In ancient Egyptian art, deities are often portrayed as holding the ankh in one hand. In hieroglyphics, the ankh stood simply for the word 'life'. Egyptians regarded the ankh as a universal life-charm.

Its other name was Key Of The Nile, because the sacred marriage between God and Goddess was supposed to take place at the source of the Nile each year before the flood. The ankh was the Egyptian cross of life, representing the union of male and female sexual symbols: a female oval surmounting a male cross. The Vessel was simultaneously Aladdin's lamp (source of a genie), and the moon (source of all souls). This sect worshiped the moon as a symbol of the Goddess, as a Vessel Of Light. Over time, several chieftains in turn adopted the name of Aladdin. Marco Polo reported a real-life individual named Aladdin, who was chief of the secret brotherhood of assassins, the hashishim, in the fortified valley of Alamut (in what is now modern-day Iran) near Kazvin.

This collection of stories was assembled into a single book by French translator Antoine Galland in the early 18th century. The imagery of the magic lamp as we know it today comes from the collection of stories known as 1001 Nights or Arabian Nights. This page provides an overview of selected symbols, their meaning, and their history. Often, people recognize the symbol, but no longer know anything about its original significance. There are many ancient symbols that evoke images of the Middle East in people's minds.

Magic sword band eye symbol