1.
Kunsthistorisches Museum
–
The Kunsthistorisches Museum is an art museum in Vienna, Austria. Housed in its festive palatial building on Ringstraße, it is crowned with an octagonal dome, the term Kunsthistorisches Museum applies to both the institution and the main building. It is the largest art museum in the country and it was opened around 1891 at the same time as the Naturhistorisches Museum, by Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria-Hungary. The two museums have similar exteriors and face each other across Maria-Theresien-Platz, both buildings were built between 1871 and 1891 according to plans drawn up by Gottfried Semper and Karl Freiherr von Hasenauer. The two Ringstraße museums were commissioned by the Emperor in order to find a shelter for the Habsburgs formidable art collection. The façade was built of sandstone, the building is rectangular in shape, and topped with a dome that is 60 meters high. The inside of the building is decorated with marble, stucco ornamentations, gold-leaf. It was featured in an episode of Museum Secrets on the History Channel and it had been the biggest art theft in Austrian history. Treasure of Nagyszentmiklós Media related to Kunsthistorisches Museum at Wikimedia Commons Official website Spherical panorama of entrance Hofburgs Armory - photo gallery in Flickr
2.
Pharaoh
–
The word pharaoh ultimately derive from the Egyptian compound pr-ˤ3 great house, written with the two biliteral hieroglyphs pr house and ˤ3 column, here meaning great or high. It was used only in larger phrases such as smr pr-ˤ3 Courtier of the High House, with specific reference to the buildings of the court or palace. From the twelfth dynasty onward, the word appears in a wish formula Great House, may it live, prosper, and be in health, but again only with reference to the royal palace and not the person. During the reign of Thutmose III in the New Kingdom, after the rule of the Hyksos during the Second Intermediate Period. During the eighteenth dynasty the title pharaoh was employed as a designation of the ruler. From the nineteenth dynasty onward pr-ˤ3 on its own was used as regularly as hm. f, the term, therefore, evolved from a word specifically referring to a building to a respectful designation for the ruler, particularly by the twenty-second dynasty and twenty-third dynasty. For instance, the first dated appearance of the pharaoh being attached to a rulers name occurs in Year 17 of Siamun on a fragment from the Karnak Priestly Annals. Here, an induction of an individual to the Amun priesthood is dated specifically to the reign of Pharaoh Siamun and this new practice was continued under his successor Psusennes II and the twenty-second dynasty kings. Shoshenq I was the successor of Siamun. Meanwhile, the old custom of referring to the sovereign simply as pr-ˤ3 continued in traditional Egyptian narratives, by this time, the Late Egyptian word is reconstructed to have been pronounced *par-ʕoʔ whence Herodotus derived the name of one of the Egyptian kings, Φερων. In the Bible, the title also occurs as פרעה, from that, Septuagint φαραώ pharaō and then Late Latin pharaō, both -n stem nouns. The Quran likewise spells it فرعون firawn with n, interestingly, the Arabic combines the original pharyngeal ayin sound from Egyptian, along with the -n ending from Greek. English at first spelt it Pharao, but the King James Bible revived Pharaoh with h from the Hebrew, meanwhile in Egypt itself, *par-ʕoʔ evolved into Sahidic Coptic ⲡⲣ̅ⲣⲟ prro and then rro. Scepters and staves were a sign of authority in ancient Egypt. One of the earliest royal scepters was discovered in the tomb of Khasekhemwy in Abydos, kings were also known to carry a staff, and Pharaoh Anedjib is shown on stone vessels carrying a so-called mks-staff. The scepter with the longest history seems to be the heqa-scepter, the earliest examples of this piece of regalia dates to pre-dynastic times. A scepter was found in a tomb at Abydos that dates to the late Naqada period, another scepter associated with the king is the was-scepter. This is a long staff mounted with an animal head, the earliest known depictions of the was-scepter date to the first dynasty
3.
Egyptian chronology
–
The majority of Egyptologists agree on the outline and many details of the chronology of Ancient Egypt. Scholarly consensus on the outline of the conventional chronology current in Egyptology has not fluctuated much over the last 100 years. For the Old Kingdom, consensus fluctuates by as much as a few centuries and this is illustrated by comparing the chronology as given by two Egyptologists, the first writing in 1906, the second in 2000. The disparities between the two sets of result from additional discoveries and refined understanding of the still very incomplete source evidence. For example, Breasted adds a ruler in the Twentieth dynasty that further research showed did not exist, following Manetho, Breasted also believed all the dynasties were sequential, whereas it is now known that several existed at the same time. These revisions have resulted in a lowering of the chronology by up to 400 years at the beginning of Dynasty I. The backbone of Egyptian chronology are the years as recorded in Ancient Egyptian king lists. In addition, some Egyptian dynasties may have overlapped, with different pharaohs ruling in different regions at the same time, not knowing whether monarchies were simultaneous or sequential results in widely differing chronological interpretations. However, further research has shown that these censuses were taken in consecutive years. The sed festival was celebrated on the thirtieth anniversary of the Pharaohs ascension. However, once again, this may not be the practice in all cases. In the early days of Egyptology, the compilation of regnal periods may also have been hampered due to bias on the part of the Egyptologists. This was most pervasive before the mid 19th century, when Manethos figures were recognized as conflicting with biblical chronology based on Old Testament references to Egypt, in the 20th century, such biblical bias has mostly been confined to alternative chronologies outside of scholarly mainstream. A useful way to work around these gaps in knowledge is to find chronological synchronisms, over the past decades, a number of these have been found, although they are of varying degrees of usefulness and reliability. While this does not fix a person or event to a specific year, another example are blocks from the Old Kingdom bearing the names of several kings, which were reused in the construction of Middle Kingdom pyramid-temples at Lisht in the structures of Amenemhat I. The poor documentation of these finds in the Serapeum also compounds the difficulties in using these records. The best known of these is the Sothic cycle, and careful study of this led Richard A. Parker to argue that the dates of the Twelfth dynasty could be fixed with absolute precision. More recent research has eroded this confidence, questioning many of the assumptions used with the Sothic Cycle and this is useful especially for the Early Dynastic period, where Egyptological consensus has only been possible within a range of about three or four centuries
4.
Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt
–
The eighteenth dynasty of ancient Egypt is the best known ancient Egyptian dynasty. It boasts several of Egypts most famous pharaohs, including Tutankhamun, the dynasty is also known as the Thutmosid Dynasty for the four pharaohs named Thutmosis. Famous pharaohs of Dynasty XVIII include Hatshepsut, longest-reigning woman-pharaoh of a dynasty, and Akhenaten. Dynasty XVIII is the first of the three dynasties of the Egyptian New Kingdom, the period in which ancient Egypt reached the peak of its power, radiocarbon dating suggests that Dynasty XVIII may have started a few years earlier than the conventional date of 1550 BC. The radiocarbon date range for its beginning is 1570–1544 BC, the point of which is 1557 BC. The pharaohs of Dynasty XVIII ruled for two hundred and fifty years. The dates and names in the table are taken from Dodson and Hilton, many of the pharaohs were buried in the Valley of the Kings in Thebes. More information can be found on the Theban Mapping Project website, several diplomatic marriages are known for the New Kingdom. These daughters of kings are often only mentioned in cuneiform texts and are not known from other sources. The marriages were likely a way to confirm good relations between these states, Dynasty XVIII was founded by Ahmose I, the brother or son of Kamose, the last ruler of the Dynasty XVII. Ahmose finished the campaign to expel the Hyksos rulers and his reign is seen as the end of the Second Intermediate Period and the start of the New Kingdom. Ahmose was succeeded by his son, Amenhotep I, whose reign was relatively uneventful, Amenhotep I probably left no male heir and the next pharaoh, Thutmose I, seems to have been related to the royal family through marriage. During his reign the borders of Egypts empire reached their greatest expanse, extending in the north to Carchemish on the Euphrates, Thutmose I was succeeded by Thutmose II and his queen, Hatshepsut. Thutmose III who later became known as the greatest military pharaoh ever and he had a second co-regency in his old age with his son Amenhotep II. Amenhotep II was succeeded by Thutmose IV, who in his turn was followed by his son Amenhotep III, the reign of Amenhotep III is seen as a high point in this dynasty. Amenhotep III undertook large scale building programmes, the extent of which can only be compared with those of the much longer reign of Ramesses II during Dynasty XIX. Amenhotep III may have shared the throne for up to twelve years with his son Amenhotep IV, there is much debate about this proposed co-regency. Some experts believe there was a lengthy co-regency, while others prefer to see a short one, there are also many experts who believe no such co-regency existed at all
5.
Ay
–
Ay was the penultimate Pharaoh of Ancient Egypts 18th dynasty. Ays prenomen or royal name—Kheperkheperure—means Everlasting are the Manifestations of Ra while his birth name Ay it-netjer reads as Ay, Ay is usually believed to be a native Egyptian from Akhmim. During his short reign, he built a rock cut chapel in Akhmim and dedicated it to the deity there. He may have been the son of Yuya, who served as a member of the priesthood of Min at Akhmim as well as superintendent of herds in this city, and wife Tjuyu. If so, Ay could have been of partial non-Egyptian, perhaps Syrian, there are also noted similarities in the physical likenesses of monuments attributed to Ay and those of the mummy of Yuya, and both held similar names and titles. Other titles listed in this tomb include Fan-bearer on the Right Side of the King, Acting Scribe of the King, beloved by him, and Gods Father. The Fan-bearer on the Right Side of the King was an important position. The final Gods Father title is the one most associated with Ay, alternatively, it could also mean that he may have had a daughter that married the pharaoh Akhenaten, possibly being the father of Akhenatens chief wife Nefertiti. Ultimately there is no evidence to prove either hypothesis. The Great Hymn to the Aten is also found in his Amarna tomb which was built during his service under Akhenaten and it is likely that this was required by Akhenaten, though not evidence that Ay agreed with Akhenatens decision to promote the Aten above all other gods. It suggests that he did believe in Akhenatens religious revolution and his wife Tey was born a commoner but was given the title Nurse of the Pharaohs Great Wife. In several Amarna tomb chapels there is a woman whose name begins with Mut who had the title Sister of the Pharaohs Great Wife. This could also be a daughter of Ays by his wife Tey, Ays reign was preceded by that of King Tutankhamun, who ascended to the throne at the age of eight or nine, at a time of great tension between the new monotheism and the old polytheism. He was assisted in his duties by his predecessors two closest advisors, Grand Vizier Ay and General of the Armies Horemheb. Egyptologist Bob Brier suggested that Ay murdered Tutankhamun in order to usurp the throne and he also alleged that Ankhesenamun and the Hittite Prince she was about to marry were also murdered at his orders. However, Brier has stated that the fragment in the skull is not relevant to the issue of whether Tutankhamun was murdered. The evidence Brier presents for the murder is a spot on the base of the skull. Dr. Gerald Irwin agrees with Brier on this point, Tutankhamun could very well have died from this, combined with the infection in his knee
6.
Ramesses I
–
Menpehtyre Ramesses I was the founding pharaoh of ancient Egypts 19th dynasty. The dates for his reign are not completely known but the time-line of late 1292–1290 BC is frequently cited as well as 1295–1294 BC. Originally called Pa-ra-mes-su, Ramesses I was of non-royal birth, being born into a military family from the Nile delta region. He was a son of a commander called Seti. His uncle Khaemwaset, an officer, married Tamwadjesy, the matron of the Harem of Amun, who was a relative of Huy, the viceroy of Kush. This shows the status of Ramesses family. Ramesses I found favor with Horemheb, the last pharaoh of the tumultuous Eighteenth dynasty, upon his accession, Ramesses assumed a prenomen, or royal name, which is written in Egyptian hieroglyphs to the right. When transliterated, the name is mn-pḥty-r‘, which is interpreted as Menpehtyre. However, he is known by his nomen, or personal name. This is transliterated as r‘-ms-sw, and is realised as Ramessu or Ramesses. Already an old man when he was crowned, Ramesses appointed his son, Seti was charged with undertaking several military operations during this time– in particular, an attempt to recoup some of Egypts lost possessions in Syria. Ramesses appears to have charge of domestic matters, most memorably, he completed the second pylon at Karnak Temple. Jürgen von Beckerath observes that Ramesses I died just 5 months later—in June 1290 BC—since his son Seti I succeeded to power on III Shemu day 24. Ramesses Is only known action was to order the provision of endowments for the aforementioned Nubian temple at Buhen and the construction of a chapel, the aged Ramesses was buried in the Valley of the Kings. His tomb, discovered by Giovanni Belzoni in 1817 and designated KV16, is small in size, the red granite sarcophagus too was painted rather than carved with inscriptions which, due to their hasty preparation, included a number of unfortunate errors. Seti I, his son and successor, later built a chapel with fine reliefs in memory of his deceased father Ramesses I at Abydos. In 1911, John Pierpont Morgan donated several exquisite reliefs from this chapel to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, a mummy currently believed to be that of Ramesses I was stolen from Egypt and displayed in a Canadian museum for many years before being repatriated. Moreover, the arms were found crossed high across his chest which was a position reserved solely for Egyptian royalty until 600 BC
7.
Ancient Egyptian royal titulary
–
The royal titulary or royal protocol of an Egyptian pharaoh is the standard naming convention taken by the kings of Ancient Egypt. It symbolises worldly power and holy might and also acts as a sort of mission statement for the reign of a monarch. The full titulary, consisting of five names, did not come into standard usage until the Middle Kingdom, the Horus name is the oldest form of the pharaohs name, originating in the Predynastic Period. Many of the oldest-known Egyptian pharaohs were known only by this title, the Horus name was usually written in a serekh, a representation of a palace façade. The name of the pharaoh was written in hieroglyphs inside this representation of a palace, typically an image of the falcon God Horus was perched on top of or beside it. At least one Egyptian ruler, the 2nd dynasty Seth-Peribsen, used an image of the god Seth instead of Horus and he was succeeded by Khasekhemwy, who placed the symbols of both Seth and Horus above his name. Thereafter, the image of Horus always appeared alongside the name of the pharaoh, by the time of the New Kingdom the Horus name was often written without the enclosing serekh. The name is first definitively used by the First Dynasty pharaoh Semerkhet and this particular name was not typically framed by a cartouche or serekh, but always begins with the hieroglyphs of a vulture and cobra resting upon two baskets, the dual noun nebty. Also known as the Golden Horus Name, this form of the name typically featured the image of a Horus falcon perched above or beside the hieroglyph for gold. The meaning of this title has been disputed. One belief is that it represents the triumph of Horus over his uncle Seth, Gold also was strongly associated in the ancient Egyptian mind with eternity, so this may have been intended to convey the pharaohs eternal Horus name. Similar to the Nebty name, this particular name typically was not framed by a cartouche or serekh, the pharaohs throne name, the first of the two names written inside a cartouche, and usually accompanied the title nsw-bity. The term nsw-bity It has been suggested that the Berber term for strong man, the epithet neb tawy, Lord of the Two Lands, referring to valley and delta regions of Egypt, often occurs as well. This was the name given at birth and it was first introduced to the set of royal titles in the Fourth Dynasty and emphasizes the kings role as a representative of the solar god Ra. For women who became pharaoh, the title was interpreted as daughter also. Modern historians typically refer to the ancient kings of Egypt by this name, Middle Egyptian, An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs. The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt, Cairo, London, and New York, The American University in Cairo Press and Thames and Hudson. The Great Name, Ancient Egyptian Royal Titulary, Egyptian Grammar, Being an Introduction to the Study of Hieroglyphs
8.
Ra
–
Ra or Re is the ancient Egyptian sun god. By the Fifth Dynasty in the 25th and 24th centuries BC, he had become a god in ancient Egyptian religion. In later Egyptian dynastic times, Ra was merged with the god Horus and he was believed to rule in all parts of the created world, the sky, the earth, and the underworld. He was associated with the falcon or hawk, when in the New Kingdom the god Amun rose to prominence he was fused with Ra as Amun-Ra. During the Amarna Period, Akhenaten suppressed the cult of Ra in favor of another deity, the Aten, the deified solar disc. The cult of the Mnevis bull, an embodiment of Ra, had its center in Heliopolis, all forms of life were believed to have been created by Ra, who called each of them into existence by speaking their secret names. Alternatively man was created from Ras tears and sweat, hence the Egyptians call themselves the Cattle of Ra, in the myth of the Celestial Cow it is recounted how mankind plotted against Ra and how he sent his eye as the goddess Sekhmet to punish them. When she became bloodthirsty she was pacified by drinking beer mixed with red dye, to the Egyptians, the sun represented light, warmth, and growth. This made the sun deity very important, as the sun was seen as the ruler of all that he created, the sun disk was either seen as the body or eye of Ra. Ra was the father of Shu and Tefnut, whom he created, Shu was the god of the wind, and Tefnut was the goddess of the rain. Sekhmet was the Eye of Ra and was created by the fire in Ras eye, Ra was thought to travel on the Atet, two solar barks called the Mandjet or morning boat and the Mesektet or evening boat. These boats took him on his journey through the sky and the Duat, while Ra was on the Mesektet, he was in his ram-headed form. When Ra traveled in his sun boat, he was accompanied by other deities including Sia and Hu. Sometimes, members of the Ennead helped him on his journey, including Set, who overcame the serpent Apophis, and Mehen, when Ra was in the underworld, he would visit all of his various forms. Apophis, the god of chaos, was a serpent who attempted to stop the sun boats journey every night by consuming it or by stopping it in its tracks with a hypnotic stare. During the evening, the Egyptians believed that Ra set as Atum or in the form of a ram, the night boat would carry him through the underworld and back towards the east in preparation for his rebirth. When Ra was in the underworld, he merged with Osiris, the god of the dead, Ra was worshipped as the Creator god among some ancient Egyptians, specifically followers of his cult at Heliopolis. It was believed that Ra wept, and from his tears came man and these cult-followers believed that Ra was self-created, while followers of Ptah believed that Ra was created by Ptah
9.
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
10.
Amun
–
Amun was a major Ancient Egyptian deity. He was attested since the Old Kingdom together with his wife Amaunet, with the 11th dynasty, he rose to the position of patron deity of Thebes by replacing Monthu. After the rebellion of Thebes against the Hyksos and with the rule of Ahmose I, Amun acquired national importance, expressed in his fusion with the Sun god, Ra, Amun-Ra retained chief importance in the Egyptian pantheon throughout the New Kingdom. Amun-Ra in this period held the position of transcendental, self-created creator deity par excellence, he was the champion of the poor or troubled and his position as King of Gods developed to the point of virtual monotheism where other gods became manifestations of him. With Osiris, Amun-Ra is the most widely recorded of the Egyptian gods, as the chief deity of the Egyptian Empire, Amun-Ra also came to be worshipped outside of Egypt, according to the testimony of ancient Greek historiographers in Libya and Nubia. As Zeus Ammon he came to be identified with Zeus in Greece, Amun and Amaunet are mentioned in the Old Egyptian Pyramid Texts. The name Amun meant something like the one or invisible. Amun rose to the position of tutelary deity of Thebes after the end of the First Intermediate Period, as the patron of Thebes, his spouse was Mut. In Thebes, Amun as father, Mut as mother and the Moon god Khonsu formed a family or Theban Triad. The history of Amun as the god of Thebes begins in the 20th century BC. The city of Thebes does not appear to have been of great significance before the 11th dynasty, major construction work in the Precinct of Amun-Re took place during the 18th dynasty when Thebes became the capital of the unified ancient Egypt. Construction of the Hypostyle Hall may have begun during the 18th dynasty, though most building was undertaken under Seti I. Merenptah commemorated his victories over the Sea Peoples on the walls of the Cachette Court and this Great Inscription shows the kings campaigns and eventual return with booty and prisoners. Next to this inscription is the Victory Stela, which is largely a copy of the more famous Israel Stela found in the complex of Merenptah on the west bank of the Nile in Thebes. Merenptahs son Seti II added 2 small obelisks in front of the Second Pylon, and this was constructed of sandstone, with a chapel to Amun flanked by those of Mut and Khonsu. The last major change to the Precinct of Amun-Res layout was the addition of the first pylon, the local patron deity of Thebes, Amun, therefore became nationally important. The pharaohs of that new dynasty attributed all their enterprises to Amun. The victory accomplished by pharaohs who worshipped Amun against the rulers, brought him to be seen as a champion of the less fortunate
11.
Karnak
–
The Karnak Temple Complex, commonly known as Karnak, comprises a vast mix of decayed temples, chapels, pylons, and other buildings. Building at the complex began during the reign of Senusret I in the Middle Kingdom and continued into the Ptolemaic period, the area around Karnak was the ancient Egyptian Ipet-isut and the main place of worship of the eighteenth dynasty Theban Triad with the god Amun as its head. It is part of the city of Thebes. The Karnak complex gives its name to the nearby, and partly surrounded, the complex is a vast open-air museum, and the second largest ancient religious site in the world, after the Angkor Wat Temple of Cambodia. It is believed to be the second most visited site in Egypt. It consists of four parts, of which only the largest is currently open to the general public. The term Karnak often is understood as being the Precinct of Amun-Ra only, the three other parts, the Precinct of Mut, the Precinct of Montu, and the dismantled Temple of Amenhotep IV, are closed to the public. There also are a few temples and sanctuaries connecting the Precinct of Mut, the Precinct of Amun-Re. The Precinct of Mut is very ancient, being dedicated to an Earth and creation deity, the original temple was destroyed and partially restored by Hatshepsut, although another pharaoh built around it in order to change the focus or orientation of the sacred area. Many portions of it may have carried away for use in other buildings. The key difference between Karnak and most of the temples and sites in Egypt is the length of time over which it was developed and used. Construction of temples started in the Middle Kingdom and continued through to Ptolemaic times, approximately thirty pharaohs contributed to the buildings, enabling it to reach a size, complexity, and diversity not seen elsewhere. Few of the features of Karnak are unique, but the size. The deities represented range from some of the earliest worshiped to those worshiped much later in the history of the Ancient Egyptian culture and it also contains evidence of adaptations, using buildings of the Ancient Egyptians by later cultures for their own religious purposes. One famous aspect of Karnak is the Hypostyle Hall in the Precinct of Amun-Re,122 of these columns are 10 meters tall, and the other 12 are 21 meters tall with a diameter of over three meters. The architraves on top of columns are estimated to weigh 70 tons. These architraves may have been lifted to these heights using levers and this would be an extremely time-consuming process and also would require great balance to get to such great heights. A common alternative theory regarding how they were moved is that large ramps were constructed of sand, mud, brick or stone, if stone had been used for the ramps, they would have been able to use much less material
12.
Maat
–
Maat or Maat was the ancient Egyptian concept of truth, balance, order, harmony, law, morality, and justice. Maat was also personified as a goddess regulating the stars, seasons, cuneiform texts indicate that the word mˤ3t was pronounced /múʕʔa/ during the New Kingdom period, having lost the feminine ending t. Sound shifts from u to e later produced the cognate Coptic word ⲙⲉⲉ/ⲙⲉ truth, later, as a goddess in other traditions of the Egyptian pantheon, where most goddesses were paired with a male aspect, her masculine counterpart was Thoth, as their attributes are similar. In other accounts, Thoth was paired off with Seshat, goddess of writing and measure and her feather was the measure that determined whether the souls of the departed would reach the paradise of afterlife successfully. Pharaohs are often depicted with the emblems of Maat to emphasise their role in upholding the laws of the Creator, Maat represents the ethical and moral principle that every Egyptian citizen was expected to follow throughout their daily lives. They were expected to act with honor and truth in manners that involve family, the community, the nation, the environment, Maat as a principle was formed to meet the complex needs of the emergent Egyptian state that embraced diverse peoples with conflicting interests. The development of such rules sought to avert chaos and it became the basis of Egyptian law, from an early period the King would describe himself as the Lord of Maat who decreed with his mouth the Maat he conceived in his heart. The ancient Egyptians had a conviction of an underlying holiness. Cosmic harmony was achieved by public and ritual life. Any disturbance in cosmic harmony could have consequences for the individual as well as the state, an impious King could bring about famine or blasphemy blindness to an individual. In opposition to the order expressed in the concept of Maat is the concept of Isfet, chaos, lies. In one Middle Kingdom text the Creator declares I made every man like his fellow, a passage in the Instruction of Ptahhotep presents Maat as follows, Maat is good and its worth is lasting. It has not been disturbed since the day of its creator and it lies as a path in front even of him who knows nothing. Wrongdoing has never yet brought its venture to port and it is true that evil may gain wealth but the strength of truth is that it lasts, a man can say, It was the property of my father. There is little surviving literature that describes the practice of ancient Egyptian law, Maat was the spirit in which justice was applied rather than the detailed legalistic exposition of rules. Maat represented the normal and basic values that formed the backdrop for the application of justice that had to be carried out in the spirit of truth and fairness. From the 5th dynasty onwards the Vizier responsible for justice was called the Priest of Maat, later scholars and philosophers also would embody concepts from the wisdom literature, or Sebayt. These spiritual texts dealt with social or professional situations and how each was best to be resolved or addressed in the spirit of Maat
13.
Amenia (wife of Horemheb)
–
Amenia was an Egyptian noble and queen as well as the first wife of Horemheb, the last ruler of the Eighteenth Dynasty. Very little is known about her, and she seems to have died during the reign of Ay or early during the reign of Tutankhamun, Amenia was buried in the Memphite tomb of Horemheb in the upper suite in shaft IV, alongside his second wife Mutnedjmet. This leads many to understand that Amenia was thought of as Royalty, Amenia was represented in the tomb in both inscriptions and statues. She was possibly depicted in a scene in the courtyard of the tomb. She was shown in statues with Horemheb found in two of the chapels of the tomb, columns in the Second Courtyard show her name Amenia and show her to be a Chantress of Amun. In 2009 it was discovered that a hitherto unidentified double statue in the British Museum was in fact a statue of Horemheb, the statue was acquired by the British Museum in 1837 from the Anastasi collection. The double statue is different from other statues in that the wife is shown holding her husbands hand with both of hers. The three clasped hands had broken off, in 1976 the three clasped hands were found during the excavation of Horemhebs tomb
14.
Mutnedjmet
–
For other Egyptian ladies called Mutnedjmet see Mutnedjmet Mutnedjmet an Ancient Egyptian queen, the Great Royal Wife of Horemheb, the last ruler of the Eighteenth Dynasty. The name, Mutnedjmet, translates as, The sweet Mut and this identification was partially based on the fact that Mutbenrets name used to be read as Mutnedjmet. Other Egyptologist such as Geoffrey Martin note that there is no evidence to prove this assertion. In any case whatever her antecedents Mutnodjmet could have married to Horemheb a little before he became Pharaoh. Mutnedjmet is known from several object and inscriptions, A double statue of Horemheb and Mutnedjmet was found in Karnak, on Mutnedjmets side of the throne she is depicted as a winged sphinx who adores her own cartouche. As Sphinx she is depicted wearing a flat topped crown topped with plant elements associated with the goddess Tefnut, the back of the statue records Horemhebs rise to power. Horemheb and Mutnodjemet are depicted in the tomb of Roy in Dra Abu el-Naga, the Royal couple are shown in an offering scene. One of the statues in Karnak was made for Horemheb. The statue was later usurped and reinscribed for Ramesses II and Nefertari, Mutnedjmet usurped several inscriptions of Ankhesenamun in Luxor. Statues and other items including alabaster fragments naming Mutnodjemet were found in Horemhebs Saqqara tomb, the mummy was found in King Horemhebs unused Memphite tomb along with the mummy of a still-born, premature infant. She appears to have buried in the Memphite tomb of Horemheb. Mutnedjmets mummy shows she had given several times, but the last King of the 18th dynasty did not have a living heir at the time of his demise. It has been suggested that she had a daughter who was not mentioned on any monuments. The presence of the infant along with Mutnedjmet in the tomb suggests that this queen died in childbirth, a canopic jar of the Queen is now located in the British Museum. It is possible that the tomb QV33 in the Valley of the Queens was originally built for her. The tomb is known as the tomb of an otherwise unknown Tanedjmet, the South African artist Winifred Brunton painted a portrait of this queen during the 1920s. In Michelle Morans novel, Nefertiti, A Novel, Mutnedjmet is the character as the younger sister of Queen Nefertiti. She is also referenced in Morans second novel, The Heretic Queen, as the mother of the character, Princess
15.
KV57
–
Tomb KV57 is an ancient Egyptian tomb. Located in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt, it was used for the burial of Horemheb, the tomb was located by Edward Ayrton in February 1908, who was working for Theodore Davis. Due to its location in the floor, the tomb was filled with debris that had been washed down in the occasional flash-flooding. The tomb is markedly different from the other major Eighteenth dynasty royal tombs and it does away with the dog-legged construction, and has painted bas-reliefs, rather than simple painted walls. Passages from the Book of Gates appear for the first time, the decoration was not completed through this kings fourteen years rule. The sarcophagus of the king was constructed from carved, red quartzite, in it were contained bones and remains from several burials, none of them conclusively from Horemheb. The Tombs of Harmhabi and Touatânkhamanou, ISBN 0-7156-3072-5 Reeves, N & Wilkinson, R. H. The Complete Valley of the Kings,1996, Thames and Hudson, London, guide to the Valley of the Kings and to the Theban Necropolises and Temples,1996, A. A. Theban Mapping Project, KV57 - Includes detailed maps of the tomb
16.
Tutankhamun
–
Tutankhamun was an Egyptian pharaoh of the 18th dynasty, during the period of Egyptian history known as the New Kingdom or sometimes the New Empire Period. He has, since his discovery, been referred to as King Tut. His original name, Tutankhaten, means Living Image of Aten, in hieroglyphs, the name Tutankhamun was typically written Amen-tut-ankh, because of a scribal custom that placed a divine name at the beginning of a phrase to show appropriate reverence. The 1922 discovery by Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon of Tutankhamuns nearly intact tomb received worldwide press coverage and it sparked a renewed public interest in ancient Egypt, for which Tutankhamuns mask, now in the Egyptian Museum, remains the popular symbol. Exhibits of artifacts from his tomb have toured the world, in February 2010, the results of DNA tests confirmed that he was the son of Akhenaten. His mother was Akhenatens sister and wife, whose name is unknown, the mysterious deaths of a few of those who excavated Tutankhamuns tomb has been popularly attributed to the curse of the pharaohs. Tutankhamun was the son of Akhenaten and one of Akhenatens sisters, as a prince, he was known as Tutankhaten. He ascended to the throne in 1333 BC, at the age of nine or ten and his wet nurse was a woman called Maia, known from her tomb at Saqqara. His teacher was most likely Sennedjem, when he became king, he married his half-sister, Ankhesenpaaten, who later changed her name to Ankhesenamun. They had two daughters, both stillborn, computed tomography studies released in 2011 revealed that one daughter died at 5–6 months of pregnancy and the other at 9 months of pregnancy. No evidence was found in either mummy of congenital anomalies or an apparent cause of death, given his age, the king probably had very powerful advisers, presumably including General Horemheb and Grand Vizier Ay. Horemheb records that the king appointed him lord of the land as hereditary prince to maintain law and he also noted his ability to calm the young king when his temper flared. In his third year, under the influence of his advisors. He ended the worship of the god Aten and restored the god Amun to supremacy, the ban on the cult of Amun was lifted and traditional privileges were restored to its priesthood. The capital was moved back to Thebes and the city of Akhetaten abandoned and this is when he changed his name to Tutankhamun, Living image of Amun, reinforcing the restoration of Amun. As part of his restoration, the king initiated building projects, in particular at Karnak in Thebes, many monuments were erected, and an inscription on his tomb door declares the king had spent his life in fashioning the images of the gods. The traditional festivals were now celebrated again, including those related to the Apis Bull, Horemakhet and his restoration stela says, The temples of the gods and goddesses. Their shrines were deserted and overgrown and their sanctuaries were as non-existent and their courts were used as roads
17.
Amarna
–
The name for the city employed by the ancient Egyptians is written as Akhetaten in English transliteration. Akhetaten means Horizon of the Aten, the city of Deir Mawas lies directly west across from the site of Amarna. Amarna, on the east side, includes several villages, chief of which are el-Till in the north. The area was occupied during later Roman and early Christian times. The name Amarna comes from the Beni Amran tribe that lived in the region, the ancient Egyptian name was Akhetaten. It may be that the Royal Wadis resemblance to the hieroglyph for horizon showed that this was the place to found the city, the city was built as the new capital of the Pharaoh Akhenaten, dedicated to his new religion of worship to the Aten. Construction started in or around Year 5 of his reign and was completed by Year 9. To speed up construction of the city most of the buildings were constructed out of mud-brick, the most important buildings were faced with local stone. Once it was abandoned it remained uninhabited until Roman settlement began along the edge of the Nile, however, due to the unique circumstances of its creation and abandonment, it is questionable how representative of ancient Egyptian cities it actually is. The entire city was encircled with a total of 14 boundary stelae detailing Akhenatens conditions for the establishment of new capital city of Egypt. The earliest dated stele from Akhenatens new city is known to be Boundary stele K which is dated to Year 5, IV Peret and it preserves an account of Akhenatens foundation of this city. Located on the east bank of the Nile, the ruins of the city are laid out north to south along a Royal Road. The Royal residences are generally to the north, in what is known as the North City, with an administration and religious area. If one approached the city of Amarna from the north by river the first buildings past the boundary stele would be the North Riverside Palace. This building ran all the way up to the waterfront and was likely the residence of the Royal Family. Located within the North City area is the Northern Palace, the residence of the Royal Family. Between this and the city, the Northern Suburb was initially a prosperous area with large houses. Most of the important ceremonial and administrative buildings were located in the central city, located behind the Royal Residence was the Bureau of Correspondence of Pharaoh, where the Amarna Letters were found
18.
Akhenaten
–
Akhenaten known before the fifth year of his reign as Amenhotep IV, was an Ancient Egyptian pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty who ruled for 17 years and died perhaps in 1336 BC or 1334 BC. An early inscription likens the Aten to the sun as compared to stars, Akhenaten tried to bring about a departure from traditional religion, yet in the end it would not be accepted. After his death, his monuments were dismantled and hidden, his statues were terminated and he was all but lost from history until the discovery during the 19th century of the site of Akhetaten, the city he built and designed for the worship of Aten, at Amarna. DNA analysis has determined that the man buried in KV55 is the father of King Tutankhamun, the future Akhenaten was a younger son of Amenhotep III and Chief Queen Tiye. The eldest son Crown Prince Thutmose was recognized as the heir of Amenhotep III but he died relatively young, there is much controversy around whether Amenhotep IV succeeded to the throne on the death of his father Amenhotep III or whether there was a coregency. Other literature by Donald Redford, William Murnane, Alan Gardiner, in February 2014, the Egyptian Ministry for Antiquities announced what it called conclusive evidence that Akhenaten shared power with his father for at least 8 years. The evidence came from the found in the Luxor tomb of Vizier Amenhotep-Huy. A team of Spanish archeologists have been working at this tomb, Amenhotep IV was crowned in Thebes and there he started a building program. He decorated the entrance to the precincts of the temple of Amun-Re with scenes of his worshiping Re-Harakhti. He soon decreed the construction of a dedicated to the Aten in Eastern Karnak. This Temple of Amenhotep IV was called the Gempaaten, the Gempaaten consisted of a series of buildings, including a palace and a structure called the Hwt Benben which was dedicated to Queen Nefertiti. Other Aten temples constructed at Karnak during this time include the Rud-menu, during this time he did not repress the worship of Amun, and the High Priest of Amun was still active in the fourth year of his reign. The king appears as Amenhotep IV in the tombs of some of the nobles in Thebes, Kheruef, Ramose, in the tomb of Ramose, Amenhotep IV appears on the west wall in the traditional style, seated on a throne with Ramose appearing before the king. On the other side of the doorway, Amenhotep IV and Nefertiti are shown in the window of appearance with the Aten depicted as the sun disc. In the Theban tomb of Parennefer, Amenhotep IV and Nefertiti are seated on a throne with the sun disk depicted over the king, among the latter-known documents referring to Amenhotep IV are two copies of a letter from the Steward Of Memphis Apy to the pharaoh. The documents were found in Gurob and are dated to regnal year 5, third month of the Growing Season, on day 13, Month 8, in the fifth year of his reign, the king arrived at the site of the new city Akhetaten. A month before that Amenhotep IV had officially changed his name to Akhenaten, Amenhotep IV changed most of his 5 fold titulary in year 5 of his reign. The only name he kept was his prenomen or throne name of Neferkheperure, some recent debate has focused on the extent to which Akhenaten forced his religious reforms on his people
19.
Heracleopolis Magna
–
Heracleopolis Magna or Heracleopolis is the Roman name of the capital of the 20th nome of ancient Upper Egypt. The site is located approximately 15 km west of the city of Beni Suef. In Ancient Egypt, Heracleopolis Magna was known in Egyptian as the House of the Royal Child, the Greek name meant City of Hercules, with the epithet great being added to distinguish it from other towns with that name. The Greek form became more common under the Macedonian Ptolemid dynasty, the Romans used a latinized form of the Greek name but the town was by then known locally as Ehnasya. This later developed into Hnas and Ahnas, the site is now known in Egyptian Arabic as Ihnasiya Umm al-Kimam and as Ihnasiyyah al-Madinah. Herakleopolis first came to prominence and reached its apogee of power during the First Intermediate Period, eventually after the collapse of the Old Kingdom, Egypt was divided into Upper and Lower Egypt. Herakleopolis became the city of Lower Egypt and was able to exercise its control over much of the region. During this period, Herakleopolis often found itself in conflict with the de facto capital of Upper Egypt, ancient Thebes. Between the latter part of the First Intermediate Period and the early Middle Kingdom, the city became religious center of the cult of Heryshef, Heracleopolis Magna and its dynasty was defeated by Mentuhotep II in ca. 2055-2004 B. C. which ushered in the Middle Kingdom period, by the time of the Third Intermediate Period, Herakleopolis again rose in importance. There were many renovations and new constructions of the temple and mortuary centers that existed in the city, by the Ptolemaic period of Egypt, Herakleopolis was still an important religious and cultural center in Egypt. The site of Herakleopolis was occupied even into Roman times, near the Necropolis of Sedmet el-Gebel, houses dating to this period were found, which in and of itself implies a continued occupation of the area. The first person to undertake an excavation at Herakleopolis was the Swiss Egyptologist Edouard Naville. After excavating what he believed to be the entirety of the Temple of Heryshef, Naville came to the conclusion that he had found all that Herakleopolis had to offer. His friend Sir Flinders Petrie, on the hand, “. in 1879 suspected that the region already cleared was only a part of the temple, ”. Petrie discovered a great deal that Naville had not believed existed and he completed the excavation of the temple of Heryshef, and attempted to find other remains in an area around the temple. In so doing, he succeeded in discovering such previously unknown features as house remains from the Roman period of occupation and he also identified another temple that he attributed to the 19th Dynasty, as well as the aforementioned additions to the Temple of Heryshef associated with Ramses the Great. Other than archaeological features, the artefacts found by Petrie during his excavation are numerous, relating specifically to artefacts found at the end of the First Intermediate Period and the beginning of the Middle Kingdom, Petrie uncovered numerous pot sherds he associated with the 11th Dynasty
20.
Faiyum
–
Faiyum is a city in Middle Egypt. Located 100 kilometres southwest of Cairo, in the Faiyum Oasis, originally called Shedet in Ancient Egypt, the Greeks called it Crocodilopolis or Krocodilopolis, the Romans Arsinoë. It is one of Egypts oldest cities due to its strategic location and its name in English is also spelled as Fayum, Faiyum or El Faiyūm. Faiyum was previously officially named Madīnet El Faiyūm, the name Faiyum may also refer to the Faiyum Oasis, although it is commonly used by Egyptians today to refer to the city. Archaeological evidence has found occupations around the Fayum dating back to at least the Epipalaeolithic period, recently the area has been further investigated by a team from the UCLA/RUG/UOA Fayum Project. In the Pharaonic era, the city now called Medinet el Fayum was called Shedet and it was the most significant centre of the cult of Sobek, the crocodile-god. In consequence, the Greeks named it Crocodilopolis, Crocodile City, the city worshipped a tamed sacred crocodile, named Petsuchos, that was adorned with gold and gem pendants. The crocodile lived in a temple pond and was fed by the priests with food provided by visitors. When the Petsuchos died, it was replaced by another, under the Ptolemies, the city was for a while called Ptolemais Euergetis. Ptolemy II Philadelphus rechristened the city Arsinoë and the whole nome after the name of his sister and wife Arsinoë, under the Roman Empire, Arsinoe became part of the province of Arcadia Aegypti. To distinguish it from other cities of the name, it was called Arsinoë in Arcadia. With the arrival of Christianity, Arsinoe became the seat of a bishopric, a suffragan of the Oxyrhynchus, the capital of the province, lequien gives the names of several bishops of Arsinoe, nearly all of them associated with one heresy or another. The Catholic Church, considering Arsinoë in Arcadia to be no longer a residential bishopric, Faiyum has several large bazaars, mosques, baths and a much-frequented weekly market. The canal called Bahr Yussef runs through the city, its banks lined with houses, mounds north of the city mark the site of Arsinoe, known to the ancient Greeks as Crocodilopolis, where in ancient times the sacred crocodile kept in Lake Moeris was worshipped. The center of the city is on the canal, with four waterwheels that were adopted by the governorate of Fayoum as its symbol, their chariots, Faiyum is the source of some famous death masks or mummy portraits painted during the Roman occupation of the area. The Egyptians continued their practice of burying their dead, despite the Roman preference for cremation, while under the control of the Roman Empire, Egyptian death masks were painted on wood in a pigmented wax technique called encaustic—the Faiyum mummy portraits represent this technique. Modern Studies conclude that the Faiyum portraits represent Greek settlers in Egypt, victor J. Katz notes that most modern studies conclude that the Greek & Egyptian communities coexisted with little mutual influence. Anthony Lowsted has written extensively on the scope of Apartheid that separated the 2 communities during the Hellenistic and it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site
21.
Aten
–
Aten is the disk of the sun in ancient Egyptian mythology, and originally an aspect of the god Ra. The deified Aten is the focus of the religion of Atenism established by Amenhotep IV, in his poem Great Hymn to the Aten, Akhenaten praises Aten as the creator, giver of life, and nurturing spirit of the world. Aten does not have a Creation Myth or family, but is mentioned in the Book of the Dead, the worship of Aten was eradicated by Horemheb. By analogy, the term silver aten was sometimes used to refer to the moon, the solar Aten was extensively worshipped as a god in the reign of Amenhotep III, when it was depicted as a falcon-headed man much like Ra. The full title of Akhenatens god was Ra-Horakhty who rejoices in the horizon, the god is also considered to be both masculine and feminine simultaneously. All creation was thought to emanate from the god and to exist within the god, in particular, the god was not depicted in anthropomorphic form, but as rays of light extending from the suns disk. Furthermore, the name came to be written within a cartouche, along with the titles normally given to a Pharaoh. Ra-Horus, more usually referred to as Ra-Horakhty, is a synthesis of two gods, both of which are attested from very early on. During the Amarna period, this synthesis was seen as the source of energy of the sun god, of which the visible manifestation was the Aten. Thus Ra-Horus-Aten was a development of old ideas which came gradually, the real change, as some see it, was the apparent abandonment of all other gods, especially Amun-Ra, prohibition of idolatry, and the debatable introduction of quasi-monotheism by Akhenaten. The syncretism is readily apparent in the Great Hymn to the Aten in which Re-Herakhty, Shu, others see Akhenaten as a practitioner of an Aten monolatry, as he did not actively deny the existence of other gods, he simply refrained from worshipping any but the Aten. Other scholars call the religion henotheistic, principles of Atens religion were recorded on the rock tomb walls of Akhetaten. In the religion of Aten, night is a time to fear, work is done best when the sun, Aten, is present. Aten cares for every creature, and created a Nile river in the sky for the Syrians, Aten created all countries and people. The rays of the sun disk only holds out life to the family, everyone else receives life from Akhenaten. When a good person dies, he/she continues to live in the City of Light for the dead in Akhetaten, the conditions are the same after death. Akhenaten judged whether someone should be granted an afterlife, and operated the scale of justice, the explanation as to why Aten could not be fully represented was that the god has gone beyond creation. The cult centre of Aten was at the new city Akhetaten, some other cities include Thebes
22.
Iry-pat
–
Iry-pat was an Ancient Egyptian ranking title, that is a title announcing a high position in the hierarchy of the country. Iry-pat was indeed the highest ranking title at the royal court, the title is already attested in the First Dynasty, one of the first holders was Merka, official under king Qaa. In the New Kingdom, the title was often the crown prince and it is therefore sometimes translated as Hereditary or Crown Prince
23.
Maya (treasurer)
–
Maya was an important figure during the reign of Pharaohs Tutankhamun, Ay and Horemheb of the eighteenth dynasty of Ancient Egypt. Mayas titles include, fan bearer on the Kings right hand, overseer of the treasury, chief of the works in the necropolis, Maya was the son of a magistrate named Iuy and his wife Weret. He had a half-brother named Nahuher who is shown officiating in his tomb in Saqqara, Maya was married to a lady named Meryt, and they had two daughters named Mayamenti and Tjauenmaya. The early years of Mayas life and career are not well known and it is possible that Maya started his career during the reign of Amenhotep III. He may be the person as a royal scribe named Maya who is attested in Malkata in year 34. He may also be the person as a courtier named May known from a tomb in Amarna during the reign of Akhenaten. The May from Amarna shares some of the titles with Maya, Maya is well known from the reign of Tutankhamen however. It is possible that he left a hand written text in the tomb of Thutmose IV stating that he had been charged with the restoration of the burial of the king. Maya would have reported to the vizier of Lower Egypt, who was based in Memphis, Maya collected taxes and performed other services for these pharaohs, including supervising the preparation of their tombs. Maya contributed an Ushabti to the furnishings for King Tutankhamen. He also presented the king with a figure of the King in the guise of the god Osiris, both items were inscribed and recorded that Maya was the donor of the statues. Maya is known to have lived until at least year 8 of Horemheb when an inscription mentions he was charged with tax collection for the entire country and he is also depicted in TT50, the tomb of a divine father of Amun named Neferhotep. Maya is depicted between King Horemheb and the viziers showing his close relation to the king, Mayas own tomb at Saqqara was initially partly excavated in 1843 by the archaeologist Karl Richard Lepsius, and its impressive reliefs were recorded in sketches and some of them brought to Berlin. Over time, however, the tomb was covered by sand, as Martin states, We were in total darkness for about 15 minutes. Suddenly we glimpsed wonderful reliefs and were extremely startled to find ourselves in the antechamber leading to a burial chamber. My colleague looked across at a wall and said, My God. The first full work on Mayas burial in early 1987 indicated that his tomb is a slightly smaller. An open courtyard has a collanade on its west side and doors leading to three vaulted ceilings, an inner courtyard has been found to contain reliefs of very fine quality and a statue of Maya and his wife. The underground burial chambers were paved with limestone and decorated with reliefs showing Maya, the statues of Maya and his wife Merit have been put on display in the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden, Netherlands since 1823
24.
Ankhesenamun
–
Ankhesenamun was a queen of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt. Born as Ankhesenpaaten, she was the third of six daughters of the Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaten and his Great Royal Wife Nefertiti. The change in her name reflects the changes in Ancient Egyptian religion during her lifetime after her fathers death and her youth is well documented in the ancient reliefs and paintings of the reign of her parents. Tutankhamun and Ankhesenamun shared the same father but Tutankhamuns mother has recently established by genetic evidence as one of Akhenatens sisters. She was most likely born in year 4 of Akhenatens reign and he possibly made his wife his co-regent and had his family portrayed in a realistic style in all official artwork. Ankhesenamun was definitely married to one king, she was the Great Royal Wife of Pharaoh Tutankhamun and it is also possible that she was briefly married to Tutankhamuns successor, Ay, believed by some to be her maternal grandfather. It has also been posited that she may have been the Great Royal Wife of her father, Akhenaten, after the death of her mother. Recent DNA tests released in February 2010 have also speculated that one of two late 18th dynasty queens buried in KV21 could be her mummy, both mummies are thought, because of DNA, to be members of the ruling house. Ankhesenpaaten was born in a time when Egypt was in the midst of a religious revolution. Her father had abandoned the old deities of Egypt in favor of the Aten, hitherto a minor aspect of the sun-god and she is believed to have been born in Waset, but probably grew up in her fathers new capital city of Akhetaten. The three eldest daughters – Meritaten, Meketaten, and Ankhesenpaaten – became the Senior Princesses and participated in many functions of the government and she is believed to have been married first to her own father. This was not unusual for Egyptian royal families and she is thought to have been the mother of the princess Ankhesenpaaten Tasherit when she was twelve, although the parentage is unclear. After her fathers death and the reigns of Smenkhkare and Neferneferuaten. Following their marriage, the couple honored the deities of the religion by changing their names to Tutankhamun and Ankhesenamun. The couple appear to have had two stillborn daughters, as Tutankhamuns only known wife was Ankhesenamun, it is highly likely the fetuses found in Tutankhamuns tomb are her daughters. Some time in the year of his reign, at about the age of eighteen, Tutankhamun died suddenly. A ring discovered is thought to show that Ankhesenamun married Ay shortly before she disappeared from history, on the walls of Ays tomb it is Tey, not Ankhesenamun, who appears as queen. She probably died during or shortly after his reign and no burial has been found for her yet, a document was found in the ancient Hittite capital of Hattusa which dates to the Amarna period, the so-called Deeds of Suppiluliuma I
25.
WV23
–
Tomb WV23, located at the end of the Western Valley of the Kings near modern-day Luxor, was the final resting place of Pharaoh Ay of the 18th Dynasty. This leads to the chamber, which currently contains the reconstructed sarcophagus. It had originally been found smashed into numerous fragments, the tomb had also been desecrated in history with many depictions of Ays image or name erased from the tomb wall paintings. Its decoration is similar in content and colour to that of Tutankhamun, on the eastern wall there is a depiction of a fishing and fowling scene, which is not shown elsewhere in other Royal tombs, being normally shown in burials of nobility. The tomb is well known for its scenes of a hippopotamus hunt. The Complete Valley of the Kings,1996, Thames and Hudson, London, guide to the Valley of the Kings and to the Theban Necropolises and Temples,1996, A. A. Theban Mapping Project, KV23 - Includes detailed information about tomb
26.
Medinet Habu (temple)
–
The Mortuary Temple of Ramesses III at Medinet Habu is an important New Kingdom period structure in the West Bank of Luxor in Egypt. As for much of ancient Egypt, the first European to describe the temple in modern literature was Vivant Denon, champollion described the temple in detail in 1829. Initial excavation of the temple took place sporadically between 1859 and 1899, under the auspices of the Department of Antiquities, the temple, some 150 m long, is of orthodox design, and resembles closely the nearby mortuary temple of Ramesses II. The temple precinct measures approximately 210 m. by 300 m and its walls are relatively well preserved and it is surrounded by a massive mudbrick enclosure, which may have been fortified. The original entrance is through a fortified gate-house, known as a migdol, just inside the enclosure, to the south, are chapels of Amenirdis I, Shepenupet II and Nitiqret, all of whom had the title of Divine Adoratrice of Amun. The first pylon leads into a courtyard, lined with colossal statues of Ramesses III as Osiris on one side. The second pylon leads into a hall, again featuring columns in the shape of Ramesses. This leads up a ramp leads to the third pylon. Reliefs and actual heads of foreign captives were also placed within the temple perhaps in an attempt to symbolise the kings control over Syria and Nubia. In Coptic times, there was a church inside the temple structure, some of the carvings in the main wall of the temple have been altered by coptic carvings. The Royal Palace was directly connected with the first courtyard of the Temple via the Window of Appearances, the Medinet Habu king list is a procession celebrating the festival of Min, with the names of nine pharaohs. It can be found on the register of the eastern wall in the second courtyard. William J. Murnane, United with Eternity – A Concise Guide to the Monuments of Medinet Habu, Oriental Institute, University of Chicago, F. Edgerton, Medinet Habu Graffiti Facsimiles Uvo Hölscher, Medinet Habu 1924-1928. II The Architectural Survey of the Great Temple and Palace of Medinet Habu, Chicago, University of Chicago Press,1929
27.
Museo Egizio
–
The Museo Egizio is an archaeological museum in Turin, Italy, specialising in Egyptian archaeology and anthropology. It houses one of the largest collections of Egyptian antiquities with more than 30,000 artefacts, in 2015 it received about 772,900 visitors. This exotic piece spurred King Charles Emmanuel III to commission botanist Vitaliano Donati to travel to Egypt in 1753, Donati returned with 300 pieces recovered from Karnak and Coptos, which became the nucleus of the Turin collection. In 1824, King Charles Felix acquired the material from the Drovetti collection, in the same year, Jean-François Champollion used the huge Turin collection of papyri to test his breakthroughs in deciphering the hieroglyphic writing. In 1950 a parapsychologist was contacted to pinpoint them, to no avail, in 1833, the collection of Piedmontese Giuseppe Sossio was added to the Egyptian Museum. The collection was complemented and completed by the finds of Egyptologist Ernesto Schiaparelli and its last major acquisition was the small temple of Ellesiya, which the Egyptian government presented to Italy for her assistance during the Nubian monument salvage campaign in the 1960s. Through all these years, the Egyptian collection has always been in Turin, in the designed for the purpose of housing it. Only during the Second World War was some of the moved to the town of Agliè. The museum became an experiment of the Italian government in privatization of the nations museums when the Fondazione Museo delle Antichità Egizie was officially established at the end of 2004, on April 1,2015 a new layout of the museum was opened. Items of interest include, Assemblea dei Re a term indicating a collection of statues representing all the kings of the New Kingdom. Temple of Tuthmosi III Sarcophagi, mummies and books of the dead originally belonging to the Drovetti collection, mensa Isiaca Tomba Dipinta usually closed to the public. The Turin King List The Egyptian Museum owns three different versions of the Egyptian Book of the Dead, including the most ancient copy known. An integral illustrated version and the copy of the First Royal Architect Kha. On more than one occasion the director of the Museum was asked to remove the two copies of the book on display and stock them in a deep and dark basement, at the time of writing, none of these requests appears to have been put into practice. In the film The Italian Job the entrance hall of the Museo Egizio is the place where the tow the security van in order to transfer the bullion to the three getaway Minis. Egyptian Museum Grand Egyptian Museum Egyptian Museum of Berlin List of museums of Egyptian antiquities Wolfgang Kosack, papyruskodex 63000. IV im Museo Egizio di Torino. Einleitung, Textbearbeitung und Übersetzung herausgegeben von Wolfgang Kosack, in Parallelzeilen ediert, kommentiert und übersetzt von Wolfgang Kosack
28.
Upper and Lower Egypt
–
Upper and Lower Egypt also referred to as The Two Lands is a name used for Ancient Egypt. The concept appears in titles of Egyptian Kings and Queens and appears in scenes in temple, tombs, the concept also refers to an innate sense of duality in the Ancient Egyptian culture. The Egyptian expression sema-tawy is usually translated as The Uniter of the Two Lands and was depicted as a human trachea entwined with the papyrus, the trachea stood for unification, while the papyrus and lily plant represent Lower and Upper Egypt. Standard titles of a King of Egypt was King of Upper and Lower Egypt, similarly a Queen might use titles such as Lady of The Two Lands, Mistress of the Entire Two Lands, and Mistress of the Two Lands. Ancient Egypt was divided into two regions, namely Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt, to the north was Lower Egypt, where the Nile stretched out with its several branches to form the Nile Delta. To the south was Upper Egypt, stretching to Syene, Lower Egypt mostly consists of the Nile Delta. The two kingdoms of Upper and Lower Egypt were united c.3000 BC, but each maintained its own regalia, the hedjet or White Crown for Upper Egypt and the deshret or Red Crown for Lower Egypt. Thus, the pharaohs were known as the rulers of the Two Lands, and wore the pschent, Ancient Egyptian tradition credited Menes, now believed to be the same as Narmer, as the king who united Upper and Lower Egypt. On the Narmer Palette the king is depicted wearing the Red Crown in one scene and the White crown in another, the union of Upper and Lower Egypt is depicted by knotted papyrus and reed plants. The binding motif represents both harmony through linkage and domination through containment, the duality is an important part of royal iconography. Sometimes the duality is further extended by having the knotted plants extend and bind foreign foes as well, during the first dynasty dualistic royal titles emerge, including the King of Upper and Lower Egypt title which combines the plant representing Upper Egypt and a bee representing Lower Egypt. The other dualistic title is the Two Ladies name or Nebty name, the two ladies as Nekhbet, the vulture goddess associated with Hierakonpolis in Upper Egypt, and Wadjet, the cobra goddess associated with Buto in Lower Egypt. There are many depictions of the ritual unifications of the Two Lands and it is not known if this was perhaps a rite that would have been enacted at the beginning of a reign, or merely a symbolic representation. Many of the depictions of the show two gods binding the plants. Often the gods are Horus and Set, or on occasion Horus, there are several examples of Barque stands from the reigns of Amenhotep III, Taharqa, and Atlanersa that show two river gods performing the rite. This matches a scene from the Temple at Abu Simbel from the time of Ramesses II, there are only a handful of scenes that show the King himself performing the ritual. All of these are from barque stands and date to the reigns of Amenhotep III, Sety I, the latter two may be copies of the first one. Upper Egypt Lower Egypt Narmer History of ancient Egypt
29.
Vizier (Ancient Egypt)
–
The vizier was the highest official in Ancient Egypt to serve the pharaoh during the Old, Middle, and New Kingdoms. Vizier is the generally accepted rendering of ancient Egyptian tjati, tjaty etc. among Egyptologists, the Instruction of Rekhmire, a New Kingdom text, defines many of the duties of the tjaty, and lays down codes of behavior. The viziers were appointed by the pharaoh. The viziers were appointed by the pharaohs, but often belonged to a pharaohs family, the viziers paramount duty was to supervise the running of the country, such as a prime minister, at times even small details of it such as sampling the citys water supply. All other lesser supervisors and officials, such as tax collectors and scribes, the judiciary was part of the civil administration and the vizier also sat in the High Court. However at any time, the pharaoh could exert his own control over any aspect of government, the vizier also supervised the security of the pharaoh and the palace. In the New Kingdom, there were two viziers, one for Upper Egypt and one for Lower Egypt. com
30.
Thebes, Egypt
–
Thebes, known to the ancient Egyptians as Waset, was an ancient Egyptian city located east of the Nile about 800 kilometers south of the Mediterranean. Its ruins lie within the modern Egyptian city of Luxor, Thebes was the main city of the fourth Upper Egyptian nome. It was close to Nubia and the desert, with their valuable mineral resources. It was a center and the wealthiest city of ancient Egypt at its heyday. The Ancient Egyptians originally knew Thebes as Wose or Wase A was was the scepter of the pharaohs, a staff with an animals head. Thebes is the Latinized form of the Greek Thebai, the form of the Demotic Egyptian Ta-pe. This was the name not for the city itself but for the Karnak temple complex on the northern east bank of the city. As early as Homers Iliad, the Greeks distinguished the Egyptian Thebes as Thebes of the Hundred Gates, as opposed to the Thebes of the Seven Gates in Boeotia, from the end of the New Kingdom, Thebes was known in Egyptian as Niwt-Imn, the City of Amun. Amun was the chief of the Theban Triad of gods whose other members were Mut and this name appears in the Bible as the Nōʼ ʼĀmôn of the Book of Nahum and probably also as the No mentioned in Ezekiel and Jeremiah. In the interpretatio graeca, Amun was seen as a form of Zeus, the name was therefore translated into Greek as Diospolis, the City of Zeus. To distinguish it from the other cities by this name. The Greek names came into use after the conquest of Egypt by Alexander the Great. Thebes was located along the banks of the Nile River in the part of Upper Egypt about 800 km from the Delta. It was built largely on the plains of the Nile Valley which follows a great bend of the Nile. As a natural consequence, the city was laid in a northeast-southwest axis parallel to the river channel. Thebes had an area of 93 km2 which included parts of the Theban Hills in the west that culminates at the sacred 420-meter al-Qurn, in the east lies the mountainous Eastern Desert with its wadis draining into the valley. Significant of these wadis is Wadi Hammamat near Thebes and it was used as an overland trade route going to the Red Sea coast. In the fourth Upper Egyptian nome, Thebes was found to have neighboring towns such as Per-Hathor, Madu, Djerty, Iuny, Sumenu, according to George Modelski, Thebes had about 40,000 inhabitants in 2000 BC
31.
Memphis, Egypt
–
Memphis was the ancient capital of Aneb-Hetch, the first nome of Lower Egypt. Its ruins are located near the town of Mit Rahina,20 km south of Giza, according to legend related by Manetho, the city was founded by the pharaoh Menes. Capital of Egypt during the Old Kingdom, it remained an important city throughout ancient Mediterranean history and it occupied a strategic position at the mouth of the Nile delta, and was home to feverish activity. Its principal port, Peru-nefer, harboured a high density of workshops, factories, during its golden age, Memphis thrived as a regional centre for commerce, trade, and religion. Memphis was believed to be under the protection of the god Ptah and its great temple, Hut-ka-Ptah, was one of the most prominent structures in the city. The name of temple, rendered in Greek as Aί γυ πτoς by the historian Manetho, is believed to be the etymological origin of the modern English name Egypt. The history of Memphis is closely linked to that of the country itself and its eventual downfall is believed to be due to the loss of its economic significance in late antiquity, following the rise of coastal Alexandria. Its religious significance also diminished after the abandonment of the ancient religion following the Edict of Thessalonica, the ruins of the former capital today offer fragmented evidence of its past. They have been preserved, along with the complex at Giza. The site is open to the public as an open-air museum, Memphis has had several names during its history of almost four millennia. Its Ancient Egyptian name was Inbu-Hedj, because of its size, the city also came to be known by various other names that were actually the names of neighbourhoods or districts that enjoyed considerable prominence at one time or another. For example, according to a text of the First Intermediate Period, it was known as Djed-Sut, the city was also at one point referred to as Ankh-Tawy, stressing the strategic position of the city between Upper and Lower Egypt. This name appears to date from the Middle Kingdom, and is found in ancient Egyptian texts. At the beginning of the New Kingdom, the city known as Men-nefer. The name Memphis is the Greek adaptation of this name, which was originally the name of the pyramid of Pepi I, in the Bible, Memphis is called Moph or Noph. The city of Memphis is 20 km south of Cairo, on the west bank of the Nile. The modern cities and towns of Mit Rahina, Dahshur, Abusir, Abu Gorab, the city was also the place that marked the boundary between Upper and Lower Egypt. The island of the city is today uninhabited, the closest settlement is the town of Mit Rahina
32.
Deir el-Medina
–
During the Christian era, the temple of Hathor was converted into a church from which the Arabic name Deir el-Medina is derived. At the time when the press was concentrating on Howard Carters discovery of the Tomb of Tutankhamun in 1922. This work has resulted in one of the most thoroughly documented accounts of community life in the ancient world that spans almost four hundred years. There is no site in which the organisation, social interactions. The site is located on the west bank of the Nile, the village may have been built apart from the wider population in order to preserve secrecy in view of sensitive nature of the work carried out in the tombs. A significant find of papyri was made in the 1840s in the vicinity of the village, the archaeological site was first seriously excavated by Ernesto Schiaparelli between 1905–1909 which uncovered large amounts of ostraca. A French team directed by Bernard Bruyère excavated the site, including village, dump and cemetery. Unfortunately through lack of control it is now thought that half of the papyri recovered was removed without the knowledge or authorization of the team director. Around five thousand ostraca of assorted works of commerce and literature were found in a close to the village. Jaroslav Černý, who was part of Bruyères team, went on to study the village for almost fifty years until his death in 1970 and was able to name, the peak overlooking the village was renamed Mont Cernabru in recognition of Černý and Bruyères work on the village. The main road through the village may have been covered to shelter the villagers from the intense glare, the size of the habitations varied, with an average floor space of 70 m2, but the same construction methods were used throughout the village. Walls were made of mudbrick, built on top of stone foundations, mud was applied to the walls which were then painted white on the external surfaces with some of the inner surfaces whitewashed up to a height of around one metre. A wooden front door might have carried the occupants name, houses consisted of four to five rooms comprising an entrance, main room, two smaller rooms, kitchen with cellar and staircase leading to the roof. The full glare of the sun was avoided by situating the windows high up on the walls, the main room contained a mudbrick platform with steps which may have been used as a shrine or a birthing bed. Nearly all houses contained niches for statues and small altars, the tombs built by the community for their own use include small rock-cut chapels and substructures adorned with small pyramids. 1110–1080 BCE during the reign of Ramesses XI due to increasing threats of Libyan raids, the Ptolemies later built a temple to Hathor on the site of an ancient shrine dedicated to her. The surviving texts record the events of life rather than major historical incidents. Personal letters reveal much about the relations and family life of the villagers
33.
Thutmose IV
–
Thutmose IV was the 8th Pharaoh of the 18th dynasty of Egypt, who ruled in approximately the 14th century BC. His prenomen or royal name, Menkheperure, means Established in forms is Re, Thutmose IV was born to Amenhotep II and Tiaa but was not actually the crown prince and Amenhotep IIs chosen successor to the throne. Some scholars speculate that Thutmose ousted his brother in order to usurp power. Thutmoses most celebrated accomplishment was the restoration of the Sphinx at Giza and subsequent commission of the Dream Stele. According to Thutmoses account on the Dream Stele, while the prince was out on a hunting trip, he stopped to rest under the head of the Sphinx. He soon fell asleep and had a dream in which the Sphinx told him if he cleared away the sand. Little is known about his brief ten-year rule and he suppressed a minor uprising in Nubia in his 8th year around 1393 BC and was referred to in a stela as the Conqueror of Syria, but little else has been pieced together about his military exploits. Thutmose IVs rule is significant because he established relations with Mitanni. Thutmoses grandfather Thutmose III almost certainly acceded the throne in either 1504 or 1479 and his successor Amenhotep II, Thutmose IVs father, took the throne and ruled for at least 26 years but has been assigned up to 35 years in some chronological reconstructions. The currently preferred reconstruction, after analyzing all this evidence, usually comes to a date around 1401 BC or 1400 BC for the beginning of Thutmose IVs reign. The length of his reign is not as clear as one would wish and he is usually given about nine or ten years of reign. Manetho credits him a reign of 9 years and 8 months, however, Manethos other figures for the 18th dynasty are frequently assigned to the wrong kings or simply incorrect, so monumental evidence is also used to determine his reign length. Of all of Thutmose IVs dated monuments, three date to his first regnal year, one to his fourth, possibly one to his fifth, one to his sixth, two to his seventh, and one to his eighth. Two possible other dated objects, one dated to a Year 19 and another year 20, have suggested as belonging to him. The reading of the king in these dates are accepted as referring to the prenomen of Thutmose III—Menkheperre—and not Menkhepere Thutmose IV himself. Due to the absence of higher dates for Thutmose IV after his Year 8 Konosso stela, there were once chronological reconstructions which gave him a reign as long as 34–35 years. Today, however, most scholars ascribe him a 10-year reign from 1401 to 1391 BC, like most of the Thutmoside kings, he built on a grand scale. Thutmose IV completed the eastern obelisk first started by Thutmose III, Thutmose IV called it the tekhen waty or unique obelisk
34.
Pylon (architecture)
–
Pylon is the Greek term for a monumental gateway of an Egyptian temple. It consists of two tapering towers, each surmounted by a cornice, joined by an elevated section which enclosed the entrance between them. The entrance was generally half the height of the towers. Contemporary paintings of pylons show them with long poles flying banners, in ancient Egyptian theology, the pylon mirrored the hieroglyph for horizon or akhet, which was a depiction of two hills between which the sun rose and set. Consequently, it played a role in the symbolic architecture of a cult building which was associated with the place of recreation. Pylons were often decorated with scenes emphasizing a kings authority since it was the face of a cult building. On the first pylon of the temple of Isis at Philae, other examples of pylons can be seen in Luxor and Edfu. Rituals to the god Amun who became identified with the sun god Ra were often carried out on the top of temple pylons. In addition to standard vertical grooves on the face of a pylon wall which was designed to hold flag poles, some pylons also contained internal stairways. The oldest intact pylons belong to mortuary temples from the 13th and 12th century BCE Ramessside period, a pair of obelisks usually stood in front of a pylon. A single stone pillar standing at the Propylaea of the Acropolis in Athens is known as the pylon, both Classical Revival and Egyptian Revival architecture employ the pylon form, with Boodles gentlemans club in London being an example of the Classical style. The 19th and 20th centuries saw pylon architecture employed for building with the Sydney Harbour Bridge being one of the largest examples. In 1928 a Pylon was erected by subscription to commemorate the extension of the County Borough of Brighton on 1 April of that same year. The two stone towers known locally as the Pylons still stand and are visible to travellers on either carriageway of the A23. The Patcham Pylon towers flank the southbound carriageway of the A23 just outside the CIty of Brighton and Hove and are listed Grade II, many cathedrals have a similar western end, such as Elgin Cathedral. Obelisk Karnak Media related to Pylons at Wikimedia Commons Second Pylon Karnak
35.
Great Hypostyle Hall
–
The Great Hypostyle Hall is located within the Karnak temple complex, in the Precinct of Amon-Re. It is one of the most visited monuments of Ancient Egypt, the structure was built around the 19th Egyptian Dynasty. Its design was instituted by Hatshepsut, at the North-west chapel to Amun in the upper terrace of Deir el-Bahri. The name refers to hypostyle architectural pattern, the hall covers an area of 50,000 sq ft. The roof, now fallen, was supported by 134 columns in 16 rows, the hall was not begun by Horemheb, or Amenhotep III as earlier scholars had thought but was built entirely by Seti I who inscribed the northern wing of the hall with inscriptions. Decoration of the wing was completed by Ramesses II. A series of later pharaohs added inscriptions to the walls and the columns in places their predecessors had left blank, including Ramesses III, Ramesses IV, the north side of the hall is decorated in raised relief, and was mainly Seti Is work. Ramesses II also usurped decoration of his father along the main north-south and east-west processional ways of the hall, most of Seti Is reliefs in the northern part of the hall were respected however. The outer walls depict scenes of battle, Seti I on the north, although these reliefs had religious and ideological functions, they are important records of the wars of these kings. On another wall adjoining the wall of the Hall is a record of Ramesses IIs peace treaty with the Hittites that he signed in Year 21 of his reign. In 1899,11 of the columns of the Great Hypostyle Hall had collapsed in a chain reaction. Georges Legrain, who was then the chief archaeologist in the area, later, similar work had to continue in order to strengthen the rest of the columns of the Temple. Talatat University of Memphis Great Hypostyle Hall Project Media related to Great Hypostyle Hall of Karnak at Wikimedia Commons
36.
Talatat
–
Talatat are stone blocks of standardized size used during the 18th dynasty reign of the Pharaoh Akhenaten in the building of the Aton temples at Karnak and Akhetaten. The standardized size and their small weight made construction more efficient and their use may have begun in the second year of Akhenatens reign. After the Amarna Period talatat construction was abandoned, apparently not having withstood the test of time, the Great Hypostyle Hall at Karnak is built on thousands of these blocks, as is the Second Pylon. Tens of thousands of the talatat have been recovered, the decorated stones are being photographed and the scenes they depict are reconstructed as part of the Akhenaten Temple Project. The term talatat was apparently used by the Egyptian workmen and introduced into the language of archaeology by the Egyptologist H. Chevrier, some think it may be derived from Italian tagliata, meaning cut masonry. Talatat wall Scene www. usu. edu Akhenaten worshipping scene, Talatat Article euler. sle. edu
37.
Saqqara
–
Saqqara, also spelled Sakkara or Saccara in English /səˈkɑːrə/, is a vast, ancient burial ground in Egypt, serving as the necropolis for the Ancient Egyptian capital, Memphis. Saqqara features numerous pyramids, including the world-famous Step pyramid of Djoser, sometimes referred to as the Step Tomb due to its rectangular base, located some 30 km south of modern-day Cairo, Saqqara covers an area of around 7 by 1.5 km. At Saqqara, the oldest complete stone building known in history was built, Djosers step pyramid. Another 16 Egyptian kings built pyramids at Saqqara, which are now in states of preservation or dilapidation. High officials added private funeral monuments to this necropolis during the pharaonic period. It remained an important complex for non-royal burials and cult ceremonies for more than 3,000 years, well into Ptolemaic, north of the area known as Saqqara lies Abusir, south lies Dahshur. The area running from Giza to Dahshur has been used as a necropolis by the inhabitants of Memphis at different times, some scholars believe that the name Saqqara is not derived from the ancient Egyptian funerary god Sokar, but from a supposed local Berber Tribe called Beni Saqqar. The earliest burials of nobles can be traced back to the First Dynasty, during this time, the royal burial ground was at Abydos. The first royal burials at Saqqara, comprising underground galleries, date to the Second Dynasty, the last Second Dynasty king Khasekhemwy was buried in his tomb at Abydos, but also built a funerary monument at Saqqara consisting of a large rectangular enclosure, known as Gisr el-Mudir. It probably inspired the monumental enclosure wall around the Step Pyramid complex, Djosers funerary complex, built by the royal architect Imhotep, further comprises a large number of dummy buildings and a secondary mastaba. French architect and Egyptologist Jean-Philippe Lauer spent the part of his life excavating and restoring Djosers funerary complex. During the second half of the Old Kingdom, under the Fifth and Sixth Dynasties, the Fifth and Sixth Dynasty pyramids are not built of massive stone, but with a core consisting of rubble. They are consequently less well preserved than the world-famous pyramids built by the Fourth Dynasty kings at Giza, Unas, the last ruler of the Fifth Dynasty, was the first king to adorn the chambers in his pyramid with Pyramid Texts. It was custom for courtiers during the Old Kingdom to be buried in mastaba tombs close to the pyramid of their king, clusters of private tombs were thus formed in Saqqara around the pyramid complexes of Unas and Teti. Few private monuments from this period have been found at Saqqara, Pyramid of king Khendjer Pyramid of an unknown king During the New Kingdom Memphis was an important administrative and military centre, being the capital after the Amaran Period. From the Eighteenth Dynasty onwards many high officials built tombs at Saqqara, when still a general, Horemheb built a large tomb here, though he was later buried as Pharaoh in the Valley of the Kings at Thebes. Other important tombs belong to the vizier Aperel, the vizier Neferrenpet, the artist Thutmose and to Maia, many monuments from earlier periods were still standing, but dilapidated by this period. Prince Khaemweset, son of Pharaoh Ramesses II, made repairs to buildings at Saqqara, among other things, he restored the Pyramid of Unas and added an inscription to its south face to commemorate the restoration
38.
Valley of the Kings
–
The valley stands on the west bank of the Nile, opposite Thebes, within the heart of the Theban Necropolis. The wadi consists of two valleys, East Valley and West Valley, with the 2005 discovery of a new chamber. And the 2008 discovery of two further tomb entrances, the valley is known to contain 63 tombs and chambers and it was the principal burial place of the major royal figures of the Egyptian New Kingdom, as well as a number of privileged nobles. The royal tombs are decorated with scenes from Egyptian mythology and give clues as to the beliefs, almost all of the tombs seem to have been opened and robbed in antiquity, but they still give an idea of the opulence and power of the Pharaohs. This area has been a focus of archaeological and egyptological exploration since the end of the eighteenth century, in modern times the valley has become famous for the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun, and is one of the most famous archaeological sites in the world. In 1979, it became a World Heritage Site, along with the rest of the Theban Necropolis, exploration, excavation and conservation continues in the valley, and a new tourist centre has recently been opened. The types of soil where the Valley of the Kings is located are a sandwich of dense limestone and other sedimentary rock. During the Pleistocene the valley was carved out of the plateau by steady rains, there is currently little year-round rain in this part of Egypt, but there are occasional flash floods that hit the valley, dumping tons of debris into the open tombs. The quality of the rock in the Valley is inconsistent, ranging from finely-grained to coarse stone, the occasional layer of shale also caused construction and conservation difficulties, as this rock expands in the presence of water, forcing apart the stone surrounding it. It is thought that some tombs were altered in shape and size depending on the types of rock the builders encountered, builders took advantage of available geological features when constructing the tombs. Some tombs were quarried out of existing limestone clefts, others behind slopes of scree, the problems of tomb construction can be seen with tombs of Ramesses III and his father Setnakhte. Setnakhte started to excavate KV11 but broke into the tomb of Amenmesse, so construction was abandoned and he usurped the tomb of Twosret. When looking for a tomb, Ramesses III extended the partly-excavated tomb started by his father, the tomb of Ramesses II returned to an early style, with a bent axis, probably due to the quality of the rock being excavated. The area of the Theban hills is subject to infrequent violent thunder storms, recent studies have shown that there are at least seven active flood stream beds leading down into the central area of the valley. This central area appears to have been flooded at the end of the Eighteenth Dynasty, the tombs KV63, KV62, and KV55 are dug into the actual wadi bedrock rather than the debris, showing that the level of the valley was five meters below its present level. This was the area that was the subject of the Amarna Royal Tombs Project ground scanning radar investigation, the Theban Hills are dominated by the peak of al-Qurn, known to the Ancient Egyptians as ta dehent, or The Peak. It has an appearance, and it is probable that this echoed the pyramids of the Old Kingdom. Its isolated position also resulted in reduced access, and special police were able to guard the necropolis
39.
Nefertiti
–
Neferneferuaten Nefertiti was an Egyptian queen and the Great Royal Wife of Akhenaten, an Egyptian Pharaoh. Nefertiti and her husband were known for a revolution, in which they worshiped one god only, Aten. Together Akhenaten and Nefertiti were responsible for the creation of a new monotheistic religion which changed the ways of religion within Egypt. With her husband, she reigned at what was arguably the wealthiest period of Ancient Egyptian history, some scholars believe that Nefertiti ruled briefly as Neferneferuaten after her husbands death and before the accession of Tutankhamun, although this identification is a matter of ongoing debate. She was made famous by her bust, now in Berlins Neues Museum, the bust is one of the most copied works of ancient Egypt. It was attributed to the sculptor Thutmose, and it was found in his workshop, the bust is notable for exemplifying the understanding Ancient Egyptians had regarding realistic facial proportions. Nefertiti, Egyptian Nfr. t-jy. tj, original pronunciation approximately Nafteta, Nefertitis parentage is not known with certainty, but one often cited theory is that she was the daughter of Ay, later to be pharaoh. Nefertitis Scenes in the tombs of the nobles in Amarna mention the queens sister who is named Mutbenret, another theory that gained some support identified Nefertiti with the Mitanni princess Tadukhipa. The exact dates when Nefertiti married Akhenaten and became the great royal wife of Egypt are uncertain. Their six known daughters were, Meritaten, No later than year 1, ankhesenpaaten, also known as Ankhesenamen, later queen of Tutankhamun Neferneferuaten Tasherit, Year 8, possibly later became Pharaoh Neferneferuaten. Nefertiti first appears in scenes in Thebes, in the damaged tomb of the royal butler Parennefer, the new king Amenhotep IV is accompanied by a royal woman, and this lady is thought to be an early depiction of Nefertiti. The king and queen are shown worshiping the Aten, in the tomb of the vizier Ramose, Nefertiti is shown standing behind Amenhotep IV in the Window of Appearance during the reward ceremony for the vizier. During the early years in Thebes, Akhenaten had several temples erected at Karnak, one of the structures, the Mansion of the Benben, was dedicated to Nefertiti. She is depicted with her daughter Meritaten and in some scenes the princess Meketaten participates as well, in scenes found on the talatat, Nefertiti appears almost twice as often as her husband. She is shown smiting the enemy, and captive enemies decorate her throne, in the fourth year of his reign, Amenhotep IV decided to move the capital to Akhetaten. In his fifth year, Amenhotep IV officially changed his name to Akhenaten, the name change was a sign of the ever-increasing importance of the cult of the Aten. It changed Egypts religion from a religion to a religion which may have been better described as a monolatry or henotheism. The boundary stelae of years 4 and 5 mark the boundaries of the new city, the new city contained several large open-air temples dedicated to the Aten
40.
Hieratic
–
Hieratic is a cursive writing system used in the provenance of the pharaohs in Egypt and Nubia. It developed alongside cursive hieroglyphs, from which it is separate yet intimately related and it was primarily written in ink with a reed brush on papyrus, allowing scribes to write quickly without resorting to the time-consuming hieroglyphs. In the 2nd century AD, the term hieratic was first used by Saint Clement of Alexandria. It derives from the Greek phrase γράμματα ἱερατικά, as at time, hieratic was used only for religious texts, as had been the case for the previous eight. Hieratic can also be an adjective meaning f or associated with sacred persons or offices, in the Proto-Dynastic Period of Egypt, hieratic first appeared and developed alongside the more formal hieroglyphic script. It is an error to view hieratic as a derivative of hieroglyphic writing, indeed, the earliest texts from Egypt are produced with ink and brush, with no indication their signs are descendants of hieroglyphs. True monumental hieroglyphs carved in stone did not appear until the 1st Dynasty, the two writing systems, therefore, are related, parallel developments, rather than a single linear one. Hieratic was used throughout the period and into the Graeco-Roman Period. Around 660 BC, the Demotic script replaced hieratic in most secular writing, through most of its long history, hieratic was used for writing administrative documents, accounts, legal texts, and letters, as well as mathematical, medical, literary, and religious texts. During the Græco-Roman period, when Demotic had become the chief administrative script, in general, hieratic was much more important than hieroglyphs throughout Egypts history, being the script used in daily life. It was also the system first taught to students, knowledge of hieroglyphs being limited to a small minority who were given additional training. In fact, it is possible to detect errors in hieroglyphic texts that came about due to a misunderstanding of an original hieratic text. Most often, hieratic script was written in ink with a brush on papyrus, wood. Thousands of limestone ostraca have been found at the site of Deir al-Madinah, besides papyrus, stone, ceramic shards, and wood, there are hieratic texts on leather rolls, though few have survived. There are also hieratic texts written on cloth, especially on linen used in mummification, there are some hieratic texts inscribed on stone, a variety known as lapidary hieratic, these are particularly common on stelae from the 22nd Dynasty. During the late 6th Dynasty, hieratic was sometimes incised into mud tablets with a stylus, similar to cuneiform. About five hundred of these tablets have been discovered in the palace at Ayn Asil. At the time the tablets were made, Dakhla was located far from centers of papyrus production and these tablets record inventories, name lists, accounts, and approximately fifty letters
41.
Graffito (archaeology)
–
A graffito, in an archaeological context, is a deliberate mark made by scratching or engraving on a large surface such as a wall. The marks may form an image or writing, in archaeology, the term may or may not include the more common modern sense of an unauthorized addition to a building or monument. Sgraffito, a technique of partially scratching off a top layer of plaster or some other material to reveal a differently colored material beneath, is also sometimes known as graffito. Basic categories of graffiti in archaeology are, Written graffiti, or informal inscriptions, complex, merged, or multiple category graffiti. Twentieth century developments led to finding less common sources of information indicating the intricacies of the interrelationships of the pharaoh, his appointees, very Late Egyptian Demotic was used only for ostraca, mummy labels, subscriptions to Greek texts, and graffiti. The last dated example of Egyptian Demotic is from the Temple of Isis at Philae, the original Rotas Square was later made into the Sator Square. The Sator square is a Latin graffito found at sites throughout the Roman Empire and elsewhere. It is a palindrome- which forms a square that may be read in any direction. See Sator Arepo Tenet Opera Rotas for alternative details, and Talk, the reason that the palindrome may only be a theory, is because the square may have to be read boustrophedonically. (See, Boustrophedon and the Ceram Ref. pg 30, (Note, reverse direction after the first tenet, to repeat tenet. Four entry points, one per side, renders the reading of the Magic Square, the Sator Square– Analysis, Diagrams & archaeological graffito example, The Sator Square has to begin at Rotas, so that it can end at Sator, basically, The Great Sower. See, The inscribed square Pilgrims to religious sites left numerous graffiti at the Egyptian site of Deir el-Bahri, large quantities of graffiti have been found in Athens during excavations by the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, nearly 850 were catalogued by Mabel Lang in 1976. They date from the eighth century BC through to the late Roman period, there are several types of graffiti found in British buildings dating from the medieval period. There is a range of graffiti to be found on medieval buildings. The Norfolk Medieval Graffiti Survey was established in 2010 with the aim of undertaking the first large-scale survey of medieval graffiti in the UK, the survey primarily looks at graffiti dating from the fourteenth to seventeenth centuries. Since 2010 a number of other county based surveys have been set up and these include Kent, Suffolk and Surrey. The examples below are from Saint Nicholas, the church of Blakeney. Ancient Maya graffiti Graffiti Ostracon Scarab artifact Ceram, C. W, the March of Archaeology, C. W. Ceram, translated from the German, Richard and Clara Winston, c 1958
42.
Ostracon
–
An ostracon is a piece of pottery, usually broken off from a vase or other earthenware vessel. In an archaeological or epigraphical context, ostraca refer to sherds or even pieces of stone that have writing scratched into them. Anything with a surface could be used as a writing surface. But limestone sherds, being flaky and of a color, were most common. The importance of ostraca for Egyptology is immense, the combination of their physical nature and the Egyptian climate have preserved texts, from the medical to the mundane, which in other cultures were lost. These can often serve as witnesses of everyday life than literary treatises preserved in libraries. The many ostraca found at Deir el-Medina provide a compelling view into the medical workings of the New Kingdom. These ostraca have shown that, like other Egyptian communities, the workmen and inhabitants of Deir el-Medina received care through a combination of treatment, prayer. The ostraca from Deir el-Medina also differed in their circulation, magical spells and remedies were widely distributed among the workmen, there are even several cases of spells being sent from one worker to another, with no “trained” intermediary. There are also documents that show the writer sending for medical ingredients. From 1964–1971, Bryan Emery excavated at Saqqara in search of Imhoteps tomb, instead, apparently it was a pilgrim site, with as many as 1½ million ibis birds interred. This 2nd-century BC site contained extensive pottery debris from the offerings of the pilgrims. Emerys excavations uncovered the Dream Ostraca, created by a scribe named Hor of Sebennytos, a devotee of the god Thoth, he lived adjacent to Thoths sanctuary at the entrance to the North Catacomb and worked as a proto-therapist, advising and comforting clients. He transferred his divinely-inspired dreams onto ostraca, the Dream Ostraca are 65 Demotic texts written on pottery and limestone. In October 2008, Israeli archaeologist, Yosef Garfinkel of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, has discovered what he says to be the earliest known Hebrew text. This text was written on an Ostracon shard, Garfinkel believes this shard dates to the time of King David from the Old Testament, about 3,000 years ago. Carbon dating of the Ostracon and analysis of the pottery have dated the inscription to be about 1,000 years older than the Dead Sea Scrolls, the inscription has yet to be deciphered, however, some words, such as king, slave and judge have been translated. The shard was found about 20 miles southwest of Jerusalem at the Elah Fortress in Khirbet Qeiyafa, some Christian texts are preserved upon ostraca
.jpg)
_(Vall%C3%A9e_des_Rois_Th%C3%A8bes_ouest)_-6.jpg)
_(Vall%C3%A9e_des_Rois_Th%C3%A8bes_ouest)_-4.jpg)
Media related to Horemheb at Wikimedia Commons
