Tutankhamen

Pharaoh of ancient Egypt whose tomb ws the richest ever found.  Tutankhamen's tomb gives us an idea about the riches of pharaohs.  It was discovered by British archaeologists Howard Carter, 1922.

Nile River

The longest river in the world.  It was the economic life bood of Egyptian civilization as it regularly deposited rich silt.

Cataract

Chumming rapids in a river which prohibit passage by boats.  (The nile river has six cataracts.)

Dynasty

A chain or succession of rulers stemming from a single family

Pharaoh

Menes

Memphis

The capital Menes chose along the banks of the Nile where Upper and Lower Egypt met, about 100 miles from the Mediterranean Sea.

Rames II

This Egyptian ruler had the longest reign of any pharaoh, sixty-seven years. (1279 to 1212 B.C.) He lived to be ninety-three years old and fathered 150 children. He devoted his reign to a massive building program where he built more temples and monument than any other pharaoh. Many historians believe Rames II was the pharaoh when the Jewish Exodus occurred.

Pyramid

Four sided (based) triangular shaped structures which served as burial places fro the monuments to the Pharaohs. They were made if granite and limestone.

Great pyramid of Giza

The largest of the Egyptian pyramids. It covers 13 acres and rises 481 feet in height. More than 2 million stone blocks were used to make this pyramid, each block weighed at least 2.5 tons.

Mummification

Embalming and drying the corpse to prevent it from decaying. Egyptian embalmers used chemicals to dry out the body and then they wrapped the mummy in fine linen and adorned it with jewelry.

Maat

The word ancient Egyptians used to describe the virtues of a “good life”. It embodied the ideas of justice, right, truth, and order. To live according to the ideals of maat meant to live a righteous life.

Osiris

Egyptian god of the dead who determined if peoples’ souls would die or live forever. If a person’s soul failed this test a fierce beast called the “Devourer of souls” would pounce on this impure soul and devour it.

Hieroglyphics

The written form of communication used by the scribes of ancient Egypt.

Papyrus

A paper like sheet made from dampened and dried split papyrus reeds found in marshy Nile delta.

Rosetta Stone

A polished black stone discovered in Egypt in 1798 by one of Napoleon’s soldiers. It had hieroglyphics and Greek inscribed on it. This stone proved to be the language code key which unlocked the ancient past.

Calendar

The Egyptian calendar was based on Sirius, a very bright star, that appeared in the eastern horizon just before the floods came. The time of one of Sirius had the next was 365 days. The Egyptians divided this year into 12 months of 30 days each and added five days for holidays and feasting. This calendar was so accurate that it fell short of a true solar year by six hours.

Hatsheput

A female pharaoh (r. 1472 to 1458 B.C.) who boldly declared herself Egyptian leader as her stepson, the male heir to the throne, a young boy at the trial was too young to rule. Hatsheput spent her reign encouraging trade rather than raging war and she made Egypt more prosperous by doing so.