The Foreleg of ox (a ''foreleg with the thigh'') hieroglyph of ancient Egypt is an old hieroglyph; it even represented a nighttime

constellation A constellation is an area on the celestial sphere in which a group of visible stars forms Asterism (astronomy), a perceived pattern or outline, typically representing an animal, mythological subject, or inanimate object. The origins of the e ...

(the Big Dipper, Maskheti). It came to have many uses in ancient Egypt over three millennia.

Iconographic usage

Offered as "thigh-forward", "meat"

One of the major iconographic uses in ancient Egypt of the ox-foreleg was as part of the food offering to the individual being honored (the deceased), and engraved upon their

stele A stele ( ),Anglicized plural steles ( ); Greek plural stelai ( ), from Greek , ''stēlē''. The Greek plural is written , ''stēlai'', but this is only rarely encountered in English. or occasionally stela (plural ''stelas'' or ''stelæ''), whe ...

s. Often, besides lying on the top of the pile of food offerings, it is shown being presented to the honored individual, thigh first.

Offered as "hoof-forward", "strength"

Iconographically used as the symbolism of strength, power, dominion.

List of uses

A list of uses for the foreleg hieroglyph, with no order of importance actually implied: *Foreleg of ox, a "choice cut of meat" *Mortuary offering for ritual; the first item shown in the formulaic listing of items given to the deceased on the

funerary stele A stele ( ),Anglicized plural steles ( ); Greek plural stelai ( ), from Greek , ''stēlē''. The Greek plural is written , ''stēlai'', but this is only rarely encountered in English. or occasionally stela (plural ''stelas'' or ''stelæ''), whe ...

(thigh, then fowl, bread, wine, beer, and linen, etc.) *In ritual ceremony, the right foreleg (of the ox) is always "unfettered" while incapacitating the ox, and is the sacrificed/ceremonial foreleg *Ideogram, or determinative–
"thigh", "arm"
'' 'khepesh' '', (h)pš) *The "strong (human) arm", the strength implied by royal or divine gift *for "strength" ('' khepesh'') in dedication ceremonies such as the Opening of the Mouth; also before mummy interment *the foreleg-thigh shape is equivalent to the power implied from the similar-shaped scimitar presented by a god *"The Foreleg" as the Big Dipper; equivalent in the '' Epic of Gilgamesh'' of the

Mesopotamian Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the F ...

civilizations, to the Bull of Heaven

Rosetta Stone

Though the Foreleg of ox hieroglyph is not used in the Rosetta Stone directly, the strength (''khepesh'') of the scimitar is. In line R-6: "... and a statue of the god of the city, giving to him haraoh Ptolemy V">Ptolemy_V.html" ;"title="haraoh Ptolemy V">haraoh Ptolemy Va 'sword royal' ('' khepesh nesu'') of victory";Budge, ''The Rosetta Stone'', p. 156. the word ''khepesh'' uses the scimitar hieroglyph as the determinative. The quote is part of the ten rewards to be given to Pharaoh Ptolemy V in the Rosetta Stone. File:Egypte louvre 275 stele.jpg">Foreleg of ox (2) on offering table

References