.The branch is an Egyptian language biliteral with the value t, -; it is an ideogram-, for wood, tree, and the linear measure...

 hieroglyph). Shoshenq I

Shoshenq I

Hedjkheperre Setepenre Shoshenq I , , also known as Sheshonk or Sheshonq I , was a Meshwesh Berber king of Egypt—of Libyan ancestry—and the founder of the Twenty-second Dynasty...

 portrayed 39 cartouched at Karnak

Karnak

The Karnak Temple Complex—usually called Karnak—comprises a vast mix of decayed temples, chapels, pylons, and other buildings, notably the Great Temple of Amun and a massive structure begun by Pharaoh Ramses II . Sacred Lake is part of the site as well. It is located near Luxor, some...

 after his campaign.

Nine bows representation

An example of the "cartouche

Cartouche

In Egyptian hieroglyphs, a cartouche is an ellipse with a horizontal line at one end, indicating that the text enclosed is a royal name, coming into use during the beginning of the Fourth Dynasty under Pharaoh Sneferu, replacing the earlier serekh...

" form of the man-prisoner hieroglyph is found in sequences of defeated peoples. Campaigns in the Levant

Levant

The Levant or ) is the geographic region and culture zone of the "eastern Mediterranean littoral between Anatolia and Egypt" . The Levant includes most of modern Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian territories, and sometimes parts of Turkey and Iraq, and corresponds roughly to the...

 especially involved defeating city-state

City-state

A city-state is an independent or autonomous entity whose territory consists of a city which is not administered as a part of another local government.-Historical city-states:...

 regions, one after the other. Upon returning from successful campaigns, the series of defeated peoples were portrayed in public temples.

The Ramses pharaohs, are noted for this, (Ramesses II

Ramesses II

Ramesses II , referred to as Ramesses the Great, was the third Egyptian pharaoh of the Nineteenth dynasty. He is often regarded as the greatest, most celebrated, and most powerful pharaoh of the Egyptian Empire...

, Ramesses III

Ramesses III

Usimare Ramesses III was the second Pharaoh of the Twentieth Dynasty and is considered to be the last great New Kingdom king to wield any substantial authority over Egypt. He was the son of Setnakhte and Queen Tiy-Merenese. Ramesses III is believed to have reigned from March 1186 to April 1155 BCE...

); also Shoshenq I

Shoshenq I

Hedjkheperre Setepenre Shoshenq I , , also known as Sheshonk or Sheshonq I , was a Meshwesh Berber king of Egypt—of Libyan ancestry—and the founder of the Twenty-second Dynasty...

 as portrayed in the controversial Rohl book of Pharaohs and Kings. At Karnak

Karnak

The Karnak Temple Complex—usually called Karnak—comprises a vast mix of decayed temples, chapels, pylons, and other buildings, notably the Great Temple of Amun and a massive structure begun by Pharaoh Ramses II . Sacred Lake is part of the site as well. It is located near Luxor, some...

 Shoshenq I portrayed 39 cartouches of nine bows, in 3 rows of cartouches; each rebel group or state, is named in egyptian hieroglyphs

Egyptian hieroglyphs

Egyptian hieroglyphs were a formal writing system used by the ancient Egyptians that combined logographic and alphabetic elements. Egyptians used cursive hieroglyphs for religious literature on papyrus and wood...

.

See also

• Gardiner's Sign List#A. Man and his Occupations
• Gardiner's Sign List#R. Temple Furniture and Sacred Emblems