As you delve into the fascinating and intricate world of Ancient Egypt, familiarizing yourself with frequently used terms is essential. These terms, describing the religion, history, and artifacts of Ancient Egypt, are a unique blend of words with French, Greek, English, Arabic, and sometimes even Egyptian origins.
To aid your exploration, this page can serve as a handy reference, especially if you plan to visit Egypt or study its rich history.
The Sound of the Ancient Egyptian language (Numbers, Words & Sample Text)
Key Terms and Definitions
Do you know your ba from your ka? What’s a vizier? How about a cartouche?
Here's a detailed list of essential terms:
- Ankh: The hieroglyphic symbol for life, similar to a cross but with a loop in place of the upper arm.
- Atef: The atef crown was made up of the White Crown of Upper Egypt with red ostrich feathers on either side.
- Ba: The ba is, essentially, the concept of the soul.
- Barque: These thin boats that curve up at either end were the transports of the gods, especially during festival processions. In temple sanctuaries, models of barques held statues of a deity.
- Book of the Dead: This is the modern name ascribed to a collection of 200 hymns, rituals and spells that allowed the deceased to travel safely through the underworld and enter the afterlife.
- Canopic jars: Four containers used to store the preserved internal organs of the deceased (the lungs, stomach, liver and intestines) extracted during the mummification process.
- Cedar: A tree from the land of Lebanon that produced wood that was good for building.
- Djed: A representation of the spine, it symbolized stability. A djed amulet was often placed in coffins, where the backbone of the deceased would lay, to ensure eternal life.
- Duat: The underworld, home of the gods Osiris, Anubis and Ma'at, as well as many grotesque monsters. The sun deity Ra travels through the Duat every night, where he battles the serpent Apep, or Apophis.
- Eye of Horus (aka udjat eye or wedjat eye): A falcon’s eye that acts as a protective talisman and symbolizes rebirth after death.
- Faience: A powdered quartz paste that ranges in color from turquoise to teal.
- Hieroglyphs: Think of them as the emojis of their day. Often mistakenly called hieroglyphics, they make up the system of pictorial writing used in Ancient Egypt.
- Horus name: Beginning in the Predynastic Period, pharaohs would take on an additional name, cementing their relationship with the falcon-headed god Horus.
- Hyksos: A people that conquered Lower Egypt for a time.
- Hypostyle hall: The reception area of a temple.
- Imhotep: The architect of the first Egyptian pyramid.
- Ka: The best way to describe this is as a soul - it’s someone’s other self, what makes them unique. It’s with a person throughout their life, but upon death the ka and the body become separate. The body has to be preserved, and the ka nourished, or it will starve and cease to exist.
- Lower Egypt: The northern half of Ancient Egypt. Lower Egypt was the northern half of Egypt, so called because the Nile flows north before entering the Mediterranean Sea.
- Ma'at (aka maat): The principle of balance and cosmic order, personified by a goddess of the same name.
- Mammisi: A birth house, where a woman would go to deliver a child and recover for two weeks or so.
- Mastaba: A type of tomb first created in the Old Kingdom. From the Arabic word for “bench,” they were rectangular and flat-roofed, with a substructure belowground.
- Memphis: The capital city of the Old Kingdom of Egypt.
- Nemes: A striped head covering worn by pharoahs. It covered the brow and skull, hung down on the side to rest on the shoulders, and was drawn together in the back in a sort of ponytail.
- Opet: A festival held during the inundation, or flooding of the Nile.
- Papyrus: A plant that grew on the banks of the Nile. The writing surface used by Egyptian scribes.
- Pharaoh: The supreme ruler of all of Ancient Egypt. The supreme ruler of Ancient Egypt.
- Pylon: A massive gateway leading into a temple.
- Pyramid: A giant tomb built for the pharaohs of Egypt.
- Pyramid Texts: The earliest religious texts of Ancient Egypt. These spells, religious beliefs and myths were inscribed on the walls of Fifth and Sixth Dynasty pyramids (2465-2150 BCE). They were used to magically transform the deceased into the god of the afterlife, Osiris.
- Rekhyt: A stylized lapwing bird with wings spread and human arms raised in adoration, representing the general populace or the pharaoh's subjects.
- Rosetta stone: A special stone that had the same inscription written both in Greek and in Egyptian hieroglyphics.
- Sarcophagus: A large stone container that held a mummy's coffin.
- Senet: A game played in Ancient Egypt. No one knows the rules, but they think it was a bit like chess.
- Sistrum: A sacred rattle made of a wood, metal or clay frame set loosely with crossbars strung with small metal discs.
- Sphinx: A mythological beast with the body of a lion and the head of a pharaoh or god. A mythological beast with the body of a lion that usually had the head of a pharaoh or god.
- Tutankhamun: A pharaoh of Egypt that is famous for his tomb that was discovered.
- Upper Egypt: The southern half of the kingdom of Egypt. The southern half of the kingdom of Ancient Egypt. It’s called Upper Egypt because the Nile River flows northward, from Upper to Lower Egypt.
- Uraeus: A rearing cobra in a threatening pose that represented divine authority, worn as a crown or head ornament by Ancient Egyptian divinities and rulers.
- Vizier: The second in command after the pharaoh.
- Was scepter: A staff that’s often forked at the bottom and topped with the head of a creature, possibly the Bennu bird, a mythological heron who wears the atef crown. Carried by gods and pharaohs, the was scepter stood for power and dominion.
This vocabulary provides a solid foundation for anyone interested in exploring the wonders of Ancient Egypt.
Read also: The Language of the Pharaohs
The Mummification Process in Ancient Egypt
Read also: Pharaohs: A detailed look
Read also: The Art of Ancient Egypt
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