Was Scepter

The was scepter was a long staff topped with an animal head and forked at the base, a symbol of power and dominion carried by gods and pharaohs alike. Its head is often read as Seth's animal, and the sign wrote 'power'; Thebes took its Egyptian name, Waset, from it.

In temple scenes Amun, Ra, Horus, Osiris, Anubis, Thoth and Seth hold it, goddesses such as Isis, Hathor and Sekhmet sometimes carry it too, and paired was scepters prop up the sky at the edges of scenes. Ptah grips one fused with the djed and the ankh, joining stability, dominion and life, as Ptah and the Memphite Creation describes.