Prince's and Children
Prince's and Children Princes were distinguished by a badge hanging from the side of the head, which enclosed, or represented, the lock of hair emblematic of a “son;” in imitation of the youthful god “Horus, the son of Isis and Osiris,” who was held forth as the model for all princes, and the type of royal virtue. For though the Egyptians shaved the head, and wore wigs or other coverings to the head, children were permitted to leave certain locks of hair; and if the sons of kings, long before they arrived at the age of manhood, had abandoned this youthful custom, the badge was attached to their head-dress as a mark of their rank as princes; or to show that they had not, during the lifetime of their father, arrived at kinghood; on the same principle that a Spanish prince, of whatever age, continues to be styled an “infant.” When the sovereign was a military man, it was his duty, as well as his privilege, on ascending the throne, to be instructed in the mysteries of the...