Today, ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics are amongst the world’s most recognizable images. Developed just before the dawn of Egypt’s Early Dynastic Period (c. 3150 -2613 BCE), these “sacred carvings” were initially thought by some archaeolinguistics to have originated in Mesopotamia and arrived via ancient trade routes in Egypt. However, despite the abundant flow of ideas and …
Ancient Egypt
Set inland 10 kilometres (six miles) from the Nile River in Upper Egypt, Abydos emerged as a centre of gravity in ancient Egypt’s rich religious life. Abydos became the burial site of choice for Egypt’s early First Dynasty (3000-2890 B.C.) kings. Their mortuary complexes and tombs may represent the first step in a religious evolution …
Cleopatra VII Philopator was the last Queen of Egypt and its last pharaoh. Her death in 30 BCE brought to an end over 3,000 years of an often glorious and creative Egyptian culture. Following Cleopatra VII’s suicide, the Ptolemaic dynasty that had ruled Egypt since 323BCE was extinguished, Egypt became a Roman province and Rome’s …
Horus is the ancient Egyptian god of the sky and war. In Egyptian lore, there are two divine beings sharing this name. Horus the Elder, also known as Horus the Great was the last of the first five original gods to be born, while Horus the Younger, was the son Isis and Osiris. The Horus …
Ma’at or Maat is a concept that symbolises the ancient Egyptian ideas about balance, harmony, morality, law, order, truth and justice. Ma’at also took the form of a goddess who personified these essential concepts. The goddess also governed the seasons and the stars. Ancient Egyptians also believed the goddess exerted an influence over those deities …
Osiris is one of the most powerful and important gods in the ancient Egyptian pantheon. Depictions of Osiris as a living god show him as a handsome man wearing royal robes, with the plumed headdress Atef crown of Upper Egypt and carrying the two symbols of kingship, the crook and flail. He is associated with …
Ihy is the ancient Egyptian god of childhood, music and joy. His name has been translated as meaning “sistrum player” or “calf.” He is closely associated with the music of the sacred sistrum, a musical rattle form of percussion instrument first used by the ancient Egyptians in their dances and religious observances. Alluded to only …
Egyptian art has woven its spell on audiences for thousands of years. Its anonymous artists influenced Greek and Roman artists, particularly in creating sculpture and friezes. However, at its core, Egyptian art is unapologetically functional, created for eminently practical purposes, rather than aesthetic indulgence. An Egyptian tomb painting depicted scenes from the departed’s life, on …
When we think of ancient Egyptians, the image that most readily pops into our minds is hordes of workers labouring to build a colossal pyramid, while whip-wielding overseers brutally urge them onwards. Alternatively, we imagine Egyptian priests chanting invocations as they conspired to resurrect a mummy. Happily, the reality for ancient Egyptians was quite different. …
At the heart of the relationship between ancient Egyptians and animals were their religious beliefs. Ancient Egyptians believed their gods had intricate connections with the four elements of air, earth, water and fire, to nature and to animals. The ancient Egyptians believed in the universe’s infinite powers and respected these elements, as they believed the …
Today, Philae is an Egyptian island completely submerged by Lake Nasser. The lake resulted from the construction of High (Aswan) Dam in 1970. In a dramatic “rescue mission” UNESCO relocated the island’s temples from Philae to a safer nearby island once called Agilika but since renamed Philae. To ward off erosion from the lake’s waters, …
The Hyksos People remain largely enigmatic to this day. Their ethnic origins of the Hyksos are still unknown as is their fate once Ahmose I (c. 1570-1544 BCE) expelled them from Lower Egypt and ushered in the rise of Egypt’s New Kingdom (c. 1570-1069 BCE). The Hyksos are thought to have been a Semitic people …
Fashion amongst the ancient Egyptians tended to be straightforward, practical and uniformly unisex. Egyptian society viewed men and women as equals. Hence, both sexes for the majority of Egypt’s population wore similar styled clothes. In Egypt’s Old Kingdom (c. 2613-2181 BCE) upper-class women tended to adopt flowing dresses, which effectively concealed their breasts. However, lower …
The earliest evidence of jewellery making in ancient Egypt dates to 4000 BC. Today, ancient Egyptian jewellery has gifted us with some of the rarest and most sublime examples of ancient craftsmanship discovered to date. Both men and women in ancient Egypt proved themselves to be great admirers of jewellery. They adorned themselves with a …
One of the oldest gods in the Egyptian pantheon, Anubis holds his place amongst their bevvy of gods as the god of the afterlife, the helpless and of lost souls. Anubis is also the Egyptian patron god of mummification. His cult is believed to have emerged from the worship of an earlier and far older …
Surely one of the most evocative titles ascribed to an ancient text, the Egyptian Book of the Dead is an ancient Egyptian funerary text. Created sometime around the beginning of Egypt’s New Kingdom the text was in active use to around 50 BCE. Written by a succession of priests over a period of approximately 1,000 …
Sobek was the ancient Egyptian god of water. Over time he also became closely associated with surgery and with medicine. These attributes reflected Sobek’s role as a prominent protective deity who is depicted as the form of a man with a crocodile’s head or in crocodile form. Sobek’s name translates as “Crocodile” in ancient Egyptian. …
Mastaba tombs are low rectangular, flat-roofed constructions with distinctive sloping sides created from sun-dried mud brick or infrequently stones. Inside they feature a small number of rooms together with a main burial chamber underneath it. The actual burial chamber was reached via a deep vertical shaft below a flat-roofed stone structure. Mastaba is an Arabic …
One of the most enduring legacies of the ancient Egyptian civilization is their treasure trove of papyrus. Papyrus (Cyperus papyrus) is a plant, which was once abundant in the Egyptian Delta. Today it is quite rare in the wild. Ancient Egyptians discovered a way to domesticate the 5 meters (16 feet) tall papyrus stalks in …
Perhaps the most powerful legacy of the ancient Egyptian culture passed down to us is the eternal pyramids. Instantly recognizable around the globe, these monumental structures have carved a niche in our popular imagination. The word pyramid triggers images of three enigmatic structures standing majestically on the Giza plateau. However, few people realize over seventy …
An ancient Egyptian cartouche is an oval frame containing the hieroglyphs comprising the name of a God, a member of the aristocracy or a senior court official. Stylistically, a cartouche is designed to represent a loop of rope, which has been infused with the magical power to protect the name written inside it. The oval …