In ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic writing, the ankh was a triliteral sign: one that represented a sequence of three
One … See more

Early examples of the ankh sign date to the First Dynasty (c. 30th to 29th century BC). There is little agreement on what physical object the sign originally represented. Many scholars believe the sign is a knot formed of a flexible m… See more

In Egyptian belief, life was a force that circulated throughout the world. Individual living things, including humans, were manifestations of this force and fundamentally tied to it. Life came into existence a… See more

The people of Syria and Canaan adopted many Egyptian artistic motifs during the Middle Bronze Age (c. 1950–1500 BC), including hieroglyphs, of which the ankh was by far the most common. It was often placed nex… See more

The ankh was one of the few ancient Egyptian artistic motifs that continued to be used after the Christianization of Egypt during the 4th and 5th centuries AD. The sign resembles the staurogram, a sign that resembles a … See more

Much more recently, the ankh has become a popular symbol in modern Western culture, particularly as a design for jewelry and tattoos. Its resurgence began when the counterculture of the 1960s stirred a greater interest in a… See more