Copy of `The Egyptian Glossary - History and culture glossary`

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The Egyptian Glossary - History and culture glossary Category: History and Culture Date & country: 12/11/2010, UK Words: 120

Royal processions
it was popular, especially in the New Kingdom, for the pharaoh to appear with other members of his family and courtiers to show himself off to the people. On such occasions, the pharaoh and his family often rode in chariots.

Sacred
something that is very holy and associated with religion or a god or goddess.

Saqqara
an area on the West Bank of the Nile, about 30 miles south of Cairo. It was the cemetery of the capital city, Memphis, from the earliest dynasties to the end of the Roman period. It was probably most important during the Old Kingdom.

Scholar
someone who studies something in depth.

Scribe
a person who was trained to write hieroglyphs and other scripts and languages.

Settlements
places where people have settled and lived.

Shrine
a special place set aside for the worship of a god or goddess. This was often a small niche in the wall of an ancient Egyptian house. A shrine could also mean a special and grand temple.

Signs
a word used by Egyptologists to talk about individual hieroglyphic symbols.

Society
groups of people living together and sharing similar interests, beliefs and values. Society is often divided into groups of people with lots of ordinary people at the bottom, fewer quite important people in the middle, and a very few very important people at the top. The king would have been the most important of all.

Stonemason
a person who can cut and carve stone to shape.

Surveyor
a person who uses an architect's plans and makes sure building are built correctly and safely.

Temple
a special building where a deity is worshipped. Ancient Egyptian temples were either dedicated to gods or goddesses or they were to used to remember and praise dead kings. They were also centres of education and medicine. People did not go inside temples, which were the houses of the gods. Priests attended to the gods' needs. People might visit the outer part of the temple on special occasions an...

Texts
a word used by archaeologists to mean bits of writing of many different types.

Thebes
the capital city of Egypt for most of the New Kingdom. It was on the site of the modern city of Luxor. The Valley of the Kings is opposite on the West Bank.

Tomb
a place where a body is buried, usually a building of some kind. Egyptian tombs were often beautifully painted.

True Of Voice
An Egyptian expression, which meant that the person had passed the judgement of Osiris and had spoken truthful answers. When you see this written after someone's name it means they are dead.

Underworld
the magical kingdom of the god Osiris, where people went when they died.

Ushabti
see Shabti

Weighing of the Heart
a scene often found on copies of the Book of the Dead, as well as on coffins. It shows the heart of a dead person being weighed against the feather of truth. People believed that this would happen to them after death as part of their judgement by the god Osiris.

Worship
giving praise and thanks.