Midterm Flashcards
1
Q
What is an Akh?
A
- One of the divisions of the human soul; undergoes transfiguration into blessed status upon rebirth
- Book of the dead names the essential elements of the Akh:
1. Body
2. Mummy
3. Shadow (the physical components of the person)
4. Ka (soul - Person’s spiritual double - remains with person throughout life time - lives in a statue and mummy - must be animate it through the opening mouth ceremony)
5. Ba (soul - associated with personality as they lived - creative powers and skills - represented by human headed bird - can leave and return to tomb as it pleases - needs sustenance to survive - made Egyptians anxious because if it never returned then persons could not survive in underworld)
6. Ren (name/reputation - having name written ensures the remembrance of deceased and allows them to live in afterlife - After death all components come back together to turn into an Akh and you can then live in Egyptian afterlife
2
Q
What is a Mortuary Temple?
A
- Temples built in memory of a specific person
- Used by the king’s cult after death
3
Q
What is the Canon is Proportions
A
- uniformity was guaranteed by canon of proportions - it make sure the proportions of people were uniform
- implemented by grid system
- the bigger the figure, the more important they were in the Egyptian hierarchy
4
Q
Conceptual Art
A
- Egyptian art is not perceptual it is conceptual
- it does not seem to depict image from perspective of artist but rather object itself
- shows the subject from its own perspective - the viewpoint of each individual object because the goal is to show essential characteristics of image
- that is why in a single image there might be multiple perspectives of different object
- that is why contents of boxes are often shown above it because contents is what is important
- frontality = meant to be viewed head on and rigid
5
Q
What is the double crown?
A
- called the “pschent”
- combined the red crown of lower Egypt and the white crown of upper Egypt
- represented the king’s power to rule all of u Ickes Egypt
- two animal emblems:
1. Cobra (Uraeus) - symbolized lowed Egyptian Wadjet)
2. Vulture - symbolized upper Egyptian goddess Nakhbet - above animals fastened to the front of crown and referred to as the two ladies
6
Q
What is the field of A’ara?
A
- also called the field of Reeds
- when died Egyptians believes that if justified by the gods they transitioned to another realm where they would live eternally in paradise in the field of A’aru
- it was mirror image of ones life on earth - that’s why they tried to make their life one worth living forever
7
Q
Who are the 4 sons of Horus?
A
- gods on each canopic jar = son of Horus - supposed to guard and protect each body part
- Qebehseneuf = intestines
- Hapy = lungs
- Imsety = liver
- Duamutef = stomach
8
Q
Who is Horus?
A
- king thought to be incarnation of Horus - this is why Horus falcon is associated with the king
- the son or Osiris and Isis
- associated with medicine because got bitten by snakes when younger but always healed
- loses left eye - eventually restored to him but weaker - this is where the Wadjet comes from (symbolizes health, wholeness, goodness and health)
- first king of Egypt because he defeats Seth
9
Q
What is heliopolitan cosmology?
A
- Heliopolis = city of the sun - creator god = Atum
- in the beginning only Nu (watery darkness) and in this came into being Atum and created mound of creation - he realizes he is alone in the world so he either spits out next generation or masturbates next generation who are Shu (air) and Tefnut (moisture) - they get married and create (sexually) the third generation who are Nut (sky goddess) and Geb (land) - when they were born they were intertwined until Shu separated them - Geb and Nut create fourth generations who are Osiris, Isis, Seth and Nepthys - Osiris and Nepthys get married and create Horus
10
Q
Who is Isis?
A
- daughter of god Geb and Nut
- marries brother Osiris
- mother of Horus
- taught women how to weave, bake, and brew beer
11
Q
Who is Khnum?
A
- local god from Aswan
- limited in geographical sphere - cult practices localized
- part of the Aswan triad along with Satis and Anukis
12
Q
What is the significance of Memphis?
A
- the first political capital of Egypt
- located in lower Egypt
13
Q
What is Mummification?
A
- meant to preserve body and prevent decay
- ingredients = Bitimen, honey, natron (naturally occuring salt to dehydrate)
Steps:
- Family brings body to embalmers
- Body gets brought to wabbit “good house” where it is laid out in water, purified while embalmers do chants
- The viscera (important organs) removed through incision of left side and put in canopic jars, it is them closed up, and Wadjet eye placed on top
- Brain removed through nose
- Heart goes back inside body
- Pack entire body up in dry natron for 40 days
- Bandage and wrap body for 15 days (ideally in royal linens but old family clothes if poor)
- Protective amulets pleases throughout wrapping - heart amulet has to do with final judgement of person, inscribed with spells from book of dead
- Body placed in coffin (wood) or sarcophagus (stone)
- Places in tomb
14
Q
What is the sothis cycle?
A
- the heliacal rising of the star Sothis
- marked Egyptian New Years day
- at certain times it aligns with the sun and is invisible for 70 days - they call it the death and birth of the sun - happens in mid July
- they organize calendar into 360 days
15
Q
What is the Pschent?
A
Egyptian name for the double crown
16
Q
What is the opening of the mouth ceremony?
A
- the ceremony to animate someone’s Ka
- it opens up the air passage of Ka to bring it to life
- it straddles the living and the dead
17
Q
Who is Ptah?
A
- part of Memphis cosmology
- god of Memphis - creator god in cosmology
- patron god of arts and crafts
- creates in intellectual way - thinks an idea, comprehends it and speaks it into being - it is creation in the most abstract and intellectual way
- under his is a series of gods that help him carry out his ideas: Horus (heart - place of intellect and thought), Thoth (tongue - place of speaking)
18
Q
Who is Osiris?
A
- the dead king is identified with Osiris
- he is king of underworld that facilitates reincarnation and rebirth
- associated with fertility
- child of Nut and Geb, brother of Isis, Seth, and Nepthys
- father of Horus
- first born so becomes king
Osiris myth:
- Seth get jealous and wants throne
- creates plan, throws banquet where he says he will give casket to whoever fits in it perfectly- made for Osiris so he fits perfectly
- traps Osiris in casket, cuts him into little pieces and scatters them
- Isis sets off to find pieces and put him back together but missing penis, makes one and brings him back to life
- they have Horus
- Osiris then sent to underworld to rule
19
Q
What is the son of Re name?
A
- the birth name
- the name the king goes by before ascending the Throne
20
Q
Who is Ammit?
A
- when person is getting judged by Osiris their heart is weight against feather Ma’at
- if heart is heavier than feather Ammit the devourer come in and she eats your heart and you are obliterated - does not matter how nice your tomb is, your heart is destroyed
21
Q
What are canopic jars?
A
Vessels of stone pottery in which mummified organs were stored in the tombs. There were 4, one for stomach, liver, intestines and lungs.
22
Q
What is Coptic?
A
- fourth and last Egyptian script
- only fully phonetic script because Egyptians tended not to use vowels until now
- written with Greek alphabet (24 letters) plus 6 demo it signs for sounds that did not exist in Greek
- used mostly by early Christians but seemed to originate in 1 CE in religious texts
23
Q
Explain what dualism meant to the Egyptians.
A
- thought that world was perfect when first created and they need to maintain that perfection. One way they did that was through dualism
- seen through Upper and Lower Egypt - thought they were separate and came into duality when they came together
- they were opposites but end goal is to unify them - really personified and unified in the king
- king was vital to stability - once person becomes king they unify upper and lower Egypt - this unity is called “Sema Tawy” which translates to unification of the two lands
- dualism in black v. Red land (black land associated with life and black land associated with death)
- present in pschent
24
Q
What is the heart Scarab?
A
A funerary amulet used for the weighing of the heart
Used to show worthiness to achieve after life
25
Q
What was the French Expedition?
A
- happened 1798-99
- Napoleon Bonaparte’s Troops in Rosetta
- wanted to get hold of Egyptian artifacts for trade reasons
- brought army of scholars and craftsmen to examine what the found
- results published in 24 volume description called De L’Egypte - marked scholarly study of Egyptian antiquity
- westerners made sure to maintain control of artifacts
- found Rosetta Stone = Key to deciphering hieroglyphic - contained Greek, hieroglyphic script and demonic script
26
Q
What is the Horus name?
A
Meant to identify king as living incarnation of Horus
Part of royal titulary
27
Q
What is the hermopolitan cosmology?
A
Comes from the city of Hermopolis - “eight-town”
- in the beginning there was only Nu and within there were 8 gods or prime evil forces - this group of 8 grouped into 4 complementary pairs: Nun & Naunet (waters); Huh and Hehet (infinity); Keket & kuk-kauket (darkness); Amun & amunet (hiddeness)
- they got together and created mound and out of it rose the sun
