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The ankh ( or ; Egyptian: ; U+2625 ☥ or U+132F9 𓋹), also known as breath of life, the key of the Nile or ''crux ansata'' (Latin meaning "cross with a handle"), was the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic character that read "life", a triliteral sign for the consonants ꜥ-n-ḫ. It represents the concept of eternal life, which is the general meaning of the symbol. 〔http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/ankh.htm〕 The Egyptian gods are often portrayed carrying it by its loop, or bearing one in each hand, arms crossed over their chest. The ankh appears in hand or in proximity of almost every deity in the Egyptian pantheon (including Pharaohs). Thus it is fairly and widely understood as a symbol of early religious pluralism: all sects believed in a common story of eternal life, and this is the literal meaning of the symbol. This rationale contributed to the adoption of the ankh by New Age mysticism in the 1960s, to mean essentially the same tolerance of diversity of belief and common ethics as in Ancient Egypt. ==Origin== The origin of the symbol remains a mystery to Egyptologists, and no single hypothesis has been widely accepted. One of the earliest suggestions is that of Thomas Inman, first published in 1869: It is by Egyptologists called the symbol of life. It is also called the "handled cross", or ''crux ansata''. It represents the male triad and the female unit, under a decent form. There are few symbols more commonly met with in Egyptian art. In some sculptures, where the sun's rays are represented as terminating in hands, the offerings which these bring are many a ''crux ansata'', emblematic of the truth that a fruitful union is a gift from the deity.〔Inman, Thomas. ''Ancient Pagan and Modern Christian Symbolism'', Second Edition. New York: J. W. Bouton, 706 Broadway. Published 1875. Page 44. ISBN 978-1-4209-2987-4.〕 E. A. Wallis Budge postulated that the symbol originated as the belt buckle of the mother goddess Isis,〔''A Guide to the Third and Fourth Rooms of the British Museum'' (London: s.n.: 1904), 210.〕 an idea joined by Wolfhart Westendorf with the notion that both the ankh and the knot of Isis were used in many ceremonies. Sir Alan Gardiner speculated that it depicts a sandal strap, which is also written with the ankh hieroglyph.〔Gardiner, Alan. ''Egyptian Grammar,'' Third Edition. Cambridge University Press. 1957. p. 508.〕 In their 2004 book ''The Quick and the Dead'', Andrew Hunt Gordon and Calvin W. Schwabe speculated that the ankh, djed, and was symbols have a biological basis derived from ancient cattle culture (linked to the Egyptian belief that semen was created in the spine), thus: * the ankh, symbol of life, thoracic vertebra of a bull (seen in cross section) * the ''djed'', symbol of stability, base on sacrum of a bull's spine * the ''was'', symbol of power and dominion, a staff featuring the head and tail of the god Set, "great of strength" 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「ankh」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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