The lotus flower appeared in the ancient Egyptian iconography and mythology as one of the most commonly occurring motifs in Egyptian art. The lotus is depicted being carried, worn, displayed in bouquets, presented as an offering and it is one of the frequently employed structural elements. It is also used in architecture, as the lotus- form capitals were used from the Old Kingdom. The lotus was important to the ancient Egyptians to the extent that it could be described as a national symbol, which referred as the vegetation power of the Nile. Scenes showing individuals holding the lotus to their noses or sniffing the lotus are numerous. It appeared from the Old Kingdom through to the Late Period. It also appears in one of the creation myths; Horus shuts up the sun’s disk inside a lotus whose petals provide protection. On the morning of the first day the flower opens and god burst forth as a child wearing the solar disk on his head. So the lotus emerging becomes a symbol of the sun bursting out at morning. It also appears in the Book of the Dead, Spell 81A.
Lotus plant differs from any other medical plant as it has a wide popularity and a high profile outside medicine. The word lotus is referring to a botanical name of the blue Egyptian water lily or the white water lily, as there is no Egyptian word to distinguish between the two plants. Grundriss used the word lotus to either of these species.
The word sSn is accepted to mean Lotus, Wilkinson gives the word sSn to