1.
Aten
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Aten is the disk of the sun in ancient Egyptian mythology, and originally an aspect of the god Ra. The deified Aten is the focus of the religion of Atenism established by Amenhotep IV, in his poem Great Hymn to the Aten, Akhenaten praises Aten as the creator, giver of life, and nurturing spirit of the world. Aten does not have a Creation Myth or family, but is mentioned in the Book of the Dead, the worship of Aten was eradicated by Horemheb. By analogy, the term silver aten was sometimes used to refer to the moon, the solar Aten was extensively worshipped as a god in the reign of Amenhotep III, when it was depicted as a falcon-headed man much like Ra. The full title of Akhenatens god was Ra-Horakhty who rejoices in the horizon, the god is also considered to be both masculine and feminine simultaneously. All creation was thought to emanate from the god and to exist within the god, in particular, the god was not depicted in anthropomorphic form, but as rays of light extending from the suns disk. Furthermore, the name came to be written within a cartouche, along with the titles normally given to a Pharaoh. Ra-Horus, more usually referred to as Ra-Horakhty, is a synthesis of two gods, both of which are attested from very early on. During the Amarna period, this synthesis was seen as the source of energy of the sun god, of which the visible manifestation was the Aten. Thus Ra-Horus-Aten was a development of old ideas which came gradually, the real change, as some see it, was the apparent abandonment of all other gods, especially Amun-Ra, prohibition of idolatry, and the debatable introduction of quasi-monotheism by Akhenaten. The syncretism is readily apparent in the Great Hymn to the Aten in which Re-Herakhty, Shu, others see Akhenaten as a practitioner of an Aten monolatry, as he did not actively deny the existence of other gods, he simply refrained from worshipping any but the Aten. Other scholars call the religion henotheistic, principles of Atens religion were recorded on the rock tomb walls of Akhetaten. In the religion of Aten, night is a time to fear, work is done best when the sun, Aten, is present. Aten cares for every creature, and created a Nile river in the sky for the Syrians, Aten created all countries and people. The rays of the sun disk only holds out life to the family, everyone else receives life from Akhenaten. When a good person dies, he/she continues to live in the City of Light for the dead in Akhetaten, the conditions are the same after death. Akhenaten judged whether someone should be granted an afterlife, and operated the scale of justice, the explanation as to why Aten could not be fully represented was that the god has gone beyond creation. The cult centre of Aten was at the new city Akhetaten, some other cities include Thebes
2.
Uraeus
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The Uraeus is the stylized, upright form of an Egyptian cobra, used as a symbol of sovereignty, royalty, deity and divine authority in ancient Egypt. The Uraeus is a symbol for the goddess Wadjet and she was one of the earliest Egyptian deities and who often was depicted as a cobra. The center of her cult was in Per-Wadjet, later called Buto by the Greeks and she became the patroness of the Nile Delta and the protector of all of Lower Egypt. In whatever manner that the Uraeus was displayed upon the head, it was, in effect. The pharaoh was recognized only by wearing the Uraeus, which conveyed legitimacy to the ruler, there is evidence for this tradition even in the Old Kingdom during the third millennium BCE. Several goddesses associated with or being considered aspects of Wadjet are depicted wearing the Uraeus also, the importance of their separate cults kept them from becoming merged as with so many Egyptian deities. Together, they were known as The Two Ladies, who became the joint protectors and patrons of the unified Egypt. Later, the pharaohs were seen as a manifestation of the sun god Ra, in some mythological works, the eyes of Ra are said to be uraei. As the Uraeus was seen as a symbol, the deities Horus. In early ancient Egyptian mythology, Horus would have been the given to any king as part of the many titles taken. According to the mythology of Re, the first Uraeus was said to have been created by the goddess Isis, who formed it from the dust of the earth. In this version of the mythology, the Uraeus was the instrument with which Isis gained the throne of Egypt for Osiris, Isis is associated with and may be considered an aspect of Wadjet. In 1919, after only a half-hour of excavation, the Qufti worker Hosni Ibrahim held in his hands the solid-gold Golden Uraeus of Senusret II and it had been decided to make a complete clearance of the El-Lahun Pyramids rooms at Saqqara. The start in the offering chamber, leading from the tomb, on the south, immediately revealed in the turnover of the six inches of debris. Prior to the 1922 find of Tutankhamuns tomb, this Golden Uraeus was the only ornament ever known to be worn by an entombed pharaoh, and it was thought that it was passed to the next pharaoh. The Golden Uraeus is of gold,6.7 cm, black eyes of granite, a snake head of deep ultramarine lapis lazuli, the flared cobra hood of dark carnelian inlays. For mounting on the crown, two loops in the rear-supporting tail of the cobra provide the attachment points. Besides the Uraeus being used as an ornament for statuary or as an adornment on the pharaoh, it also was used for jewellery, however, another important use is as the hieroglyph
3.
Egyptian hieroglyphs
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Egyptian hieroglyphs were the formal writing system used in Ancient Egypt. It combined logographic, syllabic and alphabetic elements, with a total of some 1,000 distinct characters, cursive hieroglyphs were used for religious literature on papyrus and wood. The later hieratic and demotic Egyptian scripts are derived from hieroglyphic writing, the writing system continued to be used throughout the Late Period, as well as the Persian and Ptolemaic periods. Late survivals of hieroglyphic use are found well into the Roman period, with the closing of pagan temples in the 5th century, knowledge of hieroglyphic writing was lost, and the script remained undeciphered throughout the medieval and early modern period. The decipherment of hieroglyphs would only be solved in the 1820s by Jean-François Champollion, the word hieroglyph comes from the Greek adjective ἱερογλυφικός, a compound of ἱερός and γλύφω, supposedly a calque of an Egyptian phrase mdw·w-nṯr gods words. The glyphs themselves were called τὰ ἱερογλυφικὰ γράμματα the sacred engraved letters, the word hieroglyph has become a noun in English, standing for an individual hieroglyphic character. As used in the sentence, the word hieroglyphic is an adjective. Hieroglyphs emerged from the artistic traditions of Egypt. For example, symbols on Gerzean pottery from c.4000 BC have been argued to resemble hieroglyphic writing, proto-hieroglyphic symbol systems develop in the second half of the 4th millennium BC, such as the clay labels of a Predynastic ruler called Scorpion I recovered at Abydos in 1998. The first full sentence written in hieroglyphs so far discovered was found on a seal found in the tomb of Seth-Peribsen at Umm el-Qaab. There are around 800 hieroglyphs dating back to the Old Kingdom, Middle Kingdom, by the Greco-Roman period, there are more than 5,000. However, given the lack of evidence, no definitive determination has been made as to the origin of hieroglyphics in ancient Egypt. Since the 1990s, and discoveries such as the Abydos glyphs, as writing developed and became more widespread among the Egyptian people, simplified glyph forms developed, resulting in the hieratic and demotic scripts. These variants were more suited than hieroglyphs for use on papyrus. Hieroglyphic writing was not, however, eclipsed, but existed alongside the other forms, especially in monumental, the Rosetta Stone contains three parallel scripts – hieroglyphic, demotic, and Greek. Hieroglyphs continued to be used under Persian rule, and after Alexander the Greats conquest of Egypt, during the ensuing Ptolemaic and Roman periods. It appears that the quality of comments from Greek and Roman writers about hieroglyphs came about, at least in part. Some believed that hieroglyphs may have functioned as a way to distinguish true Egyptians from some of the foreign conquerors, another reason may be the refusal to tackle a foreign culture on its own terms, which characterized Greco-Roman approaches to Egyptian culture generally
4.
Memphis, Egypt
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Memphis was the ancient capital of Aneb-Hetch, the first nome of Lower Egypt. Its ruins are located near the town of Mit Rahina,20 km south of Giza, according to legend related by Manetho, the city was founded by the pharaoh Menes. Capital of Egypt during the Old Kingdom, it remained an important city throughout ancient Mediterranean history and it occupied a strategic position at the mouth of the Nile delta, and was home to feverish activity. Its principal port, Peru-nefer, harboured a high density of workshops, factories, during its golden age, Memphis thrived as a regional centre for commerce, trade, and religion. Memphis was believed to be under the protection of the god Ptah and its great temple, Hut-ka-Ptah, was one of the most prominent structures in the city. The name of temple, rendered in Greek as Aί γυ πτoς by the historian Manetho, is believed to be the etymological origin of the modern English name Egypt. The history of Memphis is closely linked to that of the country itself and its eventual downfall is believed to be due to the loss of its economic significance in late antiquity, following the rise of coastal Alexandria. Its religious significance also diminished after the abandonment of the ancient religion following the Edict of Thessalonica, the ruins of the former capital today offer fragmented evidence of its past. They have been preserved, along with the complex at Giza. The site is open to the public as an open-air museum, Memphis has had several names during its history of almost four millennia. Its Ancient Egyptian name was Inbu-Hedj, because of its size, the city also came to be known by various other names that were actually the names of neighbourhoods or districts that enjoyed considerable prominence at one time or another. For example, according to a text of the First Intermediate Period, it was known as Djed-Sut, the city was also at one point referred to as Ankh-Tawy, stressing the strategic position of the city between Upper and Lower Egypt. This name appears to date from the Middle Kingdom, and is found in ancient Egyptian texts. At the beginning of the New Kingdom, the city known as Men-nefer. The name Memphis is the Greek adaptation of this name, which was originally the name of the pyramid of Pepi I, in the Bible, Memphis is called Moph or Noph. The city of Memphis is 20 km south of Cairo, on the west bank of the Nile. The modern cities and towns of Mit Rahina, Dahshur, Abusir, Abu Gorab, the city was also the place that marked the boundary between Upper and Lower Egypt. The island of the city is today uninhabited, the closest settlement is the town of Mit Rahina
5.
Leontopolis
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Leontopolis was an Ancient Egyptian city located in the Nile Delta, Lower Egypt. It served as a capital and Metropolitan Archbishopric, which remains a Latin Catholic titular see. The archaeological site and settlement are known today as Kafr Al Muqdam, today, the site itself is referred to in Arabic as Tell el-Muqdam. The city is located in the part of the Nile Delta region. It was the capital of the 11th nome of Lower Egypt and was probably the centre of power under the 23rd dynasty. In his conquest-stela found at the fourth Nile Cataract at Jebel Barkal, strabo is the earliest writer who mentions either the nome, or its chief town, and it was probably of comparatively recent origin or importance. The Greek name of this city means, City of Lions, given on account of the presence of temples to the lioness goddesses Bast and Sekhmet, and their son, Maahes, live lions were kept at the temples during the time of the Greek occupation. It became the capital of the Roman province of Augustamnica Secunda As provincial capital it also was a Metropolitan archbishopric, known as Leontopolis in Augustamnica, according to DAnville, they were covered by a mound called Tel-Essabè, or the Lions Hill. Jomard, on the hand, maintains that some tumuli near the village of El-Mengaleh in the Delta. And this supposition agrees better with the account of the town given by Xenophon of Ephesus, Smith sites the city at latitude 30° 6′North, which is considerably further south than the actual site. Most scholars today agree that Leontopolis is located at Tell al Muqdam and this article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Smith, William, ed. article name needed. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, printed sources Richard Talbert, Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World, p.74. Hans Bonnet, Leontopolis, in, Lexikon der ägyptischen Religionsgeschichte, W. M. Flinders Petrie, Hyksos and Israelite Cities, London 1906. Max Küchler, Leontopolis in, Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart, auflage, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2002, S.274. External links Leontopolis article at JewishEncyclopedia. com GCatholic with titular incumbent bio links Herbermann, Charles, ed. Leontopolis
6.
Ptah
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In Egyptian mythology, Ptah is the demiurge of Memphis, god of craftsmen and architects. In the triad of Memphis, he is the spouse of Sekhmet and he was also regarded as the father of the sage Imhotep. Ptah is the Creator god par excellence, He is considered the demiurge who existed before all other things, and by his willfulness, thought the world. It was first conceived by Thought, and realized by the Word, Ptah conceives the world by the thought of his heart and that which Ptah commanded was created, with which the constituents of nature, fauna, and flora, are contained. He also plays a role in the preservation of the world and this document has been known as the Memphite Theology, and shows the god Ptah, the god responsible for the creation of the universe by thought and by the word. Ptah is the patron of craftsmanship, metalworking, carpenters, shipbuilders, from the Middle Kingdom onwards, he was one of five major Egyptian gods with Ra, Isis, Osiris and Amun. He is sometimes represented as a dwarf, naked and deformed, frequently associated with the god Bes, his worship then exceeded the borders of the country and was exported throughout the eastern Mediterranean. Thanks to the Phoenicians, we find figures of Ptah in Carthage, from the Old Kingdom, he quickly absorbs the appearance of Sokar and Tatenen, ancient deities of the Memphite region. His form of Sokar is found contained in its white shroud wearing the Atef crown, in this capacity, he represents the god of the necropolis of Saqqara and other famous sites where the royal pyramids were built. Gradually he formed with Osiris a new deity called Ptah-Sokar-Osiris, statuettes representing the human form, half-human, half-hawk, or simply in its falcon form will be systematically placed in tombs to accompany and protect the dead on their journey to the West. His Tatenen form is represented by a young and vigorous man wearing a crown with two tall plumes that surround the solar disk and he thus embodies the underground fire that rumbles and raises the earth. As such, he was revered by metalworkers and blacksmiths. In this form also, Ptah is the master of ceremonies for Heb Sed, in the holy of holies of his temple in Memphis, as well as in his great sacred boat, he drove in procession to regularly visit the region during major holidays. Ptah was also symbolized by two birds with human heads adorned with solar disks, symbols of the souls of the god Re, the two Ba are also identified as the twin gods Shu and Tefnut and are associated with the djed pillar of Memphis. Finally, Ptah is embodied in the bull, Apis. Frequently referred to as a herald of Re, the animal is the link with the god Re from the New Kingdom. He even received worship in Memphis, probably at the heart of the temple of Ptah. As god of craftsmen, the cult of the god Ptah quickly spread throughout Egypt, for this reason, the oratory of Ptah who listens to prayers was built near the site of Deir el-Medina, the village where the workers and craftsmen were confined
7.
Nefertem
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Nefertem was, in Egyptian mythology, originally a lotus flower at the creation of the world, who had arisen from the primal waters. Nefertem represented both the first sunlight and the smell of the Egyptian blue lotus flower, having arisen from the primal waters within an Egyptian blue water-lily. Nefertem the child comes from his earth father Nuns black primordial waters, when he matures, he is Ra. Nefertem was eventually seen as the son of the Creator god Ptah, in art, Nefertem is usually depicted as a beautiful young man having blue water-lily flowers around his head. As the son of Bastet, he sometimes has the head of a lion or is a lion or cat reclining. The ancient Egyptians often carried small statuettes of him as good-luck charms, der Gott auf der Blume, Eine ägyptische Kosmogonie und ihre weltweite Bildwirkung
8.
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
9.
Egyptian mythology
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Egyptian mythology is the collection of myths from ancient Egypt, which describe the actions of the Egyptian gods as a means of understanding the world. The beliefs that these myths express are an important part of ancient Egyptian religion, Myths appear frequently in Egyptian writings and art, particularly in short stories and in religious material such as hymns, ritual texts, funerary texts, and temple decoration. These sources rarely contain an account of a myth and often describe only brief fragments. Inspired by the cycles of nature, the Egyptians saw time in the present as a series of recurring patterns, Myths are set in these earliest times, and myth sets the pattern for the cycles of the present. Present events repeat the events of myth, and in doing so renew maat, events from the present that might be regarded as myths include Ras daily journey through the world and its otherworldly counterpart, the Duat. The details of these sacred events differ greatly from one text to another, Egyptian myths are primarily metaphorical, translating the essence and behavior of deities into terms that humans can understand. Each variant of a myth represents a different symbolic perspective, enriching the Egyptians understanding of the gods and it inspired or influenced many religious rituals and provided the ideological basis for kingship. Scenes and symbols from myth appeared in art in tombs, temples, in literature, myths or elements of them were used in stories that range from humor to allegory, demonstrating that the Egyptians adapted mythology to serve a wide variety of purposes. The development of Egyptian myth is difficult to trace, Egyptologists must make educated guesses about its earliest phases, based on written sources that appeared much later. One obvious influence on myth is the Egyptians natural surroundings, thus the Egyptians saw water and the sun as symbols of life and thought of time as a series of natural cycles. This orderly pattern was at constant risk of disruption, unusually low floods resulted in famine, the hospitable Nile valley was surrounded by harsh desert, populated by peoples the Egyptians regarded as uncivilized enemies of order. For these reasons, the Egyptians saw their land as an place of stability, or maat. These themes—order, chaos, and renewal—appear repeatedly in Egyptian religious thought, another possible source for mythology is ritual. Many rituals make reference to myths and are based directly on them. But it is difficult to determine whether a cultures myths developed before rituals or vice versa, questions about this relationship between myth and ritual have spawned much discussion among Egyptologists and scholars of comparative religion in general. In ancient Egypt, the earliest evidence of religious practices predates written myths, rituals early in Egyptian history included only a few motifs from myth. For these reasons, some scholars have argued that, in Egypt, but because the early evidence is so sparse, the question may never be resolved for certain. In private rituals, which are often called magical, the myth, many of the myth-like stories that appear in the rituals texts are not found in other sources
10.
Lion
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The lion is one of the big cats in the genus Panthera and a member of the family Felidae. The commonly used term African lion collectively denotes the several subspecies in Africa, with some males exceeding 250 kg in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger. Wild lions currently exist in sub-Saharan Africa and in India, in ancient historic times, their range was in most of Africa, including North Africa, and across Eurasia from Greece and southeastern Europe to India. Lion populations are untenable outside designated reserves and national parks, although the cause of the decline is not fully understood, habitat loss and conflicts with humans are the greatest causes of concern. Within Africa, the West African lion population is particularly endangered, in the wild, males seldom live longer than 10 to 14 years, as injuries sustained from continual fighting with rival males greatly reduce their longevity. In captivity they can more than 20 years. They typically inhabit savanna and grassland, although they may take to bush, Lions are unusually social compared to other cats. A pride of lions consists of related females and offspring and a number of adult males. Groups of female lions typically hunt together, preying mostly on large ungulates, Lions are apex and keystone predators, although they are also expert scavengers obtaining over 50 percent of their food by scavenging as opportunity allows. While lions do not typically hunt humans, some have, sleeping mainly during the day, lions are active primarily at night, although sometimes at twilight. Highly distinctive, the lion is easily recognised by its mane. It has been depicted in sculptures, in paintings, on national flags. Lions have been kept in menageries since the time of the Roman Empire, Zoos are cooperating worldwide in breeding programs for the endangered Asiatic subspecies. The lions name, similar in many Romance languages, is derived from the Latin leo, the Hebrew word לָבִיא may also be related. It was one of the originally described by Linnaeus, who gave it the name Felis leo, in his eighteenth-century work. The lions closest relatives are the species of the genus Panthera, the tiger, the snow leopard, the jaguar. P. leo evolved in Africa between 1 million and 800,000 years ago, before spreading throughout the Holarctic region and it appeared in the fossil record in Europe for the first time 700,000 years ago with the subspecies Panthera leo fossilis at Isernia in Italy. From this lion derived the later cave lion, which appeared about 300,000 years ago, Lions died out in northern Eurasia at the end of the last glaciation, about 10,000 years ago, this may have been secondary to the extinction of Pleistocene megafauna
11.
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
12.
Amenemhat I
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See Amenemhat, for other individuals with this name. Amenemhat I, also Amenemhet I and the hellenized form Ammenemes, was the first ruler of the Twelfth Dynasty and he ruled from 1991 BC to 1962 BC. Amenemhat I was probably the same as the vizier named Amenemhat who led an expedition to Wadi Hammamat under his predecessor Mentuhotep IV, and possibly overthrew him from power. Scholars differ as to whether Mentuhotep IV was killed by Amenemhat I, Amenemhat I moved the capital from Thebes to Itjtawy and was buried in el-Lisht. Theres some evidence that the reign of Amenemhat I was beset with political turmoil, as indicated by the inscriptions of Nehri. There were some naval battles where an associate of Amenemhat I by the name of Khnumhotep I was involved, later, Khnumhotep was appointed as an important local governor at Beni Hasan, and he founded a dynasty of local governors there. In the inscriptions by Khnumhotep, mention is made of military campaigns against the Asiatics. The cult of the king was also promoted during this period, the vizier at the beginning of the reign was Ipi, at the end of the reign Intefiqer was in charge. Two treasurers can be placed under this king, another Ipi, two high stewards, Meketre and Sobeknakht, have also been identified. His pyramid was made in the fashion as 5th and 6th dynasty pyramids by having a rough core clad with a fine mantle of smooth limestone. The core of the pyramid was made up of rough blocks of limestone with a loose fill of sand, debris. Perhaps the most remarkable feature is that it included fragments of relief-decorated blocks from Old Kingdom monuments – many from pyramid causeways and temples, granite blocks from Khafres complex went into the lining and blocking of Amenemhat Is descending passage. We can only conclude that they were picked up at Saqqara and Giza, when the limestone outer layer was taken, the core slumped. The pyramid and temple have been used as a source of material for lime burners so only a small amount remains today, the Middle Kingdom pyramids were built closer to the Nile and Amenemhet Is burial chamber is now underwater because the River Nile has shifted course. The complex has a wall of limestone and an outer wall of mudbrick. There are a number of mastaba tombs between the walls and 22 burial shafts on the side of the pyramid. Two literary works dating from the end of the give an picture about Amenemhat Is death. The Instructions of Amenemhat were supposedly counsels that the king gave to his son during a dream
13.
Solar deity
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A solar deity is a sky deity who represents the Sun, or an aspect of it, usually by its perceived power and strength. Solar deities and sun worship can be found throughout most of recorded history in various forms, the Sun is sometimes referred to by its Latin name Sol or by its Greek name Helios. The English word sun stems from Proto-Germanic *sunnǭ, the Neolithic concept of a solar barge is found in the later myths of ancient Egypt, with Ra and Horus. Predynasty Egyptian beliefs attribute Atum as the sun-god and Horus as a god of the sky, as the Old Kingdom theocracy gained power, early beliefs were incorporated with the expanding popularity of Ra and the Osiris-Horus mythology. Atum became Ra-Atum, the rays of the setting sun, Osiris became the divine heir to Atums power on Earth and passes his divine authority to his son Horus. Early Egyptian myths imply the sun is within the lioness, Sekhmet, at night and is reflected in her eyes, or that it is within the cow, Hathor, during the night, being reborn each morning as her son. Mesopotamian Shamash plays an important role during the Bronze Age, similarly, South American cultures have a tradition of Sun worship, as with the Incan Inti. Proto-Indo-European religion has a chariot, the sun as traversing the sky in a chariot. In Germanic mythology this is Sol, in Vedic Surya, and in Greek Helios, svarog is the Slavic solar deity, represented as a spirit of fire. During the Roman Empire, a festival of the birth of the Unconquered Sun was celebrated on the winter solstice—the rebirth of the sun—which occurred on December 25 of the Julian calendar. In late antiquity, the centrality of the sun in some Imperial religious systems suggest a form of a solar monotheism. The religious commemorations on December 25 were replaced under Christian domination of the Empire with the birthday of Christ, the Tiv people consider the Sun to be the son of the supreme being Awondo and the Moon Awondos daughter. The Barotse tribe believes that the Sun is inhabited by the sky god Nyambi, some Sara people also worship the sun. Even where the sun god is equated with the supreme being, the Ancient Egyptian god of creation, Amun is also believed to reside inside the sun. So is the Akan creator deity, Nyame and the Dogon deity of creation, also in Egypt, there was a religion that worshiped the sun directly, and was among the first monotheistic religions, Atenism. Sun worship was prevalent in ancient Egyptian religion, the earliest deities associated with the sun are all goddesses, Wadjet, Sekhmet, Hathor, Nut, Bast, Bat, and Menhit. First Hathor, and then Isis, give birth to and nurse Horus, Hathor the horned-cow is one of the 12 daughters of Ra, gifted with joy and is a wet-nurse to Horus. From at least the 4th Dynasty of Ancient Egypt, the sun was worshipped as the deity Re, and portrayed as a falcon headed god surmounted by the solar disk, and surrounded by a serpent
14.
Hathor
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Hathor is an Ancient Egyptian goddess who personified the principles of joy, feminine love, and motherhood. She was one of the most important and popular throughout the history of Ancient Egypt. Hathor was worshipped by royalty and common people alike, in tomb paintings, she is often depicted as Mistress of the West, welcoming the dead into the next life. In other roles, she was a goddess of music, dance, foreign lands and she was believed to assist women in childbirth. She was also believed to be the goddess of miners. Hathor is commonly depicted as a cow goddess with horns in which is set a sun disk with Uraeus, twin feathers are also sometimes shown in later periods as well as a menat necklace. The Ancient Egyptians viewed reality as multi-layered in which deities who merge for various reasons, while retaining divergent attributes and myths, were not seen as contradictory but complementary. In a complicated relationship Hathor is at times the mother, daughter and wife of Ra and, like Isis, is at times described as the mother of Horus, the cult of Osiris promised eternal life to those deemed morally worthy. Originally the justified dead, male or female, became an Osiris but by early Roman times females became identified with Hathor, the Ancient Greeks sometimes identified Hathor with the goddess Aphrodite. Hathor is ambiguously depicted until the fourth dynasty, in the historical era Hathor is shown using the imagery of a cow deity. At times they are regarded as one and the goddess, though likely having separate origins. The evidence pointing to the deity being Hathor in particular is based on a passage from the Pyramid texts which states that the Kings apron comes from Hathor, from the Old Kingdom she was also called Lady of the Sycamore in her capacity as a tree deity. Hathor had a relationship with Ra. At times she is the eye of Ra and considered his daughter and she absorbed this role from another cow goddess Mehet-Weret who was the mother of Ra in a creation myth and carried him between her horns. As a mother she gave birth to Ra each morning on the eastern horizon, the Milky Way was seen as a waterway in the heavens, sailed upon by both the sun deity and the moon, leading the ancient Egyptians to describe it as The Nile in the Sky. Hathor also was favoured as a protector in desert regions, as Serabit el-Khadim was where turquoise was mined, Hathors titles included Lady of Turquoise, Mistress of Turquoise, and Lady of Turquoise Country. Hathors identity as a cow, perhaps depicted as such on the Narmer Palette, meant that she identified with another ancient cow-goddess of fertility. The assimilation of Bat, who was associated with the sistrum, in this later form, Hathors cult became centred in Dendera in Upper Egypt and it was led by priestesses and priests who also were dancers, singers and other entertainers
15.
Bastet
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Bastet was a goddess in ancient Egyptian religion, worshiped as early as the 2nd Dynasty. As Bast, she was the goddess of warfare in Lower Egypt and her name is also translated as Baast, Ubaste, and Baset. In Greek mythology, she is known as Ailuros. The uniting Egyptian cultures had deities that shared similar roles and usually the same imagery, in Upper Egypt, Sekhmet was the parallel warrior lioness deity. Often similar deities merged into one with the unification, but that did not occur with these deities having such strong roots in their cultures, instead, these goddesses began to diverge. During the 22nd Dynasty, Bast had transformed from a lioness deity into a major protector deity represented as a cat. Bastet, the associated with this later identity, is the name commonly used by scholars today to refer to this deity. Bastet, the form of the name which is most commonly adopted by Egyptologists today because of its use in later dynasties, is a modern convention offering one possible reconstruction, in early Egyptian, her name appears to have been bꜣstt. In Egyptian writing, the second t marks a feminine ending, but was not usually pronounced, by the first millennium, then, bꜣstt would have been something like *Ubaste in Egyptian speech, later becoming Coptic Oubaste. During later dynasties, the deity remained, but was assigned a role in the pantheon by bearing the name Bastet. This happened after Thebes became the capital of Ancient Egypt during the 18th Dynasty, diminishing her status, they began referring to the deity with the added suffix, as Bastet, and their use of the new name was well-documented, becoming very familiar to researchers. By the 22nd Dynasty the transition had occurred in all regions, what the name of the goddess means remains uncertain. One recent suggestion by Stephen Quirke explains it as meaning She of the ointment jar and this ties in with the observation that her name was written with the hieroglyph for ointment jar and that she was associated with protective ointments, among other things. The name of the known as alabaster might, through Greek. Bastet was originally a warrior goddess of the sun throughout most of ancient Egyptian history. Greeks occupying ancient Egypt toward the end of its civilization changed her into a goddess of the moon, as protector of Lower Egypt, she was seen as defender of the pharaoh, and consequently of the later chief male deity, Ra. Along with the lioness goddesses, she would occasionally be depicted as the embodiment of the Eye of Ra. She has been depicted as fighting the evil snake named Apep, images of Bastet were often created from alabaster
16.
Wadjet
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Wadjet, known to the Greek world as Uto among other names, was originally the ancient local goddess of the city of Dep. She was said to be the patron and protector of Lower Egypt and upon unification with Upper Egypt, the image of Wadjet with the sun disk is called the uraeus, and it was the emblem on the crown of the rulers of Lower Egypt. She was also the protector of kings and of women in childbirth and her oracle was in the renowned temple in Per-Wadjet that was dedicated to her worship and gave the city its name. This oracle may have been the source for the tradition that spread to Greece from Egypt. The Going Forth of Wadjet was celebrated on December 25 with chants, an annual festival held in the city celebrated Wadjet on April 21. Other important dates for special worship of her were June 21, the Summer Solstice and she also was assigned the fifth hour of the fifth day of the moon. Wadjet was closely associated in the Egyptian pantheon with the Eye of Ra, the hieroglyph for her eye is shown below, sometimes two are shown in the sky of religious images. Per-Wadjet also contained a sanctuary of Horus, the child of the sun deity who would be interpreted to represent the pharaoh, much later, Wadjet became associated with Isis as well as with many other deities. The name Wadjet is derived from the term for the symbol of her domain, Lower Egypt and her name means papyrus-colored one, as wadj is the Ancient Egyptian word for the color green and the et is an indication of her gender. Eventually, Wadjet was claimed as the goddess and protector of the whole of Lower Egypt and became associated with Nekhbet, depicted as a white vulture. After the unification the image of Nekhbet joined Wadjet on the crown, the Ancient Egyptian word Wadj signifies blue and green. It is also the name for the well-known Eye of the Moon, indeed, in later times, she was often depicted simply as a woman with a snakes head, or as a woman wearing the uraeus. The uraeus originally had been her body alone, which wrapped around or was coiled upon the head of the pharaoh or another deity, Wadjet was depicted as a cobra. As patron and protector, later Wadjet often was shown coiled upon the head of Ra, in order to act as his protection, this image of her became the uraeus symbol used on the royal crowns as well. This is an image that appeared repeatedly in the later images and myths of cultures surrounding the Mediterranean Sea, called the caduceus. Her image also rears up from the staff of the poles that are used to indicate deities, as seen in the hieroglyph for uraeus above. An interpretation of the Milky Way was that it was the snake, Wadjet. In this interpretation she was associated with Hathor and other early deities among the various aspects of the great mother goddess, including Mut
17.
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
18.
Osiris
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Osiris was an Egyptian god, usually identified as the god of the afterlife, the underworld, and the dead, but more appropriately as the god of transition, resurrection, and regeneration. He was also associated with the epithet Khenti-Amentiu, meaning Foremost of the Westerners, as ruler of the dead, Osiris was also sometimes called king of the living, ancient Egyptians considered the blessed dead the living ones. Osiris was considered the brother of Isis, Set, Nephthys, and Horus the Elder and he was described as the Lord of love, He Who is Permanently Benign and Youthful and the Lord of Silence. The Kings of Egypt were associated with Osiris in death – as Osiris rose from the dead they would, in union with him, inherit eternal life through a process of imitative magic. By the New Kingdom all people, not just pharaohs, were believed to be associated with Osiris at death, Osiris was widely worshipped as Lord of the Dead until the suppression of the Egyptian religion during the rise of Christianity in the Roman Empire. Osiris is a Latin transliteration of the Ancient Greek Ὄσιρις IPA, in Egyptian hieroglyphs the name is appears as wsjr or jsjrt. Since hieroglyphic writing lacks vowels, Egyptologists have vocalized the name in various ways as Asar, Yasar, Aser, Asaru, Ausar, Ausir, Wesir, Usir, several proposals have been made for the etymology and meaning of the original name wsjr. John Gwyn Griffiths proposed a derivation from wsr signifying the powerful, moreover, one of the oldest attestations of the god Osiris appears in the mastaba of the deceased Netjer-wser. David Lorton proposed that Wsjr is composed by the morphemes set-jret signifying ritual activity, wolfhart Westendorf proposed an etymology from Waset-jret she who bears the eye. He also carries the crook and flail, the crook is thought to represent Osiris as a shepherd god. The symbolism of the flail is more uncertain with shepherds whip, fly-whisk and he was commonly depicted as a pharaoh with a complexion of either green or black in mummiform. The Pyramid Texts describe early conceptions of an afterlife in terms of travelling with the sun god amongst the stars. Amongst these mortuary texts, at the beginning of the 4th dynasty, is found, An offering the king gives, by the end of the 5th dynasty, the formula in all tombs becomes An offering the king gives and Osiris. Osiris is the father of the god Horus, whose conception is described in the Osiris myth. The myth described Osiris as having been killed by his brother Set, Isis joined the fragmented pieces of Osiris, but the only body part missing was the phallus. Isis fashioned a golden phallus, and briefly brought Osiris back to life by use of a spell that she learned from her father and this spell gave her time to become pregnant by Osiris before he again died. Isis later gave birth to Horus, as such, since Horus was born after Osiris resurrection, Horus became thought of as a representation of new beginnings and the vanquisher of the evil Set. Ptah-Seker thus gradually became identified with Osiris, the two becoming Ptah-Seker-Osiris, Osiris soul, or rather his Ba, was occasionally worshipped in its own right, almost as if it were a distinct god, especially in the Delta city of Mendes
19.
Eye of Ra
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The Eye of Ra or Eye of Re is a being in ancient Egyptian mythology that functions as a feminine counterpart to the sun god Ra and a violent force that subdues his enemies. The Eye goddess acts as mother, sibling, consort, and she is his partner in the creative cycle in which he begets the renewed form of himself that is born at dawn. The Eyes violent aspect defends Ra against the agents of disorder that threaten his rule and this dangerous aspect of the Eye goddess is often represented by a lioness or by the uraeus, or cobra, a symbol of protection and royal authority. The Eye of Ra is similar to the Eye of Horus, which belongs to a different god, Horus, but represents many of the same concepts. The disastrous effects when the Eye goddess rampages out of control, the Eye of Ra was involved in many areas of ancient Egyptian religion, including in the cults of the many goddesses who are equated with it. Its life-giving power was celebrated in temple rituals, and its dangerous aspect was invoked in the protection of the pharaoh, of sacred places, the Egyptians often referred to the sun and the moon as the eyes of particular gods. The right eye of the god Horus, for instance, was equated with the sun, however, in Egyptian belief, many terms and concepts are fluid, so the sun could also be called the Eye of Horus. The yellow or red disk-like sun emblem in Egyptian art represents the Eye of Ra, because of the great importance of the sun in Egyptian religion, this emblem is among the most common religious symbols in all of Egyptian art. Although Egyptologists usually call this emblem the sun disk, its shape in Egyptian relief sculpture suggests that the Egyptians may have envisioned it as a sphere. The emblem often appears atop the heads of solar-associated deities, including Ra himself, the disk could even be regarded as Ras physical form. At other times, the sun god, in forms, is depicted inside the disk shape as if enclosed within it. The disk is often called Ras daughter in Egyptian texts, as the sun, the Eye of Ra is a source of heat and light, and it is associated with fire and flames. It is also equated with the red light that appears before sunrise, the presence of the feminine suffix -t in jrt may explain why these independent eyes were thought of as female. The Eye of Ra, in particular, is involved in the sun gods creative actions. In Egyptian mythology, the emergence from the horizon each morning is likened to Ras birth, an event that revitalizes him. Ra emerges from the body of a goddess who represents the sky—usually Nut, depictions of the rising sun often show Ra as a child contained within the solar disk. In this context, the Egyptologist Lana Troy suggests, the disk may represent the womb from which he is born or the placenta that emerges with him. The Eye of Ra can also take the form of a goddess, Ra was sometimes said to enter the body of the sky goddess at sunset, impregnating her and setting the stage for his rebirth at sunrise
20.
Tefnut
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Tefnut is a goddess of moisture, moist air, dew and rain in Ancient Egyptian religion. She is the sister and consort of the air god Shu, like most Egyptian deities, including her brother, Tefnut has no single ideograph or symbol. Her name in hieroglyphics consists of four single phonogram symbols t-f-n-t, although the n phonogram is a representation of waves on the surface of water, it was never used as an ideogram or determinative for the word water, or for anything associated with water. Tefnut is a daughter of the solar god Ra-Atum, married to her brother, Shu, she is mother of Nut, the sky and Geb, the earth. Tefnuts grandchildren were Osiris, Isis, Set, Nephthys, and in some versions and she was also a great grandmother of Horus the Younger. Alongside her father, brother, children, grandchildren, and great-grandchild, there are a number of variants to the myth of the creation of Tefnut and her twin brother Shu. In all versions, Tefnut is the product of parthenogenesis, in the Heliopolitan creation myth, the solar god Atum masturbates to produce Tefnut and Shu. Atum was creative in that he proceeded to himself in Heliopolis. He took his penis in his hand so that he obtain the pleasure of orgasm thereby. And brother and sister were born - that is Shu and Tefnut, Pyramid Text 527 In some versions of this myth, Atum also swallows his semen, and spits it out to form the twins, or else the spitting of his saliva forms the act of procreation. Both of these contain a play on words, the tef sound which forms the first syllable of the name Tefnut also constitutes a word meaning to spit or to expectorate. The Coffin Texts contain references to Shu being sneezed out by Atum from his nose, the Bremner-Rind Papyrus and the Memphite Theology describe Atum masturbating into his mouth, before spitting out his semen to form the twins. Tefnut is a deity, and appears as human with a lioness head when depicted as part of the Great Ennead of Heliopolis. The other frequent depiction is as a lioness, but Tefnut can also be depicted as fully human. In her fully or semi anthropomorphic form, she is depicted wearing a wig, topped either with a serpent, or a uraeus and solar disk. Her face is used in a double headed form with that of her brother Shu on collar counterpoises. During the 18th and 19th Dynasties, particularly during the Amarna period, Tefnut was depicted in human form wearing a low flat headdress, akhenatens mother, Tiye was depicted wearing a similar headdress, and identifying with Hathor-Tefnut. The iconic blue crown of Nefertiti is thought by archaeologist Joyce Tyldesley to be derived from Tiyes headdress, Heliopolis and Leontopolis were the primary cult centres
21.
Aegis
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The aegis or aigis, as stated in the Iliad, is carried by Athena and Zeus, but its nature is uncertain. It had been interpreted as a skin or a shield. There may be a connection with a deity named Aex or Aix, a daughter of Helios, the aegis of Athena is referred to in several places in the Iliad. It produced a sound as from a myriad roaring dragons and was borne by Athena in battle, the modern concept of doing something under someones aegis means doing something under the protection of a powerful, knowledgeable, or benevolent source. The word aegis is identified with protection by a force with its roots in Greek mythology and adopted by the Romans, there are parallels in Norse mythology. Where the Greek word aegis is applied by extension, some of the Attic vase-painters retained an archaic tradition that the tassels had originally been serpents in their representations of the aegis. When the Olympian deities overtook the older deities of Greece and she was born of Metis and re-born through the head of Zeus fully clothed, when the Olympian shakes the aegis, Mount Ida is wrapped in clouds, the thunder rolls and men are struck down with fear. Aegis-bearing Zeus, as he is in the Iliad, sometimes lends the fearsome aegis to Athena. In the Iliad when Zeus sends Apollo to revive the wounded Hector, Apollo, holding the aegis, charges the Achaeans, according to Edith Hamiltons Mythology, Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes, the Aegis is the breastplate of Zeus, and was awful to behold. However, Zeus is normally portrayed in sculpture holding a thunderbolt or lightning, bearing neither a shield nor a breastplate. Classical Greece interpreted the Homeric aegis usually as a cover of some kind borne by Athena, the Douris cup shows that the aegis was represented exactly as the skin of the great serpent, with its scales clearly delineated. John Tzetzes says that aegis was the skin of the monstrous giant Pallas whom Athena overcame and whose name she attached to her own. The aegis appears in works of art sometimes as an animals skin thrown over Athenas shoulders and arms, occasionally with a border of snakes, usually bearing the Gorgon head. In some pottery it appears as a cover over Athenas dress. It is sometimes represented on the statues of Roman emperors, heroes, and warriors, herodotus thought he had identified the source of the ægis in ancient Libya, which was always a distant territory of ancient magic for the Greeks. Athenes garments and ægis were borrowed by the Greeks from the Libyan women, in this context, Graves identifies the aegis as clearly belonging first to Athena. The Greek αἰγίς aigis, has many meanings including, violent windstorm, the shield of a deity as described above. Goatskin coat, from treating the word as meaning something grammatically feminine pertaining to goat, Greek αἴξ aix = goat, + suffix -ίς -is
22.
Walters Art Museum
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The Walters Art Museum, located in Mount Vernon-Belvedere, Baltimore, Maryland, is a public art museum founded and opened in 1934. It holds collections established during the mid-19th Century, located across the back alley, a block south of the Walters mansion on West Monument Street/Mount Vernon Place, on the northwest corner of North Charles Street at West Centre Street. The following year, The Walters reopened its original building after a dramatic three-year physical renovation and replacement of internal utilities. The Archimedes Palimpsest was on loan to the Walters Art Museum from a collector for conservation. This was one of the largest and most comprehensive such releases made by any museum, the Walters collection of ancient art includes examples from Egypt, Nubia, Greece, Rome, Etruria and the Near East. In 1911, Henry Walters purchased almost 100 gold artifacts from the Chiriqui region of western Panama in Central America, the museum owns the oldest surviving Chinese wood-and-lacquer image of the Buddha. It is exhibited in a gallery dedicated solely to this work, the Museum holds one of the largest and finest collections of Thai bronze, scrolls, and banner paintings in the world. Islamic art in all media is represented at the Walters, the Walters Museum owns an array of Islamic manuscripts. Walters Art Museum, MS W.613 contains five Mughal miniatures from a very important Khamsa of Nizami made for the Emperor Akbar, Henry Walters assembled a collection of art produced during the Middle Ages in all the major artistic media of the period. This forms the basis of the Walters medieval collection, for which the Museum is best known internationally. Considered one of the best collections of art in the United States, the Museums holdings include examples of metalwork, sculpture, stained glass, textiles, icons. Sculpted heads from the royal Abbey of St. Denis are rare surviving examples of sculptures that are directly connected with the origins of Gothic art in 12th Century France. An ivory casket covered with scenes of jousting knights is one of about a dozen such objects to survive in the world, many of these works are on display in the Museums galleries. Works in the collection are the subject of active research by the curatorial and conservation departments of the museum. The collection of European Renaissance and Baroque art features holdings of paintings, sculpture, furniture, ceramics, metal work, arms, the museum has one of ten surviving examples of the Sèvres pot-pourri vase in the shape of a ship from the 1750s and 1760s. William and Henry Walters collected works by late 19th Century French academic masters, Henry Walters was particularly interested in the courtly arts of 18th Century France. The museum’s collection of Sèvres porcelain includes a number of pieces that were made for members of the Royal Bourbon Court at Versailles Palace outside of Paris. Portrait miniatures and the examples of works, especially snuffboxes and watches, are displayed in the Treasury, along with some exceptional 19th-
23.
Baltimore
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Baltimore is the largest city in the U. S. state of Maryland, and the 29th-most populous city in the country. It was established by the Constitution of Maryland and is not part of any county, thus, it is the largest independent city in the United States, with a population of 621,849 as of 2015. As of 2010, the population of the Baltimore Metropolitan Area was 2.7 million, founded in 1729, Baltimore is the second largest seaport in the Mid-Atlantic. Baltimores Inner Harbor was once the leading port of entry for immigrants to the United States. With hundreds of identified districts, Baltimore has been dubbed a city of neighborhoods, in the War of 1812, Francis Scott Key wrote The Star-Spangled Banner, later the American national anthem, in Baltimore. More than 65,000 properties, or roughly one in three buildings in the city, are listed on the National Register, more than any city in the nation. The city has 289 properties listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the historical records of the government of Baltimore are located at the Baltimore City Archives. The city is named after Cecil Calvert, second Lord Baltimore, of the Irish House of Lords, Baltimore Manor was the name of the estate in County Longford on which the Calvert family lived in Ireland. Baltimore is an anglicization of the Irish name Baile an Tí Mhóir, in 1608, Captain John Smith traveled 210 miles from Jamestown to the uppermost Chesapeake Bay, leading the first European expedition to the Patapsco River. The name Patapsco is derived from pota-psk-ut, which translates to backwater or tide covered with froth in Algonquian dialect, a quarter century after John Smiths voyage, English colonists began to settle in Maryland. The area constituting the modern City of Baltimore and its area was first settled by David Jones in 1661. He claimed the area today as Harbor East on the east bank of the Jones Falls stream. In the early 1600s, the immediate Baltimore vicinity was populated, if at all. The Baltimore area had been inhabited by Native Americans since at least the 10th millennium BC, one Paleo-Indian site and several Archaic period and Woodland period archaeological sites have been identified in Baltimore, including four from the Late Woodland period. During the Late Woodland period, the culture that is called the Potomac Creek complex resided in the area from Baltimore to the Rappahannock River in Virginia. It was located on the Bush River on land that in 1773 became part of Harford County, in 1674, the General Assembly passed An Act for erecting a Court-house and Prison in each County within this Province. The site of the house and jail for Baltimore County was evidently Old Baltimore near the Bush River. In 1683, the General Assembly passed An Act for Advancement of Trade to establish towns, ports, one of the towns established by the act in Baltimore County was on Bush River, on Town Land, near the Court-House
24.
Ancient Egyptian language
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The language spoken in ancient Egypt was a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. The earliest known complete sentence in the Egyptian language has been dated to about 2690 BCE, making it one of the oldest recorded languages known. Egyptian was spoken until the seventeenth century in the form of Coptic. The national language of modern Egypt is Egyptian Arabic, which gradually replaced Coptic as the language of life in the centuries after the Muslim conquest of Egypt. Coptic is still used as the language of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria. It has several hundred fluent speakers today, the Egyptian language belongs to the Afroasiatic language family. Of the other Afroasiatic branches, Egyptian shows its greatest affinities with Semitic, in Egyptian, the Proto-Afroasiatic voiced consonants */d z ð/ developed into pharyngeal ⟨ꜥ⟩ /ʕ/, e. g. Eg. Afroasiatic */l/ merged with Egyptian ⟨n⟩, ⟨r⟩, ⟨ꜣ⟩, and ⟨j⟩ in the dialect on which the language was based. Original */k g ḳ/ palatalize to ⟨ṯ j ḏ⟩ in some environments and are preserved as ⟨k g q⟩ in others, Egyptian has many biradical and perhaps monoradical roots, in contrast to the Semitic preference for triradical roots. Egyptian probably is more archaic in this regard, whereas Semitic likely underwent later regularizations converting roots into the triradical pattern, scholars group the Egyptian language into six major chronological divisions, Archaic Egyptian language Old Egyptian language Middle Egyptian language, characterizing Middle Kingdom. Demotic Coptic The earliest Egyptian glyphs date back to around 3300 BC and these early texts are generally lumped together under the general term Archaic Egyptian. They record names, titles and labels, but a few of them show morphological and syntactic features familiar from later, more complete, Old Egyptian is dated from the oldest known complete sentence, found in the tomb of Seth-Peribsen and dated to around 2690 BCE. It reads, dmḏ. n. f t3wj n z3. f nswt-bjt pr-jb. snj He has united the Two Lands for his son, extensive texts appear from about 2600 BCE. Demotic first appears about 650 BCE and survived as a written language until the fifth century CE and it probably survived in the Egyptian countryside as a spoken language for several centuries after that. Bohairic Coptic is still used by the Coptic Churches, Old, Middle, and Late Egyptian were all written using hieroglyphs and hieratic. Demotic was written using a script derived from hieratic, its appearance is similar to modern Arabic script and is also written from right to left. Coptic is written using the Coptic alphabet, a form of the Greek alphabet with a number of symbols borrowed from Demotic for sounds that did not occur in ancient Greek. Arabic became the language of Egypts political administration soon after the early Muslim conquests in the seventh century, today, Coptic survives as the sacred language of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria and the Coptic Catholic Church
25.
Luxor Temple
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Luxor Temple is a large Ancient Egyptian temple complex located on the east bank of the Nile River in the city today known as Luxor and was constructed approximately 1400 BCE. In the Egyptian language it is known as ipet resyt, the southern sanctuary, in Luxor there are several great temples on the east and west banks. Unlike the other temples in Thebes, Luxor temple is not dedicated to a god or a deified version of the king in death. Other parts of the temple were built by Tutankhamun and Ramesses II, during the Roman era, the temple and its surroundings were a legionary fortress and the home of the Roman government in the area. Luxor temple was built with sandstone from the Gebel el-Silsila area and this sandstone from the Gebel el-Silsila region is referred to as Nubian Sandstone. This sandstone was used for the construction for monuments in Upper Egypt as well as in the course of past, like other Egyptian structures a common technique used was symbolism, or illusionism. For example, to the Egyptian, a sanctuary shaped like an Anubis Jackal was really Anubis, at the Luxor temple, the two obelisks flanking the entrance were not the same height, but they created the illusion that they were. With the layout of the temple appear to be of equal height. Symbolically, it is a visual and spatial effect to emphasize the heights and distance from the wall, from medieval times the Muslim population of Luxor had settled in and around the temple, at the southward end of the mount. The Luxor Temple had begun to be excavated by Professor Gaston Maspero after 1884 after he had given the order to commence operations. The excavations were carried out sporadically until 1960, over time, accumulated rubbish of the ages had buried three quarters of the temple which contained the courts and colonnades which formed the nucleus of the Arab half of the Modern village. Maspero had taken an interest earlier, and he had taken over the post of Mariette Pasha to complete the job in 1881. Not only was there rubbish, but there were barracks, stores, houses, huts, pigeon towers. Maspero received from the Egyptian minister of works the authorization needed to obtain funds in order to negotiate compensation for the pieces of land covered by the houses and dependencies. It has been determined that the Luxor temple holds significance to the Opet Festival. However, other studies at the temple by the Epigraphic Survey team present a new interpretation of Luxor. They have concluded that Luxor is the dedicated to the divine Egyptian ruler or, more precisely. Six barque shrines, serving as way stations for the barques of the gods during festival processions, were set up on the avenue between the Karnak and Luxor Temple
26.
Copenhagen
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Copenhagen, Danish, København, Latin, Hafnia) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark. Copenhagen has an population of 1,280,371. The Copenhagen metropolitan area has just over 2 million inhabitants, the city is situated on the eastern coast of the island of Zealand, another small portion of the city is located on Amager, and is separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the strait of Øresund. The Øresund Bridge connects the two cities by rail and road, originally a Viking fishing village founded in the 10th century, Copenhagen became the capital of Denmark in the early 15th century. Beginning in the 17th century it consolidated its position as a centre of power with its institutions, defences. After suffering from the effects of plague and fire in the 18th century and this included construction of the prestigious district of Frederiksstaden and founding of such cultural institutions as the Royal Theatre and the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. Later, following the Second World War, the Finger Plan fostered the development of housing, since the turn of the 21st century, Copenhagen has seen strong urban and cultural development, facilitated by investment in its institutions and infrastructure. The city is the cultural, economic and governmental centre of Denmark, Copenhagens economy has seen rapid developments in the service sector, especially through initiatives in information technology, pharmaceuticals and clean technology. Since the completion of the Øresund Bridge, Copenhagen has become integrated with the Swedish province of Scania and its largest city, Malmö. With a number of connecting the various districts, the cityscape is characterized by parks, promenades. Copenhagen is home to the University of Copenhagen, the Technical University of Denmark, the University of Copenhagen, founded in 1479, is the oldest university in Denmark. Copenhagen is home to the FC København and Brøndby football clubs, the annual Copenhagen Marathon was established in 1980. Copenhagen is one of the most bicycle-friendly cities in the world, the Copenhagen Metro serves central Copenhagen while the Copenhagen S-train network connects central Copenhagen to its outlying boroughs. Serving roughly 2 million passengers a month, Copenhagen Airport, Kastrup, is the largest airport in the Nordic countries, the name of the city reflects its origin as a harbour and a place of commerce. The original designation, from which the contemporary Danish name derives, was Køpmannæhafn, meaning merchants harbour, the literal English translation would be Chapmans haven. The English name for the city was adapted from its Low German name, the abbreviations Kbh. or Kbhvn are often used in Danish for København, and kbh. for københavnsk. The chemical element hafnium is named for Copenhagen, where it was discovered, the bacterium Hafnia is also named after Copenhagen, Vagn Møller of the State Serum Institute in Copenhagen named it in 1954. Excavations in Pilestræde have also led to the discovery of a well from the late 12th century, the remains of an ancient church, with graves dating to the 11th century, have been unearthed near where Strøget meets Rådhuspladsen
27.
Nekhbet
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Nekhbet was an early predynastic local goddess in Egyptian mythology, who was the patron of the city of Nekheb. Ultimately, she became the patron of Upper Egypt and one of the two patron deities for all of Ancient Egypt when it was unified, egypt’s oldest oracle was the shrine of Nekhbet at Nekheb, the original necropolis or city of the dead. It was the city to Nekhen, the religious and political capital of Upper Egypt at the end of the Predynastic period and probably. The original settlement on the Nekhen site dates from Naqada I or the late Badarian cultures, at its height, from about 3400 BC, Nekhen had at least 5,000 and possibly as many as 10,000 inhabitants. The priestesses of Nekhbet were called muu and wore robes of Egyptian vulture feathers, Nekhbet was the tutelary deity of Upper Egypt. Nekhbet and her Lower Egyptian counterpart Wadjet often appeared together as the Two Ladies, one of the titles of each ruler was the Nebty name, which began with the hieroglyphs for of the Two Ladies. In art, Nekhbet was depicted as a vulture, alan Gardiner identified the species that was used in divine iconography as a griffon vulture. Arielle P. Kozloff, however, argues that the vultures in New Kingdom art, with their beaks and loose skin. In New Kingdom times, the vulture appeared alongside the uraeus on the headdresses with which kings were buried, Nekhbet usually was depicted hovering, with her wings spread above the royal image, clutching a shen symbol, frequently in her claws. As patron of the pharaoh, she was seen to be the mother of the divine aspect of the pharaoh, and it was in this capacity that she was Mother of Mothers. In some late texts of the Book of the Dead, Nekhbet is referred to as Father of Fathers, Mother of Mothers, who existed from the Beginning. Nekhbet is a monster in Final Fantasy 12. Nekhbet appears in Rick Riordans The Throne of Fire as a minor antagonist, Nekhbet is the name of a pet vulture in the anime Tenshi ni Narumon. Nikol, Hamburg 2000, ISBN 3-937872-08-6, S. 507f, harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1999, ISBN 3-447-04027-0, S.199. Alexandra von Lieven, Grundriss des Laufes der Sterne – Das sogenannte Nutbuch, the Carsten Niebuhr Institute of Ancient Eastern Studies, Kopenhagen 2007, ISBN 978-87-635-0406-5. Alexandra von Lieven, Der Himmel über Esna – Eine Fallstudie zur religiösen Astronomie in Ägypten am Beispiel der kosmologischen Decken- und Architravinschriften im Tempel von Esna, marcelle Werbrouck, Fouilles de El Kab II
28.
Vulture
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Some traditional Old World vultures are not closely related to the others, which is why the vultures are to be subdivided into three taxa rather than two. A particular characteristic of many vultures is a head, devoid of normal feathers. Although it has been believed to help keep the head clean when feeding. Vultures have been observed to hunch their bodies and tuck in their heads in the cold, a group of vultures is called a wake, committee, kettle, venue, or volt. The term kettle refers to vultures in flight, while committee refers to vultures resting in trees, wake is reserved for a group of vultures that are feeding. The word Geier does not have a meaning in ornithology, it is occasionally used to refer to a vulture in English. The Old World vultures found in Africa, Asia, and Europe belong to the family Accipitridae, which includes eagles, kites, buzzards. Old World vultures find carcasses exclusively by sight, however, recent DNA evidence suggests that they should be included among the Accipitriformes, along with other birds of prey. However, they are not closely related to the other vultures. Several species have a sense of smell, unusual for raptors. When a carcass has too thick a hide for its beak to open, vast numbers have been seen upon battlefields. They gorge themselves when prey is abundant, until their crops bulge and these birds do not carry food to their young in their claws, but disgorge it from their crops. Vultures are of value as scavengers, especially in hot regions. New World vultures often vomit when threatened or approached, new World vultures also urinate straight down their legs, the uric acid kills bacteria accumulated from walking through carcasses, and also acts as evaporative cooling. Vultures in south Asia, mainly in India and Nepal, have declined dramatically since the early 1990s and it has been found that this decline was caused by residues of the veterinary drug Diclofenac in animal carcasses. The government of India has taken very late cognizance of this fact and has banned the drug for animals, the same problem is also seen in Nepal where government has taken some late steps to conserve remaining vultures. A recent study in 2016, reported that of the 22 vulture species, nine are critically endangered, three are endangered, four are near threatened, and six are least concern
29.
Two Ladies
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When the two parts of Egypt were joined together, there was no merger of these deities as often occurred with similar deities from various regions and cities. Both goddesses were retained because of the importance of their roles, after the unification, the image of Nekhbet joined Wadjet on the uraeus, thereafter, they were shown together as part of the crowns of Egypt. An example of one is shown in the photograph to the right, the two ladies were responsible for establishing the laws, protecting the rulers and the Egyptian country, and promoting peace. An example of the use of term in text references may be found in the following commemoration of a military campaign under pharaoh Amenhotep III recorded on three stelas carved from rock. In the text he is referred to as Nebmaatra and they are from his fifth year and were found near Aswan and Sai Island in Nubia. Regnal Year 5, third month of Inundation, day 2. appearing in truth, Two Ladies, Who laws and the Two Lands. King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Nebmaatra, heir of Ra, Son of Ra. came to tell, led on to victory, he completed it in his first campaign of victory. Reached them like the wing stroke of a falcon, ikheny, the boaster in the midst of the army, did not know the lion that was before him. She was depicted as a lioness and the pharaoh-as-warrior was said to be her son, therefore, Bast was her counterpart in one of the two lands, but after unification, Sekhmet remained as the fierce warrior and Bast was assigned other duties in the Egyptian pantheon. These three deities were the strongest patrons of Ancient Egypt, the use of the image of the patron goddesses on the uraeus was retained even during the rule of Akhenaten, who suppressed the worship of all deities except his own personally chosen favorite, Aten. In this way he differed from no other pharaoh and the importance of traditional deities persisted subtly throughout his reign. As soon as his reign ended, the ancient religious traditions were restored fully and even, on the central portion of the Menat necklace displayed above, the two ladies flank a statue of Sekhmet, who is being propitiated by the pharaoh in a temple ceremony. The placement of them alongside her in the temple of the goddess, demonstrates the authority with which she always was associated. The nebty name, literally meaning, two ladies, is one of the titles of an Egyptian pharaoh, following the naming convention used by the Ancient Egyptians. Typically, this name is not framed by a cartouche or serekh, but always begins with the hieroglyphs of a vulture and a cobra, each resting upon a basket, symbolizing the dual noun nebty. The rest of the title varies with each pharaoh, and would have read, he/she of the Two Ladies. Translation of the nebty name for a pharaoh often is abbreviated, omitting the phrase above that begins each nebty name, in the relief to the right the two goddesses are shown crowning a Ptolemaic pharaoh with the double crown derived from the combination of their separate crowns. The Two Ladies are represented as women, in the way as some other Ancient Egyptian goddesses
30.
Menat
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Menat was a name used for the goddess Hathor. With a slightly different hieroglyphic spelling, it referred to an ancient Egyptian artifact which and it was held in the hand by its counterpoise and used as a rattle by Hathors priestesses. Often it was worn as an amulet, even by Apis bulls. The menat comprised a plate termed an aegis, worn on the chest, the other ends of the strings were tied to a counterweight which dangled on the wearers back. The aegis was often made of faience, but other materials as varied as leather and it was often inscribed or bore depictions of deities associated with Hathor, such as the one of Sekhmet displayed to the right. The necklace was meant to ensure good luck and fortune and to protect against evil spirits and it was also worn for protection in the afterlife and is often found buried with the dead, given as a grave gift since Ramesside times. Worn by women, it was expected to foster fruitfulness and good health, robert A. Armour, Gods and Myths of Ancient Egypt, American Univ. Eerdmans, Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible, Wm. B, eerdmans Publishing 1999 Erman, Johann Peter Adolf, and Hermann Grapow, eds. Wörterbuch der aegyptischen Sprache im Auftrage der deutschen Akademien, media related to Menat-necklace and counterpoise at Wikimedia Commons
31.
Sistrum
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A sistrum is a musical instrument of the percussion family, chiefly associated with ancient Iraq and Egypt. It consists of a handle and a U-shaped metal frame, made of brass or bronze, when shaken the small rings or loops of thin metal on its movable crossbars produce a sound that can be from a soft clank to a loud jangling. Its name in the ancient Egyptian language was sekhem and sesheshet, sekhem is the simpler, hoop-like sistrum, while sesheshet is the naos-shaped one. The sistrum was an instrument in ancient Egypt. It was also shaken to avert the flooding of the Nile, isis in her role as mother and creator was depicted holding a pail symbolizing the flooding of the Nile, in one hand and a sistrum in the other. The goddess Bast too is often depicted holding a sistrum, symbolizing her role as a goddess of dance, joy, Sistra are still used in the Alexandrian Rite and Ethiopic Rite. Besides the depiction in Egyptian art with dancing and expressions of joy, the hieroglyph for the sistrum is shown. The ancient Minoans also used the sistrum, and a number of made of local clay have been found on the island of Crete. Five of these are displayed at the Archaeological Museum of Agios Nikolaos, a sistrum is also depicted on the Harvester Vase, an artifact found at the site of Agia Triada. The sistrum has remained a liturgical instrument in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church throughout the centuries and is played during the dance performed by the debtera on important church festivals and it is also occasionally found in NeoPagan worship & ritual. The sistrum was occasionally revived in 19th century Western orchestral music, nowadays, however, it is replaced by its close modern equivalent, the tambourine. The effect produced by the sistrum in music - when shaken in short, sharp, rhythmic pulses - is to arouse movement, the barcoo dog, a sheep herding tool used in Australian bush band music, is a type of sistrum. Sistrum Media related to Sistra at Wikimedia Commons Sistrum
32.
Berlin
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Berlin is the capital and the largest city of Germany as well as one of its constituent 16 states. With a population of approximately 3.5 million, Berlin is the second most populous city proper, due to its location in the European Plain, Berlin is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate. Around one-third of the area is composed of forests, parks, gardens, rivers. Berlin in the 1920s was the third largest municipality in the world, following German reunification in 1990, Berlin once again became the capital of all-Germany. Berlin is a city of culture, politics, media. Its economy is based on high-tech firms and the sector, encompassing a diverse range of creative industries, research facilities, media corporations. Berlin serves as a hub for air and rail traffic and has a highly complex public transportation network. The metropolis is a popular tourist destination, significant industries also include IT, pharmaceuticals, biomedical engineering, clean tech, biotechnology, construction and electronics. Modern Berlin is home to world renowned universities, orchestras, museums and its urban setting has made it a sought-after location for international film productions. The city is known for its festivals, diverse architecture, nightlife, contemporary arts. Since 2000 Berlin has seen the emergence of a cosmopolitan entrepreneurial scene, the name Berlin has its roots in the language of West Slavic inhabitants of the area of todays Berlin, and may be related to the Old Polabian stem berl-/birl-. All German place names ending on -ow, -itz and -in, since the Ber- at the beginning sounds like the German word Bär, a bear appears in the coat of arms of the city. It is therefore a canting arm, the first written records of towns in the area of present-day Berlin date from the late 12th century. Spandau is first mentioned in 1197 and Köpenick in 1209, although these areas did not join Berlin until 1920, the central part of Berlin can be traced back to two towns. Cölln on the Fischerinsel is first mentioned in a 1237 document,1237 is considered the founding date of the city. The two towns over time formed close economic and social ties, and profited from the right on the two important trade routes Via Imperii and from Bruges to Novgorod. In 1307, they formed an alliance with a common external policy, in 1415 Frederick I became the elector of the Margraviate of Brandenburg, which he ruled until 1440. In 1443 Frederick II Irontooth started the construction of a new palace in the twin city Berlin-Cölln
33.
Brooklyn Museum
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The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At 560,000 square feet, the museum is New York Citys third largest in physical size, the museum initially struggled to maintain its building and collection, only to be revitalized in the late 20th century, thanks to major renovations. Significant areas of the collection include antiquities, specifically their collection of Egyptian antiquities spanning over 3,000 years, African, Oceanic, and Japanese art make for notable antiquities collections as well. American art is represented, starting at the Colonial period. Artists represented in the collection include Mark Rothko, Edward Hopper, Norman Rockwell, Winslow Homer, Edgar Degas, Georgia OKeeffe, the museum also has a Memorial Sculpture Garden which features salvaged architectural elements from throughout New York City. The roots of the Brooklyn Museum extend back to the 1823 founding by Augustus Graham of the Brooklyn Apprentices’ Library in Brooklyn Heights, in 1890, under its director Franklin Hooper, Institute leaders reorganized as the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences and began planning the Brooklyn Museum. The initial design for the Brooklyn Museum was four times as large as the actualized version, Daniel Chester French, the noted sculptor of the Lincoln Memorial, was the principal designer of the pediment sculptures and the monolithic 12. 5-foot figures along the cornice. The figures were created by 11 sculptors and carved by the Piccirilli Brothers, by 1920, the New York City Subway reached the museum with a subway station, this greatly improved access to the once-isolated museum from Manhattan and other outer boroughs. The Brooklyn Institutes director Franklin Hooper was the museums first director and he was followed by Philip Newell Youtz, Laurance Page Roberts, Isabel Spaulding Roberts, Charles Nagel, Jr. and Edgar Craig Schenck. Thomas S. Buechner became the director in 1960, making him one of the youngest directors in the country. Buechner oversaw a major transformation in the way the museum displayed art and brought some one thousand works that had languished in the museums archives and put them on display. Buechner played a role in rescuing the Daniel Chester French sculptures from destruction due to an expansion project at the Manhattan Bridge in the 1960s. The Brooklyn Museum changed its name to Brooklyn Museum of Art in 1997, on March 12,2004, the museum announced that it would revert to its previous name. In April 2004, the museum opened the James Polshek-designed entrance pavilion on the Eastern Parkway façade, in September 2014, Lehman announced that he was planning to retire around June 2015. In May 2015, Creative Time president and artistic director Anne Pasternak was named the Museums next director, member institutions occupy land or buildings owned by the City of New York and derive part of their yearly funding from the City. The Brooklyn Museum also supplements its earned income with funding from Federal and State governments, as well as donations by individuals. Major benefactors include Frank Lusk Babbott, the museum is the site of the annual Brooklyn Artists Ball which has included celebrity hosts such as Sarah Jessica Parker and Liv Tyler. The Brooklyn Museum exhibits collections that seek to embody the rich heritage of world cultures
34.
Temple of Kom Ombo
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The Temple of Kom Ombo is an unusual double temple in the town of Kom Ombo in Aswan Governorate, Upper Egypt. It was constructed during the Ptolemaic dynasty, 180–47 BC, some additions to it were later made during the Roman period. The building is unique because its design meant that there were courts, halls, sanctuaries. The southern half of the temple was dedicated to the crocodile god Sobek, god of fertility and creator of the world with Hathor and Khonsu. Meanwhile, the part of the temple was dedicated to the falcon god Haroeris, also known as Horus the Elder, along with Tasenetnofret. The temple is atypical because everything is symmetrical along the main axis. The temple was started by Ptolemy VI Philometor at the beginning of his reign and added to by other Ptolemys, most notably Ptolemy XIII, who built the inner and outer hypostyle halls. The scene on the face of the rear wall of the temple is of particular interest. Much of the temple has been destroyed by the Nile, earthquakes, some of the reliefs inside were defaced by Copts who once used the temple as a church. All the temples buildings in the part of the plateau were cleared of debris. A few of the three hundred crocodile mummies discovered in the vicinity are displayed in The Crocodile Museum, fotopedia. com, Selected photos of the Temple of Kom Ombo
35.
Mortuary temple
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Mortuary temples were temples that were erected adjacent to, or in the vicinity of, royal tombs in Ancient Egypt. The temples were designed to commemorate the reign of the Pharaoh by whom they were constructed, mortuary temples were built around pyramids in the Old Kingdom and Middle Kingdom. However, once the New Kingdom pharaohs began constructing tombs in the Valley of the Kings and these New Kingdom temples were called mansions of millions of years by the Egyptians. These temples were used as a resting place for the boat of Amun at the time of the Beautiful Festival of the Valley. The first mortuary temple was built for Amenhotep I of the 18th dynasty during the New Kingdom, later rulers of the 18th Dynasty either failed to build here at all or, in the case of Tutankhamun, Ay and Horemheb, their construction was not completed. The 19th Dynasty ruler Seti I constructed his temple at what is now known as Gurna. Ramesses II constructed his own temple, referred to as the Ramesseum, Temple of a years of Usermaatre Setepenre which is linked with Thebes-the-Quoted in the Field of Amun. Much later, during the 20th Dynasty, Ramesses III constructed his own temple at Medinet Habu
36.
Amenhotep III
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Amenhotep III, also known as Amenhotep the Magnificent, was the ninth pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty. According to different authors, he ruled Egypt from June 1386 to 1349 BC, or from June 1388 BC to December 1351 BC/1350 BC, Amenhotep III was Thutmoses son by a minor wife, Mutemwiya. His reign was a period of unprecedented prosperity and artistic splendour, when he died in the 38th or 39th year of his reign, his son initially ruled as Amenhotep IV, but then changed his own royal name to Akhenaten. The son of the future Thutmose IV and a minor wife Mutemwiya and he was a member of the Thutmosid family that had ruled Egypt for almost 150 years since the reign of Thutmose I. Amenhotep III was the father of two sons with his Great Royal Wife Tiye and their first son, Crown Prince Thutmose, predeceased his father and their second son, Amenhotep IV, later known as Akhenaten, ultimately succeeded Amenhotep III to the throne. Amenhotep III also may have been the father of a third child—called Smenkhkare, Amenhotep III and Tiye may also have had four daughters, Sitamun, Henuttaneb, Isis or Iset, and Nebetah. They appear frequently on statues and reliefs during the reign of their father, Nebetah is attested only once in the known historical records on a colossal limestone group of statues from Medinet Habu. Amenhotep III elevated two of his four daughters—Sitamun and Isis—to the office of royal wife during the last decade of his reign. Evidence that Sitamun already was promoted to office by Year 30 of his reign, is known from jar-label inscriptions uncovered from the royal palace at Malkata. The goddess Hathor herself was related to Ra as first the mother and later wife, hence, Amenhotep IIIs marriage to his two daughters should not be considered unlikely based on contemporary views of marriage. Amenhotep III is known to have married several women, Gilukhepa. Tadukhepa, the daughter of his ally Tushratta of Mitanni, Around Year 36 of his reign, a daughter of Kurigalzu, king of Babylon. A daughter of Kadashman-Enlil, king of Babylon, a daughter of Tarhundaradu, ruler of Arzawa. A daughter of the ruler of Ammia, Amenhotep III has the distinction of having the most surviving statues of any Egyptian pharaoh, with over 250 of his statues having been discovered and identified. Since these statues span his life, they provide a series of portraits covering the entire length of his reign. Their lengthy inscribed texts extol the accomplishments of the pharaoh, for instance,123 of these commemorative scarabs record the large number of lions that Amenhotep III killed with his own arrows from his first regnal year up to his tenth year. Similarly, five other state that the foreign princess who would become a wife to him, Gilukhepa. She was the first of many such princesses who would enter the pharaohs household, another eleven scarabs record the excavation of an artificial lake he had built for his Great Royal Wife, Queen Tiye, in his eleventh regnal year, Regnal Year 11 under the Majesty of
37.
Nile
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The Nile is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It is generally regarded as the longest river in the world, in particular, the Nile is the primary water source of Egypt and Sudan. The Nile has two tributaries, the White Nile and Blue Nile. The White Nile is considered to be the headwaters and primary stream of the Nile itself, the Blue Nile, however, is the source of most of the water and silt. The White Nile is longer and rises in the Great Lakes region of central Africa and it flows north through Tanzania, Lake Victoria, Uganda and South Sudan. The Blue Nile begins at Lake Tana in Ethiopia and flows into Sudan from the southeast, the two rivers meet just north of the Sudanese capital of Khartoum. The northern section of the river flows north almost entirely through the Sudanese desert to Egypt, then ends in a large delta, Egyptian civilization and Sudanese kingdoms have depended on the river since ancient times. Most of the population and cities of Egypt lie along those parts of the Nile valley north of Aswan, in the ancient Egyptian language, the Nile is called Ḥpī or Iteru, meaning river. In Coptic, the words piaro or phiaro meaning the river come from the ancient name. The English name Nile and the Arabic names en-Nîl and an-Nîl both derive from the Latin Nilus and the Ancient Greek Νεῖλος, beyond that, however, the etymology is disputed. One possible etymology derives it from a Semitic Nahal, meaning river, the standard English names White Nile and Blue Nile, to refer to the rivers source, derive from Arabic names formerly applied only to the Sudanese stretches which meet at Khartoum. Above Khartoum, the Nile is also known as the White Nile, at Khartoum the river is joined by the Blue Nile. The White Nile starts in equatorial East Africa, and the Blue Nile begins in Ethiopia, both branches are on the western flanks of the East African Rift. The drainage basin of the Nile covers 3,254,555 square kilometers, the source of the Nile is sometimes considered to be Lake Victoria, but the lake has feeder rivers of considerable size. It is either the Ruvyironza, which emerges in Bururi Province, Burundi, or the Nyabarongo, the two feeder rivers meet near Rusumo Falls on the Rwanda-Tanzania border. Gish Abay is reportedly the place where the water of the first drops of the Blue Nile develop. The Nile leaves Lake Nyanza at Ripon Falls near Jinja, Uganda and it flows north for some 130 kilometers, to Lake Kyoga. For the remaining part it flows westerly through the Murchison Falls until it reaches the very northern shores of Lake Albert where it forms a significant river delta
38.
Egyptian temple
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Egyptian temples were built for the official worship of the gods and in commemoration of the pharaohs in ancient Egypt and regions under Egyptian control. Temples were seen as houses for the gods or kings to whom they were dedicated and these rituals were seen as necessary for the gods to continue to uphold maat, the divine order of the universe. Housing and caring for the gods were the obligations of pharaohs, nevertheless, a temple was an important religious site for all classes of Egyptians, who went there to pray, give offerings, and seek oracular guidance from the god dwelling within. The most important part of the temple was the sanctuary, which contained a cult image. These edifices are among the largest and most enduring examples of Egyptian architecture and their typical design consisted of a series of enclosed halls, open courts, and massive entrance pylons aligned along the path used for festival processions. Beyond the temple proper was a wall enclosing a wide variety of secondary buildings. A large temple also owned sizable tracts of land and employed thousands of laymen to supply its needs, temples were therefore key economic as well as religious centers. The priests who managed these powerful institutions wielded considerable influence, temple-building in Egypt continued despite the nations decline and ultimate loss of independence to the Roman Empire. With the coming of Christianity, however, Egyptian religion faced increasing persecution, for centuries, the ancient buildings suffered destruction and neglect. Dozens of temples survive today, and some have become world-famous tourist attractions that contribute significantly to the modern Egyptian economy, Egyptologists continue to study the surviving temples and the remains of destroyed ones, as they are invaluable sources of information about ancient Egyptian society. Ancient Egyptian temples were meant as places for the gods to reside on earth, indeed, the term the Egyptians most commonly used to describe the temple building, ḥwt-nṯr, means mansion of a god. A gods presence in the temple linked the human and divine realms and these rituals, it was believed, sustained the god and allowed it to continue to play its proper role in nature. They were therefore a key part of the maintenance of maat, maintaining maat was the entire purpose of Egyptian religion, and it was the purpose of a temple as well. Because he was credited with divine power himself, the pharaoh, as a king, was regarded as Egypts representative to the gods. Thus, it was theoretically his duty to perform the temple rites, the pharaoh was nevertheless obligated to maintain, provide for, and expand the temples throughout his realm. Although the pharaoh delegated his authority, the performance of rituals was still an official duty. The participation of the populace in most ceremonies was prohibited. Much of the lay religious activity in Egypt instead took place in private and community shrines, however, as the primary link between the human and divine realms, temples attracted considerable veneration from ordinary Egyptians
39.
Mut
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Mut, which meant mother in the ancient Egyptian language, was an ancient Egyptian mother goddess with multiple aspects that changed over the thousands of years of the culture. Alternative spellings are Maut and Mout and she was considered a primal deity, associated with the waters from which everything was born through parthenogenesis. She also was depicted as a woman with a head dress, the rulers of Egypt each supported her worship in their own way to emphasize their own authority and right to rule through an association with Mut. Some of Muts many titles included World-Mother, Eye of Ra, Queen of the Goddesses, Lady of Heaven, Mother of the Gods, and She Who Gives Birth, But Was Herself Not Born of Any. Mut was a title of the waters of the cosmos, Naunet, in the Ogdoad cosmogony during what is called the Old Kingdom. The hieroglyph for Muts name, and for itself, was that of a vulture. Much later new myths held that since Mut had no parents, making up a complete triad of deities for the later pantheon of Thebes, it was said that Mut had adopted Menthu, god of war. Lower and upper Egypt both already had patron deities–Wadjet and Nekhbet–respectively, indeed they also had lioness protector deities–Bast and Sekhmet–respectively, when Thebes rose to greater prominence, Mut absorbed these warrior goddesses as some of her aspects. Later in ancient Egyptian mythology deities of the pantheon were identified as equal pairs, female and male counterparts, in that phase, Mut and Amun had a son, Khonsu, another moon deity. The authority of Thebes waned later and Amun was assimilated into Ra, Mut, the doting mother, was assimilated into Hathor, the cow-goddess and mother of Horus who had become identified as Ras wife. Subsequently, when Ra assimilated Atum, the Ennead was absorbed as well, and so Mut-Hathor became identified as Isis, the most important of the females in the Ennead, and the patron of the queen. Alternatively, as a result of her assimilations, Mut is sometimes depicted as a cobra, a cat, a cow, or as a lioness as well as the vulture. The last image on this shows the goddesss facial features which mark this as a work made sometime between late Dynasty XVIII and relatively early in the reign of Ramesses II. There are temples dedicated to Mut still standing in modern-day Egypt and Sudan, reflecting the widespread worship of her and that temple had the statue that was regarded as an embodiment of her real ka. Her devotions included daily rituals by the pharaoh and her priestesses, interior reliefs depict scenes of the priestesses, currently the only known remaining example of worship in ancient Egypt that was exclusively administered by women. Usually the queen, who carried the royal lineage among the rulers of Egypt. The pharaoh participated also and would become a deity after death, in the case when the pharaoh was female, records of one example indicate that she had her daughter serve as the high priestess in her place. Often priests served in the administration of temples and oracles where priestesses performed the religious rites
40.
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
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Hatshepsut
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Hatshepsut was the fifth pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt. She was the second historically confirmed female pharaoh, the first being Sobekneferu, Hatshepsut came to the throne of Egypt in 1478 BC. Officially, she ruled jointly with Thutmose III, who had ascended to the throne the year as a child of about two years old. Hatshepsut was the wife of Thutmose II, Thutmose III’s father. She is generally regarded by Egyptologists as one of the most successful pharaohs, according to Egyptologist James Henry Breasted she is also known as the first great woman in history of whom we are informed. Hatshepsut was the daughter and only child of Thutmose I and his primary wife Ahmose and her husband Thutmose II was the son of Thutmose I and a secondary wife named Mutnofret, who carried the title Kings daughter and was probably a child of Ahmose I. Hatshepsut and Thutmose II had a daughter named Neferure, Thutmose II fathered Thutmose III with Iset, a secondary wife. Today Egyptologists generally agree that Hatshepsut assumed the position of pharaoh, Hatshepsut was described as having a reign of about 22 years by ancient authors. Josephus and Julius Africanus both quote Manethos king list, mentioning a woman called Amessis or Amensis who has identified as Hatshepsut. In Josephus work, her reign is described as lasting 21 years and nine months, dating the beginning of her reign is more difficult, however. Her fathers reign began in either 1526 or 1506 BC according to the high and low estimates of her reign, the length of the reigns of Tuthmosis I and Tuthmosis II, however, cannot be determined with absolute certainty. With short reigns, Hatshepsut would have ascended the throne 14 years after the coronation of Tuthmosis I, longer reigns would put her ascension 25 years after Tuthmosis Is coronation. Thus, Hatshepsut could have assumed power as early as 1512 BC, or, Hatshepsut established the trade networks that had been disrupted during the Hyksos occupation of Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period, thereby building the wealth of the eighteenth dynasty. She oversaw the preparations and funding for a mission to the Land of Punt and this trading expedition to Punt was roughly during Hatshepsuts ninth year of reign. It set out in her name with five ships, each measuring 70 feet long bearing several sails, many trade goods were bought in Punt, notably frankincense and myrrh. Hatshepsuts delegation returned from Punt bearing 31 live myrrh trees, the roots of which were kept in baskets for the duration of the voyage. This was the first recorded attempt to transplant foreign trees and it is reported that Hatshepsut had these trees planted in the courts of her mortuary temple complex. Egyptians also returned with a number of gifts from Punt
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Algol
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Algol, designated Beta Persei, known colloquially as the Demon Star, is a bright multiple star in the constellation of Perseus. It is the first and best known eclipsing binary, and one of the first non-nova variable stars to be discovered. It is a system, consisting of Beta Persei Aa1, Aa2. Thus, Algols magnitude is usually near-constant at 2.1, there is also a secondary eclipse when the brighter star occults the fainter secondary. This secondary eclipse can only be detected photoelectrically, Algol gives its name to its class of eclipsing variable, known as Algol variables. An Ancient Egyptian Calendar of Lucky and Unlucky Days composed some 3,200 years ago is claimed to be the oldest historical document of the discovery of Algol. In May 1783, he presented his findings to the Royal Society, for his report he was awarded the Copley Medal. In 1881, the Harvard astronomer Edward Charles Pickering presented evidence that Algol was actually an eclipsing binary, thus Algol became one of the first known spectroscopic binaries. Joel Stebbins at the University of Illinois Observatory used a selenium cell photometer to produce the first-ever photoelectric study of a variable star. The light curve revealed the second minimum and the effect between the two stars. Some difficulties in explaining the observed spectroscopic features led to the conjecture that a star may be present in the system. From the point of view of the Earth, Algol Aa1, the total mass of the system is about 5.8 solar masses, and the mass ratios of Aa1, Aa2, and Ab are about 4.5 to 1 to 2. The three components of the triple star used to be, and still sometimes are, referred to as β Per A, B. The Washington Double Star Catalog lists them as Aa1, Aa2, a further five faint stars are also listed as companions. In some binaries similar to Algol, a gas flow can be seen and this system also exhibits x-ray and radio wave flares. The x-ray flares are thought to be caused by the fields of the A and B components interacting with the mass transfer. Mass transfer between the components is small in the Algol system but could be a significant source of change in other Algol-type binaries. Because the total mass of the Algol system is about 5, however, the actual increase in net cometary collisions is thought to have been quite small
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Maahes
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Maahes was an ancient Egyptian lion-headed god of war, whose name means he who is true beside her. He was seen as the son of the Creator god Ptah, Maahes was a deity associated with war, protection, and weather, as well as that of knives, lotuses, and devouring captives. His cult was centred in Taremu and Per-Bast, the first recorded reference to Maahes is from the New Kingdom. As a lion-god and patron, he was considered the son of Ra and of Bast, the feline war goddess and patron of Lower Egypt as well as Sekhmet. Since his cult was centred in Per-Bast or in Taremu, he was known as the son of Bast. As he became a deity of Egypt, his father was said to be the chief male deity at the time - either Ptah. In his role of son of Ra, Maahes fought the serpent Apep during Ras nightly voyage, considered to have powerful attributes, feline deities were associated with the pharaohs, and became patrons of Egypt. The male lion hieroglyphic was used in such as prince, mashead, strength. The name of Maahes begins with the hieroglyphs for the male lion, although in isolation it also means see in front. However, the first glyph also is part of the glyph for Maat, meaning truth and order and so it came to be that Maahes was considered to be the devourer of the guilty and protector of the innocent. Some of the titles of Maahes were Lord of Slaughter, Wielder of the Knife, Maahes was pictured as a man with the head of a male lion, occasionally holding a knife and wearing the double crown of Egypt, or the atef crown. Sometimes he was identified with Nefertem and was shown with a bouquet of lotuses near him, tame lions were kept in a temple dedicated to Maahes in Taremu, where Bast/Sekhmet were worshipped, his temple was adjacent to that of Bast. The ancient Greek historian Aelian wrote, In Egypt, they worship lions, media related to Maahes at Wikimedia Commons Caroline Seawright, Maahes, God of War and Protection, The Leonine Lord of Slaughter
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New Kingdom of Egypt
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Radiocarbon dating places the exact beginning of the New Kingdom between 1570–1544 BC. The New Kingdom followed the Second Intermediate Period and was succeeded by the Third Intermediate Period and it was Egypt’s most prosperous time and marked the peak of its power. The later part of period, under the Nineteenth and Twentieth Dynasties is also known as the Ramesside period. It is named after the pharaohs that took the name of Ramesses I. Egyptian armies fought Hittite armies for control of modern-day Syria, the Eighteenth Dynasty contained some of Egypts most famous Pharaohs, including Ahmose I, Hatshepsut, Thutmose III, Amenhotep III, Akhenaten and Tutankhamun. Queen Hatshepsut concentrated on expanding Egypts external trade by sending an expedition to the land of Punt. Thutmose III expanded Egypts army and wielded it with success to consolidate the empire created by his predecessors. This resulted in a peak in Egypts power and wealth during the reign of Amenhotep III, during the reign of Thutmose III, Pharaoh, originally referring to the kings palace, became a form of address for the person who was king. Akhenatens religious fervor is cited as the reason why he was written out of Egyptian history. Under his reign, in the 14th century BC, Egyptian art flourished and attained a level of realism. Towards the end of the 18th Dynasty, the situation had changed radically, Ramesses II sought to recover territories in the Levant that had been held by the 18th Dynasty. His campaigns of reconquest culminated in the Battle of Kadesh, where he led Egyptian armies against those of the Hittite king Muwatalli II. Ramesses was caught in historys first recorded military ambush, although he was able to rally his troops, the outcome of the battle was undecided with both sides claiming victory at their home front, ultimately resulting in a peace treaty between the two nations. The last great pharaoh from the New Kingdom is widely considered to be Ramesses III, in the eighth year of his reign the Sea Peoples invaded Egypt by land and sea. Ramesses III defeated them in two great land and sea battles and he incorporated them as subject peoples and settled them in Southern Canaan although there is evidence that they forced their way into Canaan. Their presence in Canaan may have contributed to the formation of new states, such as Philistia and he was also compelled to fight invading Libyan tribesmen in two major campaigns in Egypts Western Delta in his sixth year and eleventh year respectively. The heavy cost of this warfare slowly drained Egypts treasury and contributed to the decline of the Egyptian Empire in Asia. Something in the air prevented much sunlight from reaching the ground, one proposed cause is the Hekla 3 eruption of the Hekla volcano in Iceland but the dating of this remains disputed
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Ancient Egyptian deities
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Ancient Egyptian deities are the gods and goddesses worshipped in ancient Egypt. The beliefs and rituals surrounding these gods formed the core of ancient Egyptian religion, the gods complex characteristics were expressed in myths and in intricate relationships between deities, family ties, loose groups and hierarchies, and combinations of separate gods into one. Deities diverse appearances in art—as animals, humans, objects, and combinations of different forms—also alluded, through symbolism, to their essential features. In different eras, various gods were said to hold the highest position in society, including the solar deity Ra, the mysterious god Amun. The highest deity was usually credited with the creation of the world, some scholars have argued, based in part on Egyptian writings, that the Egyptians came to recognize a single divine power that lay behind all things and was present in all the other deities. Gods were assumed to be present throughout the world, capable of influencing natural events, people interacted with them in temples and unofficial shrines, for personal reasons as well as for larger goals of state rites. Egyptians prayed for help, used rituals to compel deities to act. Humans relations with their gods were a part of Egyptian society. The beings in ancient Egyptian tradition who might be labeled as deities are difficult to count, Egyptian texts list the names of many deities whose nature is unknown and make vague, indirect references to other gods who are not even named. The Egyptologist James P. Allen estimates that more than 1,400 deities are named in Egyptian texts, the Egyptian languages terms for these beings were nṯr, god, and its feminine form nṯrt, goddess. Scholars have tried to discern the nature of the gods by proposing etymologies for these words, but none of these suggestions has gained acceptance. The hieroglyphs that were used as ideograms and determinatives in writing these words show some of the traits that the Egyptians connected with divinity, the most common of these signs is a flag flying from a pole. Similar objects were placed at the entrances of temples, representing the presence of a deity, other such hieroglyphs include a falcon, reminiscent of several early gods who were depicted as falcons, and a seated male or female deity. The feminine form could also be written with an egg as determinative, connecting goddesses with creation and birth, or with a cobra, the Egyptians distinguished nṯrw, gods, from rmṯ, people, but the meanings of the Egyptian and the English terms do not match perfectly. The term nṯr may have applied to any being that was in some way outside the sphere of everyday life, Egyptian religious art also depicts places, objects, and concepts in human form. These personified ideas range from deities that were important in myth and ritual to obscure beings, only mentioned once or twice, confronting these blurred distinctions between gods and other beings, scholars have proposed various definitions of a deity. One widely accepted definition, suggested by Jan Assmann, says that a deity has a cult, is involved in some aspect of the universe, according to a different definition, by Dimitri Meeks, nṯr applied to any being that was the focus of ritual. From this perspective, gods included the king, who was called a god after his coronation rites, and deceased souls, likewise, the preeminence of the great gods was maintained by the ritual devotion that was performed for them across Egypt
