1825.] 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
Movrrn Heratpry a Fracment of 
the Ecyrtran Hrerociypaicat Lan- 
GUAGE. 
HE whole science of heraldry may 
be pronounced to be a portion of 
the Egyptian hieroglyphical language, 
and tlie,only portion of which we have 
the key. It represents the names of 
persons, thei birth, their family, their 
titles, their alliances, their great actions, 
by certain signs, imitative or conven- 
tional. Under this point of view, it is 
capable of much greater improvement 
than it has yet undergone; anda shield 
might be practically made to represent 
(what the Memonic art fails effectually 
to do) a synopsis of biography, chrono- 
logy and history. 
In proof of the above assertion, one 
fact is ascertained. The Egyptians cer- 
tainly distinguished their cities and their 
tribes by armorial banners, of which re- 
presentations are extant. Thus, the 
standard of Leontopolis was a dion—of 
Lycopolis,; a wolf—of Cynopolis, a dog, 
&c. &c.; and it may be presumed that 
individuals were designated in the same 
manner. Indeed, the nature of the 
hieroglyphical language seems to re- 
quire that the names of people should be 
pictorially represented, as is indeed the 
case with many instances of modern 
heraldry ; and if a very common oval 
figure among the hieroglyphics be, as in 
all probability it was, a shield, the sur- 
mise is warranted by the circumstance 
of figures of animals therein inscribed, 
among which is often seen the Scarab, 
said to have been worn on the shields 
of the Egyptian soldiers. Perhaps the 
fable of the Chimera originated in this 
manner. The lion, goat-and dragon 
appear to have been three rebels (sub- 
dued by Bellerophon), who were distin- 
ished as the Lyonses are now a-days, 
and the Dracos and Capruses were for- 
- merly, by corresponding crests. The 
Indians, even now, call each other by 
similar primitive distinctions, as bear, 
wolf, dog; and of such aboriginal dis- 
tinctions, the names of Wolf, Lion, 
Fox, Buck, Hog, among ourselves, are 
evidently relies. The words cyon, chien, 
and canis, have been derived from the 
priests of Anubis, who were called coen ; 
or from enu, Mercury himself; Cum- 
ming, Canning, Cynang, King, are all 
traceable to the same root, implying 
wisdom. 
The pictorial manner in which niany 
well-known family names are represent- 
ed in heraldry, is precisely that in which 
Hieroglyphic Heraldry. 
127 
they must have been, andno doubt were, 
depicted in the hieroglyphical language. 
That a similar process for expressing 
names was employed by the Egyptians, 
is clear : for two of the individuals, in 
the procession represented in Belzoni’s 
tomb, are characterized by two heraldic 
distinctions, viz. tench and lapwings, the 
sound of which, in Coptic, was, beyond 
a doubt, their names. The truth is, that 
as the whole science of heraldry is trace- 
able to the Egyptians, so is, in fact, a 
great proportion of the heraldic charac- 
ters now employed; and even the tints 
to which the heralds limit themselves 
are the same as those to which the 
Egyptian artists were limited ; and were 
in fact, the sacred colours, common at 
once to the Egyptian, Jewish, Brahmin, 
and Chaldean priesthood. The patera, 
the cross, the mullet, the crescent, the 
dragon, the griffins, the winged horses, 
the mermen, are all noted Egyptian 
emblems, of which the third (the mullet) 
somewhat resembles the Magian pen- 
toglyph, used by necromancers, and 
adopted, with the legend ‘health,’ by 
Antiochus, as his ensign. So the billet 
and the distaff, conferred on Hugh De- 
spencer for cowardice, are of Egyptian 
original. The hammer of the two fami- 
lies, Mallets and Martels, and which is 
often seen arranged in threes on Saxon 
coins, is derivable, either from that of 
the Saxon god Thor, or from the sacred 
Tau of the Pheenician, as well as the 
Egyptian priesthood. The combined 
heraldic figure composed of a star and 
a crescent, is also an Egyptian hierogly- 
phic. This, which by all heralds is con- 
sidered as a sign of the first bearer hay- 
ing fought under the red cross, the cru- 
saders doubtlessly borrowed from simi- 
lar armorial bearings of the Saracens 
and Arabs. Indeed, the christian cross 
itself (i. e. a cross, with the lower mem- 
ber prolonged), as well as those crosses 
which are distinguished by the names 
of St. George and St. Andrew, is fre- 
quently seen among the hieroglyphics. 
The lance-rest, represented as in 
heraldry, and the bridle, appear among 
the sculptures in the temple of Ten- 
tyra. Drops of water, among the sym- 
bolic writers, were expressed in the 
same shape as in the gouttes of heral- 
dry; and when coloured of the sacred 
red (in heraldry, gules), as they appear 
in the tomb of Psammis, doubtlessly 
implied the same thing, viz, drops of 
blood. The scaling-ladders and cre- 
nated battlements of heraldry are fre- 
quently to be seen in the Egyptian 
temples. 
