Ankh - the Symbol of Russian Tsars?

When I was a child I was puzzled by the orb – the symbol of imperial power. It's not uniquely Russian, the orbs with a cross as we know them were known since at least 423 AD  – archeologists found a coin of that year with the picture of the Byzantine Emperor Theodosius II.. Since that time, it was adopted by several countries, including Russia and Britain.

The only difference is that while for Brits globus cruciger – that's another names of the orb with a cross – was acquired as an imitation to the Western Roman Empire, which was for some time before the destruction controlled by Byzantine Emperors, for Russians it was inherited from the Byzantine directly along with a number of other symbols like a two-headed eagle.

Anyway, what does it mean? I was told that it symbolizes the Earth globe topped with a cross – the symbol of Christianity. Something that made sense for a 10-years old, but was not that good when I reached 18. You see, the problem is that the Christian Church was very insistent at the time that the Earth is a disk, not globe. They even went so far as to burn at stake Italian philosopher and astronomer Giordano Bruno in 1600 for stating the opposite. So, how does an orb as a symbol of Earth makes sense in 423 AD? Well, it does not.

When, quite a bit later, I started to study the Ancient Egyptian history and culture, I stumbled upon an interesting symbol taking a central role in Egyptian beliefs and at the same time having a striking similarity to the orb with a cross. This symbol was Ankh - the symbol of the life itself. Here it is on the left. Egyptian pharaohs were often depicted with an ankh in their hand, and so were often Egyptian gods.

Of course, while there are some similarities between the globus cruciger (orb with a cross) and the ankh, they are not completely identical. Yes, there is the basic circle shape connected to a cross, but it may be just a coincidence, a result of similar recombination of known popular symbols. That's what I thought at first.

But then I stumbled upon another image.  The images that make me doubt if it was a mere coincidence. You see, as any symbol does, the ankh is depicted in many different ways and often changes when going from culture to culture of from epoch to epoch. What I found was the picture of Egyptian god Horus depicted as a falcon - one of the traditional ways to represent him. For reference, Horus was son of Osisris and Isid, all three were the primary gods of Egypt. He was also the first pharaoh of Egypt after his father Osiris, who presided over the country during the mythical Golden Age. Every pharaoh of Egypt since that was considered a direct descendant and carrier of the spirit of Horus – in essence, his reincarnation.

Now, that you know who Horus was, consider this picture of him with ankh in his left hand along with the official seal ("gerb") of the 19th century Russian Empire:

  

Consider left hands of both the falcon and the eagle. Do you see some a similarity? I certainly do...

Of course, no scientist would consider it a proof of anything. Just, as a single fact, it's merely that – a single fact. Nothing grand or certain, too ambiguous to make any conclusions, merely a small detail that become seen through a mist for a moment, something to think about.