Editing Ankh (section)

==Other ancient cultures==
[[File:LMLK, Ezekiah seals.jpg|thumb|Imprint of a seal impression of King [[Hezekiah]] with ankhs]]
The people of [[Syria (region)|Syria]] and [[Canaan]] adopted many Egyptian artistic motifs during the [[Middle Bronze Age]] (c. 1950–1500 BC), including hieroglyphs, of which the ankh was by far the most common. It was often placed next to various figures in artwork or shown being held by Egyptian deities who had come to be worshipped in the [[ancient Near East]]. It was sometimes used to represent water or fertility.{{sfn|Teissier|1996|pp=12, 104–107}} Elsewhere in the Near East, the sign was incorporated into [[Anatolian hieroglyphs]] to represent the word for "life", and the sign was used in the artwork of the [[Minoan civilization]] centered on [[Crete]]. Minoan artwork sometimes combined the ankh, or the related ''[[tyet]]'' sign, with the Minoan [[double axe]] emblem.{{sfn|Marinatos|2010|pp=122–123}}

Artwork in the [[Meroitic Kingdom]], which lay south of Egypt and was heavily influenced by its religion, features the ankh prominently. It appears in temples and funerary art in many of the same contexts as in Egypt, and it is also one of the most common motifs in the decoration of Meroitic pottery.{{sfn|Elhassan|2004|pp=11–12}}

Use of the ankh persisted in Israel into the [[Iron Age]]. In 2015, a [[King Hezekiah bulla|clay seal (or bulla)]] belonging to King [[Hezekiah]] of [[Kingdom of Judah|Judah]] (c. 700 BC) was discovered in [[Jerusalem]], which featured ankhs on either side of a winged sun figure.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Fridman |first1=Julia |title=Hezekiah Seal Proves Ancient Jerusalem Was a Major Judahite Capital |url=https://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/2016-01-04/ty-article/what-the-hezekiah-seal-proves-jerusalem-status/0000017f-ef78-df98-a5ff-effd370b0000 |access-date=22 September 2023 |work=Haaretz |date=4 January 2016 |language=en}}</ref>