1.
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
2.
Djet
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Djet, also known as Wadj, Zet, and Uadji, was the fourth pharaoh of the First Dynasty. Djets Horus name means Horus Cobra or Serpent of Horus, Djets queen was his sister Merneith, who may have ruled as a pharaoh in her own right after his death. There is a possibility that a lady called Ahaneith was also one of his wives, Djet and Merneiths son was Den, and their grandson was Anedjib. How long Djet ruled is unknown, only one Sekar festival is attested by ivory labels dating to his reign, whose duration is estimated to be anywhere between six and ten years. According to Wolfgang Helck he reigned 10 years, from a calendar entry, Djer is known to have died on a 7 Peret III while Djet began his reign on 22 Peret IV. The reason for the 45 days of interregnum is unknown, details of Djets reign are lost in the lacunas of the Palermo Stone. However, finds of vessel fragments and seal impressions prove that there were intense trading activities with Syria, graves at Tarkhan and Saqqara dating to his reign yielded pottery from Palestine. Other activities can be inferred from the two known years tablets of the ruler, one of which is preserved in two copies. The reading of the events described on the tablets is highly problematic, Helck translated, Year of the planning of the underground/basement of the dual plant, birth of lotus buds, standing in the crown shrine of the two Ladies. The other year tablet mentions a victory, the production of a statue, finally, in Masra Alam in Nubia, the short inscription Hemka below Djet was discovered. Clay seals prove that official Amka begun his career under king Djer, under Djet, Amka became royal steward. In the early years of the kings successor Amka died after he was appointed to regional responsibilities in the western Nile Delta, other senior officials under the Djet were Sekhemkasedj and Setka. Djets tomb is located at Abydos in Petries Tomb Z and it is located west of his father, King Djers tomb. Surrounding Djets tomb are 174 subsidiary burials most of them being retainers that were sacrificed upon Djets death to him in the afterlife. Found within Djets tomb was a stele and this stele was a snake surmounted by a falcon and could be interpreted to mean Horus the snake. Also found within the tomb was a comb with the name of Djet on it. Copper tools and pottery were found in the tomb, a common find in Egyptian tombs. There is evidence that Djets tomb was intentionally burned, along with other tombs at Abydos from this time period, the tombs were later renovated because of the association with the cult of Osiris
3.
Horus
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Horus is one of the most significant ancient Egyptian deities. He was worshipped from at least the late prehistoric Egypt until the Ptolemaic Kingdom, different forms of Horus are recorded in history and these are treated as distinct gods by Egyptologists. He was most often depicted as a falcon, most likely a falcon or peregrine falcon. In another tradition Hathor is regarded as his mother and sometimes as his wife, Horus served many functions, most notably being a god of the sky, war and hunting. Horus is recorded in Egyptian hieroglyphs as ḥr. w Falcon, additional meanings are thought to have been the distant one or one who is above, over. As the language changed over time, it appeared in Coptic dialects variously as hoːɾ or ħoːɾ and was adopted into ancient Greek as Ὧρος Hōros and it also survives in Late Egyptian and Coptic theophoric names such as Har-si-ese Horus, Son of Isis. Nekheny may have been another falcon god worshipped at Nekhen, city of the falcon, Horus may be shown as a falcon on the Narmer Palette, dating from about the 31st century BC. In early Egypt, Horus was the brother of Isis, Osiris, Set, as different cults formed, he became the son of Isis and Osiris. Isis remained the sister of Osiris, Set and Nephthys, the Pyramid Texts describe the nature of the pharaoh in different characters as both Horus and Osiris. The pharaoh as Horus in life became the pharaoh as Osiris in death, New incarnations of Horus succeeded the deceased pharaoh on earth in the form of new pharaohs. The lineage of Horus, the product of unions between the children of Atum, may have been a means to explain and justify pharaonic power. The gods produced by Atum were all representative of cosmic and terrestrial forces in Egyptian life, the notion of Horus as the pharaoh seems to have been superseded by the concept of the pharaoh as the son of Ra during the Fifth Dynasty. Once Isis knew she was pregnant with Horus, she fled to the Nile Delta marshlands to hide from her brother Set, who jealously killed Osiris, there Isis bore a divine son, Horus. Since Horus was said to be the sky, he was considered to contain the sun. It became said that the sun was his eye and the moon his left, and that they traversed the sky when he. Later, the reason that the moon was not as bright as the sun was explained by a tale, known as the The Contendings of Horus and Seth. As Horus was the victor he became known as ḥr. w wr Horus the Great. In the struggle, Set had lost a testicle, explaining why the desert, Horus left eye had also been gouged out, then a new eye was created by part of Khonsu, the moon god, and was replaced
4.
Heraldry
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The beauty and pageantry of heraldic designs allowed them to survive the gradual abandonment of armour on the battlefield during the seventeenth century. Heraldry has been described poetically as the handmaid of history, the shorthand of history, in modern times, heraldry is used by individuals, public and private organizations, corporations, cities, towns, and regions to symbolize their heritage, achievements, and aspirations. Various symbols have been used to represent individuals or groups for thousands of years, similar emblems and devices are found in ancient Mesopotamian art of the same period, and the precursors of heraldic beasts such as the griffin can also be found. In the Bible, the Book of Numbers refers to the standards and ensigns of the children of Israel, the Greek and Latin writers frequently describe the shields and symbols of various heroes, and units of the Roman army were sometimes identified by distinctive markings on their shields. The Book of Saint Albans, compiled in 1486, declares that Christ himself was a gentleman of coat armour, the medieval heralds also devised arms for various knights and lords from history and literature. Notable examples include the toads attributed to Pharamond, the cross and martlets of Edward the Confessor, and the arms attributed to the Nine Worthies. These too are now regarded as an invention, rather than evidence of the antiquity of heraldry. The development of the modern heraldic language cannot be attributed to an individual, time. Yet no individual is depicted twice bearing the arms, nor are any of the descendants of the various persons depicted known to have borne devices resembling those in the tapestry. A Spanish manuscript from 1109 describes both plain and decorated shields, none of which appears to have been heraldic, in England, from the time of the Norman conquest, official documents had to be sealed. A notable example of an armorial seal is attached to a charter granted by Philip I, Count of Flanders. Seals from the part of the eleventh and early twelfth centuries show no evidence of heraldic symbolism. One of the earliest known examples of armory as it came to be practiced can be seen on the tomb of Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou. An enamel, probably commissioned by Geoffreys widow between 1155 and 1160, depicts him carrying a shield decorated with six golden lions rampant. He wears a helmet adorned with another lion, and his cloak is lined in vair. A medieval chronicle states that Geoffrey was given a shield of this description when he was knighted by his father-in-law, Henry I, in 1128, but this account probably dates to about 1175. Since Henry was the son of Geoffrey Plantagenet, it seems reasonable to suppose that the adoption of lions as an emblem by Henry or his sons might have been inspired by Geoffreys shield. Richard is also credited with having originated the English crest of a lion statant and it is from this garment that the phrase coat of arms is derived
5.
Ancient Egypt
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Ancient Egypt was a civilization of ancient Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. It is one of six civilizations to arise independently, Egyptian civilization followed prehistoric Egypt and coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh Narmer. In the aftermath of Alexander the Greats death, one of his generals, Ptolemy Soter and this Greek Ptolemaic Kingdom ruled Egypt until 30 BC, when, under Cleopatra, it fell to the Roman Empire and became a Roman province. The success of ancient Egyptian civilization came partly from its ability to adapt to the conditions of the Nile River valley for agriculture, the predictable flooding and controlled irrigation of the fertile valley produced surplus crops, which supported a more dense population, and social development and culture. Its art and architecture were widely copied, and its antiquities carried off to far corners of the world and its monumental ruins have inspired the imaginations of travelers and writers for centuries. The Nile has been the lifeline of its region for much of human history, nomadic modern human hunter-gatherers began living in the Nile valley through the end of the Middle Pleistocene some 120,000 years ago. By the late Paleolithic period, the climate of Northern Africa became increasingly hot and dry. In Predynastic and Early Dynastic times, the Egyptian climate was less arid than it is today. Large regions of Egypt were covered in treed savanna and traversed by herds of grazing ungulates, foliage and fauna were far more prolific in all environs and the Nile region supported large populations of waterfowl. Hunting would have been common for Egyptians, and this is also the period when many animals were first domesticated. The largest of these cultures in upper Egypt was the Badari, which probably originated in the Western Desert, it was known for its high quality ceramics, stone tools. The Badari was followed by the Amratian and Gerzeh cultures, which brought a number of technological improvements, as early as the Naqada I Period, predynastic Egyptians imported obsidian from Ethiopia, used to shape blades and other objects from flakes. In Naqada II times, early evidence exists of contact with the Near East, particularly Canaan, establishing a power center at Hierakonpolis, and later at Abydos, Naqada III leaders expanded their control of Egypt northwards along the Nile. They also traded with Nubia to the south, the oases of the desert to the west. Royal Nubian burials at Qustul produced artifacts bearing the oldest-known examples of Egyptian dynastic symbols, such as the crown of Egypt. They also developed a ceramic glaze known as faience, which was used well into the Roman Period to decorate cups, amulets, and figurines. During the last predynastic phase, the Naqada culture began using written symbols that eventually were developed into a system of hieroglyphs for writing the ancient Egyptian language. The Early Dynastic Period was approximately contemporary to the early Sumerian-Akkadian civilisation of Mesopotamia, the third-century BC Egyptian priest Manetho grouped the long line of pharaohs from Menes to his own time into 30 dynasties, a system still used today
6.
Cartouche
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In Egyptian hieroglyphs, a cartouche /kɑːrˈtuːʃ/ is an oval with a horizontal line at one end, indicating that the text enclosed is a royal name. They came into use during the beginning of the Fourth Dynasty under Pharaoh Sneferu, while the cartouche is usually vertical with a horizontal line, it is sometimes horizontal if it makes the name fit better, with a vertical line on the left. The Ancient Egyptian word for it was shenu, and it was essentially an expanded shen ring, in Demotic, the cartouche was reduced to a pair of brackets and a vertical line. Of the five royal titularies it was the prenomen, the name, and the Son of Ra titulary, the so-called nomen name given at birth. At times amulets were given the form of a cartouche displaying the name of a king, such items are often important to archaeologists for dating the tomb and its contents. Cartouches were formerly worn by Pharaohs. The oval surrounding their name was meant to them from evil spirits in life. The cartouche has become a symbol representing good luck and protection from evil, egyptians believed that one who had their name recorded somewhere would not disappear after death. A cartouche attached to a coffin satisfied this requirement, there were periods in Egyptian history when people refrained from inscribing these amulets with a name, for fear they might fall into somebodys hands conferring power over the bearer of the name. In the Rosetta Stone, the hieroglyph is used for the word name. For the cartouche cut in half, the half-cartouche hieroglyph, Gardiners sign listed no, v11, is used in the Egyptian language for words meaning, to cut, to divide, to separate. It was the use of cartouches on the Rosetta Stone that was the biggest clue allowing Jean-François Champollion to decipher hieroglyphics, cartouche Serekh, a predecessor to the cartouche Shen ring General Budge. The Rosetta Stone, E. A. Wallis Budge, c, archived from the original on June 15,2011
7.
Floor plan
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Dimensions are usually drawn between the walls to specify room sizes and wall lengths. Floor plans may also include details of fixtures like sinks, water heaters, furnaces, floor plans may include notes for construction to specify finishes, construction methods, or symbols for electrical items. Similar to a map the orientation of the view is downward from above, but unlike a conventional map, objects below this level are seen, objects at this level are shown cut in plan-section, and objects above this vertical position within the structure are omitted or shown dashed. Plan view or planform is defined as an orthographic projection of an object on a horizontal plane. The term may be used in general to any drawing showing the physical layout of objects. For example, it may denote the arrangement of the objects at an exhibition. Drawings are now reproduced using plotters and large format xerographic copiers and this convention maintains the same orientation of the floor and ceilings plans - looking down from above. RCPs are used by designers and architects to demonstrate lighting, visible mechanical features, a floor plan is not a top view or birds eye view. It is a drawing to scale of the layout of a floor in a building. A top view or birds eye view does not show an orthogonally projected plane cut at the typical 4 foot height above the floor level, a floor plan could show, Interior walls and hallways Restrooms Windows and doors Appliances such as stoves, refrigerators, water heater etc. In other words, a plan is a section viewed from the top, in such views, the portion of the object above the plane is omitted to reveal what lies beyond. In the case of a plan, the roof and upper portion of the walls may typically be omitted. Roof plans are orthographic projections, but they are not sections as their plane is outside of the object. A plan is a method of depicting the internal arrangement of a 3-dimensional object in two dimensions. It is often used in drawing and is traditionally crosshatched. The style of crosshatching indicates the type of material the section passes through, a 3D floor plan can be defined as a virtual model of a building floor plan. Its often used to better convey architectural plans to individuals not familiar with floor plans, despite the purpose of floor plans originally being to depict 3D layouts in a 2D manner, technological expansion has made rendering 3D models much more cost effective. 3D plans show a depth of image and are often complimented by 3D furniture in the room
8.
Facade
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A façade is generally one exterior side of a building, usually, but not always, the front. It is a loan word from the French façade, which means frontage or face. In architecture, the façade of a building is often the most important aspect from a design standpoint, from the engineering perspective of a building, the façade is also of great importance due to its impact on energy efficiency. For historical façades, many local zoning regulations or other laws restrict or even forbid their alteration. The word comes from the French foreign loan word façade, which in turn comes from the Italian facciata, from faccia meaning face, the earliest usage recorded by the Oxford English Dictionary is 1656. It was quite common in the Georgian period for existing houses in English towns to be given a fashionable new façade, in modern highrise building, the exterior walls are often suspended from the concrete floor slabs. Examples include curtain walls and precast concrete walls, the façade can at times be required to have a fire-resistance rating, for instance, if two buildings are very close together, to lower the likelihood of fire spreading from one building to another. In general, the systems that are suspended or attached to the precast concrete slabs will be made from aluminium or stainless steel. In recent years more lavish materials such as titanium have sometimes been used, whether rated or not, fire protection is always a design consideration. The melting point of aluminium,660 °C, is reached within minutes of the start of a fire. Firestops for such building joints can be qualified, too, putting fire sprinkler systems on each floor has a profoundly positive effect on the fire safety of buildings with curtain walls. Some building codes also limit the percentage of area in exterior walls. When the exterior wall is not rated, the slab edge becomes a junction where rated slabs are abutting an unrated wall. For rated walls, one may also choose rated windows and fire doors, on a film set and within most themed attractions, many of the buildings are only façades, which are far cheaper than actual buildings, and not subject to building codes. In film sets, they are held up with supports from behind. Within theme parks, they are usually decoration for the interior ride/attraction/restaurant, by Ulrich Knaack, Tillmann Klein, Marcel Bilow and Thomas Auer. ISBN 978-3-7643-7961-2 ISBN 978-3-7643-7962-9 Giving buildings an illusion of grandeur Poole, the article outlines the development of the façade in ecclesiastical architecture from the early Christian period to the Renaissance
9.
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
10.
Gerzeh culture
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Gerzeh was a prehistoric Egyptian cemetery located along the west bank of the Nile. The necropolis is named after el-Girzeh, the present day town in Egypt. Gerzeh is situated several miles due east of the lake of the Faiyum. The Gerzean culture is a material culture identified by archaeologists and it is the second of three phases of the prehistoric Nagada cultures and so is also known as Naqada II. Gerzeh culture was preceded by the Amratian culture and followed by the Naqada III. Accordingly, some place the onset of the Gerzeh coincident with the Amratian or Badari cultures. Nevertheless, because the Naqada sites were first divided by the British Egyptologist Flinders Petrie in 1894, into Amratian and Gerzean sub-periods, the Gerzeh culture lasted through a period of time when the desertification of the Sahara had nearly reached its present state. The primary distinguishing feature between the earlier Amratian and the Gerzeh is the extra decorative effort exhibited in the pottery of the period, artwork on Gerzeh ceramics features stylised animals and environment to a greater degree than the earlier Amratian artwork. Further, images of ostriches on the pottery artwork possibly indicate an inclination these early peoples may have felt to explore the Sahara desert, some symbols on Gerzeh pottery resemble traditional Egyptian hieroglyphs, which were contemporaneous with the proto-cuneiform script of Sumer. Burial sites in Gerzeh have uncovered artifacts, such as cosmetic palettes, a bone harpoon, technologies at Gerzeh also include fine ripple-flaked knives of exceptional workmanship. The meteoritic iron beads discovered in two Gerzean graves by Egyptologist Wainwright in 1911 are in fact the earliest artifacts of iron known, lapis lazuli trade, in the form of beads, from its only known prehistoric source – Badakhshan in northeastern Afghanistan – also reached ancient Gerzeh. Other discovered grave goods are on display here, one burial uncovered evidence of dismemberment in the form of decapitation. The end of the Gerzeh culture is regarded as coinciding with the unification of Egypt. Riqqeh Petrie/Wainwright/Mackay, The Labyrinth, Gerzeh and Mazghuneh, British School of Archaeology in Egypt XXI, London 1912 Alice Stevenson, Gerzeh, a cemetery shortly before History, London 2006, ISBN 0-9550256-5-6 Gerzeh. Gerzeh Tomb 20 Gerzeh Tomb 105 Gerzeh Tomb 205
11.
Set animal
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In ancient Egyptian art, the Set animal, or sha, is the totemic animal of the god Set. Because Set was identified with the Greek Typhon, the animal is commonly known as the Typhonian animal or Typhonic beast. Unlike other animals, the Set animal is not easily identifiable in the animal world. Today, there is an agreement among Egyptologists that it was never a real creature. In recent years, there have been attempts by zoologists to find the Set animal in nature. While whether or not the animal existed is unknown, it had much significance for the Egyptians. The Set animal is one of the most frequently demonstrated animal determinatives The Set-animal, Gardiner E20, the other common hieroglyph used to represent Set is a seated god with the head of the Set animal, Gardiner C7. According to Egyptologist Richard H. Wilkinson, the first known use of the Set animal was upon the Scorpion Macehead of Scorpion II of Naqada III and it was soon thereafter portrayed mounted upon the serekhs of Seth-Peribsen and Khasekhemwy. According to some scientists, the Set animal hieroglyph does not actually represent a living animal, it’s currently not possible to determine from what living creature the hieroglyph derived. Some Egyptian texts suggest that Set took the form of dangerous animal and it is normally depicted as black, but may also have been reddish. The Set animal is depicted at rest, either lying down or seated. The shape of the head resembles a giraffe, causing confusion between the two signs. The general body shape is that of a canine, many agreed that the creature had an aardvarks head, a jackals front parts, and the backside of a donkey. Drawings of the sha appear in Egyptian artwork from Naqada III until at least the period of the New Kingdom, although sometimes described as a fantastic or composite animal, it was depicted in a realistic manner more typical of actual creatures. The god Set was usually depicted as a man with a head resembling that of the sha, usually with a long, slightly curved nose, and erect ears, squared at the tops. Occasionally he was represented in animal form as the sha itself, other animals sacred to Set included the antelope, hippopotamus, wild boar, crocodile, and scorpion, all of which represented strength, power, protection, or wildness. The sha was also used as a determinative in the names of Set and the goddess Nut, who may be identified with Nephthys, the wife of Set. Was-sceptres were carried by gods, pharaohs, and priests, as a symbol of power, the head and forked tail of the Set-animal are clearly present
12.
Old Kingdom of Egypt
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The term itself was coined by eighteenth-century historians and the distinction between the Old Kingdom and the Early Dynastic Period is not one which would have been recognized by Ancient Egyptians. The Old Kingdom is most commonly regarded as the period from the Third Dynasty through to the Sixth Dynasty, many Egyptologists also include the Memphite Seventh and Eighth Dynasties in the Old Kingdom as a continuation of the administration centralized at Memphis. During the Old Kingdom, the king of Egypt became a god who ruled absolutely and could demand the services. Under King Djoser, the first king of the Third Dynasty of the Old Kingdom, the capital of Egypt was moved to Memphis. A new era of building was initiated at Saqqara under his reign, King Djosers architect, Imhotep is credited with the development of building with stone and with the conception of the new architectural form—the Step Pyramid. Indeed, the Old Kingdom is perhaps best known for the number of pyramids constructed at this time as burial places for Egypts kings. For this reason, the Old Kingdom is frequently referred to as the Age of the Pyramids, the first king of the Old Kingdom was Djoser of the third dynasty, who ordered the construction of a pyramid in Memphis necropolis, Saqqara. An important person during the reign of Djoser was his vizier and it was in this era that formerly independent ancient Egyptian states became known as nomes, under the rule of the king. The former rulers were forced to assume the role of governors or otherwise work in tax collection, Egyptians in this era worshipped their king as a god, believing that he ensured the annual flooding of the Nile that was necessary for their crops. Egyptian views on the nature of time during this period held that the worked in cycles. They also perceived themselves as a specially selected people, the Old Kingdom and its royal power reached a zenith under the Fourth Dynasty, which began with Sneferu. Using more stones than any king, he built three pyramids, a now collapsed pyramid in Meidum, the Bent Pyramid at Dahshur. However, the development of the pyramid style of building was reached not at Saqqara. Sneferu was succeeded by his son, Khufu who built the Great Pyramid of Giza, after Khufus death, his sons Djedefra and Khafra may have quarrelled. The latter built the pyramid and the Sphinx in Giza. Recent reexamination of evidence has led Egyptologist Vassil Dobrev to propose that the Sphinx had been built by Djedefra as a monument to his father Khufu, alternatively, the Sphinx has been proposed to be the work of Khafra and Khufu himself. There were military expeditions into Canaan and Nubia, with Egyptian influence reaching up the Nile into what is today the Sudan, the later kings of the Fourth Dynasty were king Menkaure, who built the smallest pyramid in Giza, Shepseskaf and, perhaps, Djedefptah. The Fifth Dynasty began with Userkaf and was marked by the importance of the cult of sun god Ra
13.
Eye of Horus
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The Eye of Horus is an ancient Egyptian symbol of protection, royal power and good health. The eye is personified in the goddess Wadjet, the Eye of Horus is similar to the Eye of Ra, which belongs to a different god, Ra, but represents many of the same concepts. Wadjet was one of the earliest of Egyptian deities who later associated with other goddesses such as Bast, Sekhmet, Mut. She was the deity of Lower Egypt and the major Delta shrine the per-nu was under her protection. Hathor is also depicted with this eye, funerary amulets were often made in the shape of the Eye of Horus. The Wadjet or Eye of Horus is the element of seven gold, faience, carnelian. The Wedjat was intended to protect the pharaoh in the afterlife, Ancient Egyptian and Middle-Eastern sailors would frequently paint the symbol on the bow of their vessel to ensure safe sea travel. Horus was the ancient Egyptian sky god who was depicted as a falcon. His right eye was associated with the sun god, Ra, the eye symbol represents the marking around the eye of the falcon, including the teardrop marking sometimes found below the eye. The mirror image, or left eye, sometimes represented the moon, in one myth, when Set and Horus were fighting for the throne after Osiriss death, Set gouged out Horuss left eye. The majority of the eye was restored by either Hathor or Thoth, when Horuss eye was recovered, he offered it to his father, Osiris, in hopes of restoring his life. Hence, the eye of Horus was often used to sacrifice, healing, restoration. There are seven different hieroglyphs used to represent the eye, most commonly ir. t in Egyptian, in Egyptian myth the eye was not the passive organ of sight but more an agent of action, protection or wrath. The Eye of Horus was represented as a hieroglyph, designated D10 in Gardiners sign list and it is represented in the Unicode character block for Egyptian hieroglyphs as U+13080. In Ancient Egyptian most fractions were written as the sum of two or more unit fractions, with scribes possessing tables of answers, thus instead of 3⁄4, one would write 1⁄2 + 1⁄4. Studies from the 1970s to this day in Egyptian mathematics have clearly shown this theory was fallacious, the evolution of the symbols used in mathematics, although similar to the different parts of the Eye of Horus, is now known to be distinct. Wadjet eye tatoos associated with Hathor depicted on 3, 000-year-old mummy
14.
Horus name
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The Horus name is the oldest known and used crest of Ancient Egyptian rulers. It belongs to the Great five names of an Egyptian pharaoh, however, modern Egyptologists and linguists are starting to prefer the more neutral term, the serekh name. This is because not every pharaoh had placed the falcon, which symbolizes the deity Horus, the rectangular vignette is called serekh, after the Egyptian word for facade. There are countless variations of the decor in the serekh. The complexity and detail of the facade decor varied remarkably depending on the object on which it was present and it seems that no strict artistic rules for the design of the serekh itself existed. The name of the pharaoh was written inside the space that represents the royal courtyard. The symbolic meaning of the Horus name is still disputed and it seems obvious, at least, that the name of a king was addressed straight to the deity on top of the serekh. In most cases it was the falcon of the god Horus and this is based on the Egyptian tradition and belief that a living king was commonly the herald and earthly representative of Horus. A good example is the name of 2nd Dynasty king Raneb and his name was written with the sign of the sun and the sign of a basket. Altogether, the name reads Lord of the sun of Horus, thus integrating Horus as the royal patron into the kings name, as already mentioned, most Egyptian kings favored Horus as their dynastic name patron. In a few cases, especially during the midst of the 2nd Dynasty, the most prominent example is king Seth-Peribsen. He first replaced the figure of his serekh by the walking animal of the god Seth. Then, his name was written in a form, thus being addressed to Seth as well as to Horus. The serekh names of his followers Sekhemib and Khasekhemwy were similarly built, Khasekhemwy went even further and placed both divine figures of Horus and Seth above his serekh, in an attempt to accentuate the dualism of a serekh name. The remarkable behaviour of the 2nd Dynasty kings can possibly be explained by the Egyptian belief that a king represented Horus, maybe said kings simply wished to express this dualism by willingly changing the appearance of the serekh and replacing divine figures on its top. As already mentioned, the Horus name is the oldest known and its introduction reaches back to the time of the Naqada II period at 3400 BC, and its development can be observed on objects from Naqada II to the 1st Dynasty. However, at the time of introduction, the serekhs of kings were yet anonymous, later the name of the king was written beside the serekh or omitted completely. In many cases the serekh lacks the Horus falcon, and in cases, such as the serekh of king Ka
15.
International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
16.
Ancient Egyptian religion
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Ancient Egyptian religion was a complex system of polytheistic beliefs and rituals which were an integral part of ancient Egyptian society. It centered on the Egyptians interaction with many deities who were believed to be present in, and in control of, rituals such as prayers and offerings were efforts to provide for the gods and gain their favor. Formal religious practice centered on the pharaoh, the king of Egypt and he acted as the intermediary between his people and the gods and was obligated to sustain the gods through rituals and offerings so that they could maintain order in the universe. The state dedicated enormous resources to Egyptian rituals and to the construction of the temples, individuals could interact with the gods for their own purposes, appealing for their help through prayer or compelling them to act through magic. These practices were distinct from, but closely linked with, the formal rituals, the popular religious tradition grew more prominent in the course of Egyptian history as the status of the Pharaoh declined. Another important aspect was the belief in the afterlife and funerary practices, the Egyptians made great efforts to ensure the survival of their souls after death, providing tombs, grave goods, and offerings to preserve the bodies and spirits of the deceased. The religion had its roots in Egypts prehistory and lasted for more than 3,000 years, the details of religious belief changed over time as the importance of particular gods rose and declined, and their intricate relationships shifted. At various times, certain gods became preeminent over the others, including the sun god Ra, the creator god Amun, for a brief period, in the theology promulgated by the Pharaoh Akhenaten, a single god, the Aten, replaced the traditional pantheon. Ancient Egyptian religion and mythology left behind many writings and monuments, along with significant influences on ancient, the beliefs and rituals now referred to as ancient Egyptian religion were integral within every aspect of Egyptian culture. Their language possessed no single term corresponding to the modern European concept of religion, the characteristics of the gods who populated the divine realm were inextricably linked to the Egyptians understanding of the properties of the world in which they lived. The Egyptians believed that the phenomena of nature were divine forces in and these deified forces included the elements, animal characteristics, or abstract forces. The Egyptians believed in a pantheon of gods, which were involved in all aspects of nature and their religious practices were efforts to sustain and placate these phenomena and turn them to human advantage. This polytheistic system was complex, as some deities were believed to exist in many different manifestations. Conversely, many forces, such as the sun, were associated with multiple deities. The diverse pantheon ranged from gods with vital roles in the universe to minor deities or demons with very limited or localized functions. It could include gods adopted from foreign cultures, and sometimes humans, deceased Pharaohs were believed to be divine, and occasionally, distinguished commoners such as Imhotep also became deified. The depictions of the gods in art were not meant as representations of how the gods might appear if they were visible. Instead, these depictions gave recognizable forms to the deities by using symbolic imagery to indicate each gods role in nature
17.
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
18.
Paganism
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Paganism is a term that derives from Latin word pagan, which means nonparticipant, one excluded from a more distinguished, professional group. The term was used in the 4th century, by early Christian community, the term competed with polytheism already in use in Judaism, by Philo in the 1st century. Pagans and paganism was a pejorative for the same polytheistic group, Paganism has broadly connoted religion of the peasantry, and for much of its history a derogatory term. Alternate terms in Christian texts for the group was hellene. In and after the Middle Ages, paganism was a pejorative that was applied to any non-Abrahamic or unfamiliar religion, there has been much scholarly debate as to the origin of the term paganism, especially since no one before the 20th century self-identified as a pagan. In the 19th century, paganism was re-adopted as a self-descriptor by members of various artistic groups inspired by the ancient world. Forms of these religions, influenced by various historical pagan beliefs of pre-modern Europe, exist today and are known as contemporary or modern paganism, while most pagan religions express a worldview that is pantheistic, polytheistic, or animistic, there are some monotheistic pagans. It is crucial to stress right from the start that until the 20th century people did not call themselves pagans to describe the religion they practised, the notion of paganism, as it is generally understood today, was created by the early Christian Church. It was a label that Christians applied to others, one of the antitheses that were central to the process of Christian self-definition, as such, throughout history it was generally used in a derogatory sense. The term pagan is from Late Latin paganus, revived during the Renaissance and it is related to pangere and ultimately comes from Proto-Indo-European *pag-. The evolution occurred only in the Latin west, and in connection with the Latin church, elsewhere, Hellene or gentile remained the word for pagan, and paganos continued as a purely secular term, with overtones of the inferior and the commonplace. However, this idea has multiple problems, first, the words usage as a reference to non-Christians pre-dates that period in history. Second, paganism within the Roman Empire centered on cities, the concept of an urban Christianity as opposed to a rural paganism would not have occurred to Romans during Early Christianity. Third, unlike words such as rusticitas, paganus had not yet acquired the meanings used to explain why it would have been applied to pagans. Paganus more likely acquired its meaning in Christian nomenclature via Roman military jargon, Early Christians adopted military motifs and saw themselves as Milites Christi. As early as the 5th century, paganos was metaphorically used to persons outside the bounds of the Christian community. In response, Augustine of Hippo wrote De Civitate Dei Contra Paganos, in it, he contrasted the fallen city of Man to the city of God of which all Christians were ultimately citizens. Hence, the invaders were not of the city or rural
19.
Pantheism
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Pantheism is the belief that all reality is identical with divinity, or that everything composes an all-encompassing, immanent god. Pantheists thus do not believe in a personal or anthropomorphic god. The term pantheism was not coined until after Spinozas death, and his work, Ethics, was the major source from which Western pantheism spread. Pantheistic concepts may date back thousands of years, and some religions in the East continue to contain pantheistic elements, Pantheism derives from the Greek πᾶν pan and θεός theos. There are a variety of definitions of pantheism, some consider it a theological and philosophical position concerning God. As a religious position, some describe pantheism as the polar opposite of atheism, from this standpoint, pantheism is the view that everything is part of an all-encompassing, immanent God. All forms of reality may then be considered either modes of that Being, some hold that pantheism is a non-religious philosophical position. To them, pantheism is the view that the Universe and God are identical, pantheistic tendencies existed in a number of early Gnostic groups, with pantheistic thought appearing throughout the Middle Ages. These included a section of Johannes Scotus Eriugenas 9th-century work De divisione naturae, the Roman Catholic Church has long regarded pantheistic ideas as heresy. Giordano Bruno, an Italian monk who evangelized about an immanent and he has since become known as a celebrated pantheist and martyr of science. Bruno influenced many later thinkers including Baruch Spinoza, in the West, pantheism was formalized as a separate theology and philosophy based on the work of the 17th-century philosopher Baruch Spinoza. Spinoza was a Dutch philosopher of Sephardi Portuguese origin, whose book Ethics was an answer to Descartes famous dualist theory that the body, Spinoza held the monist view that the two are the same, and monism is a fundamental part of his philosophy. He was described as a God-intoxicated man, and used the word God to describe the unity of all substance, although the term pantheism was not coined until after his death, Spinoza is regarded as its most celebrated advocate. His work, Ethics, was the source from which Western pantheism spread. The breadth and importance of Spinozas work was not fully realized until years after his death. Spinozas magnum opus, the posthumous Ethics, in which he opposed Descartes mind–body dualism, has earned him recognition as one of Western philosophys most important thinkers, Hegel said, You are either a Spinozist or not a philosopher at all. His philosophical accomplishments and moral character prompted 20th-century philosopher Gilles Deleuze to name him the prince of philosophers, Spinoza was raised in the Portuguese Jewish community in Amsterdam. He developed highly controversial ideas regarding the authenticity of the Hebrew Bible, the Jewish religious authorities issued a cherem against him, effectively excluding him from Jewish society at age 23
20.
Polytheism
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Polytheism is the worship of or belief in multiple deities, which are usually assembled into a pantheon of gods and goddesses, along with their own religions and rituals. Polytheism is a type of theism, within theism, it contrasts with monotheism, the belief in a singular God, in most cases transcendent. Polytheists do not always worship all the gods equally, but they can be henotheists, other polytheists can be kathenotheists, worshiping different deities at different times. Polytheism was the form of religion during the Bronze Age and Iron Age up to the Axial Age and the development of Abrahamic religions. Important polytheistic religions practiced today include Chinese traditional religion, Hinduism, Japanese Shinto, the term comes from the Greek πολύ poly and θεός theos and was first invented by the Jewish writer Philo of Alexandria to argue with the Greeks. When Christianity spread throughout Europe and the Mediterranean, non-Christians were just called Gentiles or pagans or by the pejorative term idolaters. The modern usage of the term is first revived in French through Jean Bodin in 1580, a central, main division in polytheism is between soft polytheism and hard polytheism. Hard polytheism is the belief that gods are distinct, separate, real divine beings, hard polytheists reject the idea that all gods are one god. Hard polytheists do not necessarily consider the gods of all cultures as being equally real, Polytheism cannot be cleanly separated from the animist beliefs prevalent in most folk religions. The gods of polytheism are in cases the highest order of a continuum of supernatural beings or spirits. In some cases these spirits are divided into celestial or chthonic classes, since divinity is intellectual, and all intellect returns into itself, this myth expresses in allegory the essence of divinity. Myths may be regarded physically when they express the activities of gods in the world, the psychological way is to regard the activities of the soul itself and or the souls acts of thought. The material is to regard material objects to actually be gods, for example, to call the earth Gaia, ocean Okeanos, Some well-known historical polytheistic pantheons include the Sumerian gods and the Egyptian gods, and the classical-attested pantheon which includes the ancient Greek religion and Roman religion. Post-classical polytheistic religions include Norse Æsir and Vanir, the Yoruba Orisha, the Aztec gods, an example of a religious notion from this shared past is the concept of *dyēus, which is attested in several distinct religious systems. In many civilizations, pantheons tended to grow over time, deities first worshipped as the patrons of cities or places came to be collected together as empires extended over larger territories. Conquests could lead to the subordination of the elder cultures pantheon to a one, as in the Greek Titanomachia. Most ancient belief systems held that gods influenced human lives, epicurus believed that these gods were material, human-like, and that they inhabited the empty spaces between worlds. Though it is suggested that Hestia stepped down when Dionysus was invited to Mount Olympus, robert Graves The Greek Myths cites two sources that obviously do not suggest Hestia surrendered her seat, though he suggests she did
21.
Ancient Egyptian concept of the soul
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The ancient Egyptians believed that a human soul was made up of five parts, the Ren, the Ba, the Ka, the Sheut, and the Ib. In addition to these components of the soul there was the human body, the other souls were aakhu, khaibut, and khat. An important part of the Egyptian soul was thought to be the jb, the heart was believed to be formed from one drop of blood from the childs mothers heart, taken at conception. To ancient Egyptians, the heart was the seat of emotion, thought, will and this is evidenced by the many expressions in the Egyptian language which incorporate the word jb. This word was transcribed by E. A. Wallis Budge as Ab, in Egyptian religion, the heart was the key to the afterlife. It was conceived as surviving death in the world, where it gave evidence for, or against. It was thought that the heart was examined by Anubis and the deities during the Weighing of the Heart ceremony, if the heart weighed more than the feather of Maat, it was immediately consumed by the monster Ammit. A persons shadow or silhouette, Sheut, is always present, because of this, Egyptians surmised that a shadow contains something of the person it represents. Through this association, statues of people and deities were sometimes referred to as shadows, the shadow was also representative to Egyptians of a figure of death, or servant of Anubis, and was depicted graphically as a small human figure painted completely black. Sometimes people had a box in which part of their Sheut was stored. For example, part of the Book of Breathings, a derivative of the Book of the Dead, was a means to ensure the survival of the name, a cartouche often was used to surround the name and protect it. Conversely, the names of deceased enemies of the state, such as Akhenaten, were hacked out of monuments in a form of damnatio memoriae. Sometimes, however, they were removed in order to make room for the insertion of the name of a successor. The greater the number of places a name was used, the greater the possibility it would survive to be read, the Bâ was everything that makes an individual unique, similar to the notion of personality. In the Coffin Texts one form of the Bâ that comes into existence after death is corporeal, louis Žabkar argued that the Bâ is not part of the person but is the person himself, unlike the soul in Greek, or late Judaic, Christian or Muslim thought. The word bau, plural of the ba, meant something similar to impressiveness, power. When a deity intervened in human affairs, it was said that the Bau of the deity were at work. The Ka was the Egyptian concept of essence, which distinguishes the difference between a living and a dead person, with death occurring when the ka left the body
22.
Aaru
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For the natural habitat, see Reed bed. For the use of reeds to filter wastewater, see Constructed wetland, for the Tamil film, see Aaru. It has been described as the ka of the Nile Delta and those souls which balance the scales are allowed to start a long and perilous journey to Aaru, where they will exist in pleasure for all eternity. Hearts heavy with evil tip and fall into the jaws of the demon Ammit. After this second death, the soul is doomed to restlessness in Duat, the souls who qualify undergo a long journey and face many perils before reaching Aaru. Once they arrive, they enter through a series of gates, the exact number of gates varies according to sources, some say 15, some 21. They are uniformly described as guarded by evil demons armed with knives, Aaru is also known as the home of Osiris. Aaru usually was placed in the east, where the Sun rises and this ideal hunting and farming ground allowed the souls here to live for eternity. More precisely, Aaru was envisaged as a series of islands, covered in fields of rushes, the part where Osiris later dwelt is sometimes known as the field of offerings, Sekhet Hetepet in Egyptian. Heaven Elysium The Summerland Budge, Ernest Alfred Wallis, london, Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co. Ltd. p.37. Dictionary of Mythology, Folklore, and Stymbols, Part 1, Egyptian Field of Reeds and Christian Heaven
23.
Duat
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Duat was the realm of the dead in ancient Egyptian mythology. It was the realm of the deity Osiris and the residence of other gods, the Duat was the region through which the sun god Ra traveled from west to east during the night, and where he battled Apep. It was also the place where peoples souls went after death for judgement, burial chambers formed touching-points between the mundane world and the Duat, and spirits could use tombs to travel back and forth from the Duat. What is known of the Duat derives principally from funerary texts such as the Book of Gates, the Book of Caverns, the Coffin Texts, the Amduat, and the Book of the Dead. Each of these fulfilled a different purpose and gave a different perspective on the Duat. Surviving texts differ in age and origin, and there likely was never a single interpretation of the Duat. The geography of Duat is similar in outline to the world the Egyptians knew, there are realistic features like rivers, islands, fields, lakes, mounds and caverns, along with fantastic lakes of fire, walls of iron and trees of turquoise. In the Book of Two Ways, one of the Coffin Texts, the Book of the Dead and Coffin Texts were intended to guide people who had recently died through the Duats dangerous landscape and to a life as an akh or blessed spirit amongst the gods. The dead person must pass a series of gates guarded by dangerous spirits, depicted as human bodies with heads of animals, insects. These beings have equally grotesque names, for instance Blood-drinker who comes from the Slaughterhouse or One who eats the excrement of his hindquarters, other features emphasised in these texts are mounds and caverns, inhabited by gods or supernatural animals, which threatened the spirits of the dead. The purpose of the books is not to lay out a geography, if the deceased successfully passed these unpleasant demons, he or she would reach the Weighing of the Heart. In this ritual, the heart of the deceased was weighed by Anubis, using a feather, representing Maat, any hearts heavier than her feather were rejected and eaten by the Ammit, the Devourer of Souls. Those souls that were lighter than a feather passed the test would be allowed to travel toward the paradise of Aaru, in spite of the unpleasant inhabitants of the Duat, this was no Hell to which souls were condemned, the nature of Duat is more complex than that. The grotesque spirits of the underworld were not evil, but under the control of the Gods. The Duat was also a residence of gods themselves, as well as Osiris, Anubis, Thoth, Horus, Hathor and Maat all appear as a dead soul makes its way toward judgement. It was also in the underworld that the sun, Ra, travelled under the Earth upon his Atet barge from west to east and was transformed from its aged Atum form into Khepri, the new dawning Sun. Just as a person faced many challenges in the Duat. The Egyptian Book of the Dead, The Book of Going Forth by Day, chronicle Books,2000 Pinch, G. Magic in Ancient Egypt
24.
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
25.
Aker (deity)
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Aker was an Ancient Egyptian earth and death deity. Aker was first depicted as the torso of a recumbent lion with a widely opened mouth, later, he was depicted as two recumbent lion torsos merged with each other and still looking away from each other. From Middle Kingdom onwards Aker appears as a pair of lions, one named Duaj. Aker was thus often titled He whos looking forward and behind, when depicted as a lion pair, a hieroglyphic sign for horizon and a sun disc was put between the lions, the lions were sitting back-on-back. In later times, Aker can also appear as two merged torsos of recumbent sphinxes with human heads, Aker appears first time during the 1st dynasty under the kings Hor Aha and Djer. An unfinished decorative palette from the tomb of Djer at Abydos shows Aker devouring three hearts, the location of Akers main cult center is unknown, though. His mythological role is first time described in the famous Pyramid Texts of king Teti. Aker was first described as one of the earth gods guarding the gate to the yonder site and he protected the deceased king against the three demonic snakes Hemtet, Iqeru and Jagw. By encircling the deceased king, Aker sealed the deceased away from the breath of the snake demons. Another earth deity, who joined and promoted Akers work, was Geb, thus, Aker was connected with Geb. In other spells and prayers, Aker is connected with Seth and this is interesting, because Seth is described as a wind deity, not as an earth deity. In the famous Coffin Texts of Middle Kingdom period, Aker replaces the god Kherty, Aker protects the sun god during his nocturnal travelling through the underworld caverns. In other underworld scenes, Aker carries the nocturnal bark of Ra, during his journey, in which Aker is asked to hide the body of the dead Osiris beneath his womb, Aker is protected by the god Geb
26.
Ammit
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Ammit was a female demon in ancient Egyptian religion with a body that was part lion, hippopotamus and crocodile—the three largest man-eating animals known to ancient Egyptians. A funerary deity, her titles included Devourer of the Dead, Eater of Hearts, Ammit lived near the scales of justice in Duat, the Egyptian underworld. In the Hall of Two Truths, Anubis weighed the heart of a person against the feather of Maat, the goddess of truth, which was depicted as an ostrich feather. If the heart was judged to be not pure, Ammit would devour it, once Ammit swallowed the heart, the soul was believed to become restless forever, this was called to die a second time. Ammit was also said to stand by a lake of fire. In some traditions, the hearts were cast into the fiery lake to be destroyed. Some scholars believe Ammit and the lake represent the concept of destruction. Ammit was not worshipped, instead she embodied all that the Egyptians feared, Ammit has been linked with the goddess Tawaret, who has a similar physical appearance and, as a companion of Bes, also protected others from evil. Other authors have noted that Ammits lion characteristics, and the lake of fire, the relation to afterlife punishment and lake of fire location are also shared with the baboon deity Babi. Ammit was made male as a character in the Palladium RPG, a monster of the same name is also a card in Yu-Gi-Oh. In addition, Ammit also intermittenly appears in The Kane Chronicles, in the book series, Ammit follows suit as the original myths, being the servant and companion of Anubis. Ammit is also featured in the Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris video game, Ammit Cryearth is a Grimoire in form of a hand mirror that reflects the true form of the holder, it appears in BlazBlue, Remix Heart manga. Book of the Dead Media related to Ammit at Wikimedia Commons
27.
Amun
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Amun was a major Ancient Egyptian deity. He was attested since the Old Kingdom together with his wife Amaunet, with the 11th dynasty, he rose to the position of patron deity of Thebes by replacing Monthu. After the rebellion of Thebes against the Hyksos and with the rule of Ahmose I, Amun acquired national importance, expressed in his fusion with the Sun god, Ra, Amun-Ra retained chief importance in the Egyptian pantheon throughout the New Kingdom. Amun-Ra in this period held the position of transcendental, self-created creator deity par excellence, he was the champion of the poor or troubled and his position as King of Gods developed to the point of virtual monotheism where other gods became manifestations of him. With Osiris, Amun-Ra is the most widely recorded of the Egyptian gods, as the chief deity of the Egyptian Empire, Amun-Ra also came to be worshipped outside of Egypt, according to the testimony of ancient Greek historiographers in Libya and Nubia. As Zeus Ammon he came to be identified with Zeus in Greece, Amun and Amaunet are mentioned in the Old Egyptian Pyramid Texts. The name Amun meant something like the one or invisible. Amun rose to the position of tutelary deity of Thebes after the end of the First Intermediate Period, as the patron of Thebes, his spouse was Mut. In Thebes, Amun as father, Mut as mother and the Moon god Khonsu formed a family or Theban Triad. The history of Amun as the god of Thebes begins in the 20th century BC. The city of Thebes does not appear to have been of great significance before the 11th dynasty, major construction work in the Precinct of Amun-Re took place during the 18th dynasty when Thebes became the capital of the unified ancient Egypt. Construction of the Hypostyle Hall may have begun during the 18th dynasty, though most building was undertaken under Seti I. Merenptah commemorated his victories over the Sea Peoples on the walls of the Cachette Court and this Great Inscription shows the kings campaigns and eventual return with booty and prisoners. Next to this inscription is the Victory Stela, which is largely a copy of the more famous Israel Stela found in the complex of Merenptah on the west bank of the Nile in Thebes. Merenptahs son Seti II added 2 small obelisks in front of the Second Pylon, and this was constructed of sandstone, with a chapel to Amun flanked by those of Mut and Khonsu. The last major change to the Precinct of Amun-Res layout was the addition of the first pylon, the local patron deity of Thebes, Amun, therefore became nationally important. The pharaohs of that new dynasty attributed all their enterprises to Amun. The victory accomplished by pharaohs who worshipped Amun against the rulers, brought him to be seen as a champion of the less fortunate
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Amunet
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Amunet was a primordial goddess in Ancient Egyptian religion. She is a member of the Ogdoad and the consort of Amun and her name, meaning the female hidden one, was simply the feminine form of Amuns own name. It is possible that she was never an independent deity, as the first mention of either of them is in a pair, at Karnak, Amuns cult center, priests were dedicated to Amunets service. The goddess also played a part in ceremonies such as the Sed festival. Amunet was depicted as a woman wearing the Red Crown and carrying a staff of papyrus, in late texts from Karnak she was syncretized with Neith, although she remained a distinct deity as late as the Ptolemaic period. In the TV series Penny Dreadful, the character of Vanessa Ives is implied to be an incarnation of Amunet, in the TV series Stargate SG-1, Amaunet is a recurring Goauld character and consort of Apophis. Amunet will appear portrayed by Sofia Boutella in a fictionalized characterization, the film will serve as the first official installment in the Universal Monsters Cinematic Universe
29.
Andjety
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Andjety is an Ancient Egyptian deity whose name is associated with the city of Andjet, which in the Greek language was called Busiris. This deity is known by the alternative names Anezti or Anedjti. Andjety is considered one of the earliest Egyptian gods, possibly with roots in Predynastic Egypt, Andjety is thought to have been a precursor of Osiris. Like Osiris he is depicted holding the crook and flail and has a similar to Osiriss Atef crown. King Sneferu of the 4th dynasty, builder of the first true pyramid, is wearing the crown of Andjety. In the Pyramid texts the power is associated with Andjety. In the temple of Seti I the king is offering incense to Osiris-Andjety who is accompanied by Isis. I immerse the waterways as Osiris, Lord of corruption, as Adjety, horus has revived you in this your name of Andjety
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Anhur
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In early Egyptian mythology, Anhur was originally a god of war who was worshipped in the Egyptian area of Abydos, and particularly in Thinis. Myths told that he had brought his wife, Mehit, who was his counterpart, from Nubia. One of his titles was Slayer of Enemies, Anhur was depicted as a bearded man wearing a robe and a headdress with four feathers, holding a spear or lance, or occasionally as a lion-headed god. In some depictions, the robe was more similar to a kilt, due to his position as a war god, he was patron of the ancient Egyptian army, and the personification of royal warriors. Indeed, at festivals honoring him, mock battles were staged, during the Roman era the Emperor Tiberius was depicted on the walls of Egyptian temples wearing the distinctive four-plumed crown of Anhur. The Greeks equated Anhur to their god of war, Ares, in the legend of Olympian gods fleeing from Typhon and taking animal form in Egypt, Ares was said to have taken the form of a fish as Lepidotus or Onuris. Anhurs name also could mean Sky Bearer and, due to the headdress, Anhur was later identified with Shu. He is the son of Ra and brother of Bastet if identified as Shu, amenhotep, from the time of Thutmose IV. Amenhoteps wife Henut was a songstress of Anhur and their sons Hat and Kenna were Chariot Warriors of His Majesty. Known from a now in the British Museum. Nebwenenef High Priest of Anhur during the reign of Sety I, was appointed High Priest of Amun in the beginning of the reign of Ramesses II. Hori Minmose, son of the High Priest of Anhur Hori, from the reign of Ramesses II. Anhurmose, from the time of Merenptah, sishepset, from the time of Ramesses III Harsiese, mentioned on an ostracon in Abydos Anhur is a playable character in the multiplayer online battle arena, SMITE. Anhur is a hunter and bears title the Slayer of Enemies and is shown in his lion form maintaining his beard, robe, Anhur is also a chaotic god in the computer game NetHack/SlashEM. Onuris has a role in the 2012 fantasy novel The Serpents Shadow as a presumed dead god who is revived in order to destroy the Lord of Chaos
31.
Anput
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Anput is a goddess in ancient Egyptian religion. Her name is also rendered Input, Inpewt and Yineput and her name is written in hieroglyphs as inpwt. Her name is the version of the name of her husband. She was the goddess of funerals and mummification, the mother of Kebechet and she was depicted as a woman wearing a standard topped by a jackal, or as a large black dog or jackal. Probably the most notable example is that of the triad of Menkaure, Hathor and she was occasionally depicted as a woman with the head of a jackal, but this is very rare. Anput is a counterpart of the god Anubis. She is also a goddess of the nome of Upper Egypt
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Anubis
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Anubis or Anpu is the Greek name of a god associated with mummification and the afterlife in ancient Egyptian religion, usually depicted as a canine or a man with a canine head. Like many ancient Egyptian deities, Anubis assumed different roles in various contexts, depicted as a protector of graves as early as the First Dynasty, Anubis was also an embalmer. By the Middle Kingdom he was replaced by Osiris in his role as lord of the underworld, one of his prominent roles was as a god who ushered souls into the afterlife. He attended the weighing scale during the Weighing of the Heart, despite being one of the most ancient and one of the most frequently depicted and mentioned gods in the Egyptian pantheon, Anubis played almost no role in Egyptian myths. Anubis was depicted in black, a color that symbolized both rebirth and the discoloration of the corpse after embalming, Anubis is associated with Wepwawet, another Egyptian god portrayed with a dogs head or in canine form, but with grey or white fur. Historians assume that the two figures were eventually combined and his daughter is the serpent goddess Kebechet. Anubis is a Greek rendering of this gods Egyptian name, in Egypts Early Dynastic period, Anubis was portrayed in full animal form, with a jackal head and body. A jackal god, probably Anubis, is depicted in stone inscriptions from the reigns of Hor-Aha, Djer, the oldest known textual mention of Anubis is in the Pyramid Texts of the Old Kingdom, where he is associated with the burial of the pharaoh. In the Old Kingdom, Anubis was the most important god of the dead and he was replaced in that role by Osiris during the Middle Kingdom. In the Roman era, which started in 30 BC, tomb paintings depict him holding the hand of deceased persons to them to Osiris. The parentage of Anubis varied between myths, times and sources, in early mythology, he was portrayed as a son of Ra. In the Coffin Texts, which were written in the First Intermediate Period, another tradition depicted him as the son of his father Ra and mother Nephthys. George Hart sees this story as an attempt to incorporate the independent deity Anubis into the Osirian pantheon, an Egyptian papyrus from the Roman period simply called Anubis the son of Isis. In the Ptolemaic period, when Egypt became a Hellenistic kingdom ruled by Greek pharaohs, Anubis was merged with the Greek god Hermes, the two gods were considered similar because they both guided souls to the afterlife. The center of this cult was in uten-ha/Sa-ka/ Cynopolis, a place whose Greek name means city of dogs, in Book XI of The Golden Ass by Apuleius, there is evidence that the worship of this god was continued in Rome through at least the 2nd century. Indeed, Hermanubis also appears in the alchemical and hermetical literature of the Middle Ages, in contrast to real wolves, Anubis was a protector of graves and cemeteries. Several epithets attached to his name in Egyptian texts and inscriptions referred to that role, the Jumilhac papyrus recounts another tale where Anubis protected the body of Osiris from Set. Set attempted to attack the body of Osiris by transforming himself into a leopard, Anubis stopped and subdued Set, however, and he branded Sets skin with a hot iron rod
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Anuket
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Anuket was the personification and goddess of the Nile river in the Egyptian mythology in Elephantine, at the start of the Niles journey through Egypt, and in nearby regions of Nubia. In Ancient Egyptian, she was known as Anuket, Anaka and her name meant the Clasper or Embracer. In Greek, this became Anoukis, sometimes also spelled Anukis, in the interpretatio graeca, she was considered equivalent to Hestia or Vesta. Anuket was usually depicted as a woman with a headdress of either reed or ostrich feathers and she was usually depicted as holding a Sceptre topped with an ankh, and her sacred animal was the gazelle. She was also shown suckling the Pharaoh through the New Kingdom, in later periods, she was assoiciated with the Cowry, especially the shell, which resembled the vagina. She was originally the daughter of Ra, but was related to Satet in some way. For example, both goddesses were called the Eye of Ra, along with Bastet, Hathor, and Sekhmet, also, they were both related in some way to the Uraeus. Anuket was part of a triad with the god Khnum, and she may have been the sister of the goddess Satis or she may have been a junior consort to Khnum instead. A temple dedicated to Anuket was erected on the Island of Seheil, inscriptions show that a shrine or altar was dedicated to her at this site by the 13th dynasty Pharaoh Sobekhotep III. Much later, during the 18th dynasty, Amenhotep II dedicated a chapel to the goddess, during the New Kingdom, Anuket’s cult at Elephantine included a river procession of the goddess during the first month of Shemu. Inscriptions mention the processional festival of Khnum and Anuket during this time period, ceremonially, when the Nile started its annual flood, the Festival of Anuket began. People threw coins, gold, jewelry, and precious gifts into the river, in thanks for the life-giving water, Anoukis, Encyclopædia Britannica, 9th ed. Vol. II, New York, Charles Scribners Sons,1878, p.90
34.
Apedemak
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Apedemak, alt Apademak, was a lion-headed warrior god worshiped by the Meroitic peoples inhabiting Nubia. A number of Meroitic temples dedicated to this deity are known from the Butana region, Naqa, Meroe, and Musawwarat es-Sufra, which seems to be his chief cult place. In the temple of Naqa built by the rulers of Meroe Apedemak was depicted as a three-headed leonine god with four arms, however, he is usually depicted as a man with a lion head. Apedemak was a deity in the ancient Egyptian religion, being instead a product of the Meroitic culture. Žabkar, Louis V. Apedemak, Lion-God of Meroe, A Study in Egyptian-Meroitic Syncretism
35.
Apep
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Apep or Apophis was the ancient Egyptian deity who embodied chaos and was thus the opponent of light and Maat. He appears in art as a giant serpent and his name is reconstructed by Egyptologists as *ʻAʼpāpī, as it was written ꜥꜣpp and survived in later Coptic as Ⲁⲫⲱⲫ Aphōph. Apep was first mentioned in the Eighth Dynasty, and he was honored in the names of the Fourteenth Dynasty king Apepi, Ra was the solar deity, bringer of light, and thus the upholder of Maat. Apep was viewed as the greatest enemy of Ra, and thus was given the title Enemy of Ra, as the personification of all that was evil, Apep was seen as a giant snake or serpent leading to such titles as Serpent from the Nile and Evil Lizard. Some elaborations said that he stretched 16 yards in length and had a made of flint. Also, comparable hostile snakes as enemies of the sun god existed under other names already before the name Apep occurred, the etymology of his name is perhaps to be sought in some west-semitic language where a word root ꜣpp meaning to slither existed. A verb root ꜥꜣpp does at any rate not exist elsewhere in Ancient Egyptian, Apeps name much later came to be falsely connected etymologically in Egyptian with a different root meaning spat out, the Romans referred to Apep by this translation of his name. Apophis was a golden snake known to be miles long. He was so large that he attempted to swallow the sun every day, tales of Apeps battles against Ra were elaborated during the New Kingdom. Storytellers said that every day Apep must lie just below the horizon and this appropriately made him a part of the underworld. In some stories Apep waited for Ra in a mountain called Bakhu, where the sun set. The wide range of Apeps possible location gained him the title World Encircler and it was thought that his terrifying roar would cause the underworld to rumble. Myths sometimes say that Apep was trapped there, because he had been the chief god overthrown by Ra. The Coffin Texts imply that Apep used a magical gaze to overwhelm Ra, Ra was assisted by a number of defenders who travelled with him, including Set and possibly the Eye of Ra. Apeps movements were thought to cause earthquakes, and his battles with Set may have meant to explain the origin of thunderstorms. In some accounts, Ra himself defeats Apep in the form of a cat, Ra was worshipped, and Apep worshipped against. Ras victory each night was thought to be ensured by the prayers of the Egyptian priests, the Egyptians practiced a number of rituals and superstitions that were thought to ward off Apep, and aid Ra to continue his journey across the sky. The Egyptian priests had a guide to fighting Apep, referred to as The Books of Overthrowing Apep
36.
Apis (deity)
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In Egyptian mythology, Apis or Hapis is a sacred bull worshipped in the Memphis region. Identified as the son of Hathor, a deity in the pantheon of Ancient Egypt. Initially, he was assigned a significant role in her worship, being sacrificed, later, Apis also served as an intermediary between humans and other powerful deities. Apis was very important among all of the animals in Egypt, and, as with the others. Auguste Mariettes excavation of the Serapeum of Saqqara revealed the tombs of more than sixty animals, at first, each animal was buried in a separate tomb with a chapel built above it. The current available historical documentary and archaeological evidence suggests the Apis was the first god of Egypt, worship of an Apis bull began during the First Dynasty, which is after the year 2686 BCE. The Apis as a bull experienced by ancient Egyptians as holy, was worshipped at Memphis, worship of the Apis as a god seems to belong to ancient culture of Egypt during the Second Dynasty. According to Manetho, worship of the Apis was instituted by Kaiechos of the Second Dynasty, Apis is named on very early monuments, but little is known of the divine animal before the New Kingdom. This Osorapis was identified with Serapis of the late Hellenistic period, creating parallels to their own religious beliefs, ancient Greek writers identified Apis as an incarnation of Osiris, ignoring the connection with Ptah. During the start of the Hellenistic period, Ptolemy Soter, who ruled for the period 323-283 BCE, Apis was the most popular of three great bull cults of ancient Egypt, the others being the cults of Mnevis and Buchis. All are related to the worship of Hathor or Bat, similar primary goddesses separated by region until unification that eventually merged as Hathor, the worship of Apis was continued by the Greeks and after them by the Romans, and lasted until almost 400 CE. This animal was chosen because it symbolized the heart, great strength. Apis came to being considered a manifestation of the king, as bulls were symbols of strength and fertility, strong bull of his mother Hathor was a common title for Egyptian gods and male kings, being unused for women serving as king, such as Hatshepsut. As early as the time of the Narmer Palette, the king is depicted with a tail on one side. Occasionally, Apis was pictured with the symbol of his mother, Hathor. When the disk was depicted on his head with his horns below and the marking on his forehead. That symbol always was associated with Hathor. Early on, Apis was the herald of Ptah, the deity in the area around Memphis
37.
Apt (Egyptian)
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Apt, in Egyptian, may refer to, Aput, Åp-t, or Åpu-t, the Messenger god in Egyptian mythology. Åpit, Apt, Apet, Aptu, Epet, Opet, or Åpåpit, as a pregnant water-cow or hippopotamus, Apt, Egypt, an ancient city referred to by Gerald Massey as identified with Thebes. Hathor, the aspect of Apt Taweret, or Ta-urt, Hippopotamus goddess of vengeance from the Underworld Compare with Apu. An Egyptian Hieroglyphic Dictionary, With an Index of English Words, King List and Geographical List with Indexes, List of Hieroglyphic Characters, Coptic and Semitic Alphabets, coulter & Turner, C. R. Encyclopedia of Ancient Deities. Ancient Egypt, the Light of the World, A Work of Reclamation and Restitution in Twelve Books, see also, Liber 777, revised 2003, p.7
38.
Arensnuphis
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Arensnuphis is a deity from the Kingdom of Kush in ancient Nubia, first attested at Musawwarat el-Sufra in the 3rd century BC. His worship spread to the Egyptian-controlled portion of Nubia in the Ptolemaic Period and his mythological role is unknown, he was depicted as a lion and as a human with a crown of feathers and sometimes a spear. Arensnuphis was worshipped at Philae, where he was called the companion of the Egyptian goddess Isis, in the ancient Egyptian religion, the Egyptians syncretized him with their gods Anhur and Shu
39.
Ash (deity)
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Ash was the ancient Egyptian god of oases, as well as the vineyards of the western Nile Delta and thus was viewed as a benign deity. Flinders Petrie in his 1923 expedition to the Saqqara found several references to Ash in Old Kingdom wine jar seals, in particular, he was identified by the Ancient Egyptians as the god of the Libu and Tinhu tribes, known as the people of the oasis. Consequently Ash was known as the lord of Libya, the border areas occupied by the Libu and Tinhu tribes. It is also possible that he was worshiped in Ombos, as their chief deity. In Egyptian mythology, as god of the oases, Ash was associated with Set, who was god of the desert. Ashs importance was such that he was mentioned even until the 26th Dynasty, Ash was usually depicted as a human, whose head was one of the desert creatures, variously being shown as a lion, vulture, hawk, snake, or the unidentified Set-animal. Indeed, depictions of Ash are the earliest known depictions, in ancient Egyptian art, some depictions of Ash show him as having multiple heads, unlike other Egyptian deities, although some compound depictions were occasionally shown connecting gods to Min. The idea of Ash as a god is contested, as he was the god of Ombos long before Sets introduction sometime in the 2nd Dynasty. One of his titles is Nebuty or He of Nebut indicating this position, Ash is sometimes seen as another name for Set—similarly as one might give the name Ta-Bitjet for Serket, Dunanwy for Anti, or Sefkhet-Abwy for Sheshat
