Origin of Cartouche Symbolism in Ancient Egypt

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French soldiers coined the term "cartouche" based on their observations of pharaonic ruins. Learn about the significance of cartouches in ancient Egyptian belief, their protective function against evil spirits, and their construction using elements like oval frames and hieroglyphs.

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Uploaded on Feb 20, 2025 | 0 Views

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The term cartouche was first applied by French soldiers who fancied that the symbol they saw so frequently repeated on the pharaonic ruins they encofirearm's paper powder cartridgeuntered resembled a muzzle- loading (cartouche in French). wikipedia

A cartouche is a name plate. It's usually oval with your name written in the middle of it. A cartouche is attached to your coffin. The ancient Egyptians wanted to make sure that their two souls could find their way back to their tomb at night, after they died.

A cartouche is an oval frame which surrounds the hieroglyphics that make up the name of an Egyptian God or royal person. The above example is based on the cartouche of Tutankhamun. It represents a looped rope which has the magical power to protect the name that is written inside it.

A cartouche was meant to protect against evil spirits both in this life and the afterlife. It can be arranged both horizontally or vertically depending on the best layout for its design.

Illustration 1 - shows the three elements used to construct the cartouche: the oval frame; the stand; and the rope which binds the other two together. Illustration 2 - shows the three parts combined to form a basic cartouche frame. Illustration 3 - shows the frame of the cartouche decorated with small hieroglyphs.

Note that although there are seven letters in the name 'Michael', there are only four basic sounds 'M - I - K - L'. Therefore we only need to use the hieroglyphs that represent those sounds.

These images were colored using designer's gouache, an opaque watercolor paint which is ideal for applying flat areas of color. The black line work was done afterwards with a felt pen.