Sterling Silver Ankh Earrings - Ankh Drop Earrings - SIZE: 18mm x 7mm. Gift Boxed 6113

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The crux ansata didn’t become popular in Western Christianity, but Coptic Christians kept using it in both decorations and in media for millennia to come. Today, centuries after the fall of the ancient Egyptian civilization, even Western Christians and most other religions view the Ankh as just a harmless symbol of life. The Ankh sign has long transcended the ancient Egyptian religion and is now used in all cultures and religions as a universal symbol. There are very few religious people in the world, whether Christians or otherwise, who would object to the ankh’s use. In fact, the Ankh was one of the few Egyptian symbols that continued to be used after the Christianization of Egypt during the 4 th and 5 th century AD.

In both jewelry and art, today the ankh is used as a representation of its original meaning of life and also symbolizes ancient Egypt. It’s a unisex symbol and can be worn by anyone. Ankh earrings. See them here. Ankh bangle bracelets. See them here. In the above image, for example, the Sun god Horus offers the life symbol to Ramesses II. In another image, the goddess Hathor – the Egyptian goddess of women, motherhood, and female sexuality – offers the Ankh to Queen Nefertari, the wife of Ramesses II. There’s a bit of debate over what the shape or figure of the Ankh is meant to represent. It’s a cross with a loop, but what is this cross? Some scholars believe that the Ankh represents a knot formed from cloth or reeds. That’s not unlikely because earlier variants of the Ankh symbol show its lower bars as two separate flexible materials that look like the ends of a knot. Such early representations made the ankh sign look similar to the tyet symbol, also known as the Knot of Isis, which represented “ protection”. Many scholars believed the two were connected.Because the Ankh is so similar to the Christian cross, you may be mistaken for wearing the Ankh for religious reasons. You may find that you have to explain the symbol to those who don’t know about it. Ankh and Christianity – Should I Wear the Ankh? Early Coptic (Egyptian) Christians used the ankh symbol as a staurogram – a representation of the Christian cross itself. It was also used as a “crux ansata” – a “handled cross”. It was a cross shaped like an Ankh but with a round rather than an oval loop on top. They didn’t see a problem in adopting a pagan symbol into their religion because the pagan Egyptians at the time had explained the Ankh as a symbol for the life to come – something that the Coptic Christians readily claimed to prophecy the birth and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The Ankh is commonly worn as a pendant, but it also makes for beautiful and symmetrical earrings and can be crafted onto rings, and bracelets, and worn as charms. Whether subtle or dramatic, the Ankh is a gentle reminder of life and the celebration of life. So, what exactly is the ankh symbol and how did it originate? And most importantly, should I wear it? Other scholars believed that as the ankh symbol originally represented a knot, it was also very similar to the hieroglyph for a sandal. It was not uncommon for hieroglyphs to represent items of clothing. This theory suggests that the symbol of Life came from the hieroglyph of a sandal’s knot. 1. Sexual Meaning The upside-down Ankh, on the other hand, was never used in Egyptian culture or religion, but it has sometimes been used in modern art as a symbol of anti-life or death. Where to Buy Ankh Jewelry The earliest dated ankh symbol that archeologists have discovered is dated to 3,000 BC or 5,000 years ago, used by the First Egyptian Dynasty. There is evidence, however, that the Ankh was used even before this in Mesopotamia and Persia.Some other authors have speculated that it’s more likely that the ankh has a sexual origin, as it is the symbol of life, after all. Many speculate that the loop on top of the ankh is meant to represent a woman’s vagina, while the vertical line below stands for the man’s penis. The two arms of the sign, according to these scholars, represent the children created from the union of man and woman. As fitting as that seems to be, however, there is little archeological evidence to suggest it’s indeed true. 2. Mirror Meaning