The Egyptian Hieroglyph of the Crested Ibis, from the Cheops' pyramid (Akhet Khufu) to the Akhenaten's Glory of Aten

The name of the Cheops’ pyramid, Akhet Khufu, is generally translated as the ‘Khufu’s horizon’. It is necessary to stress that ‘Akhet’, in the name of Khufu’s pyramid, is written with the hieroglyph of the crested ibis Akh, G25 of Gardiner’s list, which means ‘spirit’. It is not written with the symbol of the ‘sun on horizon’, N27 of Gardiner’s list. This is clearly shown by the papyri discovered in 2013 at Wady al-Jarf. These papyri are contemporary of Khufu’s reign. Even after the evidence of these papyri, Akhet Khufu continues to be rendered as ‘Khufu’s horizon’. Other interpretations of the term ‘Akhet’ exist. For instance, the use of Akhet written with the crested ibis is attested in a King Pepi II letter to his vizier Herkhuf, three centuries after Khufu, to indicate the land of the Horizon Dwellers. Schiaparelli, 1892, translated as the land of the ‘Spiriti Beati’. We will show further examples of the use of the crested ibis Akh, beyond the name of Khufu’ pyramid and the land mentioned by Pepi II. We will consider also the name of Akhenaton, where the crested ibis persists to indicate the ‘glory’. The presence of this word is shown by Schiaparelli in Pepi II’s letter. In the name of Akhetaten, the city of Akhenaton, we find a true ‘horizon’, that of the Sun Disk, the sun as a physical object.