DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14696#0619
The deity of the double axe 545
and a desert slope, together forming the word-sign for hr-t ntr (kher-t nether), ' that which
belongs to a god,' i.e. the necropolis or place of the dead.
P. E. Newberry likewise demurs to the view that the 7z<?^?r-sign is an axe. In a letter
to me, dated Oct. 3, 1908, he says: 'In outline it certainly looks as though it was so, but
whenever the sign is coloured the coloured detail shows that it must have been a post (?)
wrapped with a band of linen the end of which formed a kind of flag.' But, if this able
scholar denies us the single axe, he grants us the double axe ; vide his important paper
'Two Cults of the Old Kingdom' in the Ann. Arch. Anthr. 1908 i. 27: 'In the Fifth
Dynasty there twice occurstt [tt Mar. Mast., D. 38, now m the National Museum at
Copenhagen, No. 5129 ; Borchardt's, Abusir, p. 120 ; M. A. Murray, Index, pi. xxxiv.]
a title * J q ... khet 'M^-priest of the Double Axe ' tt [tt The Double Axe as a sym-
bol is found as early as the First Dynasty in Egypt (Petrie R.T.I., vn, 12, and Quibell,
2
i
I
Fig. 420. F'g- 4-2- F'g- 421.
Hierakonpolis II, LXVill).], which it is possible may be connected with HA, for in the
Twenty-sixth Dynasty is recorded an Amasis who was J J "J | ' Priest of HA of
the Double Axe?'§§ [§§ A.Z., xxxviii, 116.] The context shows that HA is the name
of a cult-object or divinity representing a mountain with two or more crests. And New-
berry compares the Double Axe of ' Minoan' Crete with its ' Horns of Consecration.'
Sir W. M. Flinders Petrie Tools and Weapons London 1917 pp. 5—18 pis. 1 —18
deals with the various forms of axe and adze found in Egypt and elsewhere, but does not
include any detailed discussion of their religious significance.
A cylinder of grey chalcedony, now in the British Museum (no. 89470, as Dr R. Eisler
kindly informs me), shows an Assyrian priest presenting a sacrifice to a deity, who is
symbolised by a knobbed sceptre and an axe set upright on a high-backed throne. Behind
the throne crouches an ibex or oryx, above which are the emblems of Istar, Sin, and
Sibitti (A. de Longperier in the Bulletin archeologique de V Athcnceum francais 1855 i.
701 f. = G. Schlumberger CEuvres de A. de Longpe'rier Paris 1883 i. 170 with fig. ( = my
fig. 423), Transactions of the Third Inte?-natiotial Congress for the History of Religions
Oxford 1908 ii. 184 f. fig. 2, W. H. Ward in M. Jastrow Bildermappe zur Religion
Babyloniens und Assyriens Giessen 1912 p. no pi. 56, no. 226). The deity thus repre-
c 11. 35
and a desert slope, together forming the word-sign for hr-t ntr (kher-t nether), ' that which
belongs to a god,' i.e. the necropolis or place of the dead.
P. E. Newberry likewise demurs to the view that the 7z<?^?r-sign is an axe. In a letter
to me, dated Oct. 3, 1908, he says: 'In outline it certainly looks as though it was so, but
whenever the sign is coloured the coloured detail shows that it must have been a post (?)
wrapped with a band of linen the end of which formed a kind of flag.' But, if this able
scholar denies us the single axe, he grants us the double axe ; vide his important paper
'Two Cults of the Old Kingdom' in the Ann. Arch. Anthr. 1908 i. 27: 'In the Fifth
Dynasty there twice occurstt [tt Mar. Mast., D. 38, now m the National Museum at
Copenhagen, No. 5129 ; Borchardt's, Abusir, p. 120 ; M. A. Murray, Index, pi. xxxiv.]
a title * J q ... khet 'M^-priest of the Double Axe ' tt [tt The Double Axe as a sym-
bol is found as early as the First Dynasty in Egypt (Petrie R.T.I., vn, 12, and Quibell,
2
i
I
Fig. 420. F'g- 4-2- F'g- 421.
Hierakonpolis II, LXVill).], which it is possible may be connected with HA, for in the
Twenty-sixth Dynasty is recorded an Amasis who was J J "J | ' Priest of HA of
the Double Axe?'§§ [§§ A.Z., xxxviii, 116.] The context shows that HA is the name
of a cult-object or divinity representing a mountain with two or more crests. And New-
berry compares the Double Axe of ' Minoan' Crete with its ' Horns of Consecration.'
Sir W. M. Flinders Petrie Tools and Weapons London 1917 pp. 5—18 pis. 1 —18
deals with the various forms of axe and adze found in Egypt and elsewhere, but does not
include any detailed discussion of their religious significance.
A cylinder of grey chalcedony, now in the British Museum (no. 89470, as Dr R. Eisler
kindly informs me), shows an Assyrian priest presenting a sacrifice to a deity, who is
symbolised by a knobbed sceptre and an axe set upright on a high-backed throne. Behind
the throne crouches an ibex or oryx, above which are the emblems of Istar, Sin, and
Sibitti (A. de Longperier in the Bulletin archeologique de V Athcnceum francais 1855 i.
701 f. = G. Schlumberger CEuvres de A. de Longpe'rier Paris 1883 i. 170 with fig. ( = my
fig. 423), Transactions of the Third Inte?-natiotial Congress for the History of Religions
Oxford 1908 ii. 184 f. fig. 2, W. H. Ward in M. Jastrow Bildermappe zur Religion
Babyloniens und Assyriens Giessen 1912 p. no pi. 56, no. 226). The deity thus repre-
c 11. 35