[EGYPT 29958] ‘Bee and rush hieroglyph at Abydos.’ In royal nomenclature the rush and the bee hieroglyph generally precede the name of the pharaoh, meaning “He who belongs to the rush and the bee”, where the rush was the emblem of Upper Egypt and the bee of Lower Egypt. On the broad delta plains of Lower Egypt apiculture must have had a tradition and importance dating back thousands of years, and it was in the religious circles of the central delta where the symbolism of the bee developed. According to one Egyptian myth, bees were the tears of the sun god Ra. The basket with two lines beneath it describes another title of the pharaoh: “Lord of the Two Lands” (meaning Upper and Lower Egypt). These hieroglyphs can be found on south wall of the Nefertem-Ptah-Sokar Hall in the Seti I Temple at Abydos. They belong to a scene in which Seti offers bread to six seated gods. The Seti Temple at Abydos was begun by Seti I and completed by his son Ramses II in the 13th century BC. Photo Paul Smit.