African Lit Vocab #1

Question 1

Papyrus

Answer 1

A reed, or a grass-like plant, that the Egyptians developed into paper

Question 2

The Old Kingdom

Answer 2

A time period from 2700 BC - 2200 BC when the great pyramids were built

Question 3

The Middle Kingdom

Answer 3

A time period from 2000 BC - 1800 BC when Egypt’s economy and political power was expanding

Question 4

The New Kingdom

Answer 4

A time period from 1600 BC - 1100 BC when Egypt was at the peak of its political power. Reached north to Syria, east to the Euphrates River, and south to the East African kingdoms of Nubia and Kush

Question 5

Horus

Answer 5

A god who was the son of Osiris. The pharaoh represented the earthly incarnation of Horus

Question 6

Book of the Dead

Answer 6

A traveler’s guide to the afterlife containing everything the deceased needed to have and know after death. This was the ultimate expression of Egyptian funerary literature.

Question 7

Praise song

Answer 7

A strictly religious text/song that was meant to praise the gods

Question 8

Sacred drama

Answer 8

Another piece of religious work that was used in religious ceremonies as plays

Question 9

Pastoral poetry

Answer 9

Secular poetry that portrayed everyday life in idyllic terms, or in happy and simple terms

Question 10

Orature

Answer 10

The tradition of African oral literature. This was part of Africa’s rebirth in the mid-1900s

Question 11

Griots

Answer 11

Keepers of oral literature in West Africa. Today they are professional storytellers, singers, or entertainers, but in the past, they were consulted when information was needed.

Question 12

Monotheism

Answer 12

A doctrine of belief in one god. This was introduced to Egypt when the pharaoh named Amenhotep IV took over. He later changed his name to Akhenaten, which meant he who serves the Aten.

Question 13

Apostrophe

Answer 13

A figure of speech in which a writer addresses some thing, concept, or absent person. Written in second person, using you and yours. The Great Hymn to the Aten is an apostrophe.

Question 14

Epithet

Answer 14

An adjective or other descriptive phrase that is regularly used to characterize a person, place, thing ot title
This is used for things such as, “America the Beautiful,” or New Jersey, the Garden State.”

Question 15

Hieroglyphics

Answer 15

A form of written language in which pictures represent ideas. Different simplified, cursive forms of hieroglyphics evolved: hieratic and demotic

Question 16

Lyric Poetry

Answer 16

Do not tell a story but instead, like songs, create a vivid, expressive testament to a speaker’s thoughts or emotional state. Love lyrics came from the New Kingdom era