Egyptian symbolism is instantly recognizable. It is represented in all aspects of ancient Egyptian art, artifacts, relics found in tombs, temples, hieroglyphics, and papyrus manuscripts of the ancient Egyptians. Increase your understanding of ancient Egypt by learning the meaning of Egyptian icons, signs, and symbols.
The lotus flower blooms on the banks of the Nile. It opens its large petals at sunrise. For the ancient Egyptians, it represented the sun because it banished darkness. The blue lotus was the sacred flower of Hathor, the cow goddess of magic, fertility, and healing, representing her powers of healing and regeneration.
In Egyptian symbolism, the lotus is considered a symbol of Upper Egypt, but it is also associated with Heliopolis in Lower Egypt. The lotus was also closely related to funeral ceremonies and the cult of Osiris.
Depictions of the Four Sons of Horus often showed them standing on a lotus in front of Osiris.
4. Eye of Horus
This was one of the most important emblems in Egyptian symbolism. It is often seen as an amulet in the shape of a “wedjat eye.” In Egyptian engravings found in the pyramids, they are referred to as “the evil eyes” that close the doors and seal them forever.
In Egyptian symbolism, these emblems were believed to represent the sun and the moon, implying that they were the eyes of Horus, the god, of whom it was prophesied in the writing that says: “When he opens his eyes, light is born, and when he closes them, darkness comes.”
After Loki found the dwarves, he asked them to make the new hair completely out of gold. The dwarves agreed. They then decided to make some more gifts to please the rest of the gods. Instead of simply leaving with the new hair and the additional gifts, Loki bet the dwarves that they could not make gifts that were larger than the ones they had just created.
Norse mythology tells that in this game, the winner of the bet would receive the loser’s head. Loki lost the bet because the newest items included a ship that could fold up to fit in a pocket, a spear that never missed, and Mjolnir, Thor’s hammer.
Norse myths tell that when Loki tried to save his life by arguing that the dwarves could have his head but not his neck, the dwarves accepted the excuse and got Thor to knock Loki unconscious before sewing Loki’s mouth shut with leather.
3. Thor and the theft of the hammer
Although Thor had several children, it could be argued that he was more protective of his hammer Mjolnir than of his offspring, according to Norse mythology. In fact, Thor went on a warpath when he woke up one morning to find that his hammer had been stolen. The thief was a giant named Thrymr.
He offered to return the hammer only if he was allowed to marry Freyja as a kind of strange ransom. Thor and Loki accepted Thrymr’s terms. But when Freyja found out that they intended to trade her for one of their greatest enemies for a piece of metal, she flatly refused. That’s when Thor went to plan B: dress up as a lady to try to pass as Freyja.
After dressing up in a gown, jewelry, and a headdress, Thor entered Thrymr’s castle with Loki by his side. Loki had changed his form into a maiden. Surprisingly, the two managed to get through the pre-wedding banquet without revealing their identities. They recovered the hammer Mjolnir when it was presented as part of the wedding ceremony. The myth ended with Thor, dressed as a queen, killing everyone in the room.
4. The Eight-Legged Horse
If there was one thing the Aesir hated , it was giants. The feeling was mutual, and it became clear that Asgard was under legitimate threat from the giants, who started fights for no particular reason. Shortly after the nine worlds were created, the nameless “master builder” appeared in Asgard.
Norse myths recount that he threw down his gauntlet, claiming that he would build a giant-proof wall around Asgard in three years if marriage to Freyja was his main form of payment. For some reason, he also wanted the Sun and the Moon. The gods finally agreed to give the master builder only one year to complete the work, with no assistance other than a workhorse, and Freyja as his only payment.
It seemed like a great bargain because the gods were convinced that the task could not be completed in a year because Asgard was enormous. But the builder was so motivated to “win” Freyja that he worked almost nonstop. So Loki decided to take matters into his own hands. As several myths demonstrate, Loki was an expert at shape-shifting. If he could turn himself into a woman, a salmon, and a hawk, he could easily turn himself into a horse.
A horsewoman, to be specific. Loki transformed himself into a mare and lured the giant’s warhorse away from the work site. As a result, the wall was not completed by the end of the year. Thor eventually killed the master builder, who was a giant in disguise. Meanwhile, Loki was away for several months before returning with an eight-legged horse named Sleipnir.
5. The triathlon went wrong
In Norse mythology, there were amusing stories, and one of these begins with Loki tagging along with Thor, the god of thunder, who sometimes went on random day trips just to find trouble. On one such trip, Thor also brought along his servant Thjalfi. After a day of traveling, the three found themselves trapped in a forest with no shelter except a large cave with a strangely branched design. The cave was actually a glove belonging to a being who called himself Skrymir.
He was a giant so large and intimidating that even Thor did not want to disturb him. Skrymir pointed the three in the direction of Utgard, a castle filled with giants waiting to fight. Skrymir warned them not to anger the giants who lived there. But Thor and his companions immediately ignored the warning.
The king of this particular castle, whose name was Utgard-Loki, informed the three that they could not stay unless each of them proved their unbeatable skill in some area. Loki’s skill was eating extremely fast, Thor drank alcohol, and Thjalfi was his speed.
Each of them faced an opponent from Utgard, and all failed miserably. When Loki had eaten his share of the meat, his opponent had eaten the other half, as well as the bones and half of the trough. When Thor took all he could, he didn’t even make a dent in the mead. Thjalfi had run barely 3 meters (10 feet) before his opponent had won the entire race. It turned out that the giant who called himself Skrymir was actually Utgard-Loki.
He had been deceiving them all along, pitting Thor against a literal ocean, Loki against fire, and Thjalfi against the speed of thought itself.
6. The descendants of Loki
Norse myths tell stories of fantastical creatures and beings, as mentioned above. One of Loki’s children was Sleipnir, an eight-legged horse that resulted from Loki sabotaging a bet between Odin and a giant. However, Loki didn’t stop there. Several wild nights with the same giantess left him with at least three more children.
Then there was at least one more child who was almost anonymous in Norse mythology. But all five children were involved in Ragnarok, the Norse apocalypse. Loki’s second child was Hel, a human creature who became the ruler of the Norse underworld. Loki’s third child was Fenrir, a wolf so large that he had to be chained up.
He was only released when Ragnarok occurred. Loki’s fourth child was Jormungandr, a gigantic serpent that literally held the world together by grasping its tail in its mouth. When Ragnarok began, Odin rode Sleipnir into battle. Loki had joined forces with Hel to lead an army of the dead into battle. But Odin was destined to be killed by Fenrir, and Thor was destined to kill and be killed by Jormungandr.
Finally, the unnamed son was killed, and his intestines were turned into iron chains that bound Loki after he caused Baldur’s death.
7. Odin and the loss of his eye
In Norse mythology, the god Odin was nothing more than wise. His wisdom came from his obsessive desire to understand absolutely everything. He frequently made sacrifices, often of a self-mutilating nature, to gain knowledge because he believed that knowledge was worth any price.
Never mind the fact that he once hanged himself, stabbed himself, and forced himself to fast for over a week to discover and understand the Norse runes. Perhaps an even better example of Odin’s extreme thirst for knowledge and the reason for his one-eyed appearance was his journey to Mimir’s well.
Norse myth has it that those who managed to drink from the water came out with almost divine knowledge. So Odin once rode to Mimir and asked him for a drink of the divine water. Mimir decided to give him a sip but made Odin look at the price of the drink. Odin not only accepted this price, but also gave himself away.
8. The death of Baldur
You wouldn’t think mistletoe is dangerous. But it was used in one of Loki’s greatest crimes, the death of Baldur according to Norse mythology. Contrary to the popular MCU portrayal, Thor was not Asgard’s favorite son. That place was meant for his brother Baldur. Believed to be Odin’s favorite god, Baldur seemingly broke the Norse stereotype by being kind.
Given Baldur’s beloved status, everyone was understandably disturbed when he claimed to have dreams about his death. Odin, upon learning of this, quickly made a trip to the underworld to seek answers and returned with bad news: Baldur’s dreams were indeed prophetic. Furthermore, Baldur’s death was so significant that it served as a harbinger for the onset of Ragnarok.
The goddess Frigg, Baldur’s mother, forced all things and beings in the universe to swear that they would not harm her son. Everything except mistletoe, because she did not believe it could harm Baldur. While all this was happening, the gods played a fun game of throwing things at Baldur because he was now almost invincible. After Loki discovered that mistletoe was Baldur’s equivalent of Achilles’ heel, Loki returned to the games.
In a real trick, he gave the blind Hodr a piece of mistletoe so large that it was described in Norse myths as an “axle.” Loki told Hodr to have fun. Happy to finally join the games, Hodr threw the mistletoe so hard that it pierced Baldur and killed him instantly.
9. Loki’s punishment
In the songs, poems, and myths of Norse mythology that tell of the god of mischief. Despite his ingenuity, Loki was often responsible for problems within the Aesir tribe. The little good he did probably made up for the mistakes he had made in the first place. Often, Loki was punished for his misdeeds, and then everyone ignored what had happened.
The last straw for Loki was when he talked a blind god into accidentally killing Baldur with a giant mistletoe branch and hastened the arrival of Ragnarok. Odin was determined to capture Loki, who fled Asgard to try to save his own life. Loki hid in a house designed specifically to be watched at all times.
During the day, he hid in nearby waterfalls like a salmon to avoid detection. However, Norse myths say that Odin figured out where Loki was and finally captured the cunning trickster. Loki was taken to a cave that served as his prison. He was held in place with iron chains made from the entrails of one of his children.
To add insult to injury, a snake with seemingly endless reserves of venom was placed on a rock just above his head. The venom was strong enough to cause Loki to shake the entire earth with his convulsions every time the venom came into contact with his skin.
10. Floating heads and magical herbs
In Norse mythology, the god Mimir was considered the wisest of all the Aesir. In fact, he was often asked to give advice to the gods. But his existence changed dramatically after the Aesir went to war with a sister tribe called the Vanir.
During this battle, it became clear that both sides were potentially evenly matched. The Aesir and the Vanir attempted to end their conflict with a truce that included an exchange of hostages. Mimir served as the hostage offered by the Aesir.
According to Norse mythology, this is where things went from bad to worse for Mimir. Although the Aesir tribe sent his entire body to the Vanir, they only received Mimir’s head in return. The head was taken back to Asgard, where Odin used herbs to prevent it from rotting and sang magical songs to keep it from dying. Finally, Mimir’s living head was moved to Urd’s well, where it floated in the water from then on.
