Hieroglyphs - H
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Head
tep
The head signifies the whole being and could be used to represent a person, god or animal. The head of a god or goddess is sometimes shown attached to an object related to the nature of that particular deity. Conversely, the heads of deities are sometimes replaced by their hieroglyphic signs. tep - Head
Headrest
weres
Literally a pillow to support the head of a person asleep. Many headrests were produced or adopted for funerary use as indicated by their inscriptions. Symbolically the headrest was associated with solar imagery for it held the head which was lowered in the evening and rose again in the day. weres - Headrest
Heart
ieb
The ancient Egyptians believed that the heart was the set of thought, emotion and life itself. It was said of the deceased that their heart had departed. For this reason the heart was the only organ that was not removed during the mummification process. ieb - Heart
Heron
benu
Ardea cinera, the grey heron, is distinguished by a long straight bill, double head plumes and a tuft of neck feathers. The bird appears in two poses the one shown here standing upright and the other sitting or crouching on a perch.  The standing heron normally appears in naturalistic or symbolic scenes and the seated heron in solar and afterlife settings. As the symbol of the sun the heron was the sacred bird of Heliopolis and the legendary phoenix of the Greeks. benu - Heron
Hippopotamus
deb
Because of its voracious appetite and destructive way with Egyptian crops the hippopotamus was viewed as a manifestation of disorder and evil. Yet the mother was held in awe as a protector of its young and several goddesses could appear in the form of a hippopotamus. deb - Hippopotamus
Hoe
henen
The Egyptian hoe had a long wooden handle and a scoop-like blade joined at the top supported by a rope tied between the two halves. The hoe is depicted in normal use in many tomb paintings but it could also take on important symbolic meaning. The ritual of hoeing the ground could allude to the death of Osiris who was symbolically buried each year in the form of planted grain. henen - Hoe
Horizon
akhet
The symbol shows two mountain peaks with the solar disk appearing between them. The horizon therefore embraced both sunrise and sunset. It was protected by the aker, a double lion deity who guarded both ends of the day akhet - Horizon

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