Knife

Knife


 * Egyptian Name:**

//Des//


 * Hieroglyphics:**



As a religious object, the flint blade was produced in Egypt from prehistoric times. Flint was probably the first stone worked by human hands into tools. Even after bronze and copper knives became common in Egypt, the flint knife was still used in religious rituals, including during mummification. The knife hieroglyphic was an obvious symbol of protection and retribution, and actual daggers were buried with the dead. Protective deities and guardians of the gates of the Duat were often shown armed with flint knives.

The knife was also an important part of solar and lunar symbolism - the sun god Ra, in the form of a cat, slew the evil serpent Apophis with a knife. The crescent moon was imagined to be a knife in the hand of moon-gods such as Thoth and Khonsu, and Thoth was said to destroy evildoers with the crescent moon as his weapon. Due to the magic inherent in images of the knife, malevolent creatures such as scorpions and snakes were often depicted cut or pierced with knives to render them powerless.

Magical Objects