The Ankh is the Egyptian symbol representing eternal life. Egyptian gods and deities representing the afterlife are often portrayed in Egyptian tomb paintings and other art works carrying the Ankh. In the painting shown, a deity is shown conferring life upon a dead person, symbolising the act of conception.

The Ankh is sometimes referred to as;

• the key of life
• the key of the Nile
• crux ansata (Latin for "cross with a handle").

The origins of the Ankh remains a mystery to Egyptologists, with no single hypothesis having been widely adopted.

Interestingly, the pharaohs often included the names of powerful symbols in their names. One example where Ankh was used by a pharoah is in the popularized name Tutankhamun (Tut-ankh-amun), which means “living image of Amun”. Amun (also spelled Amen) was the name of one of the Egyptian deities.