Amun. Originally a Theban god who rose to prominence throughout Egypt. His name probably means ‘the hidden one’.
Anthropoid coffin. Coffin in the shape of a person.
Apotropaic wand. A ritual implement, usually made from hippopotamus tusk with images of various protective deities inscribed thereon. Such implements are associated with childbirth.
Atef crown. An elaborate headdress commonly associated with Osiris.
Ba. A part of the soul which became manifest after the person died. The ba could eat, drink, speak and move.
Bat. A nome deity represented by a cow’s head with curling horns.
Beautiful Festival (Feast) of the Valley. An annual festival involving a procession from Karnak to the temples on the west bank at Thebes.
Bes. The name given to a type of deity usually taking the form of a bandy-legged dwarf with a leonine head.
Canopic jar. Jars used for containing the internal organs removed during mummification.
Cartouche. Name of a king written in an oval symbolizing eternity.
Chantress. Title given to a singer or chanter who worked in a temple on a part-time basis.
Coffin Texts. These are later versions of the Pyramid Texts which date from the First Intermediate Period. Some were written on coffins and others on papyri or tomb walls.
Deben. A weight of copper referring to a monetary value.
Determinative. A hieroglyphic symbol placed after another hieroglyphic symbol or group of symbols denoting a word in order to clarify the meaning of the previous word.
Emmer. A hulled wheat eaten in Pharaonic Egypt.
Eye of Re. The creative element of Re, personified as his daughters. These could include female deities such as Isis and Hathor.
Faience. A ceramic usually glazed blue or green.
Fish-tailed knife. A flint knife in the shape of a fish tail.
Hathor. A goddess who was regarded as the divine mother of each reigning king. She was often shown in the form of a cow.
Herodotus. A Greek historian who travelled in Egypt around 450 BC and wrote an account of Egyptian life and history.
Horus. A falcon god who embodied divine kingship.
Isis. The goddess who was sister and wife to Osiris and mother of Horus.
Ka. This can be roughly translated as part of the soul equivalent to the life-force of the individual.
Khener. A musical troupe.
Lit-clos. A brick, elevated structure – often with enclosed sides – found in some houses.
Lotus. A water lily which symbolized Upper Egypt.
Maat. Goddess of truth, justice and cosmic order.
Menit-necklace. A heavy necklace consisting of strings of small beads and with a counterpoise attached to the rear. The item could be used as a musical instrument, in the form of a rattle. It was closely associated with Hathor.
Meretseger. Theban cobra goddess whose name means ‘she who loves silence’. She was associated with the mountain area overlooking the Valley of the Kings.
Min. Ithyphallic god who symbolized male power and was associated with mining and the Eastern Desert.
Modius. A cylindrical headdress worn by deities and queens.
Mut. A vulture goddess whose name means ‘mother’.
Natron. Naturally occurring mix of sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate. This was used in mummification, in cleaning and in the manufacture of faience.
Neith. A creator goddess whose cult centre was in Saïs.
Nemes-headdress. A head-cloth worn by kings which consisted of a piece of striped cloth.
Nome. A province of Egypt. For most of the Dynastic period, there were twenty-two Upper Egyptian nomes and twenty Lower Egyptian nomes.
Opet festival. An annual festival in which gods in statue form were carried from Karnak to Luxor. The purpose of the festival was to celebrate the sexual intercourse between Amun and the mother of the king so that she could give birth to the eternal royal ka. The physical form of the king could then combine with the royal and divine ka, making the king also divine.
Osiris. The primary Egyptian god of death and resurrection.
Ostracon (plural ostraca). Sherd of pottery or flake of stone with text or drawing thereon.
Palette. A flat piece of stone, sometimes decorated, which was used to grind pigments. In the Predynastic and Early Dynastic Periods, oversize ceremonial palettes were also made.
Phyle. A workgang. Priests were organized into phyles, or groups, and each group worked one month in turn.
Pylon. A ceremonial gateway consisting of two towers linked by a bridge.
Pyramid Texts. A corpus of funerary texts found in Old Kingdom and First Intermediate Period pyramids. These consist of around 800 spells designed to ensure a successful afterlife. The earliest extant examples date from the Fifth Dynasty pyramid of Unas (2375–2345 BC), though these may be based on an earlier tradition.
Re. A sun god often shown as a hawk-headed deity.
Sed-festival. A festival of royal renewal. Ideally, this would be celebrated after a king had ruled for thirty years.
Sekhmet. An aggressive female god often shown in lioness form.
Seth. A god of chaos and confusion.
Sistrum (plural sistra). A type of rattle usually played by women, or by the king. It is an instrument associated with Hathor and seems to have a reviving and apotropaic role.
Sphinx. A mythical beast with the body of a lion and the head of a human.
Stela (plural stelae). A slab of stone or wood with inscriptions of a religious nature.
Taweret. A goddess taking the form of a hippopotamus, often with the back and tail of a crocodile. She is associated with the protection of women in childbirth.
Titulary. The five names and titles given to the king.
Uraeus. A rearing cobra often shown as a head ornament. The uraeus functioned to protect the wearer and is shown as if it were about to strike. Various deities take the form of the uraeus, particularly those who represent the Eye of Re. The uraeus is also used as a symbol of queenship.
Vizier. The chief minister in Egyptian administration.
Votive. A gift to a deity given in the hope of gain, or as a gift in thanks for a gain.
Wochenlaube. A birth or post-birth arbour. Representations of these show mothers with a young baby, often on a bed with convolvulus.