wAs-sceptre

wAs-sceptre

"Sceptre consisting of a straight shaft with its handle in the form of the head of a canine animal, and its base ending in two prongs.  This unusual appearance may derive from an early totemic or fetish animal, which would probably have been associated with prosperity and well-being, given that the sceptre acquired the connotations in the Pharaonic period.  Its primary function in funerary contexts was to ensure the continued welfare of the deceased."  ('The BM Dictionary of Ancient Egypt' 1995: 304)

The wAs-sceptre hieroglyph (S40), was used to write the word 'dominion' (wAs).  (Faulkner 2002 (1962): 54)

 The earliest known representations of the wAs-sceptre, are from the Early Dynastic Period - an ivory comb of Djet shows two wAs-sceptres either side of the Horus name of the king:

Two wAs-scepters depicting the pillars of the sky standing on the hieroglyph for land (tA), supporting the sky hieroglyph (pt), "was frequently used as a framing device around the sides of temple reliefs, symbolically placing the compositions in a cosmic setting."  (R.H. Wilkinson 1994: 138)

"In the middle panel under the pyramid, Wepwawet, an incarnation of Djoser as living king, now has his standard lifted from the ground by a wAs-scepter, symbol of divine power.  As on the First Dynasty Djet comb, wAs-scepters are often shown supporting the heavens and spanning the royal realm.  wAs symbols in the Djoser panels may similarly allude to the divine power that supports and protects royal life, as indicated on the Djet comb by the vertical span of the scepters from earth to sky, areas which were claimed by Djoser at the Sed ceremonies.  It is in this divinely empowered context that the king and Wepwawet, aspects of one another, begin the run."  (JARCE Vol XXXII, F.D. Friedman 1995: 26)

middle panel under pyramid

wAs-sceptre holding fan behind the king (Dyn 3 funerary complex of Netjerikhet)

"as a symbol of power, the wAs-sceptre could be used by deities as well as by the king....."  (T. Wilkinson 2001 (1999): 189)

wAs-sceptre held by Khnum - Dyn 5 funerary complex of Sahura:

It was also held by non royals.  The mid Dyn 18 tomb of Menna, has a depiction of men measuring land with a cord - one of the men is holding a long stick identical to the wAs-sceptre.  Perhaps the man holding the stick represented the royal authority to survey and allot land after the inundation, and / or it may have been used as a sighting rod or pole for attaching the measuring cord.

A common form of 'camel stick' from the eastern desert, similar to the ancient Egyptian wAs-sceptre, was acquired by a Professor C.G. Seligman MD, in Cairo c.1914.  ('The Uas Sceptre as a Beduin Camel Stick', C.G. Seligman, JEA Vol. 3, 2/3, 1916: 127)

"I knew that the uas form did not occur among the Hadendoa or Beni Amer of the Sudan, so that I provisionally assigned its origin to the Sinaitic Peninsula or to an area between Suez, Kena and Kosseir.  That the latter area is correct seems to be indicated by a passage in Chantre who, writing of the Ma'aza, says:  "They make a stick absolutely resembling the sceptre of the ancient Egyptians from the branches of the Tamarix manmifera which is abundant in some parts of the desert.1

1  Recherches Anthropologiques en Egypte (Lyon 1904), p. 218."

Glossary:

Kosseir (ancient Egyptian Tjau) - a port to the north east of Luxor, on the west coast of the Red Sea.

Ma'aza (Goat People) - Bedouin group of the Eastern Desert, originally from the Arabian Peninsula. ('The Red Land:  The Illustrated Archaeology of Egypt's Eastern Desert' 2008: 257)

The stick is ~84 cm long, with a small hole in the lower end.  The upper third is bound with rings of iron and copper wire to prevent splitting.  The head is 15 - 16 cm long and covered with raw-hide, neatly stitched along its upper edge:

Originally the wAs-sceptre may have been used by nomadic herders - the 'hook' end pulls things, the 'forked' end pushes away, and can also trap snakes.

 The southern Somalian ' Hangool', and the 'Woko' stick used by the Hamar of southern Ethiopia, are also similar to the wAs-scepter:

"On my wedding day in Somalia, a friend came early to my house and presented me with a hangool, the nomadic tool for constructing corrals for livestock, forked on one end for uprooting thorn bushes and hooked on the other end for dragging them into place. "You cannot become a reer [household, lineage, clan] without a hangool" my friend explained. The hangool, he said, was a traditional wedding gift for a man in Somalia. This ostensibly simple and functional tool, then, is also employed as a phallic symbol for manhood, representing the aspiration of every Somali man to be named the mythical head of a lineage segment in the distant future, generations after his death."  ('Somalia in Word and Image', Katheryne S. Loughran, Foundation for Cross Cultural Understanding, Washington, D.C. 1986: 11)

Hangool stick:

"The Hamar of southern Ethiopia, a people among whom Jean Lydall and I have researched and filmed, make use of an object which in an interesting way symbolizes these positive and negative poles of politeness. It is a stick called woko which at one end has a hook and at the other end a fork.

    The Hamar often have to make fences for their herds and their fields. Along with a small axe, the woko is the most important tool for this. When you want to cut a thorn bush, you first use the forked side of the stick to push away the branches and in this way can reach the stem with an axe. Once you have cut the bush, you turn the stick around and use the hook to drag the bush to the place where you are making the fence, and then again you turn the stick around and with the fork push the bush into position. More generally speaking, with the hook you draw things towards you, and with the fork you keep things away.

    I have seen the Hamar use this power of the woko metaphorically when they bless and curse at public meetings. With the hook they call forth the rain, the grass, the bees, abundance, while with the fork they keep away drought, sickness and war.

    Now not only thorny bushes, drought, war or sickness, but also personal relationships may be difficult to handle. Self and other want to be close, but not too close; want to be distant, but not too distant. This is why we all carry an invisible woko inside us and use it to draw the other towards us, and then, when we find that she or he has come too close, we use the woko to ward the other off again."  ('The Turbulence of Images: On Imagery, Media and Ethnographic Discourse', Ivo Strecker)

woko stick:

Seth 'animal' from Netjerikhet's Dyn 3 shrine at Iunu:

PT 25:

Chris Tedder

Summer 2008