1.
Uraeus
–
The Uraeus is the stylized, upright form of an Egyptian cobra, used as a symbol of sovereignty, royalty, deity and divine authority in ancient Egypt. The Uraeus is a symbol for the goddess Wadjet and she was one of the earliest Egyptian deities and who often was depicted as a cobra. The center of her cult was in Per-Wadjet, later called Buto by the Greeks and she became the patroness of the Nile Delta and the protector of all of Lower Egypt. In whatever manner that the Uraeus was displayed upon the head, it was, in effect. The pharaoh was recognized only by wearing the Uraeus, which conveyed legitimacy to the ruler, there is evidence for this tradition even in the Old Kingdom during the third millennium BCE. Several goddesses associated with or being considered aspects of Wadjet are depicted wearing the Uraeus also, the importance of their separate cults kept them from becoming merged as with so many Egyptian deities. Together, they were known as The Two Ladies, who became the joint protectors and patrons of the unified Egypt. Later, the pharaohs were seen as a manifestation of the sun god Ra, in some mythological works, the eyes of Ra are said to be uraei. As the Uraeus was seen as a symbol, the deities Horus. In early ancient Egyptian mythology, Horus would have been the given to any king as part of the many titles taken. According to the mythology of Re, the first Uraeus was said to have been created by the goddess Isis, who formed it from the dust of the earth. In this version of the mythology, the Uraeus was the instrument with which Isis gained the throne of Egypt for Osiris, Isis is associated with and may be considered an aspect of Wadjet. In 1919, after only a half-hour of excavation, the Qufti worker Hosni Ibrahim held in his hands the solid-gold Golden Uraeus of Senusret II and it had been decided to make a complete clearance of the El-Lahun Pyramids rooms at Saqqara. The start in the offering chamber, leading from the tomb, on the south, immediately revealed in the turnover of the six inches of debris. Prior to the 1922 find of Tutankhamuns tomb, this Golden Uraeus was the only ornament ever known to be worn by an entombed pharaoh, and it was thought that it was passed to the next pharaoh. The Golden Uraeus is of gold,6.7 cm, black eyes of granite, a snake head of deep ultramarine lapis lazuli, the flared cobra hood of dark carnelian inlays. For mounting on the crown, two loops in the rear-supporting tail of the cobra provide the attachment points. Besides the Uraeus being used as an ornament for statuary or as an adornment on the pharaoh, it also was used for jewellery, however, another important use is as the hieroglyph
Uraeus
–
Mask of
Tutankhamun 's mummy featuring a uraeus, from the
eighteenth dynasty. The
cobra image of
Wadjet with the
vulture image of
Nekhbet representing of the unification of Lower and Upper Egypt
Uraeus
–
Uraeus with Solar Disk, 305-30 B.C.E.,51.147.2,
Brooklyn Museum
Uraeus
–
Green glazed cobra amulet in the form of a Uraeus
2.
Egyptian hieroglyphs
–
Egyptian hieroglyphs were the formal writing system used in Ancient Egypt. It combined logographic, syllabic and alphabetic elements, with a total of some 1,000 distinct characters, cursive hieroglyphs were used for religious literature on papyrus and wood. The later hieratic and demotic Egyptian scripts are derived from hieroglyphic writing, the writing system continued to be used throughout the Late Period, as well as the Persian and Ptolemaic periods. Late survivals of hieroglyphic use are found well into the Roman period, with the closing of pagan temples in the 5th century, knowledge of hieroglyphic writing was lost, and the script remained undeciphered throughout the medieval and early modern period. The decipherment of hieroglyphs would only be solved in the 1820s by Jean-François Champollion, the word hieroglyph comes from the Greek adjective ἱερογλυφικός, a compound of ἱερός and γλύφω, supposedly a calque of an Egyptian phrase mdw·w-nṯr gods words. The glyphs themselves were called τὰ ἱερογλυφικὰ γράμματα the sacred engraved letters, the word hieroglyph has become a noun in English, standing for an individual hieroglyphic character. As used in the sentence, the word hieroglyphic is an adjective. Hieroglyphs emerged from the artistic traditions of Egypt. For example, symbols on Gerzean pottery from c.4000 BC have been argued to resemble hieroglyphic writing, proto-hieroglyphic symbol systems develop in the second half of the 4th millennium BC, such as the clay labels of a Predynastic ruler called Scorpion I recovered at Abydos in 1998. The first full sentence written in hieroglyphs so far discovered was found on a seal found in the tomb of Seth-Peribsen at Umm el-Qaab. There are around 800 hieroglyphs dating back to the Old Kingdom, Middle Kingdom, by the Greco-Roman period, there are more than 5,000. However, given the lack of evidence, no definitive determination has been made as to the origin of hieroglyphics in ancient Egypt. Since the 1990s, and discoveries such as the Abydos glyphs, as writing developed and became more widespread among the Egyptian people, simplified glyph forms developed, resulting in the hieratic and demotic scripts. These variants were more suited than hieroglyphs for use on papyrus. Hieroglyphic writing was not, however, eclipsed, but existed alongside the other forms, especially in monumental, the Rosetta Stone contains three parallel scripts – hieroglyphic, demotic, and Greek. Hieroglyphs continued to be used under Persian rule, and after Alexander the Greats conquest of Egypt, during the ensuing Ptolemaic and Roman periods. It appears that the quality of comments from Greek and Roman writers about hieroglyphs came about, at least in part. Some believed that hieroglyphs may have functioned as a way to distinguish true Egyptians from some of the foreign conquerors, another reason may be the refusal to tackle a foreign culture on its own terms, which characterized Greco-Roman approaches to Egyptian culture generally
Egyptian hieroglyphs
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A section of the
Papyrus of Ani showing cursive hieroglyphs.
Egyptian hieroglyphs
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Hieroglyphs on a funerary stela in
Manchester Museum
Egyptian hieroglyphs
–
The
Rosetta Stone in the
British Museum
Egyptian hieroglyphs
–
Hieroglyphs typical of the Graeco-Roman period
3.
Dendera
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Dendera is a small town and former bishopric in Egypt situated on the west bank of the Nile, about 5 kilometres south of Qena, on the opposite side of the river. It is located approximately 60 kilometres north of Luxor and remains a Latin Catholic titular see, the modern Arab town is built on the ancient site of Ta-ynt-netert, which means She of the Divine Pillar. In the Greek era, the town was known as Tentyra and it was once the -modest- capital of the 6th Nome of Upper Egypt, and was also called Nikentori or Nitentori, which means willow wood or willow earth. Some scholars believe the name derives from the sky and fertility goddess Hathor, also associated with the Greek Aphrodite, the official deity of the city was a crocodile. Crocodiles were also venerated as deities in other Egyptian cities, which rise to many quarrels. After Egypt became a Roman possession, the city of Tentyris was part of the Late Roman province of Thebais Secunda and its bishopric was a suffragan of Ptolemais Hermiou, the capital and metropolitan see of the province. Pachomius, whose diocese boasted the celebrated convent of Tabennisi, the town was given its present Arabic name of Denderah during the late Ottoman Empire and ruled 6000 inhabitants in Qena district. M. I. André van den Bronk, Society of African Missions Teodoro Bensch Jean-Rosière-Eugène Arnau], the Dendera Temple complex, which contains the Temple of Hathor, is one of the best-preserved temples, if not the best-preserved one, in all of Upper Egypt. The whole complex covers some 40,000 square meters and is surrounded by a hefty mud brick wall and it was once home to the celebrated Dendera zodiac, which is now displayed in the Louvre Museum in Paris. There are also Roman and pharaonic Mammisi, ruins of a Coptic church, the area around the temple has been extensively landscaped and now has a modern visitor centre, bazaar and small cafeteria. This area has an amount of sunshine year round due to its stable descending air. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Dendera has a hot desert climate, Dendera light Dendera Herbermann, Charles, ed. Tentyris. This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Herbermann, Charles. GigaCatholic, listing the titular bishops Media related to Dendera at Wikimedia Commons
Dendera
–
General view of the temple compound.
Dendera
–
Entrance to the temple.
Dendera
–
Egypt - Denderah., n.d., This slide colored by Joseph Hawkes. Brooklyn Museum Archives
Dendera
4.
Sistrum
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A sistrum is a musical instrument of the percussion family, chiefly associated with ancient Iraq and Egypt. It consists of a handle and a U-shaped metal frame, made of brass or bronze, when shaken the small rings or loops of thin metal on its movable crossbars produce a sound that can be from a soft clank to a loud jangling. Its name in the ancient Egyptian language was sekhem and sesheshet, sekhem is the simpler, hoop-like sistrum, while sesheshet is the naos-shaped one. The sistrum was an instrument in ancient Egypt. It was also shaken to avert the flooding of the Nile, isis in her role as mother and creator was depicted holding a pail symbolizing the flooding of the Nile, in one hand and a sistrum in the other. The goddess Bast too is often depicted holding a sistrum, symbolizing her role as a goddess of dance, joy, Sistra are still used in the Alexandrian Rite and Ethiopic Rite. Besides the depiction in Egyptian art with dancing and expressions of joy, the hieroglyph for the sistrum is shown. The ancient Minoans also used the sistrum, and a number of made of local clay have been found on the island of Crete. Five of these are displayed at the Archaeological Museum of Agios Nikolaos, a sistrum is also depicted on the Harvester Vase, an artifact found at the site of Agia Triada. The sistrum has remained a liturgical instrument in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church throughout the centuries and is played during the dance performed by the debtera on important church festivals and it is also occasionally found in NeoPagan worship & ritual. The sistrum was occasionally revived in 19th century Western orchestral music, nowadays, however, it is replaced by its close modern equivalent, the tambourine. The effect produced by the sistrum in music - when shaken in short, sharp, rhythmic pulses - is to arouse movement, the barcoo dog, a sheep herding tool used in Australian bush band music, is a type of sistrum. Sistrum Media related to Sistra at Wikimedia Commons Sistrum
Sistrum
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A sekhem style sistrum.
Sistrum
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Nefertari, wife of
Ramesses II, holding a sistrum
Sistrum
–
Broken Egyptian Sistrum
Sistrum
–
Collection of sistrums at the
Louvre
5.
Horus
–
Horus is one of the most significant ancient Egyptian deities. He was worshipped from at least the late prehistoric Egypt until the Ptolemaic Kingdom, different forms of Horus are recorded in history and these are treated as distinct gods by Egyptologists. He was most often depicted as a falcon, most likely a falcon or peregrine falcon. In another tradition Hathor is regarded as his mother and sometimes as his wife, Horus served many functions, most notably being a god of the sky, war and hunting. Horus is recorded in Egyptian hieroglyphs as ḥr. w Falcon, additional meanings are thought to have been the distant one or one who is above, over. As the language changed over time, it appeared in Coptic dialects variously as hoːɾ or ħoːɾ and was adopted into ancient Greek as Ὧρος Hōros and it also survives in Late Egyptian and Coptic theophoric names such as Har-si-ese Horus, Son of Isis. Nekheny may have been another falcon god worshipped at Nekhen, city of the falcon, Horus may be shown as a falcon on the Narmer Palette, dating from about the 31st century BC. In early Egypt, Horus was the brother of Isis, Osiris, Set, as different cults formed, he became the son of Isis and Osiris. Isis remained the sister of Osiris, Set and Nephthys, the Pyramid Texts describe the nature of the pharaoh in different characters as both Horus and Osiris. The pharaoh as Horus in life became the pharaoh as Osiris in death, New incarnations of Horus succeeded the deceased pharaoh on earth in the form of new pharaohs. The lineage of Horus, the product of unions between the children of Atum, may have been a means to explain and justify pharaonic power. The gods produced by Atum were all representative of cosmic and terrestrial forces in Egyptian life, the notion of Horus as the pharaoh seems to have been superseded by the concept of the pharaoh as the son of Ra during the Fifth Dynasty. Once Isis knew she was pregnant with Horus, she fled to the Nile Delta marshlands to hide from her brother Set, who jealously killed Osiris, there Isis bore a divine son, Horus. Since Horus was said to be the sky, he was considered to contain the sun. It became said that the sun was his eye and the moon his left, and that they traversed the sky when he. Later, the reason that the moon was not as bright as the sun was explained by a tale, known as the The Contendings of Horus and Seth. As Horus was the victor he became known as ḥr. w wr Horus the Great. In the struggle, Set had lost a testicle, explaining why the desert, Horus left eye had also been gouged out, then a new eye was created by part of Khonsu, the moon god, and was replaced
Horus
–
Horus,
(Louvre Museum),
Shen rings in his grasp
Horus
Horus
–
Figure of a Horus Falcon, between circa 300 and circa 250 BC (Greco-Roman). The Walters Art Museum.
Horus
–
Horus, patron deity of Hierakonpolis (near
Edfu), the predynastic capital of Upper Egypt. Its head was executed by means of beating the gold then connecting it with the copper body. A uraeus is fixed to the diadem which supports two tall openwork feathers. The eyes are inlaid with obsidian. (6th dynasty).
6.
Ihy
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Ihy is a god in ancient Egyptian mythology who represents the ecstasy of playing the sistrum. His name may mean sistrum player, referring to his function and this is in allusion to his relationship with the cow goddess Hathor who was often said to be his mother. Other goddesses might be called his mother, however, including Isis, Sekhmet, the god Horus is Ihys father. Ihy was depicted as a holding a sistrum or as a nude child with his finger in his mouth. He was worshiped alongside Horus and Hathor at Dendera, Hathor was his mother and Horus as his father Media related to Ihy at Wikimedia Commons
Ihy
–
The god
Khnum, accompanied by
Heqet, moulds Ihy in a relief from the
mammisi (birth temple),
Dendera Temple complex,
Dendera,
Egypt
Ihy
–
v
7.
Hapi (Son of Horus)
–
This article is about the funerary deity. Hapi can also refer to Hapi, a Nile god, or Hapi-ankh, Hapi, sometimes transliterated as Hapy, is one of the Four sons of Horus in ancient Egyptian religion, depicted in funerary literature as protecting the throne of Osiris in the Underworld. Hapi was the son of Heru-ur and Isis or Serqet and he is not to be confused with another god of the same name. Hapi is in turn protected by the goddess Nephthys, when his image appears on the side of a coffin, he is usually aligned with the side intended to face north. When embalming practices changed during the Third Intermediate Period and the organs were placed back inside the body. Since drowning was the form of death associated with the lungs, the spelling of his name includes a hieroglyph which is thought to be connected with steering a boat, although its exact nature is not known. For this reason he was connected with navigation, although early references call him the great runner. As one of the four pillars of Shu and one of the four rudders of heaven he was associated with the North, Four Sons of Horus – in-depth treatment of the Four Sons and their interrelationships
Hapi (Son of Horus)
–
Hapi in the Übersee-Museum
8.
Qebehsenuef
–
Qebehsenuef is an ancient Egyptian deity. He is one of the four sons of Horus in Egyptian mythology, in the preparation of mummies, his canopic jar was used for the intestines. He is seen as a mummy with a falcon head and he was said to be protected by the goddess Serket. The intestine was used in sacrificed animals, by soothsayers, to predict the future, with death by poison, the canopic jar deity is protected by Serket who bears the emblem of the scorpion. I am thy son, O Osiris Ani, triumphant, I have come to protect thee. I have collected thy bones, and I have gathered together thy members, I have brought thy heart and I have placed it upon its throne within thy body. I have made thy house to flourish after thee, O thou who livest for ever, together with Maa-atef-f, Kheri-beq-f, and Horus-Khenti-maa, the four sons of Horus were known as the Seven Shining Ones, protectors of the body of Osiris
Qebehsenuef
–
Canopic jar Depicting Qebehsenuef
9.
Neith
–
Neith was an early goddess in the Egyptian pantheon. She was the deity of Sais, where her cult was centered in the Western Nile Delta of Egypt. The Ancient Egyptian name of city was Zau. Neith was a goddess of war and of hunting and had as her symbol, however, she is a far more complex goddess than is generally known, and of whom ancient texts only hint of her true nature. In her usual representations, she is portrayed as a fierce deity and her symbol also identified the city of Sais. This symbol was displayed on top of her head in Egyptian art, in her form as a goddess of war, she was said to make the weapons of warriors and to guard their bodies when they died. As a deity, Neith is normally shown carrying the was scepter and she is also called such cosmic epithets as the Cow of Heaven, a sky-goddess similar to Nut, and as the Great Flood, Mehet-Weret, as a cow who gives birth to the sun daily. In these forms, she is associated with creation of both the time and daily re-creation. She is identified as a mother goddess in this role as a creator. As a female deity and personification of the waters, Neith encompasses masculine elements. She is a version of Ptah-Nun, with her feminine nature complemented with masculine attributes symbolized with her association with the bow and arrow. In the same manner, her personification as the waters is Mehetweret. Neith is one of the most ancient deities associated with ancient Egyptian culture and her first anthropomorphic representations occur in the early dynastic period, on a diorite vase of King Ny-Netjer of the Second Dynasty, found in the Step Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara. That her worship predominated the early dynastic periods is shown by a preponderance of theophoric names within which Neith appears as an element. It has been suggested the hunt/war features of Neith’s imagery may indicate her origin from Libya, located west and southwest of Egypt, while Neith is generally regarded as a deity of Lower Egypt, her worship was not consistently located in that region. Her cult reached its height in Saïs and apparently in Memphis in the Old Kingdom, however, the cult regained political and religious prominence during the 26th Dynasties when worship at Saïs flourished again, as well as at Esna in Upper Egypt. Neiths symbol and part of her hieroglyph also bore a resemblance to a loom, at this time her role as a creator conflated with that of Athena, as a deity who wove all of the world and existence into being on her loom. As mother of Ra, in her Mehet-Weret form, she was described as the Great Cow who gave birth to Ra
Neith
–
Aegis of Neith,
Twenty-sixth dynasty of Egypt.
Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon.
Neith
–
Egyptian war goddess Neith wearing the
Deshret crown of northern (lower) Egypt, which bears the
cobra of
Wadjet
Neith
–
Louvre Statuette of Neith
10.
Khnum
–
Khnum was one of the earliest Egyptian deities, originally the god of the source of the Nile River. He later was described as having moulded the other deities, and he had the titles Divine Potter, Khnum was the god of rebirth, creation and the evening sun, although this is usually the function of Atum. The worship of Khnum centered on two principal sites, Elephantine Island and Esna, which were regarded as sacred sites. At Elephantine, he was worshipped alongside Anuket and Satet as the guardian of the source of the Nile River. His significance led to early theophoric names of him, for children, such as Khnum-Khufwy – Khnum is my Protector, Khnum has also been related to the deity Min. The temple at Elephantine was dedicated to Khnum, his consort Satet, the temple dates back to at least the Middle Kingdom. By the 11th dynasty Khnum, Satet and Anuket are all attested at Elephantine, during the New Kingdom finds from the time of Ramesses II show Khnum was still worshipped there. Opposite Elephantine, on the east bank at Aswan, Khnum, in Esna, known as Iunyt or Ta-senet to the Ancient Egyptians, a temple was dedicated to Khnum, Neith and Heka, and other deities. The temple dates to the Ptolemaic period, Khnum is sometimes depicted as a crocodile-headed god. Nebt-uu and Menhit are Khnums principal consorts and Heka is his eldest son, both Khnum and Neith are referred to as creator deities in the texts at Esna. Khnum is sometimes referred to as the father of the fathers and they later become the parents of Re, who is also referred to as Khnum-Re. The Beit el-Wali temple of Ramesses II contained statues of Khnum, Satis and Anukis, along with statues of Isis and Horus
Khnum
–
Cnouphis-Nilus (Jupiter-Nilus, Dieu Nil), N372.2,
Brooklyn Museum
Khnum
–
Khnum, accompanied by the goddess
Heket, moulds
Ihy in a relief from the
mammisi (birth temple) at
Dendera Temple complex,
Dendara,
Egypt
11.
Apep
–
Apep or Apophis was the ancient Egyptian deity who embodied chaos and was thus the opponent of light and Maat. He appears in art as a giant serpent and his name is reconstructed by Egyptologists as *ʻAʼpāpī, as it was written ꜥꜣpp and survived in later Coptic as Ⲁⲫⲱⲫ Aphōph. Apep was first mentioned in the Eighth Dynasty, and he was honored in the names of the Fourteenth Dynasty king Apepi, Ra was the solar deity, bringer of light, and thus the upholder of Maat. Apep was viewed as the greatest enemy of Ra, and thus was given the title Enemy of Ra, as the personification of all that was evil, Apep was seen as a giant snake or serpent leading to such titles as Serpent from the Nile and Evil Lizard. Some elaborations said that he stretched 16 yards in length and had a made of flint. Also, comparable hostile snakes as enemies of the sun god existed under other names already before the name Apep occurred, the etymology of his name is perhaps to be sought in some west-semitic language where a word root ꜣpp meaning to slither existed. A verb root ꜥꜣpp does at any rate not exist elsewhere in Ancient Egyptian, Apeps name much later came to be falsely connected etymologically in Egyptian with a different root meaning spat out, the Romans referred to Apep by this translation of his name. Apophis was a golden snake known to be miles long. He was so large that he attempted to swallow the sun every day, tales of Apeps battles against Ra were elaborated during the New Kingdom. Storytellers said that every day Apep must lie just below the horizon and this appropriately made him a part of the underworld. In some stories Apep waited for Ra in a mountain called Bakhu, where the sun set. The wide range of Apeps possible location gained him the title World Encircler and it was thought that his terrifying roar would cause the underworld to rumble. Myths sometimes say that Apep was trapped there, because he had been the chief god overthrown by Ra. The Coffin Texts imply that Apep used a magical gaze to overwhelm Ra, Ra was assisted by a number of defenders who travelled with him, including Set and possibly the Eye of Ra. Apeps movements were thought to cause earthquakes, and his battles with Set may have meant to explain the origin of thunderstorms. In some accounts, Ra himself defeats Apep in the form of a cat, Ra was worshipped, and Apep worshipped against. Ras victory each night was thought to be ensured by the prayers of the Egyptian priests, the Egyptians practiced a number of rituals and superstitions that were thought to ward off Apep, and aid Ra to continue his journey across the sky. The Egyptian priests had a guide to fighting Apep, referred to as The Books of Overthrowing Apep
Apep
–
Atum and snake Apep
Apep
–
Set speared Apep
12.
Thoth
–
Thoth or Djehuti was one of the deities of the Egyptian pantheon. In art, he was depicted as a man with the head of an ibis or a baboon. His feminine counterpart was Seshat, and his wife was Maat, Thoths chief temple was located in the city of Khmun, later called Hermopolis Magna during the Greco-Roman era and Shmounein in the Coptic rendering, and was partially destroyed in 1826 CE. In that city, he led the Ogdoad pantheon of eight principal deities and he also had numerous shrines within the cities of Abydos, Hesert, Urit, Per-Ab, Rekhui, Ta-ur, Sep, Hat, Pselket, Talmsis, Antcha-Mutet, Bah, Amen-heri-ab, and Ta-kens. Thoth played many vital and prominent roles in Egyptian mythology, such as maintaining the universe, the final -y may even have been pronounced as a consonant, not a vowel. According to Theodor Hopfner, Thoths Egyptian name written as ḏḥwty originated from ḏḥw, the addition of -ty denotes that he possessed the attributes of the ibis. Hence his name means He who is like the ibis, Djehuty is sometimes alternatively rendered as Jehuti, Jehuty, Tahuti, Tehuti, Zehuti, Techu, or Tetu. Greek versions Thot, Thout and Thoth are derived from the letters ḏḥwty, not counting differences in spelling, Thoth had many names and titles, like other goddesses and gods. Among the names used are A, Sheps, Lord of Khemennu, Asten, Khenti, Mehi, Hab, in addition, Thoth was also known by specific aspects of himself, for instance the moon god Iah-Djehuty, representing the Moon for the entire month. The Greeks related Thoth to their god Hermes due to his similar attributes, One of Thoths titles, Thrice great was translated to the Greek τρισμέγιστος, making Hermes Trismegistus. Thoth has been depicted in many ways depending on the era, usually, he is depicted in his human form with the head of an ibis. In this form, he can be represented as the reckoner of times, when depicted as a form of Shu or Ankher, he was depicted to be wearing the respective gods headdress. Sometimes he was seen in art to be wearing the Atef crown or the United Crowns of Upper and Lower Egypt. When not depicted in this form, he sometimes takes the form of the ibis directly. He also appears as a baboon or a man with the head of a baboon when he is Aan. In the form of Aah-Djehuty he took a more human-looking form and these forms are all symbolic and are metaphors for Thoths attributes. The Egyptians did not believe these gods actually looked like humans with animal heads, for example, Maat is often depicted with an ostrich feather, the feather of truth, on her head, or with a feather for a head. Thoths roles in Egyptian mythology were many and he served as a mediating power, especially between good and evil, making sure neither had a decisive victory over the other
Thoth
–
Thoout, Thoth Deux fois Grand, le Second Hermés, N372.2A,
Brooklyn Museum
Thoth
–
Depiction of Thoth as a baboon (c. 1400 BC), in the
British Museum
Thoth
–
Lee Lawrie, Thoth (1939). Library of Congress
John Adams Building, Washington, D.C.
Thoth
–
Thoth, sitting on his throne
13.
Sobek
–
Sobek, in Greek, Suchos and from Latin Suchus, was an ancient Egyptian deity with a complex and fluid nature. He is associated with the Nile crocodile and is represented in its form or as a human with a crocodile head. Sobek enjoyed a longstanding presence in the ancient Egyptian pantheon, from the Old Kingdom through the Roman period and he is first known from several different Pyramid Texts of the Old Kingdom, particularly from spell PT317. Unis has appeared as Sobek, Neiths son, Unis will eat with his mouth, Unis will urinate and Unis will copulate with his penis. Unis is lord of semen, who takes women from their husbands to the place Unis likes according to his hearts fancy. The origin of his name, Sbk in ancient Egyptian, is debated among scholars, though Sobek was worshipped in the Old Kingdom, he truly gained prominence in the Middle Kingdom, most notably under the Twelfth Dynasty king, Amenemhat III. Amenemhat III had taken a particular interest in the Faiyum region of Egypt, Amenemhat and many of his dynastic contemporaries engaged in building projects to promote Sobek – projects that were often executed in the Faiyum. In this period, Sobek also underwent an important change, he was fused with the falcon-headed god of divine kingship. This brought Sobek even closer with the kings of Egypt, thereby giving him a place of prominence in the Egyptian pantheon. The fusion added a level of complexity to the god’s nature, as he was adopted into the divine triad of Horus. Sobek-Horus persisted as a figure in the New Kingdom, but it was not until the last dynasties of Egypt that Sobek-Ra gained prominence and this understanding of the god was maintained after the fall of Egypts last native dynasty in Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt. The entire Faiyum region – the Land of the Lake in Egyptian – served as a center of Sobek. Most Faiyum towns developed their own localized versions of the god, such as Soknebtunis at Tebtunis, Sokonnokonni at Bacchias, at Karanis, two forms of the god were worshipped, Pnepheros and Petsuchos. There, mummified crocodiles were employed as cult images of Petsuchos, Sobek Shedety, the patron of the Faiyums centrally located capital, Crocodilopolis, was the most prominent form of the god. Extensive building programs honoring Sobek were realized in Shedet, as it was the capital of the entire Arsinoite nome and it is thought that the effort to expand Sobeks main temple was initially driven by Ptolemy II. Outside the Faiyum, Kom Ombo, in southern Egypt, was the biggest cultic center of Sobek, particularly during the Ptolemaic, located about 30 miles north of Aswan and was built during the Graeco-Roman period. The temple at this site was called the Per-Sobek, meaning the house of Sobek, Sobek is, above all else, an aggressive and animalistic deity who lives up to the vicious reputation of his patron animal, the large and violent Nile crocodile. Some of his common epithets betray this nature succinctly, the most notable of which being, he who loves robbery, he who eats while he also mates, however, he also displays grand benevolence in more than one celebrated myth
Sobek
–
This statue of Sobek was found at
Amenemhat III 's mortuary temple (which was connected to his
pyramid at
Hawara in the
Faiyum), serving as a testament to this king's devotion to Sobek.
Ashmolean Museum,
Oxford.
Sobek
–
This
Late Period (c. 400–250 BCE) statue shows Sobek bearing the falcon head of Re-Harakhti, illustrating the fusion of Sobek and
Re into Sobek-Re.
Walters Art Museum,
Baltimore.
Sobek
–
This relief from the
Temple of Kom Ombo shows Sobek with typical attributes of kingship, including a
was sceptre and royal kilt. The
ankh in his hand represents his role as an Osirian healer and his crown is a solar crown associated with one of the many forms of
Re.
Sobek
–
This Roman period box shows a king making an offering to a solar form of Sobek. It is thought that this box could have been used in such offering rituals.
Walters Art Museum,
Baltimore.
14.
Serket
–
Serqet /ˈsɜːrˌkɛt/ is the goddess of fertility, nature, animals, medicine, magic, and healing venomous stings and bites in Egyptian mythology, originally the deification of the scorpion. In the art of ancient Egypt, Serqet was shown as a scorpion or as a woman with a scorpion on her head, although Serqet does not appear to have had any temples, she had a sizable number of priests in many communities. Her close association with the early rulers implies that she was their protector, notably Scorpion I and Scorpion II. As the protector against venom and snakebite, Serqet often was said to protect the deities from Apep, as many of the venomous creatures of Egypt could prove fatal, Serqet also was considered a protector of the dead, particularly being associated with venoms and fluids causing stiffening. As the guard of one of the jars and a protector, Serqet gained a strong association with Isis, Nephthys, and Neith. According to this hypothesis, Serket is referred to as She who gives breath because of the way waterscorpions seem to breath underwater, les prêtres-ouâb de Sekhmet et les conjurateurs de Serket
Serket
–
the Egyptian goddess Serket. She is often depicted as a woman with a scorpion gracing her crown. She holds the ankh, the symbol of life, in one hand and a staff, representing power, in the other.
15.
Egyptian language
–
The language spoken in ancient Egypt was a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. The earliest known complete sentence in the Egyptian language has been dated to about 2690 BCE, making it one of the oldest recorded languages known. Egyptian was spoken until the seventeenth century in the form of Coptic. The national language of modern Egypt is Egyptian Arabic, which gradually replaced Coptic as the language of life in the centuries after the Muslim conquest of Egypt. Coptic is still used as the language of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria. It has several hundred fluent speakers today, the Egyptian language belongs to the Afroasiatic language family. Of the other Afroasiatic branches, Egyptian shows its greatest affinities with Semitic, in Egyptian, the Proto-Afroasiatic voiced consonants */d z ð/ developed into pharyngeal ⟨ꜥ⟩ /ʕ/, e. g. Eg. Afroasiatic */l/ merged with Egyptian ⟨n⟩, ⟨r⟩, ⟨ꜣ⟩, and ⟨j⟩ in the dialect on which the language was based. Original */k g ḳ/ palatalize to ⟨ṯ j ḏ⟩ in some environments and are preserved as ⟨k g q⟩ in others, Egyptian has many biradical and perhaps monoradical roots, in contrast to the Semitic preference for triradical roots. Egyptian probably is more archaic in this regard, whereas Semitic likely underwent later regularizations converting roots into the triradical pattern, scholars group the Egyptian language into six major chronological divisions, Archaic Egyptian language Old Egyptian language Middle Egyptian language, characterizing Middle Kingdom. Demotic Coptic The earliest Egyptian glyphs date back to around 3300 BC and these early texts are generally lumped together under the general term Archaic Egyptian. They record names, titles and labels, but a few of them show morphological and syntactic features familiar from later, more complete, Old Egyptian is dated from the oldest known complete sentence, found in the tomb of Seth-Peribsen and dated to around 2690 BCE. It reads, dmḏ. n. f t3wj n z3. f nswt-bjt pr-jb. snj He has united the Two Lands for his son, extensive texts appear from about 2600 BCE. Demotic first appears about 650 BCE and survived as a written language until the fifth century CE and it probably survived in the Egyptian countryside as a spoken language for several centuries after that. Bohairic Coptic is still used by the Coptic Churches, Old, Middle, and Late Egyptian were all written using hieroglyphs and hieratic. Demotic was written using a script derived from hieratic, its appearance is similar to modern Arabic script and is also written from right to left. Coptic is written using the Coptic alphabet, a form of the Greek alphabet with a number of symbols borrowed from Demotic for sounds that did not occur in ancient Greek. Arabic became the language of Egypts political administration soon after the early Muslim conquests in the seventh century, today, Coptic survives as the sacred language of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria and the Coptic Catholic Church
Egyptian language
–
Seal impression from the tomb of
Seth-Peribsen, containing the oldest known complete sentence in Egyptian
Egyptian language
–
Ebers Papyrus detailing treatment of
asthma
Egyptian language
–
3rd-century Coptic inscription
16.
Greek language
–
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, native to Greece and other parts of the Eastern Mediterranean. It has the longest documented history of any living language, spanning 34 centuries of written records and its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the major part of its history, other systems, such as Linear B and the Cypriot syllabary, were used previously. The alphabet arose from the Phoenician script and was in turn the basis of the Latin, Cyrillic, Armenian, Coptic, Gothic and many other writing systems. Together with the Latin texts and traditions of the Roman world, during antiquity, Greek was a widely spoken lingua franca in the Mediterranean world and many places beyond. It would eventually become the official parlance of the Byzantine Empire, the language is spoken by at least 13.2 million people today in Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Albania, Turkey, and the Greek diaspora. Greek roots are used to coin new words for other languages, Greek. Greek has been spoken in the Balkan peninsula since around the 3rd millennium BC, the earliest written evidence is a Linear B clay tablet found in Messenia that dates to between 1450 and 1350 BC, making Greek the worlds oldest recorded living language. Among the Indo-European languages, its date of earliest written attestation is matched only by the now extinct Anatolian languages, the Greek language is conventionally divided into the following periods, Proto-Greek, the unrecorded but assumed last ancestor of all known varieties of Greek. The unity of Proto-Greek would have ended as Hellenic migrants entered the Greek peninsula sometime in the Neolithic era or the Bronze Age, Mycenaean Greek, the language of the Mycenaean civilisation. It is recorded in the Linear B script on tablets dating from the 15th century BC onwards, Ancient Greek, in its various dialects, the language of the Archaic and Classical periods of the ancient Greek civilisation. It was widely known throughout the Roman Empire, after the Roman conquest of Greece, an unofficial bilingualism of Greek and Latin was established in the city of Rome and Koine Greek became a first or second language in the Roman Empire. The origin of Christianity can also be traced through Koine Greek, Medieval Greek, also known as Byzantine Greek, the continuation of Koine Greek in Byzantine Greece, up to the demise of the Byzantine Empire in the 15th century. Much of the written Greek that was used as the language of the Byzantine Empire was an eclectic middle-ground variety based on the tradition of written Koine. Modern Greek, Stemming from Medieval Greek, Modern Greek usages can be traced in the Byzantine period and it is the language used by the modern Greeks, and, apart from Standard Modern Greek, there are several dialects of it. In the modern era, the Greek language entered a state of diglossia, the historical unity and continuing identity between the various stages of the Greek language is often emphasised. Greek speakers today still tend to regard literary works of ancient Greek as part of their own rather than a foreign language and it is also often stated that the historical changes have been relatively slight compared with some other languages. According to one estimation, Homeric Greek is probably closer to demotic than 12-century Middle English is to modern spoken English, Greek is spoken by about 13 million people, mainly in Greece, Albania and Cyprus, but also worldwide by the large Greek diaspora. Greek is the language of Greece, where it is spoken by almost the entire population
Greek language
–
Idealized portrayal of
Homer
Greek language
–
regions where Greek is the official language
Greek language
–
Greek language road sign, A27 Motorway, Greece
17.
Egyptian pantheon
–
Ancient Egyptian deities are the gods and goddesses worshipped in ancient Egypt. The beliefs and rituals surrounding these gods formed the core of ancient Egyptian religion, the gods complex characteristics were expressed in myths and in intricate relationships between deities, family ties, loose groups and hierarchies, and combinations of separate gods into one. Deities diverse appearances in art—as animals, humans, objects, and combinations of different forms—also alluded, through symbolism, to their essential features. In different eras, various gods were said to hold the highest position in society, including the solar deity Ra, the mysterious god Amun. The highest deity was usually credited with the creation of the world, some scholars have argued, based in part on Egyptian writings, that the Egyptians came to recognize a single divine power that lay behind all things and was present in all the other deities. Gods were assumed to be present throughout the world, capable of influencing natural events, people interacted with them in temples and unofficial shrines, for personal reasons as well as for larger goals of state rites. Egyptians prayed for help, used rituals to compel deities to act. Humans relations with their gods were a part of Egyptian society. The beings in ancient Egyptian tradition who might be labeled as deities are difficult to count, Egyptian texts list the names of many deities whose nature is unknown and make vague, indirect references to other gods who are not even named. The Egyptologist James P. Allen estimates that more than 1,400 deities are named in Egyptian texts, the Egyptian languages terms for these beings were nṯr, god, and its feminine form nṯrt, goddess. Scholars have tried to discern the nature of the gods by proposing etymologies for these words, but none of these suggestions has gained acceptance. The hieroglyphs that were used as ideograms and determinatives in writing these words show some of the traits that the Egyptians connected with divinity, the most common of these signs is a flag flying from a pole. Similar objects were placed at the entrances of temples, representing the presence of a deity, other such hieroglyphs include a falcon, reminiscent of several early gods who were depicted as falcons, and a seated male or female deity. The feminine form could also be written with an egg as determinative, connecting goddesses with creation and birth, or with a cobra, the Egyptians distinguished nṯrw, gods, from rmṯ, people, but the meanings of the Egyptian and the English terms do not match perfectly. The term nṯr may have applied to any being that was in some way outside the sphere of everyday life, Egyptian religious art also depicts places, objects, and concepts in human form. These personified ideas range from deities that were important in myth and ritual to obscure beings, only mentioned once or twice, confronting these blurred distinctions between gods and other beings, scholars have proposed various definitions of a deity. One widely accepted definition, suggested by Jan Assmann, says that a deity has a cult, is involved in some aspect of the universe, according to a different definition, by Dimitri Meeks, nṯr applied to any being that was the focus of ritual. From this perspective, gods included the king, who was called a god after his coronation rites, and deceased souls, likewise, the preeminence of the great gods was maintained by the ritual devotion that was performed for them across Egypt
Egyptian pantheon
–
The gods
Osiris,
Anubis, and
Horus
Egyptian pantheon
–
Isis, a
mother goddess and a patroness of kingship, holds Pharaoh
Seti I in her lap.
Egyptian pantheon
–
The sky goddess Nut swallows the sun, which travels through her body at night to be reborn at dawn.
Egyptian pantheon
–
Deities personifying
provinces of Egypt
18.
Music
–
Music is an art form and cultural activity whose medium is sound organized in time. The common elements of music are pitch, rhythm, dynamics, different styles or types of music may emphasize, de-emphasize or omit some of these elements. The word derives from Greek μουσική, Ancient Greek and Indian philosophers defined music as tones ordered horizontally as melodies and vertically as harmonies. Common sayings such as the harmony of the spheres and it is music to my ears point to the notion that music is often ordered and pleasant to listen to. However, 20th-century composer John Cage thought that any sound can be music, saying, for example, There is no noise, the creation, performance, significance, and even the definition of music vary according to culture and social context. There are many types of music, including music, traditional music, art music, music written for religious ceremonies. For example, it can be hard to draw the line between some early 1980s hard rock and heavy metal, within the arts, music may be classified as a performing art, a fine art or as an auditory art. People may make music as a hobby, like a teen playing cello in a youth orchestra, the word derives from Greek μουσική. According to the Online Etymological Dictionary, the music is derived from mid-13c. Musike, from Old French musique and directly from Latin musica the art of music and this is derived from the. Greek mousike of the Muses, from fem. of mousikos pertaining to the Muses, from Mousa Muse. In classical Greece, any art in which the Muses presided, Music is composed and performed for many purposes, ranging from aesthetic pleasure, religious or ceremonial purposes, or as an entertainment product for the marketplace. With the advent of recording, records of popular songs. Some music lovers create mix tapes of their songs, which serve as a self-portrait. An environment consisting solely of what is most ardently loved, amateur musicians can compose or perform music for their own pleasure, and derive their income elsewhere. Professional musicians sometimes work as freelancers or session musicians, seeking contracts and engagements in a variety of settings, There are often many links between amateur and professional musicians. Beginning amateur musicians take lessons with professional musicians, in community settings, advanced amateur musicians perform with professional musicians in a variety of ensembles such as community concert bands and community orchestras. However, there are many cases where a live performance in front of an audience is also recorded and distributed. Live concert recordings are popular in classical music and in popular music forms such as rock, where illegally taped live concerts are prized by music lovers
Music
–
A painting on an Ancient Greek vase depicts a music lesson (c. 510 BC).
Music
–
Jean-Gabriel Ferlan performing at a 2008 concert at the collège-lycée Saint-François Xavier
Music
–
The composer
Michel Richard Delalande, pen in hand.
Music
–
Funk places most of its emphasis on rhythm and
groove, with entire songs based around a
vamp on a single chord. Pictured are the influential funk musicians
George Clinton and
Parliament Funkadelic in 2006.
19.
Dance
–
Dance is a performance art form consisting of purposefully selected sequences of human movement. This movement has aesthetic and symbolic value, and is acknowledged as dance by performers and observers within a particular culture, Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoire of movements, or by its historical period or place of origin. Other forms of movement are sometimes said to have a dance-like quality, including martial arts, gymnastics, figure skating, synchronized swimming. Theatrical dance, also called performance or concert dance, is intended primarily as a spectacle and it often tells a story, perhaps using mime, costume and scenery, or else it may simply interpret the musical accompaniment, which is often specially composed. Examples are western ballet and modern dance, Classical Indian dance and Chinese and Japanese song, most classical forms are centred upon dance alone, but performance dance may also appear in opera and other forms of musical theatre. Such dance seldom has any narrative, a group dance and a corps de ballet, a social partner dance and a pas de deux, differ profoundly. Even a solo dance may be solely for the satisfaction of the dancer. On the other hand, some cultures lay down strict rules as to the dances in which, for example. Archeological evidence for early dance includes 9, 000-year-old paintings in India at the Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka and it has been proposed that before the invention of written languages, dance was an important part of the oral and performance methods of passing stories down from generation to generation. The use of dance in trance states and healing rituals is thought to have been another early factor in the social development of dance. References to dance can be found in very early recorded history, Greek dance is referred to by Plato, Aristotle, Plutarch, the Bible and Talmud refer to many events related to dance, and contain over 30 different dance terms. In Chinese pottery as early as the Neolithic period, groups of people are depicted dancing in a line holding hands, Dance is further described in the Lüshi Chunqiu. Primitive dance in ancient China was associated with sorcery and shamanic rituals, during the first millennium BCE in India, many texts were composed which attempted to codify aspects of daily life. Bharata Munis Natyashastra is one of the earlier texts and it mainly deals with drama, in which dance plays an important part in Indian culture. It categorizes dance into four types - secular, ritual, abstract, the text elaborates various hand-gestures and classifies movements of the various limbs, steps and so on. A strong continuous tradition of dance has since continued in India, through to modern times, where it continues to play a role in culture, ritual, and, notably, the Bollywood entertainment industry. Many other contemporary dance forms can likewise be traced back to historical, traditional, ceremonial, Dance is generally, though not exclusively, performed with the accompaniment of music and may or may not be performed in time to such music. Some dance may provide its own audible accompaniment in place of music, many early forms of music and dance were created for each other and are frequently performed together
Dance
–
Modern dance
Dance
–
Members of American jazz dance company
Giordano Dance Chicago perform a formal group routine in a concert dance setting
Dance
–
Greek bronze statuette of a veiled and masked dancer, 3rd-2nd century BC, Alexandria, Egypt.
Dance
–
Ugandan youth dance at a cultural celebration of peace
20.
Fertility
–
Fertility is the natural capability to produce offspring. As a measure, fertility rate is the number of offspring born per mating pair, Fertility differs from fecundity, which is defined as the potential for reproduction. A lack of fertility is infertility while a lack of fecundity would be called sterility, Human fertility depends on factors of nutrition, sexual behavior, consanguinity, culture, instinct, endocrinology, timing, economics, way of life, and emotions. In demographic contexts, fertility refers to the production of offspring. While fertility can be measured, fecundity cannot be, demographers measure the fertility rate in a variety of ways, which can be broadly broken into period measures and cohort measures. Period measures refer to a cross-section of the population in one year, cohort data on the other hand, follows the same people over a period of decades. Both period and cohort measures are widely used, crude birth rate - the number of live births in a given year per 1,000 people alive at the middle of that year. One disadvantage of this indicator is that it is influenced by the age structure of the population, general fertility rate - the number of births in a year divided by the number of women aged 15–44, times 1000. It focuses on the potential mothers only, and takes the age distribution into account, child-Woman Ratio - the ratio of the number of children under 5 to the number of women 15–49, times 1000. It is especially useful in historical data as it not require counting births. This measure is actually a hybrid, because it involves deaths as well as births, TFR equals the sum for all age groups of 5 times each ASFR rate. Gross Reproduction Rate - the number of girl babies a synthetic cohort will have and it assumes that all of the baby girls will grow up and live to at least age 50. NRR is always lower than GRR, but in countries where mortality is low, almost all the baby girls grow up to be potential mothers. In countries with high mortality, NRR can be as low as 70% of GRR, when NRR =1.0, each generation of 1000 baby girls grows up and gives birth to exactly 1000 girls. When NRR is less one, each generation is smaller than the previous one. When NRR is greater than 1 each generation is larger than the one before, NRR is a measure of the long-term future potential for growth, but it usually is different from the current population growth rate. A parents number of children strongly correlates with the number of children that each person in the generation will eventually have. Factors generally associated with increased fertility include religiosity, intention to have children, Factors generally associated with decreased fertility include wealth, education, female labor participation, urban residence, intelligence, increased female age and increased male age
Fertility
–
United States crude birth rate (births per 1000 population); Baby Boom years in red.
21.
Miners
–
A miner is a person who extracts ore, coal, or other mineral from the earth through mining. There are two senses in which the term is used, in its narrowest sense, a miner is someone who works at the rock face, cutting, blasting, or otherwise working and removing the rock. In a broader sense, a miner is working within a mine. Mining is one of the most dangerous trades in the world, in some countries, miners lack social guarantees and in case of injury may be left to cope without assistance. Different functions of the individual miner, many of the roles are specific to a type of mining, such as coal mining. Roles considered to be miners in the narrower sense have included, Hewer, collier, a hewer who hews coal with a pick. Driller, who works a rock drill to bore holes for placing dynamite or other explosives, other roles within mines that did not involve breaking rock have included, Loader, who loads the mining carts with coal at the face. Putter, who works the carts around the mine, barrow-man, who transported the broken coal from the face in wheelbarrows. Hurrier, who transported coal carts from a mine to the surface, timberer, who fashions and installs timber supports to support the walls and ceiling in an underground mine. In addition to miners working underground, a mine employs other workers in duties at the surface, in addition to office staff of various sorts, these may include, Brakesman, who operate the winding engine. Mining engineers use the principles of math and science to develop solutions to technical problems for miners. In most cases, a degree in engineering, mining engineering or geological engineering is required. Because technology is changing, miners and mining engineers need to continue their education. The basics of mining engineering includes finding, extracting, and preparing minerals, metals and these mined products are used for electric power generation and manufacturing industries. Mining engineers also supervise the construction of mine operations and create ways to transport the extracted minerals to processing plants. Underground mining Miners apron Miners cap Miners habit Mining helmet Mooskappe, miners cap worn in the Harz
Miners
–
A
coal miner from
Kuzbass with a
jackhammer, 1933
Miners
–
Freiburg Miner, stained glass window, 1330
Miners
–
A
brown coal miner with a
pickaxe. West Germany, 1952
Miners
–
Miner in a mine of the "Cerro Rico" at
Potosí, Bolivia, 2006
22.
Predynastic Egypt
–
This Predynastic era is traditionally equivalent to the final part of the Neolithic period beginning c.6000 BC and corresponds to the Naqada III period. The Predynastic period is divided into cultural periods, each named after the place where a certain type of Egyptian settlement was first discovered. The Late Paleolithic in Egypt started around 30,000 BC, the Nazlet Khater skeleton was found in 1980 and dated in 1982 from nine samples ranging between 35,100 and 30,360 years. This specimen is the only complete human skeleton from the earliest Late Stone Age in Africa. Excavation of the Nile has exposed early stone tools, the earliest of these lithic industries were located within the 100-foot terrace, and were Chellean, primitive Acheulean and an Egyptian form of the Clactonian. Within the 50-foot terrace was developed Acheulean, originally reported as Early Mousterian but since changed to Levalloisean, other implements were located in the 30-foot terrace. The 15- and 10-foot terraces saw a more developed version of the Levalloisean, finally, tools of the Egyptian Sebilian technology and an Egyptian version of the Aterian technology were also located. Some of the oldest known buildings were discovered in Egypt by archaeologist Waldemar Chmielewski along the border near Wadi Halfa. They were mobile structures—easily disassembled, moved, and reassembled—providing hunter-gatherers with semi-permanent habitation, Aterian tool-making reached Egypt c.40,000 BC. The Khormusan industry in Egypt began between 40,000 and 30,000 BC, khormusans developed advanced tools not only from stone but also from animal bones and hematite. They also developed small arrow heads resembling those of Native Americans, the end of the Khormusan industry came around 16,000 B. C. with the appearance of other cultures in the region, including the Gemaian. The Halfan culture flourished along the Nile Valley of Egypt and Nubia between 18,000 and 15,000 BC, though one Halfan site dates to before 24,000 BC, people survived on a diet of large herd animals and the Khormusan tradition of fishing. Greater concentrations of artifacts indicate that they were not bound to seasonal wandering and they are viewed as the parent culture of the Ibero-Maurusian industry, which spread across the Sahara and into Spain. The Halfan culture was derived in turn from the Khormusan, which depended on specialized hunting, fishing, the primary material remains of this culture are stone tools, flakes, and a multitude of rock paintings. Qadan peoples developed sickles and grinding stones to aid in the collecting and processing of plant foods prior to consumption. However, there are no indications of the use of these tools after around 10,000 BC, in Egypt, analyses of pollen found at archaeological sites indicate that the Sebilian culture were gathering wheat and barley. It has been hypothesized that the sedentary lifestyle used by farmers led to increased warfare, continued expansion of the desert forced the early ancestors of the Egyptians to settle around the Nile more permanently and adopt a more sedentary lifestyle. The period from 9000 to 6000 BC has left little in the way of archaeological evidence
Predynastic Egypt
–
Predynastic artifacts: clockwise from top left: a
Bat figurine, a Naqada jar, an ivory figurine, cosmetic palette, a
flint knife, and a
diorite vase.
Predynastic Egypt
–
Female Figure, ca. 3500-3400 B.C.E. Terracotta, painted, 11 1/2 x 5 1/2 x 2 1/4 in. (29.2 x 14 x 5.7 cm).
Brooklyn Museum
Predynastic Egypt
–
A typical Naqada II pot with ship theme
23.
Menat
–
Menat was a name used for the goddess Hathor. With a slightly different hieroglyphic spelling, it referred to an ancient Egyptian artifact which and it was held in the hand by its counterpoise and used as a rattle by Hathors priestesses. Often it was worn as an amulet, even by Apis bulls. The menat comprised a plate termed an aegis, worn on the chest, the other ends of the strings were tied to a counterweight which dangled on the wearers back. The aegis was often made of faience, but other materials as varied as leather and it was often inscribed or bore depictions of deities associated with Hathor, such as the one of Sekhmet displayed to the right. The necklace was meant to ensure good luck and fortune and to protect against evil spirits and it was also worn for protection in the afterlife and is often found buried with the dead, given as a grave gift since Ramesside times. Worn by women, it was expected to foster fruitfulness and good health, robert A. Armour, Gods and Myths of Ancient Egypt, American Univ. Eerdmans, Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible, Wm. B, eerdmans Publishing 1999 Erman, Johann Peter Adolf, and Hermann Grapow, eds. Wörterbuch der aegyptischen Sprache im Auftrage der deutschen Akademien, media related to Menat-necklace and counterpoise at Wikimedia Commons
Menat
–
An elaborate menat necklace depicted in a relief at the
Temple of Hathor at Dendera
Menat
–
Part of a menat necklace said to depict Hariesis (Horus) extending a
sistrum in front of the goddess
Sekhmet, who is flanked by the goddesses
Wadjet as the
cobra and
Nekhbet as the white
vulture, who were the protectors of
Upper and
Lower Egypt, respectively. Held in the supplicant's other hand is a complete menat, showing the strings of beads.
24.
Narmer Palette
–
The Narmer Palette, also known as the Great Hierakonpolis Palette or the Palette of Narmer, is a significant Egyptian archeological find, dating from about the 31st century BC. It contains some of the earliest hieroglyphic inscriptions ever found, the tablet is thought by some to depict the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the king Narmer. On one side, the king is depicted with the bulbed White Crown of Upper Egypt, and the other side depicts the king wearing the level Red Crown of Lower Egypt. Along with the Scorpion Macehead and the Narmer Maceheads, also together in the Main Deposit at Nekhen. The Palette shows many of the conventions of Ancient Egyptian art. The Egyptologist Bob Brier has referred to the Narmer Palette as the first historical document in the world, also found at this dig were the Narmer Macehead and the Scorpion Macehead. The exact place and circumstances of these finds were not recorded very clearly by Quibell and Green. In fact, Greens report placed the Palette in a different layer one or two away from the deposit, which is considered to be more accurate on the basis of the original excavation notes. It has been suggested that these objects were royal donations made to the temple, Nekhen, or Hierakonpolis, was the ancient capital of Upper Egypt during the pre-dynastic Naqada III phase of Egyptian history. One theory is that it was used to grind cosmetics to adorn the statues of the gods, the Narmer Palette is part of the permanent collection of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. It is one of the exhibits which visitors have been able to see when entering the museum. It has the Journal dEntrée number JE32169 and the Catalogue Général number CG14716, the Narmer Palette is a 63-centimetre tall, shield-shaped, ceremonial palette, carved from a single piece of flat, soft dark gray-green siltstone. The stone has often been identified, in the past. Slate is layered and prone to flaking, and schist is a rock containing large. Both are unlike the finely grained, hard, flake-resistant siltstone and this material was used extensively during the pre-dynastic period for creating such palettes and also was used as a source for Old Kingdom statuary. A statue of the 2nd dynasty pharaoh Khasekhemwy, found in the complex as the Narmer Palette at Hierakonpolis. Both sides of the Palette are decorated, carved in raised relief, at the top of both sides are the central serekhs bearing the rebus symbols nr and mr inside, being the phonetic representation of Narmers name. The serekh on each side are flanked by a pair of heads with highly curved horns
Narmer Palette
–
Both sides of the Narmer Palette
Narmer Palette
–
Narmer Palette
Narmer Palette
25.
Isis
–
Isis is a goddess from the polytheistic pantheon of Egypt. She was first worshiped in ancient Egyptian religion, and later her worship spread throughout the Roman Empire, Isis was worshipped as the ideal mother and wife as well as the patroness of nature and magic. She was the friend of slaves, sinners, artisans and the downtrodden, Isis is often depicted as the mother of Horus, the falcon-headed deity associated with king and kingship. Isis is also known as protector of the dead and goddess of children, as the personification of the throne, she was an important representation of the pharaohs power. The pharaoh was depicted as her child, who sat on the throne she provided. Her cult was popular throughout Egypt, but her most important temples were at Behbeit El Hagar in the Nile delta, and, beginning in the reign with Nectanebo I, on the island of Philae in Upper Egypt. In the typical form of her myth, Isis was the first daughter of Geb, god of the Earth, and Nut, goddess of the Sky and she married her brother, Osiris, and she conceived Horus with him. Isis was instrumental in the resurrection of Osiris when he was murdered by Set, using her magical skills, she restored his body to life after having gathered the body parts that had been strewn about the earth by Set. This myth became very important during the Greco-Roman period, for example, it was believed that the Nile River flooded every year because of the tears of sorrow which Isis wept for Osiris. Osiriss death and rebirth was relived each year through rituals, the worship of Isis eventually spread throughout the Greco-Roman world, continuing until the suppression of paganism in the Christian era. The popular motif of Isis suckling her son Horus, however, the Greek name version of Isis is close to her original, Egyptian name spelling. Isis name was written with the signs of a throne seat. The grammar, spelling and used signs of Isis name never changed during time in any way, however, the symbolic and metaphoric meaning of Isis name remains unclear. The throne seat sign in her name might point to a role as a goddess of kingship. Thus, her name could mean she of the kings throne, but all other Egyptian deities have names that point to clear cosmological or nature elemental roles, thus the name of Isis shouldnt be connected to the king himself. The throne seat symbol might alternatively point to a meaning as throne-mother of the gods and this in turn would supply a very old existence of Isis, long before her first mentioning during the late Old Kingdom, but this hypothesis remains unproven. A third possible meaning might be hidden in the egg-symbol, that was used in Isis name. The egg-symbol always represented motherhood, implying a role of Isis
Isis
–
Isis depicted with outstretched wings (wall painting, c. 1360 BCE)
Isis
–
Isis nursing Horus (
Louvre)
Isis
–
Temple of Isis at Philae. The Court. 1893. Wilbour Library of Egyptology,
Brooklyn Museum
Isis
–
Philae, Egypt. Temple of Isis., n.d.
Brooklyn Museum Archives
26.
Bastet
–
Bastet was a goddess in ancient Egyptian religion, worshiped as early as the 2nd Dynasty. As Bast, she was the goddess of warfare in Lower Egypt and her name is also translated as Baast, Ubaste, and Baset. In Greek mythology, she is known as Ailuros. The uniting Egyptian cultures had deities that shared similar roles and usually the same imagery, in Upper Egypt, Sekhmet was the parallel warrior lioness deity. Often similar deities merged into one with the unification, but that did not occur with these deities having such strong roots in their cultures, instead, these goddesses began to diverge. During the 22nd Dynasty, Bast had transformed from a lioness deity into a major protector deity represented as a cat. Bastet, the associated with this later identity, is the name commonly used by scholars today to refer to this deity. Bastet, the form of the name which is most commonly adopted by Egyptologists today because of its use in later dynasties, is a modern convention offering one possible reconstruction, in early Egyptian, her name appears to have been bꜣstt. In Egyptian writing, the second t marks a feminine ending, but was not usually pronounced, by the first millennium, then, bꜣstt would have been something like *Ubaste in Egyptian speech, later becoming Coptic Oubaste. During later dynasties, the deity remained, but was assigned a role in the pantheon by bearing the name Bastet. This happened after Thebes became the capital of Ancient Egypt during the 18th Dynasty, diminishing her status, they began referring to the deity with the added suffix, as Bastet, and their use of the new name was well-documented, becoming very familiar to researchers. By the 22nd Dynasty the transition had occurred in all regions, what the name of the goddess means remains uncertain. One recent suggestion by Stephen Quirke explains it as meaning She of the ointment jar and this ties in with the observation that her name was written with the hieroglyph for ointment jar and that she was associated with protective ointments, among other things. The name of the known as alabaster might, through Greek. Bastet was originally a warrior goddess of the sun throughout most of ancient Egyptian history. Greeks occupying ancient Egypt toward the end of its civilization changed her into a goddess of the moon, as protector of Lower Egypt, she was seen as defender of the pharaoh, and consequently of the later chief male deity, Ra. Along with the lioness goddesses, she would occasionally be depicted as the embodiment of the Eye of Ra. She has been depicted as fighting the evil snake named Apep, images of Bastet were often created from alabaster
Bastet
–
Photograph of an alabaster cosmetic jar topped with a lioness, representing Bast, an 18th dynasty burial artifact from the tomb of
Tutankhamun circa 1323 BC - Cairo Museum
Bastet
–
Wadjet-Bast, with a lioness head of Bast, the solar disk, and the cobra that represents Wadjet
Bastet
–
Ancient Egyptian statue of Bastet after becoming represented as a domestic cat
Bastet
–
The
Gayer-Anderson cat, believed to be a representation of Bastet
27.
Osiris
–
Osiris was an Egyptian god, usually identified as the god of the afterlife, the underworld, and the dead, but more appropriately as the god of transition, resurrection, and regeneration. He was also associated with the epithet Khenti-Amentiu, meaning Foremost of the Westerners, as ruler of the dead, Osiris was also sometimes called king of the living, ancient Egyptians considered the blessed dead the living ones. Osiris was considered the brother of Isis, Set, Nephthys, and Horus the Elder and he was described as the Lord of love, He Who is Permanently Benign and Youthful and the Lord of Silence. The Kings of Egypt were associated with Osiris in death – as Osiris rose from the dead they would, in union with him, inherit eternal life through a process of imitative magic. By the New Kingdom all people, not just pharaohs, were believed to be associated with Osiris at death, Osiris was widely worshipped as Lord of the Dead until the suppression of the Egyptian religion during the rise of Christianity in the Roman Empire. Osiris is a Latin transliteration of the Ancient Greek Ὄσιρις IPA, in Egyptian hieroglyphs the name is appears as wsjr or jsjrt. Since hieroglyphic writing lacks vowels, Egyptologists have vocalized the name in various ways as Asar, Yasar, Aser, Asaru, Ausar, Ausir, Wesir, Usir, several proposals have been made for the etymology and meaning of the original name wsjr. John Gwyn Griffiths proposed a derivation from wsr signifying the powerful, moreover, one of the oldest attestations of the god Osiris appears in the mastaba of the deceased Netjer-wser. David Lorton proposed that Wsjr is composed by the morphemes set-jret signifying ritual activity, wolfhart Westendorf proposed an etymology from Waset-jret she who bears the eye. He also carries the crook and flail, the crook is thought to represent Osiris as a shepherd god. The symbolism of the flail is more uncertain with shepherds whip, fly-whisk and he was commonly depicted as a pharaoh with a complexion of either green or black in mummiform. The Pyramid Texts describe early conceptions of an afterlife in terms of travelling with the sun god amongst the stars. Amongst these mortuary texts, at the beginning of the 4th dynasty, is found, An offering the king gives, by the end of the 5th dynasty, the formula in all tombs becomes An offering the king gives and Osiris. Osiris is the father of the god Horus, whose conception is described in the Osiris myth. The myth described Osiris as having been killed by his brother Set, Isis joined the fragmented pieces of Osiris, but the only body part missing was the phallus. Isis fashioned a golden phallus, and briefly brought Osiris back to life by use of a spell that she learned from her father and this spell gave her time to become pregnant by Osiris before he again died. Isis later gave birth to Horus, as such, since Horus was born after Osiris resurrection, Horus became thought of as a representation of new beginnings and the vanquisher of the evil Set. Ptah-Seker thus gradually became identified with Osiris, the two becoming Ptah-Seker-Osiris, Osiris soul, or rather his Ba, was occasionally worshipped in its own right, almost as if it were a distinct god, especially in the Delta city of Mendes
Osiris
–
Head of the God Osiris, ca. 595-525 B.C.E.
Brooklyn Museum
Osiris
–
Osiris with an Atef-crown made of bronze in the
Naturhistorisches Museum (Vienna)
Osiris
–
The gods Osiris,
Anubis, and
Horus, from a tomb painting.
Osiris
–
The family of Osiris. Osiris on a
lapis lazuli pillar in the middle, flanked by
Horus on the left and
Isis on the right (22nd dynasty,
Louvre,
Paris)
28.
Aphrodite
–
Aphrodite is the Greek goddess of love, beauty, pleasure, and procreation. She is identified with the planet Venus, and her Roman equivalent is the goddess Venus, as with many ancient Greek deities, there is more than one story about her origins. According to Hesiods Theogony, she was born when Cronus cut off Uranuss genitals and threw them into the sea, according to Homers Iliad, she is the daughter of Zeus and Dione. In Plato, these two origins are said to be of hitherto separate entities, Aphrodite Ourania and Aphrodite Pandemos, Aphrodite had many lovers—both gods, such as Ares, and men, such as Anchises. She played a role in the Eros and Psyche legend, and was lover and surrogate mother of Adonis. Many lesser beings were said to be children of Aphrodite, Aphrodite is also known as Cytherea and Cypris after the two cult sites, Cythera and Cyprus, which claimed to be her place of birth. Myrtle, roses, doves, sparrows and swans were sacred to her, the ancient Greeks identified her with the Ancient Egyptian goddess Hathor. Aphrodite had many names such as Acidalia and Cerigo, each used by a different local cult of the goddess in Greece. The Greeks recognized all of these names as referring to the single goddess Aphrodite, despite the differences in what these local cults believed the goddess demanded of them. The Attic philosophers of the 4th century, however, drew a distinction between a celestial Aphrodite of transcendent principles, and a separate, common Aphrodite who was the goddess of the people, hesiod derives Aphrodite from aphrós sea-foam, interpreting the name as risen from the foam. Michael Janda, accepting this as genuine, claims the birth myth as an Indo-European mytheme. Likewise, Witczak proposes an Indo-European compound *abʰor- very and *dʰei- to shine and it has been argued that etymologies based on comparison with Eos are unlikely since Aphrodites attributes are entirely different from those of Eos or the Vedic deity Ushas. A number of improbable non-Greek etymologies have suggested in scholarship. One Semitic etymology compares Aphrodite to the Assyrian barīrītu, the name of a demon that appears in Middle Babylonian. Hammarström looks to Etruscan, comparing prϑni lord, an Etruscan honorific loaned into Greek as πρύτανις and this would make the theonym in origin an honorific, the lady. Hjalmar Frisk and Robert Beekes reject this etymology as implausible, especially since Aphrodite actually appears in Etruscan in the borrowed form Apru, the medieval Etymologicum Magnum offers a highly contrived etymology, deriving Aphrodite from the compound habrodíaitos, she who lives delicately, from habrós and díaita. The alteration from b to ph is explained as a characteristic of Greek obvious from the Macedonians. Aphrodite is usually said to have been born near her chief center of worship, Paphos, on the island of Cyprus, however, other versions of her myth have her born near the island of Cythera, hence another of her names, Cytherea
Aphrodite
–
Aphrodite Pudica (Roman copy of 2nd century AD),
National Archaeological Museum, Athens
Aphrodite
–
Petra tou Romiou ("The rock of the
Greek "), Aphrodite's legendary birthplace in
Paphos, Cyprus.
Aphrodite
–
The Birth of Venus by
Sandro Botticelli, circa 1485.
Aphrodite
–
Venus and Adonis by
Titian, circa 1554.
29.
Bat (goddess)
–
Bat was a cow goddess in Egyptian mythology depicted as a human face with cow ears and horns. By the time of the Middle Kingdom, her identity and attributes were subsumed within the goddess Hathor, the worship of Bat dates to earliest times and may have its origins in Late Paleolithic cattle herding. Bat was the goddess of Seshesh, otherwise known as Hu or Diospolis Parva. The epithet Bat may be linked to the word ba with the suffix t. A persons ba roughly equates to his or her personality or emanation and is translated as soul. Although it was rare for Bat to be depicted in painting or sculpture. In other instances she was pictured as a bovine creature surrounded by stars or as a human woman. More commonly, Bat was depicted on amulets, with a face, but with bovine features, such as the ears of a cow. Bat became strongly associated with the sistrum, and the center of her cult was known as the Mansion of the Sistrum, the sistrum is a musical instrument, shaped like an ankh, that was one of the most frequently used sacred instruments in ancient Egyptian temples. Some instruments would include depictions of Bat, with her head and neck as the handle and base, the imagery is repeated on each side, having two faces, as mentioned in the Pyramid Texts. I am Praise, I am Majesty, I am Bat with Her Two Faces, I am the One Who Is Saved, the imagery of Bat as a divine cow was remarkably similar to that of Hathor, a parallel goddess from Lower Egypt. In two dimensional images, both goddesses often are depicted straight on, facing the onlooker and not in profile in accordance with the usual Egyptian convention, the significant difference in their depictions is that Bats horns curve inward and Hathors curve outward slightly. It is possible that this could be based in the different breeds of cattle herded at different times. Hathors cult center was in the 6th Nome of Upper Egypt, adjacent to the 7th where Bat was the cow goddess, by the Middle Kingdom, the cult of Hathor had again absorbed that of Bat in a manner similar to other mergers in the Egyptian pantheon. The goddess Bat - discussion on Philae The goddess Bat - discussion on Egyptian Myths
Bat (goddess)
–
The
Narmer Palette,
Bat flanks the top of both sides.
Bat (goddess)
–
Both
Hathor (left) and Bat flank
Menkaure in this Fourth Dynasty triad statue. The goddesses provide the authority for him to be king and are identified by their crowns. The emblem on Bat's crown represents the
sistrum, though the crown also includes her
zoomorphic face and the feather of
Ma'at. -
Cairo Museum
30.
Pyramid texts
–
The Pyramid Texts are a collection of ancient Egyptian religious texts from the time of the Old Kingdom. Written in Old Egyptian, the texts were carved on the walls. The oldest of the texts have been dated to between ca, unlike the later Coffin Texts and Book of the Dead, the pyramid texts were reserved only for the pharaoh and were not illustrated. The spells delineate all of the ways the pharaoh could travel, including the use of ramps, stairs, ladders, the spells could also be used to call the gods to help, even threatening them if they did not comply. The texts were first discovered in 1881 by Gaston Maspero, and translations were made by Kurt Heinrich Sethe, Louis Speleers, Raymond O. Faulkner, Samuel A. B. The oldest version consists of 228 spells and comes from the Pyramid of Unas, Pyramid Texts were also discovered on fragments of wood within in the tomb of queen Meretites II. Kurt Sethes first edition of the texts contained 714 distinct spells. No single collection uses all recorded spells, after death, the king must first rise from his tomb. Take your head, collect your bones, Gather your limbs, take your bread that rots not, your beer that sours not, Stand at the gates that bar the common people. The gatekeeper comes out to you, he grasps your hand, Takes you into heaven and he rejoices at your coming, gives you his hands, Kisses you, caresses you, Sets you before the spirits, the imperishable stars. The texts then describe several ways for the pharaoh to reach the heavens, in utterance 304 the king says, Hail, daughter of Anubis, above the hatches of heaven, Comrade of Thoth, above the ladders rails, Open Unass path, let Unas pass. If the boatman refuses to him, the king has other plans, If you fail to ferry Unas, He will leap and sit on the wing of Thoth. Apart from the burial of Unas, only the Pyramid of Teti displays the Cannibal Hymn, a god who lives on his fathers, who feeds on his mothers. Unas is the bull of heaven Who rages in his heart, Who lives on the being of every god, Who eats their entrails When they come, the cannibal hymn later reappeared in the Coffin Texts as Spell 573. It was dropped by the time the Book of the Dead was being copied, in the first scene of Philip Glasss opera Akhnaten, the phrase Open are the double doors of the horizon is a quotation from the Pyramid Texts. More specifically, it seems to come from Utterance 220, the American death metal band Nile made a song, Unas Slayer of the Gods which contains many references to the Pyramid Texts, including the Cannibal Hymn. In the 2001 action-adventure movie, The Mummy Returns, when Imhotep gets a jar full of dust and blows it, he part of the Utterance 373. In neuer deutscher Uebersetzung, vollständig bearbeitet und herausgegeben von Wolfgang Kosack Christoph Brunner, Berlin 2012, a New Concordance of the Pyramid Texts
Pyramid texts
–
Pyramid texts from
Teti I's pyramid.
31.
Hierakonpolis
–
Nekhen /ˈnɛkən/ or Hierakonpolis was the religious and political capital of Upper Egypt at the end of prehistoric Egypt and probably also during the Early Dynastic Period. Some authors suggest occupation dates that should begin thousands of years earlier, Nekhen was the center of the cult of a hawk deity, Horus of Nekhen, which raised in this city one of the most ancient Egyptian temples. It retained its importance as the center for this divine patron of the kings long after the site had otherwise declined. The first settlement at Nekhen dates from either the predynastic Amratian culture or perhaps during the late Badari culture, at its height from about 3400 BC, Nekhen had at least 5000 and possibly as many as 10,000 inhabitants. The ruins of the city originally were excavated toward the end of the century by the English archaeologists James Quibell. Quibell and Green discovered the Main Deposit, a foundation deposit beneath the temple, Quibell was originally trained under Flinders Petrie, the father of modern Egyptology. However, he failed to follow Petries methods and the temple was a site to excavate to begin with, so his excavation was poorly conducted. Specifically, the context of the items therein is poorly recorded and often the reports of Quibell. The most famous artifact commonly associated with the deposit, the Narmer Palette, is now thought to have probably not been in the main deposit at all. Quibells report made in 1900 put the palette in the deposit, Greens version is substantiated by earlier field notes, so it is now the accepted record of events. The main deposit dates to the early Old Kingdom, but the style of the objects in the deposit indicate that they were from Naqada III and were moved into the deposit at a later date. The other important item in the deposit clearly dates to the late prehistoric and this object, the Scorpion Macehead, depicts a king known only by the ideogram for scorpion, now called Scorpion II, participating in what seems to be a ritual irrigation ceremony. Renee Friedman representing the University of California, Berkeley and the British Museum until Barbara Adamss death in 2001, the structure at Nekhen with the misnomer fort is a massive mud-brick enclosure built by Pharaoh Khasekhemwy of the Second Dynasty. It appears to be similar in structure and purpose as the constructed at Abydos. The true function of these structures is unknown, but they seem to be related to the rituals of kingship, the ritual structure was built on a prehistoric cemetery. The excavations there, as well as the work of later brick robbers, have undermined the walls. For two years, during 2005 and 2006, the led by Friedman was attempting to stabilize the existing structure. Other discoveries at Nekhen include Tomb 100, the oldest tomb with painted decoration on its plaster walls, the sepulchre is thought to date to the Gerzeh culture
Hierakonpolis
–
The painted tomb of Nekhen.
32.
Old Kingdom
–
The term itself was coined by eighteenth-century historians and the distinction between the Old Kingdom and the Early Dynastic Period is not one which would have been recognized by Ancient Egyptians. The Old Kingdom is most commonly regarded as the period from the Third Dynasty through to the Sixth Dynasty, many Egyptologists also include the Memphite Seventh and Eighth Dynasties in the Old Kingdom as a continuation of the administration centralized at Memphis. During the Old Kingdom, the king of Egypt became a god who ruled absolutely and could demand the services. Under King Djoser, the first king of the Third Dynasty of the Old Kingdom, the capital of Egypt was moved to Memphis. A new era of building was initiated at Saqqara under his reign, King Djosers architect, Imhotep is credited with the development of building with stone and with the conception of the new architectural form—the Step Pyramid. Indeed, the Old Kingdom is perhaps best known for the number of pyramids constructed at this time as burial places for Egypts kings. For this reason, the Old Kingdom is frequently referred to as the Age of the Pyramids, the first king of the Old Kingdom was Djoser of the third dynasty, who ordered the construction of a pyramid in Memphis necropolis, Saqqara. An important person during the reign of Djoser was his vizier and it was in this era that formerly independent ancient Egyptian states became known as nomes, under the rule of the king. The former rulers were forced to assume the role of governors or otherwise work in tax collection, Egyptians in this era worshipped their king as a god, believing that he ensured the annual flooding of the Nile that was necessary for their crops. Egyptian views on the nature of time during this period held that the worked in cycles. They also perceived themselves as a specially selected people, the Old Kingdom and its royal power reached a zenith under the Fourth Dynasty, which began with Sneferu. Using more stones than any king, he built three pyramids, a now collapsed pyramid in Meidum, the Bent Pyramid at Dahshur. However, the development of the pyramid style of building was reached not at Saqqara. Sneferu was succeeded by his son, Khufu who built the Great Pyramid of Giza, after Khufus death, his sons Djedefra and Khafra may have quarrelled. The latter built the pyramid and the Sphinx in Giza. Recent reexamination of evidence has led Egyptologist Vassil Dobrev to propose that the Sphinx had been built by Djedefra as a monument to his father Khufu, alternatively, the Sphinx has been proposed to be the work of Khafra and Khufu himself. There were military expeditions into Canaan and Nubia, with Egyptian influence reaching up the Nile into what is today the Sudan, the later kings of the Fourth Dynasty were king Menkaure, who built the smallest pyramid in Giza, Shepseskaf and, perhaps, Djedefptah. The Fifth Dynasty began with Userkaf and was marked by the importance of the cult of sun god Ra
Old Kingdom
–
During the Old Kingdom of Egypt (circa 2686 B.C.E. — circa 2181 B.C.E.), Egypt consisted of the
Nile River region and the area along the river south to
Elephantine.
Old Kingdom
–
The
Pyramid of Djoser at
Saqqara.
Old Kingdom
–
Temple of Djoser at
Saqqara
33.
Tree deity
–
A tree deity or tree spirit is a nature deity related to a tree. Such deities are present in many cultures and they are usually represented as a young woman, often connected to ancient fertility and tree worship lore. The status of tree deities varies from that of a fairy, ghost, sprite or nymph. The Yakshis or Yakshinis, mythical maiden deities of Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain mythology are associated with trees, especially the ashoka tree. Although these tree deities are usually benevolent, there are also yakshinis with malevolent characteristics in Indian folklore, panaiveriyamman, named after panai, the Tamil name for the Palmyra palm, is an ancient fertility deity linked to this palm that is so important in Tamil culture. This deity is known as Taalavaasini, a name that further relates her to all types of palm trees. Some other Tamil tree deities are related to ancient agricultural deities, such as Puliyidaivalaiyamman, the deity of the tamarind tree and these were seen as manifestations of a goddess who offers her blessings by giving fruits in abundance. In Thailand the village ghosts or fairies related to such as Nang Takian. There are also other tree ghosts that are male, Tree deities were common in ancient Northern European lore. In Charlemagnes time, following the Capitulatio de partibus Saxione in 782 offerings to sacred trees or any form of worship of the spirits of trees. Even as late as 1227 the Synod of Trier decreed that the worship of trees and sources was forbidden, splendens the living embodiment of Bathoubwrai, the supreme deity in the Bathouist religion of the Bodo people or Mech of Assam and Nepal. Tāne-mahuta, atua of the forests and birds and one of the children of Rangi-nui and Papa-tū-ā-nuku Maori mythology Akathaso Ent Nymph Salabhanjika Talking tree Tree worship Vegetation deity
Tree deity
–
Yakshi under a stylized
ashoka tree. Railing figure at
Bharhut Stupa, 2nd century BC, India
Tree deity
–
Kurozome, the tree spirit of
Prunus serrulata "Japanese Cherry"
Tree deity
–
Tile mosaic of
Pan and a
hamadryad, found in
Pompeii
Tree deity
–
In the play "Love Story at the Snow-covered Barrier," the villain's wishes to cut down a giant blossoming black cherry tree are thwarted. As he wields an ax, a courtesan who is the living incarnation of the spirit of the tree manages to freeze the villain's hands. Then the spirit herself appears and overcomes him.
34.
Wadjet
–
Wadjet, known to the Greek world as Uto among other names, was originally the ancient local goddess of the city of Dep. She was said to be the patron and protector of Lower Egypt and upon unification with Upper Egypt, the image of Wadjet with the sun disk is called the uraeus, and it was the emblem on the crown of the rulers of Lower Egypt. She was also the protector of kings and of women in childbirth and her oracle was in the renowned temple in Per-Wadjet that was dedicated to her worship and gave the city its name. This oracle may have been the source for the tradition that spread to Greece from Egypt. The Going Forth of Wadjet was celebrated on December 25 with chants, an annual festival held in the city celebrated Wadjet on April 21. Other important dates for special worship of her were June 21, the Summer Solstice and she also was assigned the fifth hour of the fifth day of the moon. Wadjet was closely associated in the Egyptian pantheon with the Eye of Ra, the hieroglyph for her eye is shown below, sometimes two are shown in the sky of religious images. Per-Wadjet also contained a sanctuary of Horus, the child of the sun deity who would be interpreted to represent the pharaoh, much later, Wadjet became associated with Isis as well as with many other deities. The name Wadjet is derived from the term for the symbol of her domain, Lower Egypt and her name means papyrus-colored one, as wadj is the Ancient Egyptian word for the color green and the et is an indication of her gender. Eventually, Wadjet was claimed as the goddess and protector of the whole of Lower Egypt and became associated with Nekhbet, depicted as a white vulture. After the unification the image of Nekhbet joined Wadjet on the crown, the Ancient Egyptian word Wadj signifies blue and green. It is also the name for the well-known Eye of the Moon, indeed, in later times, she was often depicted simply as a woman with a snakes head, or as a woman wearing the uraeus. The uraeus originally had been her body alone, which wrapped around or was coiled upon the head of the pharaoh or another deity, Wadjet was depicted as a cobra. As patron and protector, later Wadjet often was shown coiled upon the head of Ra, in order to act as his protection, this image of her became the uraeus symbol used on the royal crowns as well. This is an image that appeared repeatedly in the later images and myths of cultures surrounding the Mediterranean Sea, called the caduceus. Her image also rears up from the staff of the poles that are used to indicate deities, as seen in the hieroglyph for uraeus above. An interpretation of the Milky Way was that it was the snake, Wadjet. In this interpretation she was associated with Hathor and other early deities among the various aspects of the great mother goddess, including Mut
Wadjet
–
Two images of Wadjet appear on this carved wall in the
Hatshepsut Temple at
Luxor
Wadjet
–
Blue-glazed Wadjet amulet
Wadjet
–
Wadjet as Wadjet-Bast, depicted as the body of a woman with a lioness head, wearing the uraeus
35.
Papyrus of Ani
–
The Papyrus of Ani is a papyrus manuscript with cursive hieroglyphs and color illustrations created c.1250 BCE, in the 19th dynasty of the New Kingdom of ancient Egypt. The Papyrus of Ani is the manuscript compiled for the Theban scribe Ani, note, Divisions vary based on compilations, Sections are groups of related sentences, Titles are not original to the text. Ogden Goelet, Translation by Dr. Raymond O. Faulkner, Preface by Carol Andrews, Featuring Integrated Text and Full Color Images, c1994, contains, Map Key to the Papyrus, Commentary by Dr. Ogden Goelet, Selected Bibliography, and Glossary of Terms and Concepts. Eternal Egypt, Masterworks of Ancient Art from the British Museum, the Egyptian Book of the Dead, c1895, Dover ed.1967. Egyptian Text Transliteration and Translation, Introduction, etc. by Sir E. A. Wallis Budge, the Egyptian Book of the Dead. This article is about an item held in the British Museum
Papyrus of Ani
–
Thoth's declaration to the
Ennead, based on the weighing of the heart of the scribe Ani
36.
Eye of Ra
–
The Eye of Ra or Eye of Re is a being in ancient Egyptian mythology that functions as a feminine counterpart to the sun god Ra and a violent force that subdues his enemies. The Eye goddess acts as mother, sibling, consort, and she is his partner in the creative cycle in which he begets the renewed form of himself that is born at dawn. The Eyes violent aspect defends Ra against the agents of disorder that threaten his rule and this dangerous aspect of the Eye goddess is often represented by a lioness or by the uraeus, or cobra, a symbol of protection and royal authority. The Eye of Ra is similar to the Eye of Horus, which belongs to a different god, Horus, but represents many of the same concepts. The disastrous effects when the Eye goddess rampages out of control, the Eye of Ra was involved in many areas of ancient Egyptian religion, including in the cults of the many goddesses who are equated with it. Its life-giving power was celebrated in temple rituals, and its dangerous aspect was invoked in the protection of the pharaoh, of sacred places, the Egyptians often referred to the sun and the moon as the eyes of particular gods. The right eye of the god Horus, for instance, was equated with the sun, however, in Egyptian belief, many terms and concepts are fluid, so the sun could also be called the Eye of Horus. The yellow or red disk-like sun emblem in Egyptian art represents the Eye of Ra, because of the great importance of the sun in Egyptian religion, this emblem is among the most common religious symbols in all of Egyptian art. Although Egyptologists usually call this emblem the sun disk, its shape in Egyptian relief sculpture suggests that the Egyptians may have envisioned it as a sphere. The emblem often appears atop the heads of solar-associated deities, including Ra himself, the disk could even be regarded as Ras physical form. At other times, the sun god, in forms, is depicted inside the disk shape as if enclosed within it. The disk is often called Ras daughter in Egyptian texts, as the sun, the Eye of Ra is a source of heat and light, and it is associated with fire and flames. It is also equated with the red light that appears before sunrise, the presence of the feminine suffix -t in jrt may explain why these independent eyes were thought of as female. The Eye of Ra, in particular, is involved in the sun gods creative actions. In Egyptian mythology, the emergence from the horizon each morning is likened to Ras birth, an event that revitalizes him. Ra emerges from the body of a goddess who represents the sky—usually Nut, depictions of the rising sun often show Ra as a child contained within the solar disk. In this context, the Egyptologist Lana Troy suggests, the disk may represent the womb from which he is born or the placenta that emerges with him. The Eye of Ra can also take the form of a goddess, Ra was sometimes said to enter the body of the sky goddess at sunset, impregnating her and setting the stage for his rebirth at sunrise
Eye of Ra
–
The Eye of Ra can be equated with the disk of the sun, with the cobras coiled around the disk, and with the
white and
red crowns of
Upper and
Lower Egypt.
Eye of Ra
–
The uraeus on the royal headdress of
Amenemope
Eye of Ra
–
Sekhmet as a woman with the head of a lioness, wearing the sun disk and uraeus
Eye of Ra
–
Frieze of uraei bearing sun disks at the top of a wall in the
Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut
37.
Mehet-Weret
–
Mehet-Weret is a goddess of the sky in Ancient Egyptian religion. She was mentioned in the Pyramid Texts, in Ancient Egyptian creation myths, she gives birth to the sun at the beginning of time, and in art she is portrayed as a cow with a sun disk between her horns. She is associated with the goddesses Neith, Hathor, and Isis, all of whom have similar characteristics, Mehet-Weret is primarily known as being the “Celestial Cow” or “Cow Goddess” because of her physical characteristics, but she contributes to the world in more ways than that. She is also the Goddess of Water, Creation, and Rebirth, in Egyptian mythology, Mehet-Weret is one of the components in the making. Mehet-Weret was responsible for raising the sun into the sky every day, not only did this goddess produce the light for the crops of those who worshipped her, she was also what caused the annual Nile River flood that fertilized each of the crops with her plentiful water. In Egyptian mythology, Mehet-Weret was known as the Goddess of Water and Creation and she is referenced as being the river of stars known as the Milky Way, because of her physical traits of being the responsible for the annual flood of the Nile River. Mehet-Weret is described as being the mother of Ra, the ancient Egyptian solar deity, as the Goddess of Creation, she gives birth to the sun every day and is the reason the world isn’t in the dark. In her physical description, she is described as having a sun disk between her horns, in typical fashion, she protects her son Ra and keeps him close to her. Mehet-Weret is described as having a body with a cow’s head. A sun disk lies between the horns on her head, which connects her to the creation of the sun, Mehet-Weret is featured on the sarcophagus of Khonsu. The hieroglyphics painted on the outside of the sarcophagus are yet another way to protect the deceased, even in hieroglyphics, Mehet-Weret is dressed in many ritual artifacts as a way to keep her goddess-like standing. The picture features a human bowing and adoring her, this was meant as a way to signify her importance as a divine being, in this picture, Mehet-Weret signifies that after his death, the pharaoh will be reborn into the afterlife. “Myth of the Heavenly Cow” by Nadine Guilhou tells the story of a goddess that is related to Mehet-Weret who is named Hathor. Hathor is seen as more troublesome than Mehet-Weret, because she creates chaos in the human world, while Hathor is the bloodthirsty warrior cow, focused on the destruction of humankind, Mehet-Weret is responsible for creating some of the most basic needs for humankind, sun and water. The goddess Mehet-Weret was featured in a number of spells in The Book of the Dead, in this spell she was credited for the birth of Re, also known as the Sun God Ra. But she is also the one who protects Re, because it was believed by the ancient people of Egypt that the sun died every day and was reborn by Mehet-Weret. She was responsible for taking him into the underworld, or night because of the darkness, the people of Egypt believed that Mehet-Weret was the Goddess of Creation and Rebirth, so she was featured in one of the spells to help the humans make their way into the afterlife. The Book of the Dead is an important text in the Egyptian culture because it allows the audience to understand the different journeys that the ancient Egyptians believed in to get to the afterlife
Mehet-Weret
–
Mehetweret in Tutankhamun's tomb
Mehet-Weret
–
v
38.
Nut (goddess)
–
Nut, also known by various other transcriptions, is the goddess of the sky in the Ennead of ancient Egyptian religion. She was seen as a nude woman arching over the earth. The pronunciation of ancient Egyptian is uncertain because vowels were long omitted from its writing and her name Nwt, itself also meaning Sky, is usually transcribed as Nut but also sometimes appears as Nunut, Nenet, Naunet, Newet, and the certainly erroneous Nuit. She also appears in the record by a number of epithets. Nut is a daughter of Shu and Tefnut and her brother and husband is Geb. She had four or five children, Osiris, Set, Isis, Nephthys and she is considered one of the oldest deities among the Egyptian pantheon, with her origin being found on the creation story of Heliopolis. She was originally the goddess of the sky, but eventually became referred to as simply the sky goddess. Her headdress was the hieroglyphic of part of her name, a pot, which may also symbolize the uterus. Mostly depicted in human form, Nut was also sometimes depicted in the form of a cow whose great body formed the sky and heavens. A sacred symbol of Nut was the used by Osiris to enter her heavenly skies. This ladder-symbol was called maqet and was placed in tombs to protect the deceased, Nut and her brother, Geb, may be considered enigmas in the world of mythology. In direct contrast to most other mythologies which usually develop a sky father associated with an Earth mother, she personified the sky, Osiris is killed by his brother Set and scattered over the Earth in 14 pieces which Isis gathers up and puts back together. Osiris then climbs a ladder into his mother Nut for safety, a huge cult developed about Osiris that lasted well into Roman times. Isis was her husbands queen in the underworld and the basis for the role of the queen on earth. It can be said that she was a version of the great goddess Hathor, like Hathor she not only had death and rebirth associations, but was the protector of children and the goddess of childbirth. Ra, the sun god, was the second to rule the world, Ra was a strong ruler but he feared anyone taking his throne. When he discovered that Nut was to have children, he was furious and he decreed, Nut shall not give birth any day of the year. At that time, the year was only 360 days, Nut spoke to Thoth, god of wisdom, and he had a plan
Nut (goddess)
–
Great goddess Nut with her wings stretched across a coffin
Nut (goddess)
–
The sky goddess Nut depicted as a
cow
Nut (goddess)
–
Nut, goddess of sky supported by Shu the god of air, and the ram-headed Heh deities, while the earth god
Geb reclines beneath.
39.
Milky Way
–
The Milky Way is the galaxy that contains our Solar System. The descriptive milky is derived from the appearance from Earth of the galaxy – a band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars that cannot be distinguished by the naked eye. The term Milky Way is a translation of the Latin via lactea, from Earth, the Milky Way appears as a band because its disk-shaped structure is viewed from within. Galileo Galilei first resolved the band of light into individual stars with his telescope in 1610, until the early 1920s, most astronomers thought that the Milky Way contained all the stars in the Universe. Following the 1920 Great Debate between the astronomers Harlow Shapley and Heber Curtis, observations by Edwin Hubble showed that the Milky Way is just one of many galaxies, the Milky Way is a barred spiral galaxy with a diameter between 100,000 light-years and 180,000 light-years. The Milky Way is estimated to contain 100–400 billion stars, there are probably at least 100 billion planets in the Milky Way. The Solar System is located within the disk, about 26,000 light-years from the Galactic Center, on the edge of one of the spiral-shaped concentrations of gas. The stars in the inner ≈10,000 light-years form a bulge, the very center is marked by an intense radio source, named Sagittarius A*, which is likely to be a supermassive black hole. Stars and gases at a range of distances from the Galactic Center orbit at approximately 220 kilometers per second. The constant rotation speed contradicts the laws of Keplerian dynamics and suggests much of the mass of the Milky Way does not emit or absorb electromagnetic radiation. This mass has been termed dark matter, the rotational period is about 240 million years at the position of the Sun. The Milky Way as a whole is moving at a velocity of approximately 600 km per second with respect to frames of reference. The oldest stars in the Milky Way are nearly as old as the Universe itself, the Milky Way has several satellite galaxies and is part of the Local Group of galaxies, which is a component of the Virgo Supercluster, which is itself a component of the Laniakea Supercluster. The Milky Way can be seen as a band of white light some 30 degrees wide arcing across the sky. Dark regions within the band, such as the Great Rift, the area of the sky obscured by the Milky Way is called the Zone of Avoidance. The Milky Way has a low surface brightness. Its visibility can be reduced by background light such as light pollution or stray light from the Moon. The sky needs to be darker than about 20.2 magnitude per square arcsecond in order for the Milky Way to be seen and it should be visible when the limiting magnitude is approximately +5.1 or better and shows a great deal of detail at +6.1
Milky Way
–
The Milky Way's
Galactic Center in the night sky above
Paranal Observatory (the laser creates a
guide-star for the telescope).
Milky Way
–
A view of the Milky Way toward the constellation
Sagittarius (including the
Galactic Center) as seen from an area not polluted by light (the
Black Rock Desert, Nevada)
Milky Way
–
The Milky Way arching at a high inclination across the night sky (
fish-eye mosaic shot at
Paranal, Chile).
Milky Way
–
A photograph of galaxy
NGC 6744, which might resemble the Milky Way.
40.
Solar barque
–
A solar deity is a sky deity who represents the Sun, or an aspect of it, usually by its perceived power and strength. Solar deities and sun worship can be found throughout most of recorded history in various forms, the Sun is sometimes referred to by its Latin name Sol or by its Greek name Helios. The English word sun stems from Proto-Germanic *sunnǭ, the Neolithic concept of a solar barge is found in the later myths of ancient Egypt, with Ra and Horus. Predynasty Egyptian beliefs attribute Atum as the sun-god and Horus as a god of the sky, as the Old Kingdom theocracy gained power, early beliefs were incorporated with the expanding popularity of Ra and the Osiris-Horus mythology. Atum became Ra-Atum, the rays of the setting sun, Osiris became the divine heir to Atums power on Earth and passes his divine authority to his son Horus. Early Egyptian myths imply the sun is within the lioness, Sekhmet, at night and is reflected in her eyes, or that it is within the cow, Hathor, during the night, being reborn each morning as her son. Mesopotamian Shamash plays an important role during the Bronze Age, similarly, South American cultures have a tradition of Sun worship, as with the Incan Inti. Proto-Indo-European religion has a chariot, the sun as traversing the sky in a chariot. In Germanic mythology this is Sol, in Vedic Surya, and in Greek Helios, svarog is the Slavic solar deity, represented as a spirit of fire. During the Roman Empire, a festival of the birth of the Unconquered Sun was celebrated on the winter solstice—the rebirth of the sun—which occurred on December 25 of the Julian calendar. In late antiquity, the centrality of the sun in some Imperial religious systems suggest a form of a solar monotheism. The religious commemorations on December 25 were replaced under Christian domination of the Empire with the birthday of Christ, the Tiv people consider the Sun to be the son of the supreme being Awondo and the Moon Awondos daughter. The Barotse tribe believes that the Sun is inhabited by the sky god Nyambi, some Sara people also worship the sun. Even where the sun god is equated with the supreme being, the Ancient Egyptian god of creation, Amun is also believed to reside inside the sun. So is the Akan creator deity, Nyame and the Dogon deity of creation, also in Egypt, there was a religion that worshiped the sun directly, and was among the first monotheistic religions, Atenism. Sun worship was prevalent in ancient Egyptian religion, the earliest deities associated with the sun are all goddesses, Wadjet, Sekhmet, Hathor, Nut, Bast, Bat, and Menhit. First Hathor, and then Isis, give birth to and nurse Horus, Hathor the horned-cow is one of the 12 daughters of Ra, gifted with joy and is a wet-nurse to Horus. From at least the 4th Dynasty of Ancient Egypt, the sun was worshipped as the deity Re, and portrayed as a falcon headed god surmounted by the solar disk, and surrounded by a serpent
Solar barque
–
The
Trundholm sun chariot
Solar barque
–
Statue of
Hathor – Luxor Museum
Solar barque
–
A solar representation on an anthropomorphic stele dated from the time period between the
Copper Age and the
Early Bronze Age, discovered during an archaeological excavation on the Rocher des Doms,
Avignon.
Solar barque
–
Taiyang Shen, the Chinese solar deity
41.
Egyptians
–
Egyptians are an ethnic group and the citizens native to Egypt sharing a common culture and a variety of Egyptian Arabic. Egyptian identity is tied to geography. This unique geography has been the basis of the development of Egyptian society since antiquity, the daily language of the Egyptians is the local variety of Arabic, known as Egyptian Arabic or Masri. Additionally, a minority of Egyptians living in Upper Egypt speak Saidi Arabic. Egyptians are predominantly adherents of Sunni Islam with a Shia minority, Egyptians receive or have received several names, Egyptians, from Greek Αἰγύπτιοι, Aiguptioi, from Αἴγυπτος, Aiguptos Egypt. The Greek name is derived from Late Egyptian Hikuptah Memphis, a corruption of the earlier Egyptian name Hat-ka-Ptah, meaning home of the ka of Ptah, the name of a temple to the god Ptah at Memphis. Strabo provided a folk etymology according to which Αἴγυπτος had evolved as a compound from Aἰγαίου ὑπτίως Aegaeou huptiōs, in English, the noun Egyptians appears in the 14th century, in Wycliffs Bible, as Egipcions. Copts, also a derivative of the Greek word Αἰγύπτιος, Aiguptios, maṣreyyīn, the modern Egyptian name, which comes from the ancient Semitic name for Egypt and originally connoted civilization or metropolis. Classical Arabic Miṣr is directly cognate with the Biblical Hebrew Mitsráyīm, edward William Lane writing in the 1820s, said that Egyptians commonly called themselves El-Maṣreyyīn the Egyptians, Ewlad Maṣr the Children of Egypt and Ahl Maṣr the People of Egypt. He added that the Turks stigmatized the Egyptians with the name Ahl-Farūn or the People of the Pharaoh,
Egyptians
–
A view of Cairo, the largest city in Africa and the Middle East. The
Cairo Opera House (bottom-right) is the main performing arts venue in the Egyptian capital.
Egyptians
–
A map of Egypt's population density.
Egyptians
–
Egyptian donkey herders (At the start of the British occupation of Egypt, circa.1860s.
Egyptians
–
A
Luxor school teacher lecturing on
Eastern Arabic numerals.
42.
Serabit el-Khadim
–
Archaeological excavation, initially by Sir Flinders Petrie, revealed ancient mining camps and a long-lived Temple of Hathor, the Egyptian goddess who was favoured as a protector in desert regions. Thirty incised graffiti in a Proto-Sinaitic script shed light on the history of the alphabet, the mines were worked by prisoners of war from southwest Asia who presumably spoke a Northwest Semitic language, such as the Canaanite that was ancestral to Phoenician and Hebrew. The script has graphic similarities with the Egyptian hieratic script, the less elaborate form of the hieroglyphs, in the 1950s and 60s it was common to show the derivation of the Canaanite alphabet from hieratic, using William Albrights interpretations of Proto-Sinaitic as the key. The word baʿlat lends credence to the identification of the language as Semitic, however, the lack of further progress in decipherment casts doubt over the other suppositions, and the identification of the hieratic prototypes remains speculative. His article The Serabit Inscriptions, II, at that time, #355 was still in situ at Serabit but had not been photographed by the previous Harvard Mission. In the course of study, I perceived that some signs doubtful in the inscriptions already published were made clear by the new slabs. Both articles provide an analysis of the Proto-Sinaitic inscriptions during earlier expeditions to the site, in her book A History of Sinai, Lina Eckenstein theorized that Serabit el-Khadim was the historical site of Mt. Sinai where Moses received the 10 commandments. This theory comes in no part to the site containing a temple of Hathor which is believed to be the Golden Calf idol constructed by the Hebrews while Moses was on the mountain top. The Early Alphabetic Inscriptions from Sinai and Their Decipherment, oakland, Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research. The Decipherment and Significance of the Inscriptions, Harvard Theological Review, Vol.21, “The Protosinaitic Inscriptions, Harvard Theological Review, Vol.25, No. W. M. Flinders Petrie, Researches in Sinai, London,1906, R. Giveon, The Stones of Sinai speak, Tokyo,1978. Eckenstein, Lina, A History of Sinai, London, Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge,1921. The Rediscovery of the Inscriptions, Harvard Theological Review, Vol.21, No
Serabit el-Khadim
–
Remains of Temple of Hathor, Serabit el-Khadim
Serabit el-Khadim
–
Illustration prepared by a 19th-century Prussian expedition
43.
Turquoise
–
Turquoise is an opaque, blue-to-green mineral that is a hydrated phosphate of copper and aluminium, with the chemical formula CuAl648·4H2O. It is rare and valuable in finer grades and has been prized as a gemstone, in recent times, turquoise has been devalued, like most other opaque gems, by the introduction onto the market of treatments, imitations, and synthetics. Pliny the Elder referred to the mineral as callais and the Aztecs knew it as chalchihuitl, the finest of turquoise reaches a maximum Mohs hardness of just under 6, or slightly more than window glass. Characteristically a cryptocrystalline mineral, turquoise almost never forms single crystals and its crystal system is proven to be triclinic via X-ray diffraction testing. With lower hardness comes lower specific gravity and greater porosity, These properties are dependent on grain size, the lustre of turquoise is typically waxy to subvitreous, and transparency is usually opaque, but may be semitranslucent in thin sections. Colour is as variable as the other properties, ranging from white to a powder blue to a sky blue. The blue is attributed to idiochromatic copper while the green may be the result of either iron impurities or dehydration, a reading of 1. 61–1.65 has been taken from rare single crystals. An absorption spectrum may also be obtained with a spectroscope, revealing a line at 432 nm. Under longwave ultraviolet light, turquoise may occasionally fluoresce green, yellow or bright blue, it is inert under shortwave ultraviolet, Turquoise is insoluble in all but heated hydrochloric acid. Its streak is a bluish white and its fracture is conchoidal. Despite its low relative to other gems, turquoise takes a good polish. Turquoise may also be peppered with flecks of pyrite or interspersed with dark, as a secondary mineral, turquoise apparently forms by the action of percolating acidic aqueous solutions during the weathering and oxidation of preexisting minerals. In the Southwestern United States turquoise is almost invariably associated with the products of copper sulfide deposits in or around potassium-feldspar-bearing porphyritic intrusives. In some occurrences alunite, potassium sulfate, is a prominent secondary mineral. Turquoise is nearly always cryptocrystalline and massive and assumes no definite external shape, crystals, even at the microscopic scale, are exceedingly rare. Typically the form is vein or fracture filling, nodular, or botryoidal in habit, Turquoise may also pseudomorphously replace feldspar, apatite, other minerals, or even fossils. Odontolite is fossil bone or ivory that has been thought to have been altered by turquoise or similar phosphate minerals such as the iron phosphate vivianite. Intergrowth with other copper minerals such as chrysocolla is also common
Turquoise
–
Turquoise,
tumble finished, one inch (25 mm) long.
Turquoise
–
"Big Blue," a large turquoise specimen from the copper mine at
Cananea, Mexico
Turquoise
–
Massive Kingman Blue turquoise in matrix with
quartz from Mineral Park,
Arizona
Turquoise
–
Cutting and grinding turquoise in
Nishapur, Iran, 1973
44.
Upper Egypt
–
Upper Egypt is the strip of land on both sides of the Nile that extends between Nubia and downriver to Lower Egypt. Upper Egypt is between the Cataracts of the Nile above modern-day Aswan, downriver to the area between Dahshur and El-Ayait, which is south of modern-day Cairo, the northern part of Upper Egypt, between Sohag and El-Ayait, is also known as Middle Egypt. In Arabic, inhabitants of Upper Egypt are known as Saidis, in ancient Egypt, Upper Egypt was known as tꜣ šmꜣw, literally the Land of Reeds or the Sedgeland It was divided into twenty-two districts called nomes. The first nome was roughly where modern-day Aswan is and the twenty-second was at modern Atfih just to the south of Cairo, the main city of prehistoric Upper Egypt was Nekhen, whose patron deity was the vulture goddess Nekhbet. By about 3600 BC, Neolithic Egyptian societies along the Nile had based their culture on the raising of crops, shortly after 3600 BC, Egyptian society began to grow and increase in complexity. A new and distinctive pottery, which was related to the Levantine ceramics, extensive use of copper became common during this time. The Mesopotamian process of sun-drying adobe and architectural principles—including the use of the arch, concurrent with these cultural advances, a process of unification of the societies and towns of the upper Nile River, or Upper Egypt, occurred. At the same time the societies of the Nile Delta, or Lower Egypt also underwent a unification process, warfare between Upper and Lower Egypt occurred often. During his reign in Upper Egypt, King Narmer defeated his enemies on the Delta, for most of pharaonic Egypts history, Thebes was the administrative center of Upper Egypt. After its devastation by the Assyrians, its importance declined, under the Ptolemies, Ptolemais Hermiou took over the role of Upper Egypts capital city. Upper Egypt was represented by the tall White Crown Hedjet, and its symbols were the flowering lotus, in the 11th century, large numbers of pastoralists, known as Hilalians, fled Upper Egypt and moved westward into Libya and as far as Tunis. It is believed that degraded grazing conditions in Upper Egypt, associated with the beginning of the Medieval Warm Period, were the cause of the migration. In the 20th-century Egypt, the title Prince of the Said was used by the apparent to the Egyptian throne. Although the Kingdom of Egypt was abolished after the Egyptian revolution of 1952, media related to Upper Egypt at Wikimedia Commons
Upper Egypt
–
Iry-Hor
Upper Egypt
–
Ka
Upper Egypt
–
King Scorpion
45.
Duat
–
Duat was the realm of the dead in ancient Egyptian mythology. It was the realm of the deity Osiris and the residence of other gods, the Duat was the region through which the sun god Ra traveled from west to east during the night, and where he battled Apep. It was also the place where peoples souls went after death for judgement, burial chambers formed touching-points between the mundane world and the Duat, and spirits could use tombs to travel back and forth from the Duat. What is known of the Duat derives principally from funerary texts such as the Book of Gates, the Book of Caverns, the Coffin Texts, the Amduat, and the Book of the Dead. Each of these fulfilled a different purpose and gave a different perspective on the Duat. Surviving texts differ in age and origin, and there likely was never a single interpretation of the Duat. The geography of Duat is similar in outline to the world the Egyptians knew, there are realistic features like rivers, islands, fields, lakes, mounds and caverns, along with fantastic lakes of fire, walls of iron and trees of turquoise. In the Book of Two Ways, one of the Coffin Texts, the Book of the Dead and Coffin Texts were intended to guide people who had recently died through the Duats dangerous landscape and to a life as an akh or blessed spirit amongst the gods. The dead person must pass a series of gates guarded by dangerous spirits, depicted as human bodies with heads of animals, insects. These beings have equally grotesque names, for instance Blood-drinker who comes from the Slaughterhouse or One who eats the excrement of his hindquarters, other features emphasised in these texts are mounds and caverns, inhabited by gods or supernatural animals, which threatened the spirits of the dead. The purpose of the books is not to lay out a geography, if the deceased successfully passed these unpleasant demons, he or she would reach the Weighing of the Heart. In this ritual, the heart of the deceased was weighed by Anubis, using a feather, representing Maat, any hearts heavier than her feather were rejected and eaten by the Ammit, the Devourer of Souls. Those souls that were lighter than a feather passed the test would be allowed to travel toward the paradise of Aaru, in spite of the unpleasant inhabitants of the Duat, this was no Hell to which souls were condemned, the nature of Duat is more complex than that. The grotesque spirits of the underworld were not evil, but under the control of the Gods. The Duat was also a residence of gods themselves, as well as Osiris, Anubis, Thoth, Horus, Hathor and Maat all appear as a dead soul makes its way toward judgement. It was also in the underworld that the sun, Ra, travelled under the Earth upon his Atet barge from west to east and was transformed from its aged Atum form into Khepri, the new dawning Sun. Just as a person faced many challenges in the Duat. The Egyptian Book of the Dead, The Book of Going Forth by Day, chronicle Books,2000 Pinch, G. Magic in Ancient Egypt
Duat
–
A section of the Egyptian
Book of the Dead written on papyrus showing the Weighing of the Heart in Duat where
Anubis can be seen on the far right, the scales are shown with the feather balance, and
Ammit awaits hearts that she must devour – the presence of Osiris at the gateway to the paradise of Aaru dates the papyrus to a late tradition of the myth.
Duat
–
Mictlan
Duat
46.
Necropolis
–
A necropolis is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The name stems from the Ancient Greek νεκρόπολις nekropolis, literally meaning city of the dead, the term usually implies a separate burial site at a distance from a city, as opposed to tombs within cities, which were common in various places and periods of history. They are different from fields, which did not have remains above the ground. While the word is most commonly used for ancient sites, the name was revived in the early 19th century and applied to planned city cemeteries, such as the Glasgow Necropolis. Aside from the pyramids which were reserved for the burial of Pharaohs the Egyptian necropoleis included mastabas, naqsh-e Rustam is an ancient necropolis located about 12 km northwest of Persepolis, in Fars Province, Iran. The oldest relief at Naqsh-i Rustam dates to c.1000 BC, though it is severely damaged, it depicts a faint image of a man with unusual head-gear and is thought to be Elamite in origin. The depiction is part of an image, most of which was removed at the command of Bahram II. Four tombs belonging to Achaemenid kings are carved out of the face at a considerable height above the ground. The tombs are known locally as the Persian crosses, after the shape of the facades of the tombs, later, Sassanian kings added a series of rock reliefs below the tombs. In the Mycenean Greek period pre-dating ancient Greece burials could be performed inside the city, in Mycenae for example the royal tombs were located in a precinct within the city walls. This changed during the ancient Greek period when necropoleis usually lined the roads outside a city, there existed some degree of variation within the ancient Greek world however. Sparta was notable for continuing the practice of burial within the city, the Etruscans took the concept of a city of the dead quite literally. The typical tomb at the Banditaccia necropolis at Cerveteri consists of a tumulus which covers one or more rock-cut subterranean tombs and these tombs had multiple chambers and were elaborately decorated like contemporary houses. The arrangement of the tumuli in a grid of streets gave it a similar to the cities of the living. The art historian Nigel Spivey considers the name cemetery inadequate and argues that only the term necropolis can do justice to these burial sites. Etruscan necropoleis were located on hills or slopes of hills. In ancient Rome families originally buried deceased relatives in their own homes because of the Roman practice of ancestor worship, the enactment of the Twelve Tables in 449 BC forbade this, which made the Romans adopt the practice of burial in necropoleis. List of necropoleis Funerary art Catacombs
Necropolis
–
Mastabas in the
Giza Necropolis with the
Pyramid of Khafre in the background.
Necropolis
–
Naqsh-e Rustam. The order of the tombs in Naqshe-e Rustam, from left to right is:
Darius II,
Artaxerxes I,
Darius I,
Xerxes I.
Necropolis
–
Tumuli are placed along a street in the Banditaccia necropolis of
Cerveteri.
47.
Sanctuary
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A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred place, such as a shrine. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This secondary use can be categorized into human sanctuary, a place for humans, such as a political sanctuary. The meaning was extended to places of holiness or safety, a religious sanctuary may be a sacred place, or a consecrated area of a church or temple around its tabernacle or altar. Examples are St. Peters Basilica in Rome and St. Albans Cathedral in England, the place, and therefore the church built there, was considered to have been sanctified by what happened there. In modern times, the Catholic Church has continued this practice by placing in the altar of each church, when it is consecrated for use, the relics box is removed when the church is taken out of use as a church. In the Eastern Orthodox Church, the antimension on the altar serves a similar function and it is a cloth icon of Christs body taken down from the cross, and typically has the relics of a saint sewn into it. In addition, it is signed by the bishop, and represents his authorization. In many Western traditions altar rails sometimes mark the edge of the sanctuary or chancel, in many churches the architectural term chancel covers the same area as the sanctuary, and either term may be used. In some Protestant churches, the term denotes the entire worship area while the term chancel is used to refer to the area around the altar-table. In other Oriental Orthodox traditions, a curtain is used. In most modern synagogues, the room for prayer is known as the sanctuary, to contrast it with smaller rooms dedicated to various other services. When referring to prosecution of crimes, sanctuary can mean one of the following, Church sanctuary A sacred place, such as a church, in which fugitives formerly were immune to arrest. While the practice of churches offering sanctuary is still observed in the modern era, political sanctuary Immunity to arrest afforded by a sovereign authority. People seeking political sanctuary typically do so by asking a sovereign authority for asylum, many ancient peoples recognized a religious right of asylum, protecting criminals from legal action and from exile to some extent. This principle was adopted by the early Christian church, and various rules developed for what the person had to do to qualify for protection and just how much protection it was. By Norman times, there had come to be two kinds of sanctuary, All churches had the kind, but only the churches the king licensed had the broader version. The medieval system of asylum was finally abolished entirely in England by James I in 1623, a prime example is Queen Elizabeth Woodville, consort of Edward IV of England
Sanctuary
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Ajax violates
Cassandra 's sanctuary at the
Palladium: tondo of an Attic cup, ca. 440–430 BCE
Sanctuary
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The sanctuary at
St. Mary's Cathedral, Sydney
Sanctuary
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The back of the church sanctuary at
Church of St. Paul and St. Andrew.
Sanctuary
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The Church as a
Place of Refuge
48.
Dendera Temple complex
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Dendera Temple complex, is located about 2.5 kilometres south-east of Dendera, Egypt. It is one of the temple complexes in Egypt. The area was used as the sixth Nome of Upper Egypt, the whole complex covers some 40,000 square meters and is surrounded by a hefty mud brick enclosed wall. Dendera was a site for chapels or shrines from the beginning of history of ancient Egypt and it seems that pharaoh Pepi I built on this site and evidence exists of a temple in the eighteenth dynasty. But the earliest extant building in the compound today is the Mammisi raised by Nectanebo II – last of the native pharaohs, the all overshadowing building in the Complex is the main temple, namely Hathor temple. The temple has been modified on the site starting as far back as the Middle Kingdom. The existing structure was no later than the late Ptolemaic period. The temple, dedicated to Hathor, is one of the best preserved temples in all Egypt, subsequent additions were added in Roman times. On the rear of the exterior is a carving of Cleopatra VII Philopator and her son, Ptolemy XV Philopator Philometor Caesar. The sculptured Dendera zodiac is a widely known relief found in a late Greco-Roman temple, containing images of Taurus, a sketch was made of it during the Napoleonic campaign in Egypt. In 1820 it was removed from the ceiling and is now in the Louvre. Champollions guess that it was Ptolemaic proved correct and Egyptologists now date it to the first century BC, the Dendera necropolis is a series of mastaba tombs. The necropolis dates from the Early Dynastic Period of the Old Kingdom to the First Intermediate Period of Egypt, the necropolis runs the eastern edge of the western hill and over the northern plain. The subterranean Hathor temple tombs total 12 chambers, some reliefs are dated to as late as Ptolemy XII Neos Dionysos reign. The crypts reportedly were used for storing vessels and divine iconography, an opening in the Flame Room floor leads to a narrow chamber with representations on the walls of the objects which were kept in them. In the second chamber, a relief depicts Pepi I and he offers a statuette of the god Ihy to four images of Hathor. In the crypt, reached from the Throne room, Ptolemy XII has jewelry, Hathor Temple has a relief sometimes known as the Dendera light because of a controversial fringe thesis about its nature. The Dendera light images comprise five stone reliefs in the Hathor temple at the Dendera Temple complex located in Egypt
Dendera Temple complex
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General view of Dendera Temple complex
Dendera Temple complex
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The massive mudbrick compound walls seen from the temple roof.
Dendera Temple complex
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Entrance to the Dendera Temple Complex
Dendera Temple complex
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Reliefs of Cleopatra VII and her son by Julius Caesar, Caesarion at the Dendera Temple
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