Children's Hieroglyph Book.

Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyph by Kathy Allen is probably the best children's book I have ever seen that addresses Egyptian Hieroglyphs. This book is geared toward 3-4th grade or a little older depending on the skill of the child. This book talks about the history and uses of hieroglyphs. Not only is the ancient history covered but also the translation of the Rosetta Stone. Another interesting historical feature of this book that I haven't seen in other books is that it talks about Coptic writing and its link to hieroglyphs.

What is most impressive though is that this book has broken down translation and reading basics into a clear and comprehensible series of steps. This book makes hieroglyphs more accessible due to the simplicity and completeness of its coverage.

I definitely think this is a book for any child interested in Ancient Egypt. It would also be a great starting place for an adult to get the basics before moving on to the more complicated adult translation books.

Book Review - Hieroglyphs Without Mystery

I just finished this book by Karl-Theodor Zauzich. The book had some great assets and some less than ideal items. Overall, this book could be used by a beginner but I wouldn't suggest it. While the book walks the reader through signs, phrases and grammar with great precision it has one big downfall. The glyphs in this book are written so small that unless you are familiar with the common glyphs it will be useless in helping you with translation. For someone who is familiar with the basic glyphs then you can get much from this book. One thing I picked up from this book is a quicker, script like form of some of the harder glyphs. (The owl, vulture and chick are the bane of my writing) There are also areas where the phonetics are given without the glyphs. Here again, familiarity with the common glyphs would be helpful.

The book does have some examples of inscriptions that it walks you through translating. However, other books have practice sections for these kinds of translations which this one does not. 

I think this is a great stage 2 book for someone looking to learn glyphs. Anyone who has read a couple books and has a familiarity with the "alphabet" and some of the biliterals and triliterals will do well with this book as a next step.

Find it here on Amazon.com

A Ruler for a Ruler

I made a claim a couple posts back that the Egyptians were the first to have what modern man would call or recognize as a ruler. The Egyptian ruler is most often called a cubit stick or a cubit rod. Rods of various forms had been found. Wooden rods were most likely those actually used by craftsman in their labor or architects while drawing or building. Stone cubit rods have also been found and it is suggested these were strictly ceremonial. (though some ceremonial cubit rods were also wood.) This makes perfect sense. A heavy stone ruler a foot and a half long would be unwieldy for drafting or carrying around all day. Also, a stone rod would likely break often when dropped or hit wrong against the stone or bricks being measured. However, it is not unusual that Egyptians created a ceremonial replica because this is a common trend both in their spiritual practices and in their death practices.

So, what is a cubit?

A cubit is the standard Egyptian measurement comparable to the modern foot or meter. There are two cubits used. The short cubit which is the distance from the elbow to the tip of the fingers of the pharaoh. The royal cubit is the distance from the elbow to the fingertips plus a palm width. The royal cubit was the standard cubit in use.

Like the foot or meter, cubits were also broken into smaller measurements. These increments were 6 palms for the short (7 palms for the royal), 4 fingers for each palm, a finger was then broken into fractions from halves to 1/16th. 1/16th of a finger seems to be the smallest measure the Egyptians used. 1/16th of a finger is approximately .12 cm (mm) or .05 inches. To give you an idea of how small this is the width of 1/16th of a finger is approximately the width of a standard earring post or an 16-18 gauge piece of piercing jewelry. It is this precision that was likely to allow for such perfection in their buildings as far as fitting stones together.

Two other measurements were common the short span and the great span. Short Span is the distance between the thumb and the pointer finger when they are spread as far as possible. The Great Span is the distance from the thumb to the little finger when they are spread as far as possible.

Great Span

Short span

This leads us to why the Egyptians were the first in history, that we know of, to show up with a standardized ruler. Large scale building and moving of materials. The ruler is a necessary tool when you consider an architect on the Giza Plateau telling some overseer in a stone quarry how big to make the stone blocks. The second reason for a ruler was the obsessive way the Egyptians measured the flooding of the Nile. Priests needed a standard to exist over many generations so that Nile floods and Nile predictions could be made. 

A workman's cubit rod at the Liverpool Museum.

A little more about the cubit rod.

The rods had other markings on them besides the tick marks for measuring. Most of the rods included inscriptions invoking gods related to science and craft. Th inscription from the wooden rod above is:
"A boon which the King gives (to) Amun-Re and (to) Ptah, Lord of the Two Lands, and (to) Thoth, Lord of Divine Words, great god who dwells in Hermopolis, that they may give life, prosperity and health, and a good lifespan, following their Ka's, for the Ka of the Servant in the Place of Truth, Any."

In addtion to the inscription ceremonial cubit rods had lists of the nomes arranged by their order from Lower Egypt to Upper Egypt. These nome inscriptions were usually listed by the image or name of the god of that nome.

Ceremonial cubit rod at the Louvre showing the names of the nomes along the top

as well as the measurement symbols along the edge.

(Remember to read right to left like an Egyptian.) Photo by Jon Bodsworth.

Close up of the Louvre Cubit rod

Notice on the rod that the fractions are very clear. The mouth glyph which indicates that it is a fraction and then the number after. We can also more clearly see the second line from the top which names the sections of the cubit and then the upper most line with the names of the nomes.

Fragment of a stone, ceremonial cubit rod on display
at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Quick Cubit Conversion Chart:

(Conversions are approximations from measuring a variety of cubit rods)

- 1 Short Cubit = 45cm = 18 inches

- 1 Royal Cubit = 53 cm = 21 inches

- 1 Royal Cubit = 1 Short cubit + 1 palm

- 1 Royal Cubit = 7 Palms

- 1 Palm = 4 Fingers

- 1 Royal Cubit = 28 Fingers

- 1 Great Span = 2 Palms

Everyone's Favorite Math Subject - Fractions

As we saw with numbers, the Egyptian had glyphs to represent fractions. The symbol is portions of the eye broken into representative sections. (For the previous discussion about eyes you can go back to this post and read about them.) Suffice to say that there are some disagreements over time whether this eye is the Eye of Horus or the Eye of Ra or the Wadjet or none of these between the Old Kingdom, Middle Kingdom and New Kingdom. For the sake of this discussion I am just going to call it an eye instead of trying to decide what time period is right to use or what word would be right.

The Eye fractions as presented at
The First International Conference on Ancient Egyptian Science .
Since this illustration it has been suggested that the eyebrow stroke is 1/8.

Looking at it in pieces we can imagine writing a fraction. The Egyptians did not write fractions the same way we do. All Egyptian fractions are one over some number with the exception of 2/3. We'll leave 2/3 for later. Right now we will focus on how an Egyptian might write other fractions.

For example:
We would write 3/4 where an Egyptian would write the glyphs for 1/4 and 1/2 together to show 3/4.
If we write 3/8 the Egyptians would write 1/4 and 1/8 together.

It might seem clunky at first but even very complex fractions could be quite beautiful. Most standards leave the sections in the place of the eye form. So our Egyptian 3/8 would be a brow and pupil drawn in the normal placement. To get a better idea here are all of the pieces in the standard places.

Another set of fraction symbols exist in the Egyptian set of glyphs. These glyphs were used at the same time as the Eye glyphs were.

The final thing about fractions is conversions. The Egyptians used conversions and fractions particularly in food related topics such as grain but have been found related to other subjects. These conversions would be very similar to modern conversions between different units. I will discuss more about conversions in another post when the topic of geometry is at hand.

Numbers game

The Ancient Egyptians had separate hieroglyphs for numbers. Unlike our modern language where we have numbers (1,2,3....) and words for them (one, two, three...) the Egyptians had one symbol that meant both the numeral and the word. For the Ancient Egyptians words and symbols went hand in hand so there is no surprise in knowing the hieroglyphs given for a number were related to spiritual and cultural connection of those numbers.

1-9 are simply tick marks. Part of the reason for the first nine being tick marks is because it is believed that the human mind can instantly recognize single digit numbers without counting.

10 is a cattle hobble. This is something that would partially bind the cattle's legs so they could walk but not run. It is believed that like many African cultures the Egyptians saw 10 cattle as almost a base currency.

100 is a coil of rope. This is likely due to a connection to work and labor. "Gangs" of workers in Egypt are sometimes listed as 100 men.

1,000 is a lotus flower. The lotus was the number of joy and satisfaction.

10,000 is the upraised finger. This is a symbol of command which makes sense for a number like 10,000 which would be the count of a very large army or contingent of workers in Ancient Egypt

100,000 is the tadpole symbol of rebirth. 100,000 is related to cosmic cycles in Egyptian mythology.

1,000,000 is a man/god raising his hands in praise. Million was a sacred number reserved most often for offerings or blessings to deities or pharaohs. ex. May he live in peace for millions of years or may he find himself satisfied with millions of loaves of bread.

That's a little on numbers. We'll continue this discussion tomorrow or the next day with fractions.

The Cannibal Hymn

I am still working on the snakes and it is taking longer than I expected. Every time I think I have them all I find another. Hopefully that post series will be done soon. In the meantime I thought I would share a piece of 5th dynasty writing from the tomb of Unas. Unas eventually be comes a deified human, perhaps because of this writing. Most Egyptian mythology shows gaining power of a god or thing as knowing their true or hidden name. Unas takes a very different approach to gaining the power of the gods.

1
Sky rains, stars Darken
The vaults quiver, Earth's bones tremble.
The Planets stand still
at seeing Unas rise in power.
A god who lives on his fathers
who feeds on his mothers!

2
Unas is the bull of heaven
who rages in his heart
who lives on the being of every god
who eats their entrails
their bodies are full of magic
from the Isle of Flame

3
Unas is he who eats men,
who feeds on gods
It is Khonsu, Slayer of Lords,
who cuts their throats for Unas
who tears their entrails our for him.
Unas eats their magic, he swallows their spirits.
Their big ones for his morning meal.
The middle ones for his evening meal.
The little ones for his night meal.

4
Unas has encompassed the two skies.
He has circled the two shores.
Unas is the great powe that overpowers the powers.
Unas is the divine hawk, the great hawk of hawks.
Those whom he finds on the way he devours whole.
Unas is god, oldest of old.
Thousands serve him. Hundreds offer to him.

5
Unas has arisen in heaven.
He is crowned as lord of light-land.
He has smashed bones and marrow.
He has seized the hears of the gods.
He has eaten the red crown, swallowed the white crown.
Unas feeds on the lungs of the wise.
Unas abhors licking the coils of the red crown
but delights in having their magic in his belly.

6
He has swallowed the knowledge of every god.
Unas; lifetime is forever, his limit is eternity.
Lo, their power is in Unas' belly.
Their spirits are before Unas as broth of the gods,
cooked for Unas from their bones.

This writing is only known from two places, the tomb of Unas and that of Teti I. Known as the Cannibal Hymn this piece of writing includes a lot of reference to traditional Ancient Egyptian religion and culture but is put together in a manner that would have likely been offensive to the Ancient Egyptians. The first would be the horror of actually cutting a human body. Even people who did this for medicine or embalming were ritualistically attacked to show the horror of cutting a human body. There are other points to be made about this but I think it might be beneficial to do this a stanza at a time.

Stanza 1:
The first three lines could be references to one of two things: Nun's destruction and rebirth of the universe or what is supposed to happen when Apep gains the upper hand over Ra. It is hard to say what Unas was getting at though it is perhaps references to Apep as the rest of the piece talk about destroying the gods.

Stanza 2:
Bull of heaven could be one of three gods: Horus, Osiris or Ra. Not quite sure which one as references later to Unas ruling over heaven does not single out any of these. However, the next line refers to a raging heart which usually refers, in Ancient Egypt, to revenge or thirst for revenge. This makes Horus the likely candidate for who Unas is because Horus is the god of revenge and vengeance. He then goes on to talk about magic from the Isle of Flame. The Isle of Flame is one of the names sometimes given to the area where the mound of creation was believed to exist

Stanza 3:
The most interesting thing to me in this stanza is that Khonsu is the slayer for Unas. Traditionally, Khonsu is a child god related to the moon and moon phases.The son of Mut and Min, Khonsu is supposed to be a kind and passive deity. This makes Unas' choice curious. Some have suggested it might be because Khonsu was a household or regional deity for Unas. In this stanza we also get a little bit of sense about how much an Egyptian might eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner. We see that breakfast is the big meal and dinner the smallest.

Stanza 4:
The two skies and two shores refer to mortal Earth and Nile and the Celestial Earth and Nile. The Celestial versions are those places in the Duat, i.e. land of the dead. We also see references in this stanza to titles of Horus... Great power that overpowers the powers in reference to overthrowing Set and Great hawk of hawks. Oldest of old though brings us back to Nun or Apep as the oldest of the deities. It is possible that Unas saw himself as some mix of Horus and a god of chaos. This stanza ends with a more traditional line of writings in tombs where the deceased is stating that people shall continue to serve and offer to them after death.

Stanza 5:
Lord of the Light-Land is pharaoh of the lands of both Egypt and Celestial Egypt. Taking the hearts of the gods is brought up here which is important to the overall piece. In Ancient Egypt the heart was seat of deeds and strength. Then Unas goes on to eating the red crown and white crown, the crowns of upper and lower Egypt. It might refer to him killing off or eating other pharaohs. Again reference to power in the eating of lungs of the wise. Lungs were thought to be needed to give both life and intelligence(read something close to common sense or wisdom here) and so this is a reiteration of eating the powers of others. It ends with Unas being delighted by the gain of power.

Stanza 6:
This stanza again has a traditional tomb statement. Line two is a common declaration for the dead to go on eternally. The hymn ends with god soup made from bones ans spirits.

This is an interesting way to immortality for an Egyptian. Though there are no references elsewhere to Unas actually being a cannibal it is possible something like megalomania might be applicable here. Interestingly enough the rest of the tomb text in Unas' tomb is fairly standard "god positive" text about helping defeat the evil in the Duat and helping Ra. Odd that this is slipped in. Some question whether this was something Unas wanted or if a scribe put it in his tomb. It is hard to say what the reason it.

Photograph of the Pyramid Texts in Unas' tomb.

For more on Unas and his texts I suggest checking out The Pyramid Texts Online which has wall by wall translations of the texts. I have not checked this site for accuracy. The text is found on the East wall of the Antechamber. This site gives a different translation of the cannibal hymn but the meanings are very similar. Since I don't know what reference was used for this translation I cannot say anything about the translation quality. Still it is an awesome site which lays out all the walls in a clickable map with translations.

The First Five Confession

In our discussion of the negative confessions I figured I would take a day and address a few at a time. In these discussions I will talk both about who the confession is said to, what the meaning is for addressing that particular individual and then what the actual confession means to a follower. I admit, they are something I am still studying so there will be spaces where I can not answer all those points. I will be using a set of the Negative Confessions that represents the most common set across the varying existing copies. So without further ado let us get into these.

Confession 1: O Wide-strider who came forth from Heliopolis, I have not done wrong.
This is the opening confession that sets the stage for all the others. "I have not done wrong" is like the opening statement. "I have done nothing against truth and order, let me tell you more." it sends to the accessor. Wide-Strider, i.e. one who travels far, could be two different gods when considering that they come from Heliopolis. One possibility is Atum. A god of the sun, and form of Ra at night, he travels the sky and earth. The other possibility is that it is Benu, the phoenix who flies back to Heliopolis to bury its predecessor. Given that the person is shown as a man with a beard, I am inclined to think of it as Atum.

Confession 2:O Fire-embracer who came forth from Kheraha, I have not despoiled.
 Again we have a generality that brings the concepts of robbing and plundering both material value and spiritual value. In addition, to despoiling referring to others, in this instance it also refers to the self. I have not devalued myself through my actions. Given the nature of the next confession it is likely that this one refers solely to spiritual devaluing. Kheraha is a city just south of modern Cairo's current location. Another important point about Kheraha is that this is reputed to be one of the locations where Horus and Set did battle. It is possible that this confession is spoken to Benu.

Confession 3:O Nosey who came forth from Hermopolis, I have not stolen/robbed.
This can be seen as an extension of the 2nd confession. This is the material counterpart of the second confession. Hermopolis is the city sacred to Thoth. Though it is amusing to call the god who knows everything "Nosey" I have yet to discover which deity this confession is truly spoken to.

Confession 4: O Swallower of Shades who came forth from Kernet, I have not slain people.
This is a pretty clear cut confession. I have not killed. However, this only extends to unnecessary killing. There is an understanding in Egyptian culture that soldiers must kill to defend the country or that a victim might have to kill their assailant. Kernet is an Egyptian word that is comparable to the primordial mound of creation. Swallower of Shades refers to a being that consumes the shade, i.e. the Khabait, in the Duat. This leaves little doubt, when added to the idea of them coming from the mound of creation, that this being is either Ammut (Ammit) or a very similar being charged with destroying those who have not acted in Ma'at.

Confession 5: O Terrible of Face who came forth from Rosetjau, I have not destroyed the food offerings.
The idea of not destroying religious offerings is another pretty easy concept to imagine being important. This is specifically true in Egyptian religion given the belief that the gods actual partook in the offerings for sustenance and strength. Rosetjau is likely Abydos. This place is associated with the healing of Osiris and his resurrection through mummification.Who the "Terrible Face" is that came from Rosetjau is hard to say. It could be Anubis or some other deity. I am still not sure the exact identity of this individual.




References:
"Egyptology at the Dawn of the Twenty-first Century, Proceedings from the Eighth International Congress of Egyptologists: Volume II History, Religion" By Zahi A. Hawass, Lyla Pinch Brock
"The Egyptian Book of the Dead: The Book of Coming Forth By Day. The First Authentic Presentation of The Complete Papyrus of Ani" - Translated by Raymond Faulkner 
"Maat, The Moral Ideal in Ancient Egypt: A Study in Classical African Ethics"  By Maulana Karenga 
Egypt, Trunk of the Tree, Volume 2  By Simson Najovits

Laws of the Land

I get a lot of questions about the Negative Confessions or the 42 Laws of Ma'at or the Laws of a Balanced Heart or whichever name you prefer for them. More or less these are the moral and ethical codes for the Kemetic faith. You can think of them sort of like the Egyptian 10.. make that 42 commandments except with some twists. I thought I would take some time to discuss the Negative Confessions. (This is the term I prefer and I will get into the reason soon.)

Who?
The Negative Confessions are the Laws of Ma'at, goddess of truth and justice. These laws were written in the Book of Thoth and read aloud to man so he might know how to bring about order, unity, harmony and truth in the world. The Negative Confessions are spoken to the 42 assessors who take part in the proceedings in the Halls of Two Truths

What?
The Negative Confessions are the 42 claims a soul makes about what they have not done in life. Unlike many ethic/moral codes the gods do not tell man what he has to do... rather man tells the gods what he has not done in his life. Despite being called Laws they are not laws as the modern mind might define the word. Instead Law is more of a moral guideline to set our compasses to, so to speak.

Where?
The most notable place to find the Negative Confessions is in the Book of the Dead. In Egyptian, rw nw prt m hrw (pronounced approximately... Roo Noo Peret Mah-Herwah) The Book of Coming Forth By Day

When?
Mythologically speaking, when is in the Halls of Two Truths. Before the weighing of the heart the deceased stands before the assessors claiming to each a different thing he has not done in his life.
Historically speaking, the earliest complete copy of the Negative Confessions that has been discovered thus far is from the very early time of the New Kingdom. (approximately 1550 BC) However, the mythology of the underworld existed in a very similar manner much earlier so Egyptologists believe that earlier examples could be found.

Why?
This is an interesting question. The why is something we will cover in further discussion. For now, it can be seen as a fact of most religions that some moral code exists as part of the faith.

Another quick thing to add... there isn't one specific list for the Negative Confessions. Over time the list is modified slightly. Some things are omitted and others are added though the number still remains at 42. I will endeavor while discussing them to stick to the most common confessions.

A Book a Day

It isn't often that a blog like this ventures from adult oriented materials into things for children. As in the last post, which included Cry of the Benu Bird, I want to take some time in between all of this heavy duty stuff to present some information for children, youth and young adults. Being a teacher by profession, I have the unique opportunity to provide these resources where others might not have the training to do so beyond a few books.

Ancient Egypt has a unique place in both fascinating many children as well as providing a good source for a life time love of language. It offers a doorway into seeing what another culture is, what another language is and why we should be interested in learning it. These are all very important concepts in a world where we need more tolerance for those who are different than us. Granted that need for tolerance is just a personal opinion but it doesn't change the ability of this ancient culture to open children up to language.

There are many awesome books on hieroglyphs geared toward children. I am not going to try and cover all of them, rather, I am going to cover one now and then later on, there will be more youth books in other posts.

Today I am going to share a little about The Mystery of the Hieroglyphs: The Story of the Rosetta Stone and the Race to Decipher Egyptian Hieroglyphs. by Carol Donoughue. This book is for 3rd to 6th graders as far as reading independently. Younger children could understand it if it was read to them as the wording is very simplistic and well written. A nice feature about this book particularly is that despite being short, it has a table of contents, glossary, index and related sources. These are important features for students in this age group to start learning, that is, how to use a book's parts. The book also includes most of the vocabulary necessary for reading other, more demanding books about hieroglyphs. All the important vocabulary is bold face throughout with great context clues.

Some content that I find worthwhile in this particular book is that it shows in pictures many concepts in familiar images. For example, describing the difference between hieroglyphs, hieratic and demotic by using comparisons to modern type faces or describing Egyptian word structure by comparing it to English compound words. The book also gets into the more complex ideas of phonograms, determinatives and logograms without becoming overwhelming for a younger reader. It also has interludes of history about the men who worked on deciphering the hieroglyphs before it goes on with some simple instructions on how to start deciphering them yourself.

All in all this book covers a lot of very complex topics in very easy to understand terms. I would even suggest this book as a very beginning starting point for an adult who wanted to start learning about hieroglyphs and how to read them.

Reflecting....

As I sit here and try to imagine what I might write about today I find myself staring at my books. A whole wide set of shelves sitting above me, piled high with archeological texts, white bound books that are plain but contain a wealth of information... much more than the flashy, colorful ones beside them with all the pretty pictures. It brought me to the thought I have had many times after talking to people about Ancient Egypt. Everyone asks what books they should read.

I have always been a person who could respond, "Read everything." It is what I do. Everything from books written by people cloistered in desert tents to the conspiracy theorists who claim the pyramids were a death ray. It is important to know what is truth and what is a line of.... well you know. It is also important to know these things for yourself. No one can tell you what to believe. They can only tell you what they believe, the evidence they have for it and try to persuade you. In the end the choice is yours.

It brings me back to my books. I know most people have seen the flashy books up there, or at least something very near to them, but for me the real research has always come from those bland white ones with the newsprint like pages.I have thought often about including book overviews with important points, pros, cons, biases, all the usual thing a book review has. I still contemplate it but now, I think I should start with the ones most people wouldn't pick up off the shelf.

Here we start with a foray into my library. We are going to start with one of the books I treasure very much.

"Old Hieratic Paleography" by Hans Goedocke

This out of print, according to Amazon.com, book may still be available through the publisher, Halgo, Inc. This book doesn't hold much information to read. It is a tool, an essential one I have found over the years. What this book does do is gives the complete Gardiner Hieroglyph list with a companion of how it is used in script (ie Hieratic) form in various areas of Egypt. It addresses in neat columns how those glyphs appear when not carved into monuments and tomb walls. The extra bonus is in places where, say a certain glyph hasn't been encountered yet in say Giza, there is a blank square. In that square, when you find a source, you can add to the list.

Now, this book is not essential for everyone but for people who wish to take a foray into translation or reading or writing then it is worth hunting down a copy of this rather large book.


(ISBN: 0-9613805-4-3)


Once a week or so you can expect to see a review like the one above. Just a snippet so that you can judge if it is a book worth finding for yourself. While I can sit here and blog I can not do it constantly nor can I possibly hope to cover every piece of information. Besides what I see as common information might bring a startling revelation to another. This is the essence of learning and belief. It is personal and it can only be facilitated, never forced.

While we're talking about confusing symbols....

This hieroglyph has caused great debate over the years. The sound associated with it, neter, has an agreed upon definition in Western culture. Everyone seems to agree that it means god.

It all seems clear until you ask someone what the image is. Many hieroglyphs are easily identifiable. There are jackals and owls, vultures and thrones but this one was different. For years the debate went on. Was it a pennant, a military standard, an axe, an adze, a hoe? What the heck was this symbol anyway?

The argument was finally laid to rest when people stopped considering just the image and looked at the cultural context and other hieroglyphs with the same symbol in the image. The hieroglyphs for natron, the salt used in mummification, and the glyph for cemetery both contain this mysterious image. The glyph for cemetery was a dead give away (no pun intended) for the identity of this image.

 

 Here we see a set of hills with the image standing between. AH HA! It is a flag on a pole. From texts and imagery we know that flags were flown at temples and other sacred places on high poles to give orientation to their location. We can think of this as being the same idea as why churches are built on hills with tall crosses at the top of the eaves. This is to make the site, a sacred place, visible over long distances. 

Now we know this glyph is a pennant on a pole. We used cultural context to discover the identity of the image. We need to continue the cultural context to evaluate the definition. Would this glyph mean "god" to an Ancient Egyptian? The neuter, ie genderless, ideas of this word would be accepted but we must go deeper than that. Would the word god be associated with cemetery and natron?

When we consider the application of the image to three ideas; natron, cemetery... well let us stop using the Western word and use a more applicable word, necropolis, and an unknown word what can we deduce? Natron was that compound that prevented bodily decay. It dried the body. Necropolis was the place where these bodies were rested in hopes that they would stay intact forever. Both of these words deal with the lack of decay. The third word, that mysterious neter, should be a comparable word. (The Egyptians were very literal when relating imagery.)

If we follow the cultural implications then neter means something sacred that does not decay. It is the incorruptible, the undying. Western mind would define that as "god" in some form or another but we shouldn't assume this is the meaning the Ancient Egyptians would have. What would they define as that which is least likely to decay? The Egyptians applied neter to all matter of things... people, gods, spiders, cows, vultures, trees, plants and bodies of water among the huge list. What could all these have in common? How can one word apply to so many varied things?

Sometimes the easiest answer is the right answer. In a mythology and culture where images and animal are not representation but actual manifestations of the gods we have an easy answer. Neter are those things that are "sacred". What we define as "god" truly means "that which is sacred", "that which is beyond corruption". Neteru, a word commonly translated as gods, could now be defined as those things which do not decay, do not die. How we define god is but a small portion of how an Egyptian might define this word. After all, I doubt any culture would argue that gods are not the most sacred thing in a religion.

For more on hieroglyphs: Check out this website, which has many resources on the Egyptian language.