Ancient Egypt Exam 1

Archaeology

the scientific study of the human past through durable, material remains. After the work of Petrie and Reisner, there is a major shift where archaeology becomes the pursuit of knowledge, not things.

Kha-em-waset

ca. 1281-1225 BC (Dynasty 19), documented, studied, and restored monuments from dynasties 3,4,5. Regarded as the first archaeologist.

Herodotus of Halicarnassus

5th century BC. The father of history. Used his travels to learn about Egypt. Recorded stories he was told that were largely entirely baseless.

Manetho

3rd c. BC. Priest in Egypt that was commissioned by the king to write a history of Egypt in order to connect the Ptolemies (Greeks) to Egypt's ancient history. Used ancient kings lists and organized history into dynasties, mostly made up of ruling family lines.

AD 391

Roman Emperor Theodosius orders closure of all pagan temples. Many are purposely damaged, destroyed.

AD 394

Graffito of Esmet-Akhom ⎼ last known hieroglyphic inscription. Script and language are lost.

John Greaves

oxford trained astronomer that studied and correctly identified builders of 3 main pyramids at Giza. Built on Arabic sources and knowledge and marks the start of serious study of the pyramids.

George Sandys

English traveler, published account in 1610, is first modern travelogue to reach England, Europe

Mumia

type of bitumen used in ancient Greek/Islamic medicine. Confused with the word "mummy", which were often also covered in resin, like bitumen. Mummies were ground up for sale as medicine, used through the 19th century.

Napoleon Bonaparte

French general who entered Egypt in hopes to increase France's trade connections and cut off British from India. Brought a team of 200 scientists to seize and intellectually study Egypt from all angles. Work of these scholars is the beginning of the scientific study of ancient Egypt.

Description de l'Egypte

publication from 1809-1822. Included the work of 2,000 artists. Produced a series of elephant folios that bankrupted the French treasury.

1799

Discovery of the Rosetta Stone. 2nd c. BC decree, used as building material. Inscription in two languages using three alphabets.

Cartouche

Symbol protecting a royal name. Looks like a circle around a hieroglyph.

Jean Francois Champollion

recognized name Kleopatra, cracked the language, full system explained by 1822. Ancient texts could now be read and marks the beginning of modern Egyptology.

Giovanni Battista Belzoni

Italian strongman, later explorer. On behalf of British, acquired antiquities throughout Egypt like the colossal statue of Ramses II. First to enter the pyramid of Khafre at Giza.

Egyptian Antiquities Service & Musuems

Established in 1858, run by the French. All directors French until 1952. Egyptian Museum (successor to Bulaq) run by foreigners until 1920s.

Auguste Marriette

first director of EASM (1821-1881). Also founded the first antiquities museum open to the public (Bulaq: 1863).

Ahmed Kamal

first Egyptian Egyptologist to run the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie

1853-1942. British Egyptologist who was the pioneer of systematic methodology, sometimes known as Father of Scientific Archaeology. Used relative chronology based on his work with wavy handled pottery. Excavated stratigraphically by layers and used this for dating.

George Reisner

1867-1942. American Egyptologist (Harvard) who was the pioneer of scientific principles in archaeology, primarily in excavation techniques and the use of photography. Excavated at Giza, but also in Near East and Nubia - Pioneer of Nubian Archaeology.

Predynastic Period

scatted villages in north, south. No unification. Predynastic cultures named for location they were first identified.

Nile River

flows south to north. Centerpiece of the Nile River Valley. The sun rises in the east, and sets in the west, which is fundamental for Egyptian spirituality and archaeology. Earliest evidence of habitation around the year 700,000.

Lower Egypt

Nile delta and far northern region.

Upper Egypt

southern region before cataract.

Cataract

rock bands intersecting the river, creating rapids. 6 total, in Nubia, otherwise Nile is smooth and easily sailed.

Seasonal floods

regular, made land ca. 15 across arable and habitable.

Deshret

"The Red Land", ancient Egyptian word for the inhospitable desert.

Kemet

"The Black Land", ancient Egyptian word for the rich, dark silt that was left behind from the floods. This was the area where the inhabitants lived and farmed.

Oasis

an area of isolated vegetation in a desert.

Buto-Ma'adi

northern (lower) Egypt, excavations by Italians, Egyptians in 20th c. Settlements and cemetaries known, few burials, small communities (Buto and Maadi), semi-subterranean houses with post-holes for wooden support, evidence of foreign trade with Palestine, agriculture with cereals and animal raising (sheep, goat, pig, cattle).

Naqada Culture

southern (upper) Egypt, sites include Naqada, Abydos, and Hierakonpolis. Petrie excavated ca. 2,200 burials. Villages of wood huts, cereals and animal raising, materials different from Buto-Maadi, later burials facing west (opposite of Buto-Maadi) indicating different beliefs about death/afterlife. Burials have body in flexed position, placed on reed mats, facing west, and have grave goods. Pottery features black-topped red ware, white-crossed line ware, and red-on-buff ware. During Naqada II, materials from south found in north indicating interactions. Boats, petroglyphs, tomb decorations, ceramics appear. Naqada and Hierakonpolis increase in size.

Wadi Hammamat

major trade route between Egypt and the outside world. A wadi is a valley cut through high desert stone. Valley running from Kenna bend of Nile to Red Sea.

Hierakonpolis (Nekhen)

large Naqada-culture settlement with administrative (?) buildings, workshops, breweries, bakeries, all which indicate large population, complex society.

Tomb 100

large elite cemetery with plastered walls and paintings - earliest known painted tomb in Egypt. Images of boats, smiting scene, humans fighting animals, and 'Master of Animals' motif. Tomb of a ruler/king? Many images later are part of canon of Pharaonic art.

Gebel el-Arak knife

ca. 3300-3200 BC, carved ivory handle from Upper Egypt Abydos. Archaeological context lost since purchased from antiquities dealer in 1914. Mesopotamian style 'Master of Beasts' motif.

Slate Palettes

used to mix pigments, cosmetics like kohl, etc. Naqada I had simple forms, often animals. Naqada II had geometric shapes, but elaborate reliefs appear.

Two-Dog Palette

found in Hierakonpolis, ca. 3150 BC. Palette artistry became very sophisticated. Low relief, functionality deemphasized, symbolic artistry. Has mythical creatures and real. Chaos of nature and the supernatural.

Dynasty 0

time between the end of Naqada III and full unification. a modern construct for the transitional period between predynastic Egypt and Dynasty 1. State formation happening in D. 0. Naqada III had material culture found throughout Egypt, shared ideas about life, death, and afterlife, and cultural unification.

Battlefield Palette

ceremonial/cosmetic plate. Naqada III (3100 BC). Central image: lion killing an enemy (lion symbolic of ruler or king). Upper fragment: bound captives.

Cities Palette

Naqada III, Abydos. Elaborate images, crenulated walls surrounding names of locations. Horus falcon attacking.

serekh

Horus falcon perching on top of a symbol of crenulated walls, containing the king's name. Symbol of protection. Early form of cartouche.

Umm el Qa'ab

Arabic for "mother of pots". Site at Abydos, hundreds of thousands of ceramics. Offerings to a god (Khenti-Amentiu/eventually Osiris) over millennia. 2 cemetaries: U & B.

Tomb U-j (Abydos)

ca. 3200-3150 BC. Subterranean structure of mudbrick, 12 rooms, one for shrine with ivory scepter, one for burial. Around 2,000 ceramic jars (wine, oil), Palestinian important ceramics? 160 ivory tags, originally attached to goods. Earliest known Egyptian writing to date. Phonetic signs, seems to be names of locations, and numbers. Signs of advanced bureaucracy, economy, centralized authority. On ceramics throughout, there are images of a scorpion, including a serekh of King Scorpion.

Scorpion Macehead

at Hierakonpolis. Shows a king with a Scorpion glyph in front. King Scorpion much larger than other people to indicate importance. Top register: nomes (states/regions) as vanquished enemies.

Mortuary Cult

from D. 0, remarkable stability seen throughout Egypt. Evidence of: (possibly?) single rules, foreign trade, large building projects indicating conscripted (not enslaved) labor, organization. Focus on tombs indicates centralization of politics and religion. Focus on dead king as cult symbol.

Palermo Stone

potentially the earliest king list surviving. 5th Dynasty, purchased by a Sicilian lawyer in 1859. Includes a complete list of kings from Dynasty 1-5, with significant events of each reign.

Narmer Palette

Hierakonpolis, possibly represents a real event. Depicts a king labeled Nar-Mer, same name as first king on Palermo Stone & in Manetho.

Elephantine (south)

major cult center with an unknown god alongside Coptos (god Min) and Hierakonpolis (Khenti-amentiu/Osiris).

Coptos

the cult of Min. Min is the fertility god, shown as ithyphallic in the later periods. 3 colossal statues found at Coptos by Petrie. Names carved on sides, possible early king list.

Memphis/Ineb-hedj

"White Walls", royal palace, royal court here. Capital city from early dynastic period, certainly from Dyn. 3.

Early Dynastic Life

towns, farms in Egypt. Food staples: bread, onions, leeks, beans, lentils, figs, dates, grapes, fish?, wealth had beef, mutton, birds. Beer is most common drink, wine for wealthy. Land ownership via state, religious cults, or privately held, which was taxed by the state (taxes in goods, labor, based on number of cattle, cattle counts done every 2 years).

Tomb of Aha

3 rectangular subterranean structures, mudbrick walls and flat roof. Subsidiary burials - members of royal household buried simultaneously with king. Aha had 33 young males, people with dwarfism, dogs, and 7 lions.

Ushebtis/Shawabtis

miniature statues of servants for afterlife that took the place of subsidiary burials in Dynasty 2.

Horus

a god/king of Egypt and/or primeval deity. Mythology: Wars with Seth "The Two Lords", some wonder if isn't echo of historical conflict. Horus falcon on nearly all serekhs from D. 0 onward. Kings took Horus name when throned.

Neith

creator goddess, important to early dynastic period.

Neith-hotep

'the goddess Neith is satisfied', wife of Narmer, mother of Aha. Massive tomb at Naqada with her own serekh. Queen or Pharaoh? Not listed on kings lists, but neither are later women that we know ruled alone.

Merneith

'beloved by Neith', wife of King Djet, mother of King Den. Queen regent, possibly also sole ruler? and first or second? female ruler of Egypt. Listed in King's list in Den's tomb and shown in Abydos and Saqqara tombs.

Nemes headdress

symbol of kingship alongside crook & flail (held in hands on sarcophagus), uraeus (cobra on forehead), and was scepter.

Djoser

'holy, sacred'. At least 19-year reign. Vizier: Imhotep.

Imhotep

Vizier to Djoser, high priest of Ra, later worshipped as a god.

Step Pyramid & Complex

burial monument of Djoser. Architect: Imhotep. Made of tura limestone instead of mudbrick. Central bureaucracy facilitated this rapid development in architecture. Stacked mastabas, 11 subteranean tunnels and galleries, and the pyramid was part of a large, enclosed complex for ritual activities. Arranged on N-S axis.

serdab

offering chamber with image of the king.

heb-seb courtyard

30 year 'jubilee', reaffirmation of fitness to rule.

Sneferu

'he has perfected me'. 1st pharaoh of D. 4. 20-40 year reign, raids in Libya, Nubia, Lebanon. Three pyramids: two attempts, one 'true' pyramid.

The Meidum Pyramid

begun as stepped pyramid, expanded twice, then encased. Upon completion, the first 'true' pyramid. Abandoned, no decoration or sarcophagus inside.

The Bent Pyramid

Sneferu's 2nd pyramid. Built as a true pyramid from the start, has the most intact limestone casing left. If completed, taller than great pyramid, but angle was too steep on weak shale bedding. Finished at different angle (55->43). Burial chamber inside but empty. Pyramid temple on E side.

The Red Pyramid/North Pyramid

Sneferu's 3rd pyramid and likely burial location. More conservative structure, most of complex now gone. Temple to the East, unfinished?, first successful 'true' pyramid, tallest structure in the world at the time.

Khufu

'The god Khnum protects him'. 4th son of Sneferu, mother: Hetepheres I. At least two wives, Merities and Henutsen. Ascended to the throne ca. 2600 BC. Only one image known.

Giza

between Memphis and Heliopolis. Evidence of cemeteries, settlements from Dynasties 1-3. Limestone bedrock helps with efficient movement of building materials from waterways.

Wadi al Jarf

port on Red Sea. 2013: discovery of earliest papyri every found, diary of inspector, Merer, who oversaw crews transporting building materials to Khufu's building site.

Hemiunu

likely son of Nefer-maat (Sneferu's son). Khufu's nephew, Vizier, and "Overseer of All the Kings Works".

Ankh-kaf

son of Sneferu and unknown wife. Also, Vizier and Overseer of Kings Works. Mentioned in Merer's log.

Akhet-Khufu

'the horizon of Khufu'. Built on limestone bedrock. Originally cased in white tura limestone. 480 feet tall, currently 451. Multiple ramp theories like straight, spiral, or levers.

Boat burials

1954: discovered by Egyptian archaeologist Kamal el Mallakh. Reassembled, the boats are ca. 140 ft long. Used in funeral procession.

Peter Der Manuelian

Giza Archives Project, publication of Reisner's work, updating.

Pyramid towns

3 known towns on Giza plateau. Workers & Administrators for construction. Priests & administration for mortuary cult of deceased kings. Khentkawes Town, Menkaure Valley Temple, and Heit-el-Ghurab/Workers City.

East Field Cemetery

East of Khufu's pyramid. Burial ground for his immediate family including wives, sons, and daughters.

Western Field Cemetery

West of Khufu's pyramid. Divided into smaller zones where lesser royals, high officials, and important state figures were buried.

Heit-el-Ghurab/Worker's City

Ancient Egypt Research Associates excavations under Dr. Mark Lehner (1988-Present). Likely begun for Khufu's pyramid, inhabited through construction of third pyramid then dismantled and abandoned. Ancient name possibly tjeniu of Khafre. Major locations include the Royal administrative building, The Manor (overseer's residence?), galleries/barracks, and Hypostyle Hall (dining hall?), bakeries, breweries, enclosure walls.

Za/phyle

a unit of labor/work gang. Groups rotated in/out of work year round. Each had a name like the drunkards of Khufu, etc. Registration happened in a home village, then one traveled to Giza for a term of work.

per shena

administration that distributed food at the Worker's town. Bread, beer, meat, vegetables.

bedja

bell shaped bread old. Common bread of the old kingdom. Emmer and barley flour, wild yeasts, a form of sourdough.

Slab stelae

image of the deceased. List of offerings made for use in the afterlife. Shifted to false doors in Khufu's reign.

Ni-ankh-Ptah

chapel of tomb had false door, offering basin, and beer jars (last offering).

Intu-Shedy

had four statues of himself in different sizes.

Djedefre

3rd Pharaoh of Dynasty 4. Son of Khufu, ca. 8 year reign. Pyramid at Abu Roash: Problem with succession, or ascendence to sun cult.

Heliopolis

cult center for sun god.

Khafre

4th King of Dynasty 4. Son of Khufu, brother of Djedefre. Little known of his reign. Builds second pyramid at Giza. Sphinx though to be of him, earlier form possible though unclear.

Khafre Enthroned

At the Cairo Musuem, gneiss statue from southern Egypt (Khafre's Valley Temple. Seated statue, one of the three standard old kingdom poses. Carved in the round, Horus behind his head for protection.

The Great Sphinx

carved from Bedrock, debate over identity (Khafre vs Djedefre), lion: solar worship, royalty symbol. A focus of cult worship throughout dynastic history.

Hetepheres I

daughter of Huni (king of D.3), wife of Sneferu (1st king of D.4), mother of Khufu (King of D.4). Titles: King's Mother, Mother of the King of the Two Lands, Attendant of Horus, God's Daughter of his body. Tomb is a 90 ft shaft grave with no superstructure found by George Reisner.

Menkaure

son of Khafre & Khamerernebty I. Queen: Khamerernebty II (and Rakhetre?) At least 26 years of rule. Builds the third pyramid at Giza.

Khentkawes

relationship unclear, daughter of Menkaure? Married to Shepseskaf? Her titles on the monument: Mother of Two Kings? King in her own right?

Userkaf

pharaoh buried at Abusir in Mortuary complex and sun temple. All Dynasty 5 successors build sun temple complex.

Benben stone

symbolized the primordial mound that began creation. Mimics the design of the temple at Heliopolis. Altar placed in the open, exposed to the sun. Ra/Re now essentially the main state god.

Pyramid of Unas

At Saqqara. Pyramid construction of the time hasty, less investment in the monument - focus on decorations, texts.

Pyramid Text of Unas

burial chamber covered in religious texts, explains the journey of the kings soul after death. Living king is Re, Deceased King is Osiris. Earliest longform religious composition known. Similar Texts in Unas' queens burials.