Hotep

ḥtp in hieroglyphs

Hotep offering table

File:Part of base of basalt royal statue. Queen's feet on 9 bows before an offering table. Hotep sign at front edge. Hes vase with spouted vases and lamp. Late Period. From Egypt. The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London.jpg

Part of base of basalt royal statue. Queen's feet on 9 bows before an offering table. Hotep sign at front edge. Hes vase with spouted vases and lamp. Late Period. From Egypt. The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London

Hotep (ḥtp) is an Egyptian word that roughly translates as "to be at peace". It is regularly found in the names of ancient Egyptian figures such as Hotepsekhemwy (ḥr ḥtp-sḫm.wj "the two powers are at peace"), the first ruler of Egypt's Second Dynasty.

Pronunciation

Hotep is the Egyptological pronunciation of Egyptian ḥtp, which was pronounced differently over time. Cuneiform texts during the New Kingdom period suggest the contemporary pronunciation of /hátap/ for the verb, which eventually became Coptic ϩⲁⲧⲡ/ϩⲟⲧⲡ hatp/hotp "be content" and ϩⲱⲧⲡ hōtp "be reconciled".

Use

Hotep is rendered in hieroglyphs as an altar/offering table (Gardiner sign R4). It has special semantic meanings in the Ancient Egyptian offering formula, also known as the ḥtp-dj-nsw formula, to refer to the "boon given by the king," or the food and goods on which a dead soul was supposed to subsist during the afterlife.

The phrase m ḥtp has been translated to mean literally "at peace" or living the life in balance (Maat).

Pharaonic names with hotep

List of pharaohs with "hotep" as part of their name:

• Hotepsekhemwy
• Mentuhotep I, Mentuhotep II, Mentuhotep III, Mentuhotep IV, Mentuhotep V and Mentuhotep VI
• Sehetepibre Amenemhat I
• Sehetepibre
• Hotepibre
• Sobekhotep I, Sobekhotep II, Sobekhotep III, Sobekhotep IV, Merhotepre Sobekhotep V, Khahotepre Sobekhotep VI, Sobekhotep VII and Sobekhotep VIII
• Neferhotep I, Neferhotep II and Neferhotep III
• Merhotepre Ini
• Rahotep
• Amenhotep I, Amenhotep II, Amenhotep III and Amenhotep IV, later known as Akhenaten
• Sehetepibenre Pedubast

Other names with hotep

List of non-pharaonic people with "hotep" as part of their name:

• Imhotep
• Ptahhotep

In popular culture

• The title of the American comedy film Bubba Ho-Tep (2002) refers to the nickname for a reanimated mummy that wears a cowboy hat.
• Hotep is an avatar available in Active Worlds.
• "Hotep" is a commonly used greeting in Afrocentric circles.
• Hotep is one of the advisors to Pharaoh in the animated epic film The Prince of Egypt (1998).
• Nyarlathotep is a deity or a demon in stories by H.P. Lovecraft.
• A term with negative connotation used to describe African American men by various other groups.

See also

• Radical 113 - A similar glyph in Chinese
• List of hieroglyphs/R

Further reading

• :
  p 159 hrt = "peace", hrw = "pleasing, be pleased, satisfied";
  p 179 htp = "altar, offering, boon which the king grants, be pleased, be happy, be gracious, pardon, be at peace, be peaceful, become calm"
  p 180 "rest, satisfy, make content, htpw peace, contentment, good pleasure, make peace, htpt peace, contentment. To put to rest disputes, and settle the complaints of petitioners be peaceful, calm, make peace".

External links

• Egyptian example of Hotep.
• The Precepts of Ptah-Hotep, c. 2200 BCE
• The writings of Ptah Hotep

• Gardiner, Alan. (1957). Egyptian Grammar, Third Edition, p. 170. Griffith Institute, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. ISBN 0-900416-35-1.
• http://www.ancient-egypt.org/kings/02/0201_hotepsekhemwi/titulary.html
• [1] Archived January 20, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
• http://www.attn.com/stories/10768/hotep-meme-shows-sexism-in-black-community