Cartouche facts for kids

An ancient Egyptian cartouche showing the name of Thutmose III at Karnak, Egypt.

A cartouche is a special oval shape used in Ancient Egypt. It was a hieroglyphic symbol that held the name of an ancient Egyptian pharaoh. The oval shape has a horizontal line at one end. This line showed that the name inside was a royal name.

What is a Cartouche?

A cartouche is like a name tag for a pharaoh. It's an oval shape with a line at one end. This line means "royal name." Imagine it as a special frame around the pharaoh's name.

When Were Cartouches First Used?

Cartouches started to be used a very long time ago. This was at the beginning of the Fourth Dynasty in ancient Egypt. The first pharaoh to use them was Sneferu.

What Did They Look Like?

Most of the time, a cartouche was drawn vertically (up and down). It had a horizontal line at the bottom. But sometimes, if the pharaoh's name was long, the cartouche would be drawn horizontally (side to side). In this case, the line would be vertical and placed on the left side. The ancient Egyptians called this symbol shenu.

How Did Cartouches Change?

Over time, the way cartouches were written changed. In a simpler form of Egyptian writing called demotic writing, the cartouche became much simpler. It looked like just a pair of brackets with a vertical line.

What Names Were Inside a Cartouche?

Ancient Egyptian pharaohs had several different names and titles. Only two of their most important royal names were placed inside a cartouche:

• The prenomen: This was the pharaoh's throne name. It was the name they took when they became king.
• The nomen: This was the pharaoh's birth name. It was the name they were given when they were born. This name often linked them to the sun god Ra, as it was called the "Son of Ra" name.

Cartouches as Amulets

Sometimes, small objects called amulets were made in the shape of a cartouche. These amulets had a king's name on them. They were often placed inside tombs. For archaeologists, finding these cartouche amulets is very helpful. They can use the pharaoh's name on the amulet to figure out when the tomb was built. They can also learn when the items inside the tomb were placed there. Only pharaohs were allowed to have their names in cartouches.

Images for kids

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  Birth and throne cartouches of Pharaoh Seti I, from KV17 at the Valley of the Kings, Egypt. Neues Museum, Berlin