Midterm Flashcards
What is an Akh?
- 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
What is a Mortuary Temple?
- Temples built in memory of a specific person
- Used by the king’s cult after death
What is the Canon is Proportions
- 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
Conceptual Art
- 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
What is the double crown?
- 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
What is the field of A’ara?
- 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
Who are the 4 sons of Horus?
- gods on each canopic jar = son of Horus - supposed to guard and protect each body part
- Qebehseneuf = intestines
- Hapy = lungs
- Imsety = liver
- Duamutef = stomach
Who is Horus?
- 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
What is heliopolitan cosmology?
- 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
Who is Isis?
- daughter of god Geb and Nut
- marries brother Osiris
- mother of Horus
- taught women how to weave, bake, and brew beer
Who is Khnum?
- local god from Aswan
- limited in geographical sphere - cult practices localized
- part of the Aswan triad along with Satis and Anukis
What is the significance of Memphis?
- the first political capital of Egypt
- located in lower Egypt
What is Mummification?
- 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
What is the sothis cycle?
- 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
What is the Pschent?
Egyptian name for the double crown
What is the opening of the mouth ceremony?
- 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
Who is Ptah?
- 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)
Who is Osiris?
- 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
What is the son of Re name?
- the birth name
- the name the king goes by before ascending the Throne
Who is Ammit?
- 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
What are canopic jars?
Vessels of stone pottery in which mummified organs were stored in the tombs. There were 4, one for stomach, liver, intestines and lungs.
What is Coptic?
- 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
Explain what dualism meant to the Egyptians.
- 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
What is the heart Scarab?
A funerary amulet used for the weighing of the heart
Used to show worthiness to achieve after life
What was the French Expedition?
- 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
What is the Horus name?
Meant to identify king as living incarnation of Horus
Part of royal titulary
What is the hermopolitan cosmology?
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
Explain what a Ka is.
Part of the soul represented in human form
After death it lives in tomb and in statue and the mummy - can communicate with gods
Statues that ensure that that person will live forever - ensures that if mummy is destroyed the person will still live in the afterlife since it is still a carnation of them
It is an idealized image of them so they live beat life in after life
What is Ma’at?
We don’t have an exact translation
About the fundamental order created by god in this force called Ma’at
It is a force that maintains stability
It is a self confirming principle - the Egyptian government exists and is prosperous so it must be true - like gravity
King responsible for maintaining Ma’at
Personified with goddess with ostrich feather on head
To Egyptians word was always under threat of chaos but king always restores it - through Sia (perception - understand way of world) and Hu (authoritative utterance - speaks the way to make sure it operates properly)
What is the Memphite cosmology?
From Memphis
Found in Shabaka stone
Ptah(god of Memphis) is creator god
Ptah is self created and created by thinking of an idea, comprehending it, and speaking it into being
Horus (heart) and Thoth (tongue) help him create
Only creation story that has to do with humans - god of Aswan created people out of mud of Nile
Rituals had impact on daily life - doing religion - understand how to live life by doing things
What is the negative confession?
A list of 42 sins which the soul of the deceased can honestly say it never committed when it stands in judgement in the afterlife
What is Nut?
The sky goddess
Part of Osiris myth
Marries brother Geb to have Osiris, Isis, Seth and Nepthys
Who is Amelia Edwards?
- prolific British novelist
- founded the Egypt fund in 1882 - argues for further Egyptian excavation but thought only way to do this without pillaging was through institution so founded Egyptology in university
What is the Palermo stone?
Oldest king list we have
Produced in Dynasty 5
A list of all kings
Originally given in complete sequence of years with list of major events in each year
Includes political important kings
Problem: no longer have complete document, contains mythical kings who are not real
What is the Rosetta Stone?
Stone found in 1798
Contains script in Greek, hiroglyphic and Coptic
Key to deciphering hieroglyphic
What is the Aegyptiaca?
First history book of Egypt
Created by a native Egyptian Priesf named Manetho
Organized all of Egypt into 30 dynasties I
What is the Turin Canon? Produced
Originally gave list of kings from beginning of Egyptian history to Ramses the second
Produced During reign of Ramses the second
Gave us length of reigns in years months and dates
Found by early Egyptologist who rolled it up and by the time he got back to his camp it was in pieces
Problem: typos, dates don’t add up
Who is Bes?
Household god
Dwarf god
Fierce protector of household
What is the book of the dead?
Modern name for series of New Kingdom religious texts intended to protect the soul of the deceased as it traveled through the underworld toward rebirth
Gives instruction regarding mummification process and spells
What are cartouches?
Oval shaped loop encircling a royal name
These are how they were able to decipher Rosetta Stone
What is demonic?
From Greek demotica or popular because so popularly used
Extremely cursive
First appeared about 600 BCE
Used for every day documents, easy to translate
What is duat?
The realm of the dead in ancient Egypt mythology
What are hieroglyphs?
Made up of pictures
Derived from where Egyptians lives
Alphabetical system
Appeared first around 3100 BC (marks pheronjc period)
Called it “the words of the gods”
What is frontality?
Art meant to be viewed head on and rigid
Explain the satire of the trade
Father talking to son about how he has to go to school and get an education
Because social mobility achieved through education
Wants son to become scribe - framed it by saying that basically every other job sucks
Talking about social standards - there is something that will always be more and less powerful than you and tells you how to behave in both scenarios
Tells you how to be good person according to Ma’at
Who is Manetho?
The Egyptian priest who created the Aegyptiaca
What is middle Egypt?
The area between Memphis and Assiut
A wider valley than the extreme narrowness of the south
Wider flood plane than the south
Who is Nu?
Part of heliopolitan cosmology
The watery darkness that Atum came out of
What is the weighing of the heart?
When you die you are judged by Osiris in front of Isis and 42 witnesses
There they weight your heart against the feather of ma’at
Goal is for heart to be lighter than feather
If it is then you go into after life but if not then Ammit (the devourer) comes in and destroys your heart
What is perceptual art?
Recreates or represents reality according to correct perspective
There is foreground, background, and perspective of time and place
What is first cataract?
At Aswan
Where the Nile river narrows
Where typography changes and big rocks appear so you can’t sail giant boats because of the rocks
Where Egyptians can control borders easily and control who goes in and out
Nubians just south
What is the five fold titulary?
Horus name = meant to identify king as living incarnation of Horus
Nebty name = referencing principle goddesses of upper and lower Egypt
Horus of gold name = gold represents gold’s immortality and divinity
Nisu-biti name = the thrown name (the name the king chooses when he ascends the throne) - almost always compounded with the name Ra
The son of Re name = the birth name - the name he goes by before ascending throne
What is Upper Egypt?
The south half
Narrower landscape
South of Memphis
Nile dominates
Cliffs and high desert serves as boundary so that they couldn’t be penetrated - this allowed the Egyptian culture to grow and cultivate
Goddess = Nekhbet
Colour = white
Crown = bowling pin
What is the Ba?
One element of an Akh
Part of the soul associated with personality as they lived
Depicted as human headed bird
Refers to individuals personally
Incorporated creative power and skills
More active than Ka because it can leave tomb and travel around Egypt
While alive person can argue with Ba
Leaves body immediately after death
Needs sustenance (food, drink)
Made them anxious because if Ba does not return to tomb then the mummy and in turn person can’t survive
What is Kemet?
The god of the black land
Associated with life and order
Who is Jean Francois Champollion
Credited with decipherment of hieroglyphic script
1790-1832
What is Hieratic?
Comparable to cursive writing
More efficient than hieroglyphic script
Written with brush
Does not appear much later because needed to write
More readily and easily written
Used for temple accounts, document of states, administration
When Greeks got there used primarily for temple accounts which is why they call it a sacred script
Marked new section or paragraph scribe marked it red
Can be read in number of direction - had to recognize direction
What is the ennead?
The nine gods of the heliopolitan cosmology
Nu (watery darkness) Atum Shu (air) Tefnut (moisture) Nut (sky) Geb (land) Osiris Isis Seth Nepthys Horus
Who is Belzoni?
Giovanni Battista Belzoni (1778-1823)
Goes to Egypt to get things - essentially tomb robberies but are state sanctioned
Motivated by the French and Britain competing with each other to see who can get best things in museums upstaging each other
Decided to go to Egypt to sell hydraulic equipment, failed at it, decided to stay and start robbing tombs and go after antiquities because more profitable - worked for himself & for British
Published descriptive books
What is the first occasion?
In all creation stories the world emerges from infinite, lifeless sea when sun rose for first time
This is called the first occasion
What is a shabti?
Small statue
Developed as another representation of tomb owner
They become seem of conceived as servants to labour in fields of laru so you do not have to work in afterlife
Who is Auguste Mariette?
Sent by Louvre in 1850 to get manuscripts in Egypt
Became more interested in monuments and decided to stay in Egypt and start excavating
He was appointed the head of newly created excavation administration in Egypt
Problem with him is that he likes to dig but not record - did not publish adequately his findings
He decided he needed to control permission to excavate, it couldn’t just be anyone - needed government allowance
Thought Egyptian objects should stay in Egypt so created first Egyptian museum in Cairo
Major accomplishment:
- created first national service of antiquities in region
- creates first national museum in region
- caused first of conscience about exporting antiquities of Egypt and Middle East
What is the Narmer Palette?
Dated from about 31st century BCE
Contains some of the earliest hieroglyphic inscriptions ever found
Depicts the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the king Namer
What is the divine triad?
Divine triad of Horus: three statues traditional side by side position
Osiris in centre holding sceptres and wrapped in shroud
Falcon head god Horus on one side and symmetrical representation of king on other
19th Dynasty
What is the Ogdoad?
The Heropolitan Cosmology
Nun & Naunet (primeval waters)
Huh and Hauhet (infinity)
Kuk-Kauket & Keket (darkness)
Amun & Amunet (hiddenness)
Who is W.M.F Petrie?
William Matthew Flinders Petrie
Famous for painstaking metrology
Interested in Egypt written by Charles piazzi smyth
- astronomer royal of Scotland
- investigates pyramids - one of first pyramidiots
- invented the pyramid inch
Went to Egypt to test out pyramid inch but realized it was dumb and created his own methodological ways
Came up with cross dating - used Egyptian materials to figure out dates
Used under valued Egyptian antiquities
Marks transition into 20th century Egyptology
Who is Seth?
In Osiris myth
Son of Geb and Nut
Brother of Osiris, Isis and Nepthys
Got jealous of Osiris and plotted to kill him
Eventually defeated my Horus and exiled to desert
God of desert, storms, disorder
Describe lower Egypt
The north half
Marshy, fertile, humid
Famous for cattle breading
Best land to farm
More populated
Memphis locates here - first political capital of Egypt
Where majority of pyramids are
Reminder
Drink water
