Glossary
The King of the Gods is represented as a human being (at times
ithyphallic), wearing a mortarboard crowned with two plumes or, at
times, with a ram's head, the animal dedicated to him. With the
goddess Mut and the god Khonsu, they formed the Theban Triad.
He was also identified with the god Re and venerated under the
name of Amon-Re. The cult's principal location was in Thebes.
Amon
A jackal-headed god who presided over mummification and
accompanied the dead to the hereafter.
Anubis
One of Osiris' characteristic hats, made up of a miter crowned with
a solar disk flanked by two ostrich plumes.
Atef
From the Egytian, meaning "City of Osiris". A city in Lower Egypt
where the worship of Osiris was born.
Bousiris
These four urns contained the liver, lungs, stomach and
intestines extracted from the body during mummification.
Canopic urns
A loop of cord with a knot at its base, in the side of which the Pharaoh's name
was written. The cartouche, the symbol of the Sun God's universal
power - and thus the Pharaoh's - was reserved for the Pharaoh's
nomen and pronomen.
Cartouche
On Thebes' west bank, the Pharaohs of the 18th, 19th and 20th
Dynasties had large religious monuments built, which were
improperly called "funerary temples". In reality, they used
them, during their liftime, to worship the deified pharaoh associated with Amon,
the main Theban deity.
Castles for millions of years
The ancient Egyptians rightly preferred the term "Castles for millions
of years".
The Land of the Setting Sun: this is the Kingdom of the Dead (the
souls of the dead go to the Land of the Setting Sun).
The dead (Occident)
Dendera was the capital of the sixth nome of Upper Egypt, and its
necropolis contains tombs dug betweenthe Predynastic period and the end
of the Old Kingdom. This site's renown is due to the famous Temple
of Hathor, which dates back to the Greco-Roman period. Dendera
was dedicated to Hathor, one of the oldest Egyptian deities,
represented as a cow or a woman with cow's ears.
Dendera
A pillar, symbol of stability and duration; it represents Osiris' spinal
column. It is also a protective amulet.
Djed
This cow-headed deity (sometimes depicted as a woman with cow's
ears) protected women and the dead, as she was likened to the
Goddess of the Kingdom of the Dea; she was also goddess of
music.
Hator
God of the sky and protector of the pharaoh who was likened to him, Horus
could either be depicted as a falcon-headed man. As the son of Osiris and
Isis, he was often represented as infant (Harpocrates) with a finger held to
his lips
Horus
Divine personification of the cosmic order, secondarily connected
to the concepts of truth and justice. She wears an ostrich plume on
her head, the transcription of her name.
Ma'at
The wife of Amon, she was venerated in Thebes. Originally
depicted as a vulture, she later took on a human form.
Mut
A small chapel of stone or wood inside the sanctuary, in which the
god's effigy was kept.
Naos
God or the Divine.
Neter
A word of Greek origin, designating administrative provinces
(depending on the period, there were between 38 and 42).
Nome
Isis' husband; after having been killed by his brother, Seth, he fathered a
son, Horus, who, grown to adulthood, avenged him. He is represented
with his crown, Atef, his scepter, bequa and his flail, nekhekh.
Osiris
The God of Memphis, where he was believed to have brought the
universe into being; the husband of the Lion Goddess, Sekhmet,
he was depicted wearing a mummy's shroud, holding in his hand the
scepter. He was later likened to another Memphis god of death,
Sokaris, and was worshipped in his syncretic form of
Ptah-Sokaris.
Ptah
A monumental temple entrance, consisting of a portal between two
enormous trapezoidal monoliths .
Pylon
Lion-headed goddess, sometimes crowned with the solar disk. She protected
the royal power; she can be likened to Hator, Bastet and Isis.
Sekhmet
During the 18th Dynasty (ca. 1550 - 1295 B.C.), the city of
Weset was founded by Amenhotep I; better known by its Greek name,
Thebes, it became the heart of the country. It was at this time
that the Great Temple of Amon in Karnak became the country's
most important religious center and the royal necropolises were
excavated in he Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens.
Thebes
In the beginning of what is known as the Predynastic period (3300 -
2920 B.C.), the population had gathered in two centers: one in the
North, in the Delta region and the other in the South, in
Hierakonopolis, where we know of sovereigns such as King Scorpion and
Narmer. The last King of the Predynastic period, he conquered Lower Egypt
and unified the country, no doubt after several wars. His successor,
Aha - who can probably be identified with the legendary Menes -
founded the 1st Dynasty (from the Greek: dynam(is) = power). The
two first Dynasties were called Thinite because, according to the
Greek historian, Manethon - to whom we owe a list of all thirty
lineages of the Egyptian sovereigns - the pharaohs of this period
came from the city of This, of which no trace was ever found, but
which must have been located in the Abydos area.
This
A scepter in the form of a papyrus stalk, it was characteristic
of female deities.
Wadj
A scepter characteristic of male deities.
Was