The Egyptian hieroglyph representing gold (𓋞 Gardiner S12), phonetic value ''nb'', is important due to its use in the Horus-of-Gold name, one of the Fivefold Titulary names of the Egyptian pharaoh. Abydos-Bold-hieroglyph-S12

In its

determinative A determinative, also known as a taxogram or semagram, is an ideogram used to mark semantic categories of words in logographic scripts which helps to disambiguate interpretation. They have no direct counterpart in spoken language, though they may ...

usage, it identifies any precious metal, and as an

ideogram An ideogram or ideograph (from Greek "idea" and "to write") is a graphic symbol that represents an idea or concept, independent of any particular language, and specific words or phrases. Some ideograms are comprehensible only by famili ...

in "gold" specifically (Egyptian ''nbw'', whence Coptic ''nūb''). The hieroglyph represents a large gold and pearl necklace.

Old Kingdom In ancient Egyptian history, the Old Kingdom is the period spanning c. 2700–2200 BC. It is also known as the "Age of the Pyramids" or the "Age of the Pyramid Builders", as it encompasses the reigns of the great pyramid-builders of the Fourth ...

scenes show dwarfs metalworking the gold, and "stringing the pearls of gold".

Derived forms

Three variants of the gold hieroglyph are

ligature Ligature may refer to: * Ligature (medicine), a piece of suture used to shut off a blood vessel or other anatomical structure ** Ligature (orthodontic), used in dentistry * Ligature (music), an element of musical notation used especially in the me ...

d with another hieroglyph:Betrò, 1994, ''Hieroglyphics: The Writings of Ancient Egypt,'' p. 176.

S14-(silver) Gold and mace (club) for "silver."

S13 Egyptian language ''nbi'', for "gild", or "gilt." (Gold and Foot).

S14A Gold and

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-("uas scepter"), for "electrum", ''dj'm.''

Usage

Horus-of-Gold name

EB1911 Jewelry - Egypt XIIth Dynasty pectoral (2)

One of the older uses of the gold hieroglyph is for the Horus-of-Gold, G8 name. Also known as the ''Golden Horus Name'', this form of the pharaoh's name typically featured the image of a Horus falcon perched above /or beside the hieroglyph for gold.

The meaning of this particular title has been disputed. One belief is that it represents the triumph of Horus over his uncle Seth, as the symbol for gold can be taken to mean that Horus was "superior to his foes". Gold also was strongly associated in the ancient Egyptian mind with eternity, so this may have been intended to convey the pharaoh's eternal Horus name.

Similar to the Fivefold Titulary Nebty name, this particular name typically was not framed by a cartouche or serekh. It always begins with the depiction of the horus falcon perched above a representation of the

sun The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radi ...

-(hieroglyph).N5

The combination of the Horus falcon and the gold hieroglyph is frequently found on Ancient Egyptian pectorals (see image).

Gold

In the

Old Egyptian The Egyptian language or Ancient Egyptian ( ) is a dead Afro-Asiatic language that was spoken in ancient Egypt. It is known today from a large corpus of surviving texts which were made accessible to the modern world following the deciphe ...

Palermo Stone inscription (late 24th or early 23rd century BC), the hieroglyph is used in the phrases "first counting of gold" and "collar of gold".

One spelling of the word "gold", ''nbw'', in the Egyptian language, uses the melted nugget

, N33B (a small circle), and the plural strokes (3-strokes).

Late Period coinage

One of the few coins minted for ancient Egypt is the gold stater, issued during the

30th Dynasty The Thirtieth Dynasty of Egypt (notated Dynasty XXX, alternatively 30th Dynasty or Dynasty 30) is usually classified as the fifth Dynasty of the Late Period of ancient Egypt. It was founded after the overthrow of Nepherites II in 380 BC by Necta ...

. The reverse of the gold stater shows a horse reared up on its hind legs. The obverse has the two hieroglyphs for ''nfr'' and ''nb'': ''"Perfect gold"'', or a common-era term: '' 'Fine'-gold''. File:Goddess Nephthys with gold hieroglyph, Louvre.jpg, Goddess Nephthys upon the ''Gold hieroglyph'', sarcophagus of

Ramesses III Usermaatre Meryamun Ramesses III (also written Ramses and Rameses) was the second Pharaoh of the Twentieth Dynasty in Ancient Egypt. He is thought to have reigned from 26 March 1186 to 15 April 1155 BC and is considered to be the last great monar ...

File:Totenbuch.jpg, Book of the Dead detail, goddesses on gold, with djed pillar,

ankh Progressive ankylosis protein homolog (ANK ilosis H omolog) is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''ANKH'' gene. This gene encodes a multipass transmembrane protein that is expressed in joints and other tissues and controls pyrophosphat ...

, Ra, and baboons File:Unas stelae.jpg, Columnar stele with

Unas Unas or Wenis, also spelled Unis ( egy, wnjs, hellenized form Oenas or Onnos), was a pharaoh, the ninth and last ruler of the Fifth Dynasty of Egypt during the Old Kingdom. Unas reigned for 15 to 30 years in the mid- 24th century BC (circa ...

cartouche

References

*Betrò, Maria Carmela. '' Hieroglyphics: The Writings of Ancient Egypt,'' c. 1995, 1996-(English), Abbeville Press Publishers, New York, London, Paris (hardcover, ) *Budge, ''The Rosetta Stone,'' E.A.Wallace Budge, (Dover Publications), c 1929, Dover edition(unabridged), 1989. (softcover, ) *Schumann-Antelme, and Rossini, 1998. ''

Illustrated Hieroglyphics Handbook The ''Illustrated Hieroglyphics Handbook'' is part of a new genre of books focused on Egyptian hieroglyphs. The book is a graphics based book with four to seven word examples of each Egyptian hieroglyph; the words are graphically explained for e ...