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Important Terms/Definitions

 

Mummification: The practice in which the Egyptian buried their dead. The focus on mummification was presuerving the body for the afterlife. The Egyptians strongly beleive in this and went as far as to be buried with their worldy possessions so they will have it with them in the afterlife. In short, the organs were removed and cleaned (except the heart) and placed in special hars for safeguarding (Canopic jars). The brain was removed through the mose and the heart was kept inside the body as it was thought to be teh soul of the person. The body was dreid for 70 days with special salts and then wrapped in oil soaked linens. The body was then placed in a sarcophagus (coffin) and was buried ina tomb.

Ma'at:This is the Goddess and symbol of stability and represented how the Pharaoh was expected to rule. Any Pharaoh trying to alter society radically was seen as someonedisrupting the natural stability of the universe. This disruption could lead to a civil war oreven someone challenging the word of the Pharaoh. The principles of Ma'at were: truth, righteousness, and justice.

Great Pyramid: This was a massive stone monument built for King Khufu in 2600 B.C.E. This was supposed to immortalize the King in stone and have his name live on forever in history by the people. The pyramid was constructed at Giza and is 146m tall. It is comprised of 2.5 million stone blocks each weighing an approx. 2.5 t. It was constructed during King Khufu’s 23-year reign.

Amon-Re: This is a combination of the Theban god Amon and the Egyptian Sun-God Re. When the Thebans reunited Egypt in 2050 B.C.E after the First Intermediate Period, each society had two distinct Gods. Therefore, the Theban rulers combined their God with the Egyptian God. Thus, Amon-Re was born.

Egyptian hieroglyphs

Statue of Rames II

More hieroglyphs

The Egyptian God Horus

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