I have been reading on the Internet that the Egyptians built flagpoles next to their pylons and had flags hanging up there. Is this true?
Posted by Doug M (Member # 7650) on :
Yes the Egyptians had flagpoles and flags:
quote: However, symbolically the pylon had one other important role, mimicking the shape of the akhet, or horizon hieroglyph. It was here that the sun rose over the earth's horizon between the outer world and the hidden, sacred grounds of the temple.
Colorful flags decorated with fetishes were mounted on poles which were than set into the face of the pylons. These flags had their origin in the very earliest of Egyptian temples, and their shape was almost surely responsible for the flagpole hieroglyph for god (ntr and variations such as nutar). Though not a single example of such a flag has been discovered, documentary evidence suggests that they may have been monumentally large, reaching heights of some 60 meters (200 feet) and weighing more than five tons. It seem, like all things monumental in Egypt, the raising of these flags into the pylon niches would have been a difficult task, but it has been suggested that this was accomplished by a rope/pull system that may have been used to raise sales on the Egyptian boats.
^ We see flag banners being waved in the Narmer Palette and I've seen reconstructions of predynastic temples and pylons with flags and flag poles though whether this is based on speculation or not I don't know. Is there any evidence of flags during predynastic times and if so how far back?