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| A pharaoh, or king of Egypt, who lived about 1400 b.c. His reign was relatively unimportant, but the discovery of his unplundered tomb in the 1920s is numbered among the great archaeological discoveries of all time. |
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| An ancient Greek historian, often called the father of history. His history of the invasion of Greece by the Persian Empire was the first attempt at narrative history and the beginning of all Western historical writing. |
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| A sequence of rulers from the same family, stock, or group |
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| The stripped headcloth worn by pharaohs in ancient Egypt; it covered the whole crown and back of the ehad and nape of the neck (sometimes also extending a little way down the back) and had two large flaps which hung down behind the ears and in front of both shoulders. |
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| A tau cross with a loop on the top, symbolizing eternal life: often appearing in Egyptian personal names, such as Tutankhamen |
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| A species of dung beetle, found in coastal dunes and marshes around the Mediterranean Basin. It collects balls of dung which it rolls to an underground chamber to feed its offspring. This behaviour inspired the Ancient Egyptians to compare it to the sun god Khepri, and they considered S. sacer to be sacred. |
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| A form of writing, esp as used in ancient Egypt, in which pictures or symbols are used to represent objects, concepts, or sounds |
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| The variety of techniques or range of any art |
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| A mental image of something previously experienced |
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| A system of registers which served as the border for the figures within the register |
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| Describes the Vitruvius Man, which depicts a male figure in two superimposed positions with his arms and legs apart and simultaneously inscribed in a circle and square; the drawing is based on the correlations of ideal human proportions with geometry described by the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius, who described the human figure as being the principal source of proportion among the Classical orders of architecture. |
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| In ancient Egyptian religion, with the ba and the akh, a principal aspect of the soul of a human being or of a god. The exact significance of the ka remains a matter of controversy, chiefly for lack of an Egyptian definition; the usual translation, "double," is incorrect. Written by a hieroglyph of uplifted arms, it seemed originally to have designated the protecting divine spirit of a person. The ka survived the death of the body and could reside in a picture or statue of a person |
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| A jar used in ancient Egypt to contain the entrails of an embalmed body. |
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| A mudbrick superstructure above tombs in ancient Egypt from which the pyramid developed |
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| A stone coffin, especially one bearing sculpture, inscriptions, etc., often displayed as a monument. |
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| A cemetery, especially one of large size and usually of an ancient city. |
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| The best-known pharaoh of the Third dynasty of Egypt. He commissioned his official, Imhotep, to build the first of the pyramids, a step pyramid for him at Saqqara. |
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| A vast, ancient burial ground in Egypt, serving as the necropolis for the Ancient Egyptian capital, Memphis. Saqqara features numerous pyramids, including the world famous Step pyramid of Djoser, sometimes referred to as the Step Tomb due to its rectangular base, as well as a number of mastabas. Located some 30 km (19 mi) south of modern-day Cairo, Saqqara covers an area of around 7 by 1.5 km (4.3 by 0.93 mi). |
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| The earliest Egyptian pyramids were step pyramids. During the Third dynasty of Egypt, the architect Imhotep built Egypt's first step pyramid, the Pyramid of Djoser, by building a series of six successively smaller mastabas (an earlier form of tomb structure), one a top of another. |
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| A huge masonry construction that has a square base and, as in the case of the ancient Egyptian royal tombs, four sloping triangular sides |
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| A city in NE Egypt, on the W bank of the Nile opposite Cairo: nearby are the Great Pyramid of Cheops (Khufu) and the Sphinx. |
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| Fourth king of the 4th dynasty (c. 2575-c. 2465 BC) of Egypt and builder of the second of the three Pyramids of Giza. |
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| A sun god of Heliopolis, a universal creator worshiped throughout Egypt (typically represented as a hawk-headed man bearing on his head the solar disk and the uraeus). |
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| Fifth (according to some traditions, sixth) king of the 4th dynasty (c. 2575-c. 2465 BC) of Egypt; he built the third and smallest of the three Pyramids of Giza. |
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| The fourth pharaoh of the Twelfth Dynasty of Egypt. He ruled from 1897 BC to 1878 BC. His pyramid was constructed at El-Lahun. Senusret II took a great deal of interest in the Faiyum oasis region and began work on an extensive irrigation system from Bahr Yusuf through to Lake Moeris through the construction of a dike at El-Lahun and the addition of a network of drainage canals. The purpose of his project was to increase the amount of cultivable land in that area. The importance of this project is emphasized by Senusret II's decision to move the royal necropolis from Dahshur to El-Lahun where he built his pyramid. This location would remain the political capital for the 12th and 13th Dynasties of Egypt. The king also established the first known workers' quarter in the nearby town of Senusrethotep (Kahun). |
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| A ruined city in N Egypt, the ancient centre of Lower Egypt, on the Nile: administrative and artistic centre, sacred to the worship of Ptah |
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| An oval or oblong figure, as on ancient Egyptian monuments, enclosing characters that represent the name of a sovereign. |
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| Glazed earthenware or pottery, especially a fine variety with highly colored designs. |
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| A title of an ancient Egyptian king. |
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| A village in E Egypt, on the Nile: the northern part of the ruins of ancient Thebes. |
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| A monumental tower forming the entrance to an ancient Egyptian temple, consisting either of a pair of tall quadrilateral masonry masses with sloping sides and a doorway between them or of one such mass pierced with a doorway. |
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| An enclosed area surrounded by columns, central to a villa using a courtyard plan. Also refers to the row, or rows, of columns round a temple. |
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| Imposing interior space with a flat roof that rests on many rows of columns. The design allows for the construction of large spaces without arches. It was used extensively in ancient Egypt (e.g., Temple of Amon at Karnak) and Persia. The elaborately carved pillars consumed much of the floor space and therefore assumed great importance. Hypostyles are rarely seen in more recent architecture because of more effective means of roof support. |
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| A vessel that had its interior shaped by a core of mud |
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| A portion of an interior rising above adjacent rooftops and having windows admitting daylight to the interior. |
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| The goddess personifying law and righteousness. |
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| Early ruler of Egypt who rejected the old gods and replaced them with sun worship (died in 1358 BC); he moved his capital from Thebes to Tell El Amarna and introduced the cult of Aten. |
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| Early 14th century b.c., Egyptian queen: wife of Amenhotep IV |
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| The image is made by cutting the relief sculpture itself into a flat surface. In a simpler form the images are usually mostly linear in nature, like hieroglyphs, but in most cases the figure itself is in low relief, but set within a sunken area shaped round the image, so that the relief never rises beyond the original flat surface. In some cases the figures and other elements are in a very low relief that does not rise to the original surface, but others are modelled more fully, with some areas rising to the original surface. This method minimizes the work removing the background, while allowing normal relief modelling. The technique is most successful with strong sunlight to emphasise the outlines and forms by shadow, as no attempt was made to soften the edge of the sunk area, leaving a face at a right-angle to the surface all around it. |
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| One of the most illustrious queens of Egypt. |
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| King of ancient Egypt (?1292--?25). His reign was marked by war with the Hittites and the construction of many colossal monuments, esp the rock temple at Abu Simbel |
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| The modern name of an ancient Egyptian funerary text, used from the beginning of the New Kingdom (around 1550 BC) to around 50 BC. |
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| A kind of paper made from the stem pith of this plant, used by the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans |
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| Decorated by any process involving burning in colours, esp by inlaying coloured clays and baking or by fusing wax colours to the surface |
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