1.
Pharaoh
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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
2.
Egyptian chronology
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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
3.
Takelot III
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Usimare Setepenamun Takelot III Si-Ese was Osorkon IIIs eldest son and successor. Takelot III ruled the first five years of his reign in a coregency with his father, according to the evidence from Nile Quay Text No.14 and he served previously as the High Priest of Amun at Thebes. A graffito on the roof of the Temple of Khonsu which records his Year 7, was believed to be his Highest Year date. However, in February 2005, a stela from Year 13 of his reign was discovered by a Columbia University archaeological expedition in the ruins of a Temple at the Dakhla Oasis. Their subsequent analysis of this dated document conclusively established this kings identity as Takelot III and this document—which measures between 42-48 cm wide, between 47-51 cm high, between 10-16 cm thick—has now been published in JEOL39 by Dr. Olaf Kaper and Robert Demarée. Part of the abstract for their article is given below. The stela belongs to a group of finds documenting the temple of the God Thoth. during the Third Intermediate Period. One block of temple decoration was found in the name of king Petubastis, and the stela under discussion was set up in the temple to which this block belonged. The stelas principal text has five lines, in which the date of the stela is given as Year 13 of Takeloth III, as well as the name of the god Thoth of SA-wHAt, the local deity. The governor mentioned here is Nes-Djehuti or Esdhuti who appears as the Chief of the Shamin Libyans in both the aforementioned Year 13 stela of Takelot III and also in the Smaller Dakhla Stela, the smaller Dakla stela dates to Year 24 of the Nubian king Piye. This could mean that Takelot III and Piye were near contemporaries during their respective reigns and this graffito would have been carved prior to Piyes Nubian conquest of Egypt in his 20th Year—by which time both Takelot III and Rudamun had already died. The Gods Wife Shepenupet II was Piyes daughter and Taharqas sister, jurman notes that no evidence from the innermost sanctuary of the chapel of Osiris Heqadjet at Karnak shows Shepenupet I associated with Piyes daughter, Amenirdis I. This means that the Year 19 date cannot be assigned to Takelot III, frederic Payraudeau once noted that Takelot III likely ruled Egypt for a minimum of 14 Years and was presumably the unknown Year 19 Egyptian monarch recorded at Wadi Gasus. He based his interpretation on the evidence of Papyrus Berlin 3048, the papyrus has traditionally been assigned to Takelot II since this rulers highest date is his Year 25, whereas Takelot IIIs highest unequivocal date was only thought to be his Year 7. The author observed 3 pieces of evidence which, taken together, Berlin 3048 specifically mentions two Royal treasurers. They were the descendants of Djedkhonsuiufankh A, who was the Fourth Prophet of Amun under Takelot I, Nakhtefmut A, Harsiese C and Djedkhonsuiufankh C. Djedkhonsuiufankh As son, Nakhtefmut A, first assumed the office of Royal Treasurer under Osorkon II, then Nakhtefmut As son, Harsiese C, in turn succeeded him. Finally, Harsiese Cs son, Djedkhonsuiufankh C, occupied this office from the end of Takelot IIs reign until the years of Osorkon IIIs reign under whom he is attested. Hence, the only viable candidate for Djedmontuiufankhs master is Takelot III for whom no Royal Treasurer is known with certainty
4.
Ancient Egyptian royal titulary
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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
5.
Maat
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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
6.
Ra
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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
7.
Amun
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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
8.
Isis
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Isis is a goddess from the polytheistic pantheon of Egypt. She was first worshiped in ancient Egyptian religion, and later her worship spread throughout the Roman Empire, Isis was worshipped as the ideal mother and wife as well as the patroness of nature and magic. She was the friend of slaves, sinners, artisans and the downtrodden, Isis is often depicted as the mother of Horus, the falcon-headed deity associated with king and kingship. Isis is also known as protector of the dead and goddess of children, as the personification of the throne, she was an important representation of the pharaohs power. The pharaoh was depicted as her child, who sat on the throne she provided. Her cult was popular throughout Egypt, but her most important temples were at Behbeit El Hagar in the Nile delta, and, beginning in the reign with Nectanebo I, on the island of Philae in Upper Egypt. In the typical form of her myth, Isis was the first daughter of Geb, god of the Earth, and Nut, goddess of the Sky and she married her brother, Osiris, and she conceived Horus with him. Isis was instrumental in the resurrection of Osiris when he was murdered by Set, using her magical skills, she restored his body to life after having gathered the body parts that had been strewn about the earth by Set. This myth became very important during the Greco-Roman period, for example, it was believed that the Nile River flooded every year because of the tears of sorrow which Isis wept for Osiris. Osiriss death and rebirth was relived each year through rituals, the worship of Isis eventually spread throughout the Greco-Roman world, continuing until the suppression of paganism in the Christian era. The popular motif of Isis suckling her son Horus, however, the Greek name version of Isis is close to her original, Egyptian name spelling. Isis name was written with the signs of a throne seat. The grammar, spelling and used signs of Isis name never changed during time in any way, however, the symbolic and metaphoric meaning of Isis name remains unclear. The throne seat sign in her name might point to a role as a goddess of kingship. Thus, her name could mean she of the kings throne, but all other Egyptian deities have names that point to clear cosmological or nature elemental roles, thus the name of Isis shouldnt be connected to the king himself. The throne seat symbol might alternatively point to a meaning as throne-mother of the gods and this in turn would supply a very old existence of Isis, long before her first mentioning during the late Old Kingdom, but this hypothesis remains unproven. A third possible meaning might be hidden in the egg-symbol, that was used in Isis name. The egg-symbol always represented motherhood, implying a role of Isis
9.
Thebes, Egypt
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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
10.
Shepenupet I
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Shepenupet I or Shapenewpet I was an ancient Egyptian high priestess during the reign of the 23rd Dynasty. She was the first “hereditary” Gods Wife or Divine Adoratrice of Amun to wield power in ancient Thebes. She was the daughter of Osorkon III and Queen Karoadjet, and she was Gods Wife during her fathers whole reign. When Kashta, a monarch of the 25th Dynasty, extended his influence to the Theban area, she was compelled to adopt Kashtas daughter Amenirdis I as her successor, shepenupet and Amenirdis are depicted together in Wadi Gasus. Shepenupet is known to have survived into the reign of Shebitku since she is depicted on a section of a wall Temple J which was decorated under this Nubian king
11.
Rudamun
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Rudamun was the final pharaoh of the Twenty-third dynasty of Ancient Egypt. His titulary simply reads as Usermaatre Setepenamun, Rudamun Meryamun, and he was the younger son of Osorkon III, and the brother of Takelot III. He is a poorly attested pharaoh of this dynasty according to Kenneth Kitchens seminal book on The Third Intermediate Period of Egypt, kitchen credits him with a brief reign of about two to three years due to the few contemporary documents known for him. These include a small amount of work done on the Temple of Osiris Heqadjet, several stone blocks from Medinet Habu. In recent years, two fragments of a faience statuette bearing Rudamuns name from Hermopolis have been discovered and this recent discovery suggests that Radamun managed to preserve the unity of his fathers large kingdom in Upper Egypt ranging from at least Herakleopolis Magna to Thebes during his brief reign. Some Egyptologists such as David Aston have argued that Rudamun was the anonymous Year 19 king attested at Wadi Gasus, jurman notes that no monumental evidence from the Temple of Osiris Heqadjet or Karnak depict Shepenupet I associated with Piyes daughter, Amenirdis I. However, there are doubts among scholars as to whether Nile Level Text No.3 contained the nomen Shoshenq rather than Takelot. Peftjaubast married Irbastudjanefu, Rudamuns daughter, and was, therefore, nothing is known about Rudamuns final burial place. The surviving contemporary information from his reign suggests that it was quite brief, the Third Intermediate Period in Egypt 2nd edition, Warminster, Aris & Phillips Limited, p.360. Payraudeau, Frédéric, Le règne de Takélot III et les débuts de la domination Koushite, GM198, perdu, Olivier, Le Roi Roudamon en personne. RdE53, pp. 151–178 Olaf Kaper and Robert Demarée, A Donation Stela in the Name of Takeloth III from Amheida, Dakhleh Oasis, JEOL39, pp. 19–37
12.
Takelot II
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Hedjkheperre Setepenre Takelot II Si-Ese was a pharaoh of the Twenty-third Dynasty of Ancient Egypt in Middle and Upper Egypt. Based on two lunar dates belonging to Takelot II, this Upper Egyptian pharaoh is today believed to have ascended to the throne of a divided Egypt in either 845 BC or 834 BC. Takelot II rather ruled a kingdom that embraced Middle and Upper Egypt. While both Takelot I and II used the prenomen, Takelot II added the epithet Si-Ese to his royal titulary both to affiliate himself with Thebes and to distinguish his name from Takelot I. Takelot II controlled Middle and Upper Egypt during the final 3 Years of Osorkon II, the majority of Egyptologists today concede that king Osorkon III was the illustrious Crown Prince and High Priest Osorkon B, son of Takelot II. Osorkon B did not immediately ascend to his fathers throne presumably because he was involved in a civil war with his rival Pedubast I and, later, Shoshenq VI. Instead, he dated his activities to the serving Dynasty 22 Pharaoh at Tanis. In 1983, a stela was discovered by Japanese excavators at Tehna which reveals that Osorkon III was once a High Priest of Amun himself. In Year 11 of Takelot II, an insurrection began under Pedubast I whose followers challenged this kings authority at Thebes, Takelot reacted by dispatching his son, Osorkon B, to sail southwards to Thebes and quell the uprising. Osorkon B succeeded in retaining control of the city and then proclaimed himself as the new High Priest of Amun, some of the rebels bodies were deliberately burned by Osorkon to permanently deny their souls any hope of an afterlife. However, just four years later, in year 15 of Takelot II, a major revolt broke out. Osorkon B proclaimed himself as king Osorkon III sometime after his victory, as of 2008, no tomb or final resting place has been found for this king. Takelot II married his sister and Great Royal Wife Karomama Merymut II, they were the parents of, Osorkon B, mentioned in a text dating to year 39 of Osorkon III and said to be a brother of the king. Takelot II also married a lady whose name was partially preserved as Tashep. They had a son, Nimlot, mentioned on a stela as the son of King Takelot. Thought to be a son of Takelot II, Takelot also had a wife named Tabektenasket, they had a daughter, Isetweret. Known from the coffins of her son Ankhpakhered and daughter Tabektenasket, other children, Djed-Ptah-ef-ankh, a younger son of Takelot II. Married the Fourth Prophet of Amun Djed-Khons-ef-ankh and she is known from a statue now in the Cairo Museum Karomama
13.
Karomama II
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Karomama II was an ancient Egyptian queen, Great Royal Wife of pharaoh Takelot II of the 23rd Dynasty of Egypt. Karomama brought various titles such as Kings Wife, Kings Daughter and she was a daughter of the High Priest of Amun Nimlot C and the lady Tentsepeh C. Her paternal grandparents were pharaoh Osorkon II and queen Djedmutesankh, Karomama married pharaoh Takelot II and was mother of pharaoh Osorkon III. Osorkon II = Djedmutesankh | Nimlot C = Tentsepeh C | Karomama II = Takelot II | Osorkon III
14.
Egypt
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Egypt, officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia by a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. Egypt is a Mediterranean country bordered by the Gaza Strip and Israel to the northeast, the Gulf of Aqaba to the east, the Red Sea to the east and south, Sudan to the south, and Libya to the west. Across the Gulf of Aqaba lies Jordan, and across from the Sinai Peninsula lies Saudi Arabia, although Jordan and it is the worlds only contiguous Afrasian nation. Egypt has among the longest histories of any country, emerging as one of the worlds first nation states in the tenth millennium BC. Considered a cradle of civilisation, Ancient Egypt experienced some of the earliest developments of writing, agriculture, urbanisation, organised religion and central government. One of the earliest centres of Christianity, Egypt was Islamised in the century and remains a predominantly Muslim country. With over 92 million inhabitants, Egypt is the most populous country in North Africa and the Arab world, the third-most populous in Africa, and the fifteenth-most populous in the world. The great majority of its people live near the banks of the Nile River, an area of about 40,000 square kilometres, the large regions of the Sahara desert, which constitute most of Egypts territory, are sparsely inhabited. About half of Egypts residents live in areas, with most spread across the densely populated centres of greater Cairo, Alexandria. Modern Egypt is considered to be a regional and middle power, with significant cultural, political, and military influence in North Africa, the Middle East and the Muslim world. Egypts economy is one of the largest and most diversified in the Middle East, Egypt is a member of the United Nations, Non-Aligned Movement, Arab League, African Union, and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. Miṣr is the Classical Quranic Arabic and modern name of Egypt. The name is of Semitic origin, directly cognate with other Semitic words for Egypt such as the Hebrew מִצְרַיִם, the oldest attestation of this name for Egypt is the Akkadian
15.
Great Royal Wife
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Great Royal Wife, or alternatively Chief Kings Wife, is the term that was used to refer to the principal wife of the pharaoh of Ancient Egypt. The former is also, in the form of the simplification Great Wife, while most Ancient Egyptians were monogamous, the pharaoh would have had other, lesser wives and concubines in addition to the Great Royal Wife. This arrangement would allow the pharaoh to enter into marriages with the daughters of allies. In the past the order of succession in Ancient Egypt was thought to pass through the royal women and this theory, referred to as the Heiress Theory, has been rejected ever since the 1980s and is now not accepted by Egyptologists. The throne likely just passed to the eldest living son of the pharaoh, examples include Iset, the mother of Thutmose III, Tiaa, the mother of Thutmose IV and Mutemwia, the mother of Amenhotep III. Meretseger, the wife of Senusret III, is the earliest queen whose name appears with this title. However, she is attested in the New Kingdom so the title might be an anachronism. Perhaps the first holder of its title was Nubkhaes of the Second Intermediate Period, a special place in the history of great royal wives was taken by Hatshepsut. She was Great Royal Wife to her half-brother Thutmose II, during this time Hatshepsut also became a Gods Wife of Amun. After the death of her husband, she became regent because of the minority of her stepson, the male heir. While he was very young, however, Hatshepsut was crowned as pharaoh. When she became pharaoh, she designated her daughter, Neferure and her daughter may have been the great royal wife of Thutmose III but there is no clear evidence for this proposed marriage. Elsewhere, in Kush and other states of ancient Africa. The practice of creating great wives has continued to the present day, in addition to the said queen of the Zulus, contemporary holders of the title include the numerous bearers of the Iyaafin chieftaincy of Yorubaland and the future Ndlovukati of Swaziland. List of consorts of the Muhammad Ali Dynasty, for the modern queens and sultanas of Egypt Gods Wife of Amun Divine Adoratrice of Amun Interregnum queen
16.
Bubastite Portal
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This Bubastite Portal gate is located in Karnak, within the Precinct of Amun-Re temple complex, between the temple of Ramesses III and the second pylon. It records the conquests and military campaigns in c.925 BCE of Shoshenq I, Shoshenq has been identified with the biblical Shishaq, such that the relief is also known as the Shishak Inscription or Shishaq Relief. This gate was erected by the kings of the Twenty-second Dynasty of Egypt and it is located to the south-east side of the Temple of Ramesses III. Although Karnak had been known to Europeans since the end of the Middle Ages, jean-François Champollion visited Karnak in 1828, six years after his publication of the Rosetta Stone translation. In his letters he wrote, In this wonderful palace, I observed the portraits of most of the old Pharaohs known for their great deeds, one facade shows King Sheshonq I, Teklot and Osorkon of the 22nd dynasty, making offerings to the gods and goddesses. Another scene shows Sheshonq grasping a group of captives by the hair, behind and below him, there are the names of Canaanite towns in several rows. Many of these are lost, but originally there were 156 names, the inscriptions give no details for this expedition and mentioned only the victory over the Asiatics. Below is a translation of the 156 names on the inscription, and the people were without number who came with him from Egypt— Libyans, Sukkiim, and Ethiopians. And he took the cities of Judah and came as far as Jerusalem. Then the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, when the LORD saw that they humbled themselves, the word of the LORD came to Shemaiah, They have humbled themselves. I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some deliverance, nevertheless, they shall be servants to him, that they may know my service and the service of the kingdoms of the countries. So Shishaq king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem and he took away the treasures of the house of the LORD and the treasures of the king’s house. And as often as the king went into the house of the LORD, and when he humbled himself the wrath of the LORD turned from him, so as not to make a complete destruction. Moreover, conditions were good in Judah, the account of Shishak carrying off treasures from Jerusalem is of dubious historicity, see Shishak § Biblical narrative. List of artifacts significant to the Bible Kevin A. Wilson, the Campaign Of Pharaoh Shoshenq I Into Palestine University of Chicago Oriental Institute Epigraphic Survey, Reliefs and inscriptions at Karnak, The Bubastite portal, vol
17.
Precinct of Amun-Re
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The Precinct of Amun-Re, located near Luxor, Egypt, is one of the four main temple enclosures that make up the immense Karnak Temple Complex. The precinct is by far the largest of these and the one that is open to the general public. The temple complex is dedicated to the god of the Theban Triad, Amun. The site occupies roughly 250000 m², containing many structures, the main temple itself, Temple of Amun, covers roughly 61 acres and would have been able to hold 10 average European cathedrals. Some parts of the complex are closed or semi-closed, partially large parts of the North/South Axis, the whole southeast corner is semi-closed. The northwest corner is a museum that requires a ticket to visit. Most of the southwest is an area with millions of stone fragments, from small to huge, laid out in long rows. Also in this area can be found the housing of the Akhenaten Temple Project, a long building. The history of the Karnak complex is largely the history of Thebes, the earliest artifact found in the area of the temple is a small, eight-sided column from the Eleventh Dynasty, which mentions Amun-Ra. The tomb of Intef II mentions a house of Amun, which implies some structure, the main temple is laid out on an East/West axis, entered via a quay. The modern entrance is placed over the end of the ancient cult terrace, inscribed into the terrace are the inundation levels for several kings of the Third Intermediate Period, collectively known as the Nile Level Texts. The cult terrace is often thought to be a dock or quay. It was intended for the presentation of cult images, originally the quay led via a corridor of Sphinxes to the entrance to the second pylon, but these were moved aside when the First Pylon was constructed. Construction of the current pylon began in 30th dynasty, but was never totally completed and it is 113m wide and 15m thick. There are large numbers of mud bricks piled up against the inside of the pylon, the construction of the original first pylon and Forecourt in the 22nd dynasty enclosed several older structures, and meant that the original avenue of sphinxes had to be moved. These were built in the time of Seti II, and are dedicated to Amun, Mut, in order to construct this kiosk, the ram-sphinx corridor was removed and the statues moved to the edges of the open court. Only one column remains in place, bearing inscriptions by Taharqa, Psamtik II, on the south side of the forecourt, there is a small temple built by Ramesses III. Inscriptions inside the show the king slaughtering captives, whilst Amun-Re looks on
18.
Pedubast I
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Pedubastis I or Pedubast I was an Upper Egyptian Pharaoh of Ancient Egypt during the 9th century BC. This local Pharaoh is recorded as being of Libyan ancestry and ruled Egypt for 25 years according to the redaction of Manetho done by Eusebius. He first became king at Thebes in Year 8 of Shoshenq III and this may show some tacit support for the Pedubast faction by the Tanite based 22nd dynasty king Shoshenq III. Pedubast I was the opponent to Takelot II and later, Osorkon B. His accession to power plunged Thebes into a civil war which lasted for nearly three decades between these two competing factions. Osorkon B was Pedubast I and Harsieses chief rival and this conflict is obliquely mentioned in the famous Chronicle of Prince Osorkon at Karnak. He was succeeded in power by Shoshenq VI and this object was purchased by Calouste Gulbenkian from December 13–16,1921 from Frederik Muller & Cie through the well-known art dealer Joseph Duveen. This objects provenance is not known but it is first recorded as being in the collection of Count Grigory Stroganoff --a member of the famous Russian family of connoisseurs, danel Kahn, A Problem of Pedubasts
19.
Shoshenq III
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King Usermaatre Setepenre/Setepenamun Shoshenq III ruled Egypts 22nd Dynasty for 39 years according to contemporary historical records. Two Apis Bulls were buried in the fourth and 28th years of his reign, little is known of the precise basis for his successful claim to the throne since he was not a son of Osorkon II and Shoshenqs parentage and family ties are unknown. From Shoshenq IIIs eighth regnal year, his reign was marked by the loss of Egypts political unity, henceforth, the kings of the 22nd Dynasty only controlled Lower Egypt. On the basis of Osorkon Bs well known Chronicle, most Egyptologists today accept that Takelot IIs 25th regnal year is equivalent to Shoshenq IIIs 22nd year. Shoshenq III married Djed-Bast-Es-Ankh, the daughter of Takelot, a High Priest of Ptah at Memphis and he had at least 4 sons and 1 daughter, Ankhesen-Shoshenq, Bakennefi A, Pashedbast B, Pimay the Great Chief of the Ma, and Takelot C, a Generalissimo. A certain Padehebenbast may also have another son of Shoshenq III. They all appear to have predeceased their father through his nearly four-decade-long rule, instead, it was an unrelated individual named Shoshenq IV who ultimately succeeded Shoshenq III. Shoshenq III was buried in the looted Royal Tomb NRT V at Tanis
20.
Elephantine
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Elephantine is an island on the Nile, forming part of the city of Aswan in southern Egypt. There are archaeological sites on the island, Elephantine island is 1,200 metres from north to south, and is 400 metres across at its widest point. The layout of this and other islands in Aswan can be seen from west bank hillsides along the Nile. The island is located just downstream of the First Cataract, at the border of Upper Egypt with Lower Nubia. This region above is referred to as Upper Egypt due to land and river elevations being higher than downstream, and than the Nile Delta region to the Mediterranean Sea. The island may have received its name after its shape, which in aerial views is similar to that of an elephant tusk and this is the meaning of the Greek word elephas. Known to the Ancient Egyptians as Abu or Yebu, the island of Elephantine stood at the border between Egypt and Nubia and it was an excellent defensive site for a city and its location made it a natural cargo transfer point for river trade. Elephantine was a fort that stood just before the first cataract of the Nile, during the Second Intermediate Period, the fort marked the southern border of Egypt. According to Egyptian mythology, here was the place of Khnum, the ram-headed god of the cataracts. He was worshipped here as part of a late triad among the Egyptian pantheon of deities, the Elephantine Triad included Satis and Anuket. Satis was worshipped from very early times as a war goddess, when seen as a fertility goddess, she personified the bountiful annual flooding of the Nile, which was identified as her daughter, Anuket. The cult of Satis originated in the ancient city of Swenet, later, when the triad was formed, Khnum became identified as her consort and, thereby, was thought of as the father of Anuket. His role in myths changed later and another deity was assigned his duties with the river, at that time his role as a potter enabled him to be assigned a duty in the creation of human bodies. Ongoing excavations by the German Archaeological Institute at the town have uncovered many findings, on display in the Aswan Museum located on the island, artifacts dating back to predynastic times have been found on Elephantine. A rare calendar, known as the Elephantine Calendar of Things, in ancient times, the island was also an important stone quarry providing granite materials that would be transported widely within Egypt for monuments and buildings. Prior to 1822, there were temples to Thutmose III and Amenhotep III on the island, at that time they were destroyed during the campaign of Muhammad Ali, who had taken power in Egypt, to Conquer Sudan. Both temples were relatively intact prior to the deliberate demolition, the first temple was the Temple of Satet, it was founded around 3000 BC and enlarged and renovated over the next 3000 years. There are records of an Egyptian temple to Khnum on the island as early as the third Dynasty of Egypt and this temple was completely rebuilt in the Late Period, during the thirtieth dynasty of Egypt, just before the foreign rule that followed in the Graeco-Roman Period
21.
Shoshenq IV
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Hedjkheperre Setepenre Shoshenq IV ruled Egypts 22nd Dynasty between the reigns of Shoshenq III and Pami. At the same time the old Usermaatre Shoshenq IV was renumbered as Shoshenq VI. ’ which appeared in 1993 and these two epithets were only gradually employed by the 22nd Dynasty pharaohs, starting from the reign of Osorkon II. By contrast, Shoshenq I’s nomen simply reads ‘Shoshenq-meryamun’, Shoshenq Is immediate successors, Osorkon I and Takelot I also never used epithets beyond the standard ‘meryamun’. This suggests that the newly identified Hedjkhperre Shoshenq IV was a late Tanite-era king who ruled in Egypt either during or after the reign of Shoshenq III. Rohl had already pointed out in 1989 that the cartouches of a Hedjkheperre Shoshenq appear on a stela dated to Year 10 of the king. This stela mentions a Great Chief of the Libu, Niumateped, since the title ‘Chief of the Libu’ is only documented from Year 31 of Shoshenq III onwards, it seems this new king must have ruled contemporary with or after Shoshenq III. Dodson would therefore place Hedjkheperre Shoshenq IV between Shoshenk III and Pami, the unmarked sarcophagus, however, ‘was clearly a secondary introduction’ according to its position in the tomb. In the Tanite tomb’s debris, several fragments were found one or two canopic jars bearing the cartouches of a Hedjkheperre Shoshenq. Rohl ‘used the evidence of the jars as the key element of his theory that there were indeed two Hedjkheperre Shoshenqs’. It also establishes that the buried in the second sarcophagus in Shoshenq IIIs tomb was certainly not Shoshenq I. ”This is now the mainstream consensus view within Egyptology
22.
Nimlot C
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Nimlot C was a High Priest of Amun at Thebes during the reign of pharaoh Osorkon II of the 22nd Dynasty. From the stela of Pasenhor it is known that Nimlot C was a son of pharaoh Osorkon II, after this date he received the office of High Priest of Amun in Thebes, leaving the government of Herakleopolis to one of his son. There is no record about his mandate, hence it possibly was quite brief and he died before the end of his fathers reign since his son Takelot F succeeded him in office as High Priest of Amun towards the end of Osorkon IIs reign. This is established from the reliefs of Temple J at Karnak which depicts the High Priest Takelot F as the dedicant at a religious ceremony, Temple J has been dated to the final years of Osorkon IIs reign. His family relationships are attested on several monuments, kenneth Kitchen, The Third Intermediate Period in Egypt,1996, Aris & Phillips Limited, Warminster, ISBN 0-85668-298-5
23.
Osorkon II
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Usermaatre Setepenamun Osorkon II was the fifth pharaoh of the Twenty-second Dynasty of Ancient Egypt and the son of Takelot I and Queen Kapes. He ruled Egypt around 872 BC to 837 BC from Tanis, after succeeding his father, he was faced with the competing rule of his cousin, king Harsiese A, who controlled both Thebes and the Western Oasis of Egypt. This consolidated the authority over Upper Egypt and meant that Osorkon II ruled over a united Egypt. Osorkon IIs reign would be a time of large scale monumental building, according to a recent paper by Karl Jansen-Winkeln, king Harsiese A, and his son were only ordinary Priests of Amun, rather than High Priests of Amun, as was previously assumed. The inscription on the Koptos lid for, Harsiese As son and this demonstrates that the High Priest Harsiese who served as attested in statue CGC42225 – which mentions this High Priest and is dated explicitly under Osorkon II – was, in fact, Harsiese B. The High Priest Harsiese B served Osorkon II in his final 3 years and this statue was dedicated by the Letter Writer to Pharaoh, Hor IX, who was one of the most powerful men in his time. Hor IX later served under both Shoshenq III, Pedubast I and Shoshenq VI and this means that the High Priest Harsiese mentioned on statue CGC42225 must be the second Harsiese, Harsiese B. Despite his astuteness in dealings with matters at home, Osorkon II was forced to be aggressive on the international scene. The growing power of Assyria meant the latters increased meddling in the affairs of Israel, mutemhat was another of his wives. Monumental construction was performed at Thebes, Memphis, Tanis and Leontopolis. Many officials are datable under Osorkon II, ankhkherednefer was inspector of the palace, Paanmeny probably was his chief physician, Djeddjehutyiuefankh was fourth prophet of Amun, Bakenkhons was another prophet of Amun under that king. Osorkon II died around 837 BC and is buried in Tomb NRT I at Tanis and he is now believed to have reigned for more than 30 years, rather than just 25 years. The fact that this kings own grandson, Takelot F, served him as High Priest of Amun at Thebes–as the inscribed Walls of Temple J prove – supports the hypothesis of a reign for Osorkon II. Recently, it has demonstrated that Nile Quay Text No.14 belongs to Osorkon II on palaeographical grounds. This finding suggests that Osorkon II likely did celebrate his first Heb Sed in his 30th Year as was traditionally the case with other Libyan era Pharaohs such as Shoshenq III and Shoshenq V. In addition, a Year 22 Stela from his reign preserves no mention of any Heb Sed celebrations in this year as would be expected, however, these much higher figures are not verified by the current monumental evidence. Gerard Broekman gives Osorkon II a slightly shorter reign of 34 Years, kitchen suggests that Osorkon II would have died shortly after in his Year 31. Osorkon II is known to have had at least three wives, Isetemkheb is known to be the mother of a daughter named Tjesbastperu, who was married to the High Priest of Ptah Takelot B
24.
Stele
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A stele is a stone or wooden slab, generally taller than it is wide, erected in ancient Western culture as a monument. Grave steles were often used for funerary or commemorative purposes, Stelae as slabs of stone would also be used as ancient Greek and Roman government notices or as boundary markers to mark borders or property lines. The surface of the stele usually has text, ornamentation, or both, the ornamentation may be inscribed, carved in relief, or painted. Traditional Western gravestones may technically be considered the equivalent of ancient stelae. The most famous example of an inscribed stela leading to increased understanding is the Rosetta Stone, an informative stele of Tiglath-Pileser III is preserved in the British Museum. Two steles built into the walls of a church are major documents relating to the Etruscan language, unfinished standing stones, set up without inscriptions from Libya in North Africa to Scotland were monuments of pre-literate Megalithic cultures in the Late Stone Age. The Pictish stones of Scotland, often carved, date from between the 6th and 9th centuries. An obelisk is a kind of stele. The Insular high crosses of Ireland and Britain are specialized steles, totem poles of North and South America that are made out of stone may also be considered a specialized type of stele. Gravestones, typically with inscribed name and often with inscribed epitaph, are among the most common types of stele seen in Western culture. Most recently, in the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin, the memorial is meant to be read not only as the field, but also as an erasure of data that refer to memory of the Holocaust. Steles have been the medium of stone inscription in China since the Tang dynasty. Chinese steles are generally rectangular stone tablets upon which Chinese characters are carved intaglio with a funerary, commemorative and they can commemorate talented writers and officials, inscribe poems, portraits, or maps, and frequently contain the calligraphy of famous historical figures. During the Han dynasty, tomb inscriptions containing biographical information on deceased people began to be written on stone tablets rather than wooden ones, erecting steles at tombs or temples eventually became a widespread social and religious phenomenon. Emperors found it necessary to promulgate laws, regulating the use of funerary steles by the population, Steles are found at nearly every significant mountain and historical site in China. The First Emperor made five tours of his domain in the 3rd century BC and had Li Si make seven stone inscriptions commemorating and praising his work, of which fragments of two survive. One of the most famous mountain steles is the 13 m high stele at Mount Tai with the calligraphy of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang commemorating his imperial sacrifices there in 725. A number of stone monuments have preserved the origin and history of Chinas minority religious communities
25.
Heracleopolis Magna
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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
26.
Akoris, Egypt
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Akoris (Egyptian, Mer-nefer, Per-Imen-mat-khent, or Dehenet is the Greek name for the modern Egyptian village of Ṭihnā al-Ǧabal, located about 12 km north of Al Minya. The ancient site is situated in the southeast of the modern village, Akoris is located on the east bank of the Nile, at and below the limestone cliffs about 12 km north of Al Minya. The limestone cliffs at the east side of the place are divided here by a valley, the southern rock looks like a lying lion. The site was named with several names, in the Old and Middle Kingdoms Mer-nefer was used. In the New Kingdom the site was named Per-Imen-m3t-khent, in the Late period it was named T3-dehenet. In Greek times the names of Ἄκωρις or Τῆνις were given, the name of Akoris can be found in the third line of the rock stele of Ptolemy V Epiphanes at this site. The site was settled since the Old Kingdom and it was an important administrative town in the 17th upper-Egyptian nome in all ancient Egyptian times. Maybe a Nile port belonged to the town, a lot of tombs were created in the rocks. They belonged to the officials of the Old Kingdom and the priests of the Late Period, archaeological remains came only from the New Kingdom and earlier times. In the New Kingdom the Temple of Amun was established in a former Old Kingdom tomb by Ramesses II and it is assumed that a fortress was established at this site in Persian times because of the strategic location of the town but no part of the fortress remains. Akoris became an important town during the Greek and Roman periods, the today’s settlement traces came from the Roman and Coptic times. Akoris is home to archaeological sites, including a number of rock-cut tombs from the Old Kingdom period. These monuments are scattered for about 3 km along the desert, the gods are related to the site location and shape of the rocks. The earliest goddess of this site is maybe a lion goddess, from the Fraser Tombs the goddess Hathor, mistress of the valley entrance, is known. Starting from the 18th dynasty the god Amun the foremost lion is adored, the god Sobek, Lord of Behet, was added at the 26. Dynasty and became later the god of the site. Other gods like Thoth, Isis and/or Mut, Osiris, Horus, like similar sites in the north and south of Akoris, this site was used as a limestone quarry in ancient times. This site was known from the Napoleon′s expedition
27.
Egyptology
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A practitioner of the discipline is an Egyptologist. In Europe, particularly on the Continent, Egyptology is primarily regarded as being a philological discipline, the first explorers were the ancient Egyptians themselves. Thutmose IV restored the Sphinx and had the dream that inspired his restoration carved on the famous Dream Stele, less than two centuries later, Prince Khaemweset, fourth son of Ramesses II, is famed for identifying and restoring historic buildings, tombs and temples including the pyramid. The Ptolemies were much interested in the work of the ancient Egyptians, the Romans too carried out restoration work in this most ancient of lands. A number of their accounts have survived and offer insights as to conditions in their time periods. Abdul Latif al-Baghdadi, a teacher at Cairos Al-Azhar University in the 13th century, similarly, the 15th-century Egyptian historian al-Maqrizi wrote detailed accounts of Egyptian antiquities. In the early 17th century, John Greaves measured the pyramids, having inspected the broken Obelisk of Domitian in Rome, then destined for the Earl of Arundels collection in London. In the late 18th century, with Napoleons scholars recording of Egyptian flora, fauna and history, the British captured Egypt from the French and gained the Rosetta Stone. Modern Egyptology is generally perceived as beginning about 1822, egyptologys modern history begins with the invasion of Egypt by Napoleon Bonaparte. The subsequent publication of Description de lÉgypte between 1809 and 1829 made numerous ancient Egyptian source materials available to Europeans for the first time, jean-François Champollion, Thomas Young and Ippolito Rosellini were some of the first Egyptologists of wide acclaim. The German Karl Richard Lepsius was a participant in the investigations of Egypt, mapping, excavating. Champollion announced his general decipherment of the system of Egyptian hieroglyphics for the first time, the Stones decipherment was a very important development of Egyptology. Egyptology became more professional via work of William Matthew Flinders Petrie, Petrie introduced techniques of field preservation, recording, and excavating. Howard Carters expedition brought much acclaim to the field of Egyptology, a tradition of collecting objets-orientales Egyptologists Electronic Forum, version 64. List shows Egyptology societies and Institutes Egyptology at DMOZ Egyptology Books, the University of Memphis Institute of Egyptian Art and Archaeology. Hawass, Zahi, Brock, Lyla Pinch, eds, Egyptology at the Dawn of the Twenty-First Century Proceedings of the Eighth International Congress of Egyptologists. Rare Books and Special Collections Digital Library Underwood & Underwood Egypt Stereoviews Collection, czech Institute of Egyptology, Faculty of Arts, Charles University in Prague
28.
Nubia
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Nubia is a region along the Nile river located in what is today northern Sudan and southern Egypt. It was the seat of one of the earliest civilizations of ancient Africa, with a history that can be traced from at least 2000 B. C. onward, and was home to one of the African empires. Nubia was again united within Ottoman Egypt in the 19th century, the name Nubia is derived from that of the Noba people, nomads who settled the area in the 4th century following the collapse of the kingdom of Meroë. The Noba spoke a Nilo-Saharan language, ancestral to Old Nubian, Old Nubian was mostly used in religious texts dating from the 8th and 15th centuries AD. Before the 4th century, and throughout classical antiquity, Nubia was known as Kush, or, in Classical Greek usage, until at least 1970, the Birgid language was spoken north of Nyala in Darfur, but is now extinct. Nubia was divided into two regions, Upper and Lower Nubia, so called because of their location in the Nile river valley. Early settlements sprouted in both Upper and Lower Nubia, Egyptians referred to Nubia as Ta-Seti, or The Land of the Bow, since the Nubians were known to be expert archers. Modern scholars typically refer to the people from this area as the “A-Group” culture, fertile farmland just south of the Third Cataract is known as the “pre-Kerma” culture in Upper Nubia, as they are the ancestors. The Neolithic people in the Nile Valley likely came from Sudan, as well as the Sahara, by the 5th millennium BC, the people who inhabited what is now called Nubia participated in the Neolithic revolution. Saharan rock reliefs depict scenes that have been thought to be suggestive of a cult, typical of those seen throughout parts of Eastern Africa. Megaliths discovered at Nabta Playa are early examples of what seems to be one of the worlds first astronomical devices, around 3500 BC, the second Nubian culture, termed the A-Group, arose. It was a contemporary of, and ethnically and culturally similar to. The A-Group people were engaged in trade with the Egyptians and this trade is testified archaeologically by large amounts of Egyptian commodities deposited in the graves of the A-Group people. The imports consisted of gold objects, copper tools, faience amulets and beads, seals, slate palettes, stone vessels, and a variety of pots. Around 3300 BC, there is evidence of a kingdom, as shown by the finds at Qustul. The Nubian culture may have contributed to the unification of the Nile Valley. The earliest known depiction of the crown is on a ceremonial incense burner from Cemetery at Qustul in Lower Nubia. New evidence from Abydos, however, particularly the excavation of Cemetery U, around the turn of the protodynastic period, Naqada, in its bid to conquer and unify the whole Nile Valley, seems to have conquered Ta-Seti and harmonized it with the Egyptian state
29.
Sais, Egypt
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Sais or Sa El Hagar was an ancient Egyptian town in the Western Nile Delta on the Canopic branch of the Nile. Its Ancient Egyptian name was Zau, Herodotus wrote that Sais is where the grave of Osiris was located and that the sufferings of the god were displayed as a mystery by night on an adjacent lake. The citys patron goddess was Neith, whose cult is attested as early as the 1st Dynasty, the Greeks, such as Herodotus, Plato and Diodorus Siculus, identified her with Athena and hence postulated a primordial link to Athens. Diodorus recounts that Athena built Sais before the deluge that supposedly destroyed Athens, while all Greek cities were destroyed during that cataclysm, the Egyptian cities including Sais survived. Plato also notes the city as the birthplace of the pharaoh Amasis II. Plutarch said that the shrine of Athena, which he identifies with Isis, in Sais carried the inscription I am all that hath been, and is, and shall be, and my veil no mortal has hitherto raised. There are today no surviving traces of town prior to the Late New Kingdom due to the extensive destruction of the city by the Sebakhin leaving only a few relief blocks in situ. The Temple of Sais had a school associated with it. The medical school at Sais had many students and apparently women faculty as well, mainly in gynecology. Sonchis of Sais Archeological description of Sais Official site at the University of Durham
30.
Achaemenid Empire
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The Achaemenid Empire, also called the Persian Empire, was an empire based in Western Asia, founded by Cyrus the Great. The empires successes inspired similar systems in later empires and it is noted in Western history as the antagonist of the Greek city-states during the Greco-Persian Wars and for the emancipation of the Jewish exiles in Babylon. The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, was built in a Hellenistic style in the empire as well. By the 7th century BC, the Persians had settled in the portion of the Iranian Plateau in the region of Persis. From this region, Cyrus the Great advanced to defeat the Medes, Lydia, Alexander, an avid admirer of Cyrus the Great, conquered the empire in its entirety by 330 BC. Upon his death, most of the former territory came under the rule of the Ptolemaic Kingdom and Seleucid Empire. The Persian population of the central plateau reclaimed power by the second century BC under the Parthian Empire, the historical mark of the Achaemenid Empire went far beyond its territorial and military influences and included cultural, social, technological and religious influences as well. Many Athenians adopted Achaemenid customs in their lives in a reciprocal cultural exchange. The impact of Cyruss edict is mentioned in Judeo-Christian texts, the empire also set the tone for the politics, heritage and history of modern Iran. Astronomical year numbering Dates are approximate, consult particular article for details Due to the duration of their reigns, Smerdis, Xerxes II. The Persian nation contains a number of tribes as listed here, the Pasargadae, Maraphii, and Maspii, upon which all the other tribes are dependent. Of these, the Pasargadae are the most distinguished, they contain the clan of the Achaemenids from which spring the Perseid kings. Other tribes are the Panthialaei, Derusiaei, Germanii, all of which are attached to the soil, the Achaemenid Empire was created by nomadic Persians. The Achaemenid Empire was not the first Iranian empire, as by 6th century BC another group of ancient Iranian peoples had established the short lived Median Empire. The Iranian peoples had arrived in the region of what is today Iran c.1000 BC and had for a number of centuries fallen under the domination of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, based in northern Mesopotamia. However, the Medes and Persians, Cimmerians, Persians and Chaldeans played a role in the overthrow of the Assyrian empire. The term Achaemenid means of the family of the Achaemenis/Achaemenes, despite the derivation of the name, Achaemenes was himself a minor seventh-century ruler of the Anshan in southwestern Iran, and a vassal of Assyria. At some point in 550 BC, Cyrus rose in rebellion against the Medes, eventually conquering the Medes and creating the first Persian empire
31.
Karnak
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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
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God's Wife of Amun
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Gods Wife of Amun was the highest-ranking priestess of the Amun cult, an important religious institution in ancient Egypt. The cult was centered in Thebes in Upper Egypt during the Twenty-fifth and Twenty-sixth dynasties, the office had political importance as well as religious, since the two were closely related in ancient Egypt. Although the title is first attested in the Middle Kingdom, its political potential was not realized until the advent of the Eighteenth Dynasty. The shorter version of the title Gods Wife is in use by the time of the Twelfth Dynasty, as early as the First Intermediate Period, there is mention of A Wife of the God in reference to the god Min. The full title of Gods Wife of Amun is only used during, at the beginning of the New Kingdom, the Gods Wife of Amun royal title started to be held by royal women, when its extreme power and prestige was first evident. The New Kingdom began in 1550 BC with the Eighteenth Dynasty and these were the rulers who drove the Hyksos out of Egypt and their native city was Thebes, which then became the leading city in Egypt. They believed that their local deity, Amun, had guided them in their victory, adjustments to the rituals and myths followed. The title, Gods Wife of Amun, referred to the myth of the birth of the king, according to which his mother was impregnated by the god Amun. This title was used in preference to the title, Great Royal Wife, which was the title of the queen who was the consort to the pharaoh, the new title conveyed that the pharaoh would be a demigod upon birth. Previously the pharaoh was considered to become divine only at death and she then passed it on to her daughter Ahmose-Meritamun, who in turn handed it to Hatshepsut, who used it before she ascended the throne as pharaoh. Both Ahmose-Nefertari and Hatshepsut sometimes used the title as an alternative to that of Kings Principal Wife, Hatshepsut passed the title on to her daughter Neferure. A series of scenes in Hatshepsuts Chapelle Rouge show the Gods Wife of Amun, other scenes elsewhere show the Gods Wife of Amun worshiping the deities, being purified in the sacred lake, and following the king into the sanctuary. These again show the importance of the role, but give little indication of the tasks. Hatshepsut was the daughter of Thutmose I and, upon his death, she became the wife of the youthful Thutmose II who was her young half-brother and she seems to have been a de facto co-regent with him, having a great deal of influence upon the affairs of state. They had only one child who survived childhood, a daughter, Neferure and he was her stepson and cousin. Shortly thereafter, Hatshepsut was named pharaoh and he became the head of the armies. Hatshepsut died after a 22-year reign and, Thutmose III became pharaoh, at the end of a thirty-year reign of his own, he entered into a co-regency with a son by a lesser wife who would become, Amenhotep II. The records of holders of the title, Gods Wife of Amun, after Thutmose III became pharaoh deviate from the established pattern, perhaps because of the line of royalty issue
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Divine Adoratrice of Amun
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The Divine Adoratrice of Amun was a second title – after the Gods Wife of Amun – created for the chief priestess of the Ancient Egyptian deity, Amun. The Divine Adoratrice ruled over the extensive temple duties and domains, later, the added title of Divine Adoratrice of Amun can be seen to accompany a resurgence of the title Gods Wife of Amun which had fallen into disuse. The Gods Wife title was revived in the 20th Dynasty, when Ramesses VIs daughter Iset held the office, generally, the tradition was followed and the position was filled by the daughter of the current king, who was adopted as the daughter of the incumbent Divine Adoratrice. The new office reached the heights of its political power during the late Third Intermediate Period of Egypt when Shepenupet I. The Nubian king Kashta, in turn, appointed his daughter, Amenirdis, the high status of this office is illustrated by the tomb of Amenirdis at Medinet Habu. Toward the end of the Third Intermediate Period and the start of the Late Period, during the 25th and 26th Dynasties, the office was at its height both politically and economically. As the role of the priests of Amun changed from a mostly spiritual to a more earthly role. This sequence was followed throughout the 25th Dynasty until Egypt was conquered by Psamtek I, a number of the Gods Wives had mortuary shrines constructed on the west bank of the river, mostly alongside the Medinet-Habu of Ramesses III. In the same manner, it was used by the Napatan kings to project their power northward into Egypt proper, the power of the Divine Adoratrice of Amun was limited to the area around Thebes in Upper Egypt, which was the center of the cult. Gods Wife of Amun Strudwick, N & H. Thebes In Egypt,1999, British Museum Press, London Watterson, Barbara, Women In Ancient Egypt,1994, Sutton Publishing, Stroud Robins, Gay. Women In Ancient Egypt,1993, British Museum Press, London Kuhrt, the Ancient Middle East – Vol. II,1995, Routledge, London
34.
Shebitku
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Shebitku was the third king of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt who ruled from 707/706 BC-690 BC, according to Danel Kahns most recent academic research of the Tang-i Var inscription. Shebitku was the nephew and successor of Shabaka and he was a son of Piye, the founder of this dynasty. Shebitkus prenomen or throne name, Djedkare, means Enduring is the Soul of Re, in 1999, an Egypt-Assyrian synchronism from the Great Inscription of Tang-i Var in Iran was re-discovered and re-analysed. The pertinent section of the inscription by Sargon II reads, The Tang-i Var inscription dates to Sargons 15th year between Nisan 707 BC to Adar 706 BC. As Jansen-Winkeln writes, there has never been the slightest hint at any form of coregency of the Nubian kings of Dynasty 25, Sargon can also be expected to have named the regent of Egypt and senior king, rather than the distant viceroy Shebitku. If, on the hand, Shebitku was already Shabakas successor in 707/706. It had hitherto been assumed that the Nubian king handed over Yamani more or less immediately after his flight to Egypt, now it appears. certain that Yamani was only turned over to the Assyrians a couple of years later. Consequently, Shebitkus reign should be dated to c.707 or 706 BC to 690 BC, murnanes 1977 book on Ancient Egyptian Coregencies. However, the Turin Museum has subsequently acknowledged the statue to be a forgery, if correct, this would demonstrate that Shebitku had truly served as a coregent to Shabaka for 2 years. William Murnane also endorsed this interpretation by noting that Shebitkus Year 3 Nile Text need not refer to an accession or coronation at all. Rather, it simply to record an appearance of Shebitku in the temple of Amun during his third year. In other words, Shebitku was already king of Egypt and the purpose of his visit to Karnak was to receive, therefore, the evidence for a possible coregency between Shabaka and Shebitku is illusory at present. Recently the arguments for reversing the order of Shabaka and Shebitku have been taken up by Bányai, shebitku’s reign would then cover the years 712-704 BC. During Shebitkus reign, there was initially a policy of conciliation with Assyria which was marked by the extradition of Iamanni back into Sargon IIs hands. After Sargon IIs death, however, Shebitku appears to have adopted a different policy by actively resisting any new Assyrian expansion into Canaan under Sargons son, a stela from Kawa relates that Shebitku asked his brothers, including Taharqa, to travel north to Thebes from Nubia. The Nubian army travelled along with Taharqa presumably to fight the Assyrians at the Battle of Eltekeh in 701 BC, another stela records that when Jerusalem was under attack by the Assyrians, the king of Kush marched against Sennacherib. Shebitku joined in the resistance against Sennacherib and an Egyptian army was sent to Palestine, led by Shebitkus brother, Shebitku also completed the decoration of the Temple of Osiris Heqadjet in Thebes during his reign. The Temple had been constructed under Osorkon III, in 690 BC, Shebitku died and was succeeded by Taharqa, his younger brother
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Journal of Egyptian Archaeology
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The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology is an annual peer-reviewed academic journal covering research and reviews of recent books of importance to Egyptology. It was established in 1914 by the Egypt Exploration Society, articles are published in English, German, or French. Official website Searchable index of article titles
36.
JSTOR
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JSTOR is a digital library founded in 1995. Originally containing digitized back issues of journals, it now also includes books and primary sources. It provides full-text searches of almost 2,000 journals, more than 8,000 institutions in more than 160 countries have access to JSTOR, most access is by subscription, but some older public domain content is freely available to anyone. William G. Bowen, president of Princeton University from 1972 to 1988, JSTOR originally was conceived as a solution to one of the problems faced by libraries, especially research and university libraries, due to the increasing number of academic journals in existence. Most libraries found it prohibitively expensive in terms of cost and space to maintain a collection of journals. By digitizing many journal titles, JSTOR allowed libraries to outsource the storage of journals with the confidence that they would remain available long-term, online access and full-text search ability improved access dramatically. Bowen initially considered using CD-ROMs for distribution, JSTOR was initiated in 1995 at seven different library sites, and originally encompassed ten economics and history journals. JSTOR access improved based on feedback from its sites. Special software was put in place to make pictures and graphs clear, with the success of this limited project, Bowen and Kevin Guthrie, then-president of JSTOR, wanted to expand the number of participating journals. They met with representatives of the Royal Society of London and an agreement was made to digitize the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society dating from its beginning in 1665, the work of adding these volumes to JSTOR was completed by December 2000. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation funded JSTOR initially, until January 2009 JSTOR operated as an independent, self-sustaining nonprofit organization with offices in New York City and in Ann Arbor, Michigan. JSTOR content is provided by more than 900 publishers, the database contains more than 1,900 journal titles, in more than 50 disciplines. Each object is identified by an integer value, starting at 1. In addition to the site, the JSTOR labs group operates an open service that allows access to the contents of the archives for the purposes of corpus analysis at its Data for Research service. This site offers a facility with graphical indication of the article coverage. Users may create focused sets of articles and then request a dataset containing word and n-gram frequencies and they are notified when the dataset is ready and may download it in either XML or CSV formats. The service does not offer full-text, although academics may request that from JSTOR, JSTOR Plant Science is available in addition to the main site. The materials on JSTOR Plant Science are contributed through the Global Plants Initiative and are only to JSTOR
37.
International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
38.
Tanis
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Tanis is a city in the north-eastern Nile Delta of Egypt. It is located on the Tanitic branch of the Nile which has long since silted up, Tanis was a city in ancient Egypt and served as a parallel religious center to Thebes in the Third Intermediate Period. No archaeological evidence from it pre-dates the reign of Psusennes I, taniss creation was most likely due to the silting up of the Nile branch that ran by Pi-Ramesses, which forced people to seek another area with access to water. Later on, Tanis would become known as Thebes of Lower Egypt, the kings at Tanis saw themselves as the legitimate successors on the throne of Upper and Lower Egypt. They used traditional titles and displayed their royalty in building work, Tanis was founded in the late Twentieth Dynasty, and became the northern capital of Egypt during the following Twenty-first Dynasty. It was the city of Smendes, founder of the 21st dynasty. During the Twenty-second Dynasty, Tanis remained as Egypts political capital and it was an important commercial and strategic city until it was threatened with inundation by Lake Manzala in the 6th century AD, when it was finally abandoned. The refugees founded the city of Tennis. The Hebrew story of Moses’ being found in the marshes of the Nile River as told in Exodus 2, the demise of the city may well have been caused by the relocation of Nile tributaries. Tanis was the site of archaeological digs beginning in the 19th century, involving Flinders Petrie. In 1866, Karl Richard Lepsius discovered at Tanis the Decree of Canopus—an inscription closely related to the Rosetta Stone and this discovery contributed significantly to the decipherment of hieroglyphics. There are ruins of a number of temples, including the temple dedicated to Amun. However, the burials of three Dynasty 21 and Dynasty 22 pharaohs — Psusennes I, Amenemope and Shoshenq II — survived the depredations of tomb robbers throughout antiquity. The chief deities of Tanis were Amun, his consort, Mut and this triad was, however, identical to that of Thebes, leading many scholars to speak of Tanis as the northern Thebes. In 2009, the Egyptian Culture Ministry reported archaeologists had discovered the site of a lake in a temple to the goddess Mut at the San al-Hagar archaeological site in ancient Tanis. The lake, built out of blocks, had been 15 meters long and 12 meters wide. It was discovered 12 meters below ground in good condition and this was the second sacred lake found at Tanis. The first lake at the site had been identified in 1928, a French archeological team selected a site from the imagery and confirmed mud-brick structures approximately 30 cm below the surface
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Naqada III
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Naqada III is the last phase of the Naqada culture of ancient Egyptian prehistory, dating approximately from 3200 to 3000 BC. It is the period during which the process of state formation and they would more probably have been completely unrelated and very possibly in competition with each other. In this period, those names were inscribed in the form of serekhs on a variety of surfaces including pottery. The Protodynastic Period in ancient Egypt was characterised by a process of political unification. Furthermore, it is during this time that the Egyptian language was first recorded in hieroglyphs, there is also strong archaeological evidence of Egyptian settlements in southern Canaan during the Protodynastic Period, which are regarded as colonies or trading entrepôts. State formation began during this era and perhaps even earlier, various small city-states arose along the Nile. Centuries of conquest then reduced Upper Egypt to three states, Thinis, Naqada, and Nekhen. Sandwiched between Thinis and Nekhen, Naqada was the first to fall, nekhens relationship with Thinis is uncertain, but these two states may have merged peacefully, with the Thinite royal family ruling all of Egypt. The Thinite kings were buried at Abydos in the Umm el-Qaab cemetery, most Egyptologists consider Narmer to be both the last king of this period and the first king of the First Dynasty. Southern Canaan as an Egyptian Protodynastic Colony, the Emergence of the Egyptian State. The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt, Oxford and New York, Oxford University Press. The Prehistory of Egypt, From the First Egyptians to the First Pharaohs, the Oxford History of Ancient Egypt. Contacts Between Egypt and Syro-Palestine During the Protodynastic Period, biblical Archeologist, Perspectives on the Ancient World from Mesopotamia to the Mediterranean. Http, //www. touregypt. net/featurestories/hdyn00. htm Unification Theories, Digital Egypt, UK, UCL
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