Ancient Egyptian
Ankh
In ancient Egyptian religion, the ankh is the hieroglyph for "life" (used from at least c. 3000 BCE), held by deities to confer the breath of life upon the pharaoh and the deceased; it persisted into the Byzantine period in Egypt as an alternative form of the cross.
Citation
Wilkinson, Richard H. "Reading Egyptian Art: A Hieroglyphic Guide to Ancient Egyptian Painting and Sculpture." Thames & Hudson, 1992.
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