What is the was sceptre?

Power and dominion. Gods carry it, and it frames scenes on temple walls.

What the sign shows: A staff with a forked foot and the head of an animal.
How Gerald Massey read it in 1907: Massey notes the animal-headed sceptre in the hand of Ptah and reads it as a sign of rising again.
What scholars say now: Today the head on the was sceptre is usually taken for a dog-like animal, often linked with Set, rather than a hare.
Where you see it today: In the hands of the gods in almost every temple relief.
Where it stands in Massey’s book: Massey names it 15 times across the book. Book II, p. 115: “What each amulet meant”; Book VIII, p. 536b: “Under the vine and the fig tree”; Book II, p. 113: “Charms for the dark road”.
Signs that look like it: Djed pillar, Feather of Maat and Papyrus. The app’s Symbol Trainer sets them side by side, so the eye learns to tell them apart.
In Massey’s words: “The sceptre was the hare-headed symbol of the resurrection first carried by Ptah the opener.” (Gerald Massey, Ancient Egypt: The Light of the World (1907), Book IV, p. 206)
In the app: Trainer › Symbol Trainer › Was sceptre. The app’s Symbol Trainer reads 42 signs this way, each with Massey’s own words and the page they stand on.

Last updated October 25, 2026.

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