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• i M
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Discover th e secre ts of the h ie rog lyph s wi th
th is fir st gen u inely accessib le gu ide t o on e of
the wor ld ' s o ldest w r i t in g sys tem s .
H ere is eve ryth ing you n eed to know to :
* read t he s igns of the h ie rog lyph ic ' a lphabe t '
* u n d e r st a n d n u m b e r s a n d c o u n t in g
* wr i t e you r own n am e us ing h ie roglyph s
* dec ipher the names of p h a r a o h s ,
gods and goddesses* t r a n s l a t e c o m m o n w o r d s a n d p h r a se s
fro m m o n u m e n t s a n d t om b s
Th is ir res ist ib le lit t le boo k a lso inc lud es the
s t o r y of h ow h ie rog lyph s were o r igina l ly
deciph ered as wel l as an essen t ia l t im e ch ar t
of Egyp t ian h is to ry .
Non-fiction: history/egyptology
Hodder & Stoughtonvisit our website at www.madaboutbooks.com
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Also by Lesley and Roy Adk ins
T h e H a n d b o o k of Brit ish Archaeo logy
In t rodu c t ion to the Rom ans
Aban don ed P laces
An In troduct ion to Archaeology
Archaeological Illustration
H and book to Life in Anc ien t Rom e
H an db ook to Life in Ancient Greece
Dic t ionary of Roman Religion
The Keys of Egypt
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The Li t t le Book of
Egyptian Hieroglyphs
L E S LE Y A N D R O Y A D K I N S
H O D D E R
M O B i U S
H o d d e r &c St o u g h t o n
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Copyright © 2001 by Lesley and Roy Adkins
First published in Great Britain in 2001 by Hodder and Stoughton
This edition published in 2002 by Hodder and Stoughton
A division of Hodder Headline
The right of Lesley and Roy Adkins to be identified as the Auth ors of the W ork
has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents
Act 1988.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
All rights reserved. No part of the publication may be reproduced, stored in aretrieval system , or transmitted, in any form or b y any m eans withou t the prior
written permission of the pu blisher, n or be otherwise circulated in any form of
binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar
condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library
Typeset in Minion by Nigel Strudwick
H ieroglyph ic font by Cleo H uggins
ISBN 0 340 79491 7
Printed and bound in Great Britain by Mackays of Chatham pic, Chath am , Kent
Hodder and Stoughton
A division of H odder H eadline
338 Euston Road
Lond on N W 1 3BH
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To Clare, Robert, Ella an d Sophie, with love
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Acknowledgements
In the writ ing o f th is book we are indebted to Rowena W ebb,Rosemary Trapnel l and Emma Heyworth-Dunn at Hodder &
Stou ghton and to Mo rag Lyall for the cop y-editing. We are also
grateful to Nigel Stru dw ick for his invaluab le advice an d for his
typesetting. We would also like to thank
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Conten ts
A Little Intr od uct ion 1
A Little H istor y 4
W hat Are H ieroglyphs? 13
Th e Role of the Scribe 16
Divine W riting 20
W h at T h ey Wrote 22
Transliteration 25
H ow Do H ieroglyph s W ork? 28
Uniliterals 35
Biliterals 42
Triliterals 49
The W ay To Read H ieroglyphs 54
Pronunciat ion 57
Your Nam e 59
Plurals 71
Numbers 73
A Lit t le More Gram m ar 75
H ieroglyphs In Action 79
Tim e Char t 81
Royal Nam es 95
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Meanings of Names 101
A Few Fam ou s Ph araoh s 105
Royal Cro wn s 127
Tim e and the Seasons 128
Bod y an d Sou l 130
God s an d Godd esses 133A Few Place Na m es 155
Making Sense of Inscript ions 163
Th e Last W ord 165
Fin din g O ut More 170
Index 177
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Little Introduction
ieroglyph s, the writ in g of an cient Egyp t, have been arou n d for
of years. Th ey are fascinating to look at , because m an y
th e signs are recogn isable as pictures of peop le J i , Y> «=-•>
of the b od y ©, an im als )}, w , b ird s ^g*,, ""̂ f,
ish insects an d plan ts f , while oth ers seem at first glance
ositively stran ge — , ID, $,Put together in rows and columns, these hieroglyphic symbols
orm an infinite variety of pat terns tha t were an im por tan t par t o f
are m ino r m asterpieces in th em selves, bu t these hieroglyph s
e not just p ictures: to th ose w h o could read th em , they were a
ticated system of writ in g used for accoun ts, historical
ieroglyph s are found in h uge nu m bers carved and often paint ed
n br igh t colours o n the walls of tem ples an d tom bs in Egypt , as
l as on m an y ob jects such as coffins, statues, p ap yri, pot tery
essels and m u m m y band ages in m useum s all over th e world .
Alon g with the p yram ids an d sph in x, h ieroglyph s are the m ostly recogn ised sym bol of ancient Egypt , an d som e of them, such
(the an kh , a sym bol of life), are now so frequently u sed as
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charms and pendants that their origins are sometimes forgotten.
The ankh sign is m ade u p of a T-shape with a loop on top and m ay
have d epicted the s trap of a s im ple sand al, with th e loop goin g
rou n d the an kle . It cam e to be a sym bol of life on ear th and of eter-nal life and was ado pt ed as th e sign of the cross by the later Copt ic
Christ ian Chu rch in Egypt .
There are thousand s of Egypt ian h ieroglyph s, a lth ough aroun d
500 o f them were m uch m ore com m on ly used than the o thers.
Even so, th e th ough t of learnin g t o read h ieroglyph s can be dau nt -
ing. Th e aim of this boo k is to give a very s traightforward in tro-duct ion for anyone firs t encoun ter ing h ieroglyph s — for students ,
for touris ts wanting to get more out of th eir t rip to Egyp t, an d for
anyone interested in ancient Egypt and ancient languages. This is
n ot an academ ic, sch olarly bo ok, but it is int end ed to m ake h iero-
glyph s en joyable to read .
The first part of the b ook gives sh ort explanations of the h is toryof Egypt 's language and writ ing system s, the d eciph erm ent of
h ieroglyph s after th e ab ility to read th em h ad been lost , an d how
scribes wrote and what th ey wrot e. The workin gs of h ieroglyph s
are covered n ext , with explanations of th eir different fun ctions,
vowels, pu n ctuat ion , the d irect ion of wri t in g , pron un cia t ion , and
how hieroglyphs are written out in English ( ' transliteration') . Themost commonly used h ieroglyphs are then deal t wi th , and many
can be used in the fo llowing sect ion on how to write your own
n am e. Delvin g a lit t le furth er in to gram m ar, we also take a look at
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s , nu m bers, gender, verbs, genit ives and pr on ou n s, end in g by
few words.
In the next section hieroglyphs are looked at in relat ion to
am es. For the ph araoh s, a list of th eir reigns is given as an int ro-c t ion , and then explanat ions of th eir n am es, followed b y several
m on ly encountered ph araohs , with the ir n am es given in h iero-
ven in th e descript ions of what the ancient Egypt ian s th ough t
t t im e and the seasons, e ternal life after death , and gods an d
es. A few place n am es will p erh aps assist th e p lan n in g of ato Egypt, wh ile for anyone pu rsuin g h ieroglyph s further , som e
rases are expla in ed an d recom m end at ion s given on how to s tudy
ieroglyph s and ancient Egypt in greater d etail.
Few people visit Egypt without bringing back their name in
ieroglyph s on a gold pen dan t or a piece of pap yru s. The an cient
gypt ian s h ad an easy way of writ in g nam es of foreigners in h iero-yph s, so at the very least th is book will enab le you to do the sam e
ou m ay ju st get ho oked .
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A Little History
O ldest W riting System
H ieroglyph s were first used for writ ing the an cient Egypt ian lan -
guage at least 5,000 years ago. Archaeologists still argue over
whether the earliest examples of writing in th e wo rld are Egypt ian
h ieroglyph s or a script found in Iraq known as cuneiform . Recent
find s in Egyp t of pr im itive sym bols d ating to ab ou t 3500 BC have
swayed th e argum ent in favour of hieroglyphs.
Spoken Language
Only one language was written in hieroglyphs: the language of
ancient Egypt ian , with its different dialects up and down the N ile
Valley. Th e an cien t Egypt ian lan guage lasted for over 4,000 years,
an d d u r ing th a t t im e it u nd erwent m any chan ges, jus t as languages
do today. The English that was in use 600 years ago, such as that
writt en by Chau cer, is very different from what is spoken and w rit-
ten tod ay and can be very difficult t o un derstand ., alth ou gh it is still
recognisable as En glish. It is therefore n ot difficult to im agin e th e
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H ieroglyph s can not b e und erstood witho ut knowing the Egyp-
language. Even wh en writ in g developed in Egyp t, m ost peop le
cient Egypt ian . Th is is n ow a dead lan guage, bu t it was related to
atic ( 'Sem itic') lan guages such as Arab ic an d H ebrew an d also to
h African ( 'H am itic ') languages such as Berber . Much of the
in reading h ieroglyph s com es from the fact tha t n ot on ly
fferent script n eed to be learned , with a large n um ber of
with as well.
For con ven ien ce, Egypt ologists d ivid e t he an cien t Egypt ian lan -
e in to variou s stages. O ld Egypt ian was pro bab ly bein g spoken
ore 3000 BC, bu t th is is un certain because th e earliest writin g
ly consists of sim p le lists an d lab els. It was defin itely beingby 2600 BC an d lasted for arou n d 500 years.
From 2100 BC M idd le Egypt ian (wh ich is also called Classical
pt ian ) was spoken , again for a p eriod of abou t 500 years.
pt ian as th e everyday spoken lan guage, an d was very different,
n ued to be the formal language used in literary texts an d
ript ion s r ight u p to the Rom an period, even th ou gh it was n o
the everyday langu age of the people.
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Arou n d 650 BC Late Egypt ian d evelop ed in to wh at is now called
demotic , and this became the everyday language: the word
'dem otic ' derives from the ancient Greek word for 'pop ular '. Th e
Greek-speaking Alexander the Great conquered Egypt in 332 BC,and from that pe riod an cient Greek itself b ecam e th e official
adm inist ra t ive language and the spoken language of m any of the
n obility, alon gside dem otic. This was th e first t im e th at tw o d is-
tinct languages were spoken side by side in Egypt, whereas the
tran sit ion from O ld Egypt ian th rough Midd le Egypt ian to Late
Egyptian would have been smooth and gradual , with no overlapsin th e spoken lan guage.
W hen th e Rom ans to ok over Egypt in 30 BC, its defeated Q ueen
Cleop atra com m itted suicide an d Egypt becam e part of the Rom an
Em pire. In western Eu rop e, Latin was th e m ain spoken langu age of
the Rom an Em pire , bu t as the Rom ans expan ded the ir em pire east -
wards in to wh at h ad been the ancient Greek world of Greece,Cyprus, Turkey and beyond, the Greek language continued to be
used. Alth ou gh Greek rem ain ed the language of administrat ion in
Egypt , dem otic cont in ued to be spoken by m ost people .
Th e final phase of an cien t Egypt ian was Cop tic, wh ich developed
in the Rom an per iod from aroun d AD 100 . 'Copt ' is a m od ern word
that s imply means 'Egyptian ' - a corruption of qubt i, the Arabicform of the ancient Greek word Aigyptos, meaning Egypt. Coptic
was closely related to d em ot ic an d was spoken for over 1,00 0 years.
Even though the Arabic language was introduced in the seventh
cen tu ry AD (with th e Arab invasion of Egypt ) , it was n ot un til the
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teen th cen tury AD that Copt ic fin a lly d ied out as a spoken
guage. It is still used in th e Cop tic Ch ristian Ch u rch in Egyp t in
am e way that Latin is used in the Rom an Cath olic Chu rch.
W hile th e ancien t Egypt ian lan guage chan ged grad ua lly over the
dialects, as occur in lan guages today: the pr on u n ciation of
angu age an d even its vocabu lary can vary between region s, such
th e different types of En glish spoken in south ern En glan d ,
tic, when th e m ain dialects are called Sah id ic an d Boh airic.
ritten Language
writ ten language of the ancient Egypt ian s was slower to
Alth ou gh Late Egypt ian began to replace Midd le Egypt ian as
e spoken lan guage from arou n d 1600 BC, h ieroglyph s con tinu ed
write Middle Egypt ian , wh ich survived for ano th er
00 years. M id d le Egypt ian con tinu ed as th e written form al lan -or fun erary, religious and m on um ent al in script ions. I t is
gypt ian that is m ost com m on ly stu died today.
H ieroglyph s were a kin d of formal writ in g, equivalent to the
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sim plified h ieroglyph s, slower to write t han h ierat ic an d as such
were considered m ore distin guished t h an h ieratic for tem ple
m anu scripts an d funerary texts. The y were m ain ly written in vertical
columns. In modern terms, linear hieroglyphs were 'calligraphy',used on im port an t docum ents rather than hierat ic 'h and writ in g '.
Late Egyptian hieratic writing became very stylised, developing
into the script known today as demotic . The demotic writ ing
system does n ot resem ble h ieroglyph s, an d so it is no t converted
into hieroglyphs to s tudy the texts . Demotic began to replace
h ieratic from arou n d 650 BC, especially for bu sin ess docu m en ts. Itwas writ ten mainly on papyri , with pen and ink, a l though i t was
also increasin gly used for m on um ent al in script ion s because by
now very few peop le could u n derstand h ieroglyph s. Consequ ent ly,
th e Rosetta Ston e, wh ich was set up at this t im e, h ad an in script ion
in th ree different languages (Middle Egypt ian , dem otic and ancient
Greek), so th at everyon e wh o w as likely to see it wo u ld un derstan dit . Th e m od ern equivalent is set t ing u p a m on um en t in W ales with
an inscription repeated in Latin, Welsh and English. Demotic
began to die out in the third century AD, and the last known
in script ion was carved at Ph ilae in AD 452.
From the t im e of Alexand er the Great 's conq uest in 332 BC, m a n y
bu reaucratic texts were also writ ten in Greek and contin ued to beso r ight through th e Rom an per iod . At th e sam e t im e the Copt ic
script d eveloped towards th e end of th e first century AD, primarily
for writ ing down the translat ions of Ch ristian texts into the Egyp-
tian language. Although the Coptic language developed from
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dem otic , Copt ic writ in g is com pletely different from h ieroglyph s
h ieratic and d em otic. In stead, i t was greatly in fluen ced by Greek
and consists of th e le t ters of the Greek alph abet (con sonant s anc
vowels) alon g with a few dem otic ch aracters to express som e pecu-
liarly Egyp tian soun ds.
The development of writin g in an cien t Egypt can be seen in th<
owl hieroglyph ( the le t t er 'm ') . At t im es it could be a very ornat<
h ieroglyph , with details such as feathers bein g show n .
H ieroglyph s went out of use du r in g the Rom an per iod , as b)
th en th is form of writ in g was m ain ly confined to scribes in
tem ples, an d th e writing system cou ld n ot survive t he closure ol
the pagan temples by the Romans. The last dated hieroglyphic
inscription was carved in stone at Philae on 24 August AD 394. B)
the end of th e fifth cen tury AD, Copt ic was th e on ly m eans ol
writ in g th e Egyptian language, for both Christ ian an d n on-
A m ore s im ple fo rm is
with th e equivalen t cu rsive h ieroglyph app earin g as
th e hierat ic sym bol as
the dem ot ic as ^ o r ^
and the Copt ic as .
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t , and h ieroglyph s could n o lon ger be un ders tood .
gypt was closed to the western world for cen tu ries, an d on ly a few
plorers and m erchants m anaged to v is it the cou n try du r in g th is
e. In 1798 all that ch an ged, because Nap oleon Bon ap art e an d h is
rench arm y in vaded Egypt. O ver 150 scho lars an d scien tistsom pan ied h is exped it ion, and th ey were am azed to d iscover so
an y an cien t ru in s, still covered with h ieroglyph s.
In 1799 t h e Rosetta Ston e was discovered , wh ich h ad th ree
uage and prob ably the first of the th ree in script ion s to be writ ten )
pts to d eciph er the no w m ysterious h ieroglyph s. In En glan d a
ctor called Th om as Young m ade great p rogress , bu t he was rap-
gypt . Cham po llion had becom e flu en t in Copt ic , the very last
e of an cient Egypt ian , and this helped h im en orm ou sly in his
ies. In 1822 h e ann ou n ced that h e had m ad e a h uge d iscovery
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begin ning of the study of h ieroglyph s , as there was so m uch to
learn, and new ideas are being developed and new discoveries are
still being m ade today.
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W h at Are Hieroglyphs?
ear to be pictures or diagram s, such as ^ (a m an h iding beh in d
yph s, he th ough t th ere were 864 different signs in tot al, bu t tod ayt is th ough t that th e earliest h ieroglyph s n um bered about 1,00 0,
n g t o abo ut 750 aro u n d 2000 BC and in creasin g to several
er abou t 500 signs th at were very com m on ly u sed.
With so many signs i t is impossible to learn them in the same
s the English alph abet , because there are far too m any toem orise an d recall in the sam e way th at ch ildren recite th eir a , b ,
. Anoth er system to classify and pu t them in som e sor t of order
ad to be in ven ted . In 1927 Sir Alan Gard in er, a British Egypt -
st, pu blished th e first edition of Egyptian Gram m ar. Being an
to the Stu dy of Hieroglyphs, which is on e of the m ost
m port an t works ever to be pu blished on h ieroglyph s. In this bo ok,assified the h ieroglyp h ic signs b y subject m att er, givin g each
iqu e nu m ber. For exam ple, section D of his list is 'Part s o f
um an Body', in wh ich D i © is a head , D 2 ^ is a face, D18 S> is
ear, an d so on , wh ile section F is 'Parts of Mam m als', with F13 \ J
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represen ting h or n s an d F31 |f) d ep icting th ree fox skin s tied
together.
Som e o f the h ieroglyph pictu res that seem obscure today, such
as N34 D (an in got of metal) and N 23 n (an irrigation canal), havebeen ident ified by m eans of careful s tudy of m any in script ion s and
b y an in-depth knowledge of life in ancient Egypt . Som eon e look-
ing u p the m eaning of a h ieroglyph , th ough , m ay not them selves
be fam iliar with its iden tificat ion , bu t Gardiner also group ed the
signs accordin g to th eir sh ape. So an un fam iliar sign such as ^ can
be looked up in his table of vert ical signs, wh ere it is iden tified asS35; th is is actu ally th e sign of a fan or sun shad e. Sim ilarly, the sign
' X can be searched for u n d er h orizon ta l sign s, wh ere it is iden tified
as U 19; t h is is a pictu re of an adze.
Gardin er 's n u m be ring system is u n iversally used t od ay by
Egypt ologists, wh o are q uite fam iliar , for exam ple, with the term s
O 9 an d S24. The system is used in bo oks p ub lished on h ieroglyph sand in com pu ter p rogram s used for com posin g texts in h iero-
glyph s. It is im po rtan t as a un iversal m eth od of classification and is
an in valuable source of inform ation for stud ents an d sch olars. To
find out abou t the sign for exam ple, Gard iner 's classification
wou ld n um ber th is as I10 and say that it depicts a cobra, bu t repre-
sents the sound 'dj ' . There are several similar signs such as(Gardin er n um ber I9) , ^ (Gardiner n um ber 111), ^ (Gardiner
n u m ber I12) and in*- (Gardin er n u m ber I14), so h is m eth od avoids
confusion and provid es an in dispen sable reference for Egypt -
ologists worldwide.
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'H ieroglyph ', by the way, is a n ou n . Th e wor d 'h ieroglyp h ic ' is an
ieroglyph s an d h ieroglyph ic signs.
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The Role of the Scribe
t is no t kn own exactly how m any people could read and write in
ent Egypt . Probab ly only abou t l per cent of the pop ulat ionay have been able t o write , a lth ough a few m ore m ay have been
e t o read, but n ot wr ite , wh ile oth ers m ay have been able to read
few words on ly. Nin ety-n in e pe r cent of the p opu la t ion
erefore illiterate. This figu re is still a m atter of debate
on g Egypt ologists, because n um erous exam ples of writing have
foun d in excavated villages, such as D eir El-Med in a at Theb es,e b uilders of the tom bs in th e Valley of th e Kin gs lived.
The people who were trained to read and write - the scribes
from the Lat in word scribere, ' to write ') - were privileged, high-
tatus m em bers of society. To be a scribe was som eth in g special.
iou s to be d epicted as scribes, even if th ey had never beenan y statues survive of such peop le, wh o are shown sit t in g
th th eir legs crossed, a pap yru s u n rolled on t h eir lap, and som e-
m es holdin g a pen.
Most scribes were trained to write hierat ic - the handwrit ing
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rm of h ieroglyph s - and probab ly never even progressed to
un ct ion would have been to write docum ent s on papyrus ro l ls in
ieratic writin g. Train in g at schoo ls in clu de d th e labo rious cop yin gterary texts in h ierat ic and cursive h ieroglyph s, often on to
of broken pottery and l imestone chippings, rather than
teachers are known to have beaten their p u pils as pu n ishm en t.
ritin g M ater ials
ieroglyph s were m ain ly carved in to the s tone walls o f tem ples
tom bs. They were also carved and / or painted on oth er objects
e (such as sarcop h agi, statu es an d stelae), as well as on
s m ade from other m ater ia ls such as wooden coffins and
ls and wooden coffins, and hierat ic was com m on ly writ ten on
and on p ieces of stone and pot tery, som e of which were
trem ely large.
of p ap yr u s was kn own as ^ ^ " v / s h e f e d u ' . Pap yru s was a
of paper m ade from the ta ll papyrus p lant (Cyperus papyrus)
at on ce grew abu n dan tly in th e still, shallow waters of the Egyp -
an m arshlan ds . The p lant was used to m ake a var ie ty of th ings
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from san dals an d baskets to r iver boats . For the m anufacture of
'paper ' the s tem of th e plant was used. After h arvest in g, the stem s
were cut to the required length and the outer sk in or r ind was
peeled off. The core of the stem was then cut or peeled into s tr ips ,wh ich were laid side by side an d an oth er layer of strips placed on
top , at right an gles to th e first layer. Th e two layers were th en
pressed or beaten together , and t h e n atu ral adhesives in the p lant
welded th e strips to geth er as th ey d ried ou t. Th e result was a sheet
of p apyrus, s lightly thicker th an m od ern writ ing p aper, that was
ready for the scribe to u se.
Pens an d Ink
For m an y pu rposes a scribe wou ld use a palet te , often m ade of
woo d , which h ad a slot with a sliding cover d esigned to h old a few
pe n s, as well as h avin g h oles for th e cakes of black and red in k. This
set of equ ipm en t was called " JH , 'm enh ed' .The last h ieroglyph , is a pictu re of the scribal equipm ent ,
u sed here as a det erm in ative (see page 31), which cou ld also be u sed
as th e sign for 'sesh', m ean in g a 'scribe ' and 'to write '. Th e equ ip-
m ent as shown in th e hieroglyph is a palet te , a bag or p ot for water
(or possibly for pigments) and a case for pen s, all h eld together b y
a cord. In practice, the pen s were often stored in the palet te .Pens were m ade from reeds, the end s of wh ich were frayed
(often by chewing) , to form som ething m ore like a bru sh than a
nib. Pointed reed pens were only introduced into Egypt by the
Greeks in th e t h ird cen tu ry BC.
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Black ink (m ade of carbon black, usually soot) was m ost
m m only used on papyr i, with red ink (made from ochre ) be ing
ed for h ighlight in g p art icular section s (such as tot als of
in water and rubbed it on a cake of ink, in m uch the same
water colou r paints are used tod ay.
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Divine W riting
To th e an cient Egypt ian s, writing was a gift from he gods. Th e god
Thoth was believed to have invented writ ing and so he was the
m ain god of writ ing , as well as be ing a god of da tes and the
measurement of time. Sesh at w as a godd ess of writing, as well as ofaccoun ts and m easurem ents .
In ancient Egypt ian , the n am e for h ieroglyph s was 'god 's words '
or 'd ivin e speech', ^jj, 'm edu -net er ', an d word s were believed to b e
very powerful, especially in m agic an d ritu al. Am ulets were w orn
by people and p laced on mummies to br ing good luck or keep
away evil, an d m any were in the shape of p art icu lar h ieroglyph s.Th e Eye of H oru s, ^ ( 'wed jat ') , acted as a protective device in
amulets and jewellery, while millions of am ule ts were m ade in the
shape of the scarab beetle , a sym bol of eternal life and
resurrection.
The ankh , becam e a powerfu l am ulet of eternal life, an d th e
djed p illar, J , becam e a sym bol of long life an d stability. Acommon g roup of h ieroglyph s u sed as a m agic form ula or am ulet
was - ^ JJ, 'an kh u d ja s', an abb reviation for 'ankh u d ja sen eb'
m eaning 'life , pro sperity and health '. An oth er com binat ion of
h ieroglyph s was ^ l ' 'ankh d jed was'. The 'was ' h ieroglyph , was
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anim al-headed staff tha t was carr ied b y the gods. This
ice was the h ieroglyph CD, wh ose shape was used to sur rou n dct the th rone nam e and b ir th n am e of ph araoh s (see page
It was believed th at in som e circum stances rep resentat ion s such
statues, pictures and even h ieroglyph s could com e to life. If such
of dan gerous th in gs, fierce anim als or kn own
em ies, an effort was m ade t o n eutralise the dan ger. In fun erary
the threat to the dead p erson from dan gerous h ieroglyph s
th em pierced with spears o r kn ives. Th is was d on e, for
am ple, to grou ps of hieroglyph s such as ^ WIR, the name of
ph is, th e snake god of the underworld .
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W hat They W rote
Even th ou gh on ly a sm all fract ion of the writings of ancient Egypt
in hieroglyphs and hieratic ( 'handwriting') has survived, i t never-
theless represents a huge range, from form al, m on um en tal in scrip-
t ion s carved on tem ple walls to graffiti scra tched on broken pot teryfragm ent s. Th ere are sets of accoun ts (such as lists of agricultural
prod uce), king l is ts ( lists of ph araoh s with th eir length of reign),
lists of h istorical event s, deeds of sale, tax do cu m en ts, census lists,
royal decrees, technical texts (primarily on medicine and math-
ematics, and containing practical examples), military despatches,
inscript ions on statues, commemorative inscript ions, funeraryspells, religious ritu als an d h ym n s, fun erary au tob iograph ies in
tom bs, records of m ilitary cam paign s, le t ters (private and bu si-
n ess), wisd om texts (m oralisin g set texts copied ou t b y appren tice
scribes) and n arrative tales. Apar t from the lack of th eatr ical plays
and possibly n on -religiou s son gs (alth ough som e of the p oetry
m ay have been sun g), the ancient Egypt ian s u sed writ in g for thesam e pu rpo ses as it is used today, as well as for add itional on es,
such as writ in g let ters to the dead which were posted in tom bs.
Ma n y texts are believed to have been written in verse form , n ot
prose form, bu t Egypt ologists argue abo u t t h is. M agic spells for the
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ct ion o f the dead and for sur vival in th e n ext world (th e after-
fe) are the largest sin gle grou p of survivin g writing in Egyp t , the
ost im por tan t of wh ich are the Pyram id Texts, Coffin Texts and
ook o f the Dead . Th e at tem pts to m ake these spells du rable, soth ey would be effective for as lon g as po ssible, resulted in m ore
of such spells survivin g th an any other Egypt ian literat u re.
To en sure th e sur vival of the dead ph araoh in the afterlife, spells
ted b y h is relatives an d p riests, b u t in case t h ey failed to
form th e r itu als , steps were taken to give a m ore perm an en t
scribed in h ieroglyph s on the walls of the ch am bers in side th e
ids wh ere th e ph araohs were bu ried. It was believed that as
g as the h ieroglyph s sur vived , th e spells wo u ld rem ain effective
th e p h araoh . These part icular spells are n ow kn own as Pyram id
Arou n d 2000 BC these spells began to be in scribed in the t om bsth e n obles an d th eir fam ilies as well as in th e tom bs of the pha r -
The n obles had n ow also begun to seek survival after death
rough m um m ification an d m agic spells . Previously, they h ad
oping to share in his resurrection . The word in g of the spells used
obles was sim ilar t o that of the Pyram id Texts, but with
ls of the t om bs, th ey were writ ten on wood en coffins and for
at reason are called Coffin Texts.
Abo u t 500 years later spells no w kn own as the Book of the Dead
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began to replace the Coffin Texts. Rather than being a book with
specific cont en ts, th e Book of th e D ead is actually a collection of
abou t 200 spells, prayers an d h ym n s, m an y derived from the Pyra-
m id Texts an d Coffin Texts. Different sur vivin g copies of the Book
of the Dead contain varyin g sets of spells. Th ey were n o lon ger
writ ten on the coffin , bu t on a ro ll of papyrus (hence the te rm
'boo k ' ) , which was bur ied in the tom b or ins ide the coffin . The
m od ern t it le of Book of the D ead is m isleading, as the ancient
Egypt ian view of th ese collection s of spells was closer to Boo k of
Living Forever o r Boo k of Resurrection.
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d h ieratic, h is success was pa rt ly d ue t o h is practice of t ry in g to
to Copt ic . H e was then able to see if a Copt ic word existed th at
airly sim ilar to h is ancient Egypt ian wo rd , and b ecause
fluent in Copt ic , he cou ld t ranslate the word in to
own lan guage of French. H e th erefore went th rou gh the follow-
rench. Alth ou gh th is was an excellent way to s tar t deciph erm en t,
always an accurate m eth od, because th e langu age had of
e changed greatly over th ousand s of years. Th is prob lem can
en tod ay, for exam ple, in langu ages th at have d escen ded from
atin : the Latin word for 'four ' is quat tuor , but in French i t has
quatre, wh ile th e Latin for 'eagle' is aquila, bu t the
rench word has changed to aigle.
Today hieroglyphs are transliterated or converted into a set of
any pa rt s of th e wo rld. Th e w ord 'tran sliterate ', which is d erived
om the Lat in words t rans ('across', or 'over') and littera ( ' letter ') ,
rocess o f convert ing the let ters of on e alph abet in to the
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letters of another. The words can th en be t rans la ted in t o o ther lan-
guages, such as En glish, Germ an or Du tch .
This soun ds qu ite a straightforward process, bu t there are three
major problems: the lack of punctuation in hieroglyphs (see page
33), th e lack of vowels in h ieroglyph s (see page 34), an d the m odern
alphabet into which the hieroglyphs are converted. Because the
Eur op ean alph abet is pro n ou n ced in different ways in different
coun tr ies ( ' j' and 'w ' are pro n ou n ced differently in Germ an y and
En glan d , for exam p le), a special u n iversal alph abet was d evised in
the la te nineteenth century to represent the Egyptian sounds,
including some letters with diacritics or accents (signs above or
below the le t ter) , wh ich can change the p ron u n ciat ion of a le t ter
rad ically. Th is system can be very difficult for anyone ju st star t in g
to learn hieroglyphs, because this special alphabet also has to be
learned!
To m ake th ings m ore s traightforward, the transliterat ion alph a-
bet is not used in th is b oo k, bu t a sim plified system is used in stead.
For exam ple, the w ord P J^ c ^ > m eaning 'to teach ', should be t ran s-
literated as sbs. To make this easier to pronounce, a vowel is
in serted between th e 's ' and 'b ', an d th e final sym bo l is better
unders tood if written as 'a ' , and so the transliteration used in this
book is 'seba'. An oth er exam ple is f^ O , m eaning 'beer '. The tran s-
literation should be hnq t , bu t h is a harsh 'h ' , and no vowels are
shown . In this bo ok the word is t ransliterated as 'hen qet '. The word
III*'™ , m ean in g 'harvest' , sho u ld b e t ran slitera ted as Sm w. In th is
b oo k, th ou gh , th e first sign is spelled ou t as 'sh', a vowel is placed
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ween ' sh ' an d 'm ', an d th e 'w ' is easier to pron ou n ce if writ ten as
u', so th e wor d com es ou t as 'shem u'. W herever a letter 'u ' is u sed, it
s a 'do u ble-u ' ( 'w ' ) and has the soun d W as in 'boot ' , n o t 'u ' as in
For anyone hoping to s tudy hieroglyphs in greater depth, i t is
s, u sin g th e letters with diacritics such as f, oth erwise m an y
ks on the subject will rem ain in com preh en sible . The tran sliter-
signs are given in th e section on u n iliteral signs on page 37.
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How Do Hieroglyphs W ork?
The h ieroglyph ic s igns u sed in writ in g fun ctioned in five m ain
ways:
• as pictograph s (where a word is represent ed by a picture)
• as id eogram s (where an idea is represent ed b y a picture )
• as ph on etic sym bols (where a sou n d is represent ed by a
picture)
• as determ in atives (used to distinguish between sim ilar word s)
• as ph on etic com plem ent s (used to clarify sounds)
Man y hieroglyph s h ad m ore than on e fun ct ion . There was nosin gle group of h ieroglyph s th at op erated solely as pictograph s,
an oth er solely as determ in atives, an d so on . For e xam ple, "k is th e
sign of a star , which can act as a determ in ative (added to a word to
show that a s tar or t ime is meant) , or as an ideogram (the word
'unut ' , meaning 'hour ' ) , or as a phonetic symbol (expressing the
soun ds 'd u a ' or 'seba ') . W hen star t ing to learn h ieroglyph s it seem sim po ssible to kn ow th eir fun ction s, b ut with practice th ese differ-
in g functions becom e less confusing, and the different types of sign
actually becom e useful a ids rather th an further h in dran ces to
un derstan din g h ieroglyph s.
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ecause h ieroglyph s were pictu res of real th in gs that th e Egyp tian s
d th em , the s ign s could be used as pictograph s (or p icto-
' is a lso used for th is fun ct ion of h ieroglyph s and m eans
rally 'a sign represen ting a word '.
Th is is th e m ost sim ple form of writ ing, in which a wh ole word
ent ed b y a sin gle p ictu re. For exam ple, —» is a pictu re of
arrow and can therefore m ean literally 'arrow '; © is a pictu re ofsun an d can therefore m ean 'sun '; and is a pictu re of a scarab
e and can m ean literally 'scarab beetle '. W here a sign is m eant
e read as a pictur e, it is usu ally accom pan ied b y a stroke, wh ich
p le, if <=> was supposed to be read as a pictu re of a m outh , it
m ore likely to be represen ted as | , wh ich is a very useful clue.Pic tographs were not a viable m ethod of writ in g the com ple te
ent Egypt ian langu age, because m any th ou sand s o f signs
h ic form of writ in g. O n ly about 500 h ieroglyph s were in com -
on use, bu t over 17,000 Egypt ian word s are kn ow n , so alth oughy deciph erers th ought th at h ieroglyph s form ed a picture lan -
is was far from bein g th e case.
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Ideograms
Ideograms, literally ' idea writing', take pictographs one stage fur-
th er (alth ou gh som e Egypt ologists even classify p ictograp h s asideo gram s). Th e h ieroglyph s are not used as the picture of a real
th in g, bu t som ething related to th at picture. So fy, an o ld m an with
a staff, can be used as th e wo rd 'iaw', m ean in g 'old ' , wh ile th e
head of a leopard , can be u sed as the word 'peh ti', m eaning
'strength'.
Ph on etic Sym bols
The m ajori ty o f hieroglyph s were used as ph on etic sym bols, a lso
called 'soun d signs ', 'ph on ogram s' or 'ph on em ic signs ', from the
Greek word forte meaning a sound or tone. These hieroglyphsspelled out the soun ds of a word , a system that is found in lan-
guages tod ay wh ere alph abets are u sed. Even where alph abets vary
dramatically, as in the English, Russian and Greek alphabets, each
letter or sign represents a sound. Most alphabets have around
twenty-five le t ters, bu t ancient Egypt ian h ad a m uch larger n um ber
of ph on etic hieroglyph s, an d t he system of 'sou n d signs ' was m orecom plicated t han a true alph abet .
H ieroglyph s had th ree types of p h on etic sym bol: un iliterals ,
biliterals an d triliterals, 'u n i ' bein g o n e, 'b i ' two and ' tr i ' three. 'Lit-
eral' is from the Latin word littera, meaning ' letter ' , and so
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soun ds and tr iliteral hieroglyph s three soun ds. Th e full lis t o f
n ilitera ls is given on page 37, an d exam ples of biliter als on p age 43
d triliterals on page 50.
hen the hieroglyph s were used ph on etically - as soun ds - to spell
t word s, vowels (such as a, e, i, o, u ) were rarely ind icated; h iero-
yph s m ain ly represent conson an ts (such as d , m , p , t ) . Th e En g-
ish words ' lan d ' and ' len d ' wou ld therefore bot h be writ ten as 'ln d ' ,ile 'rover ' an d 'r iver ' wou ld bo th b e written as 'rvr '. Th is is n ot a
ystem pecu liar to h ieroglyph s, because lan guages such as H ebrew
d Arabic com m on ly om it vowels in writ in g.
m ined the m ean ing of a word. Th ey were no t pa r t of the spell-
g of a word and were n ot p ronou n ced. Ins tead , they were added
of a word to give th e reader som e idea of its m ean in g. So
determ in ative h ieroglyph a pictu re of a t ired m an, shows
weak'. Th e sign a pictu re of a circular walled settlem ent with a
of road s, shows th at the accom pan yin g word is a town or
illage (as in th e place n am es given on page 160 ).
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Som e words in En glish h ave th e sam e soun d and spellin g bu t a
different m ean in g, such as 'lie ' which can m ean ' to lie do wn ' or 'to
tell an un truth ', wh ile 'bo lt ' can refer to a fastening on a d oo r or it
can b e a verb m ean ing ' to run away'. Th e sam e is the case in ancientEgypt ian . The word ^ , ' rnn ' (or m ore like ly in En glish ,
'ren en ') , m eans 'to praise ', bu t a different det erm in ative as in
<=> — — 1| changes the sense: a lth ough th e word is s t ill 'renen ', it
now m eans ' to rear [a child] '.
Because th ere was n o p un ctuation in h ieroglyph ic w rit in g, and
n o spaces between word s, these det erm in ative signs are also a verygood way of seeing where one word en ds and anoth er begins .
Man y h ieroglyph ic signs were o n ly used as determ in atives, so they
provide useful c lues about word end in gs and m eanings. Th ey also
show that the preceding hieroglyphs were phonetic symbols , not
pictograph s: determ in atives never com e after a pictograph sign.
H owever, a lthou gh hu nd reds of d ifferent h ieroglyph s could beused as determ in atives, th ey were n ot w ritt en after every word that
was spelled ou t with ph on etic sym bols.
Phonetic Complements
Also called sound complements, these were uniliteral hieroglyphs
used in a special way in conjunction with biliteral and tril i teral
hieroglyphs. Where a scribe used a biliteral to spell out the two
consonants of a single word or two consonant s of a lon ger word ,
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ese two sou n d s were often spelled o u t yet again by u n iliter als. So
the sign for 'bn ' was represented b y a biliteral, th e letters 'b ' an d
' wou ld also b e repeated in dividu ally, som etim es in front an d
after. These did n ot act as extra le t ters in the wor d an dre no t p ron oun ced (and do no t n eed to be t rans la ted).
It became m ore com m on for on ly one ph one t ic com plem ent to
added to a bi literal , wh ich repeated the second , bu t not the first ,
son an t. Sim ilarly, the last two con sonan ts of a tr i literal cou ld be
ted b y ph on etic com plem ent s . For exam ple, the biliteral n
ents th e t wo letters 'pr ' , bu t is often writ ten with the add it ion
th e u n iliteral <=>, th e letter Y: n < = . spells ou t 'pr ' , n ot 'prr '. An
a <=> wou ld in fact spell ou t 'pr r ' , as n<=><=». An exam ple of a
iteral is wh ich represents the letters 'h tp ', an d th is could be
com panied by the ph on et ic com plem ents o (the le t t e r ' t ' ) and •
the le t t e r 'p ' ) .
ctua t ion such as com m as and full stops, so t h is senten ce wou ld
tten as:
th erewerenospacesbetween wordswrit ten in h ieroglyph snoup per
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Vowels were also n ot written , on ly the con son an ts, so in fact this
sentence would appear m ore as:
thrwrnspcsbtwnwrdswrttnnhrglyphsnpprcsrlwrcsl t trs thywrll
thsmndnpncttnschscmmsndflls tpssthssntncwldbwrttnsH owever, h ieroglyph s are n ot qu ite as awkward to un derstand as
th is senten ce, because th e h ieroglyph s of each word were grouped
togeth er (see page 56).
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n d twenty-five of these, with som e variant s, all techn icallyts (such as b , g , t ) , a lth ough som e are 'weak ' con sonan ts
ph abet , a lth ough the Egypt ian s had n o concept of an alph abet
d h ad n o special nam es for these signs. In a lan guage such as
ieroglyph s were m ixed with oth er types of h ieroglyph to spell out
s. Exam ples of un iliterals in clu de — , wh ich d epicted ripp lin g
J , which
cted a foot and lower leg, bu t was used to write the soun d 'b '.
These unil i teral s igns were the most commonly used
ieroglyph s. The Egypt ian s foun d th ese signs p art icularly useful
it cam e to spelling out the soun ds of foreign nam es that th ey
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Th ere are special signs th at Egypt ologists use for tran sliterating
(see page 25) these h ieroglyph s (that is , for convertin g them in to a
m od ern -da y script ). In th e list below, th e u n iliteral h ieroglyph s are
in the o rd er t hey are given in d iction aries of h ieroglyph s. Th e ord erdoes not follow the Europ ean alph abet (a , b , c , d and so on ).
In stead, it is m ore like a , i, y, an oth er (different-soun ding) a, u , b
and so on! The next column gives the transliteration sign used by
Egypt ologists, and the t h ird colum n gives the nam e of th e tran slit-
eration sign (such as 'aleph ', 'm ', 'fourt h h ') . Th e fourth colum n
gives the m ore sim plified tran sliterat ion used in th is b oo k. Th efina l colu m n describes the actual h ieroglyph (such as a vultu re), its
po ssible p ron u n ciation , wh ere clarification is needed , an d its
Gard in er n um ber. Th e Gard in er n um bers refer to the classification
used by most Egyptologists , explained under 'What Are Hiero-
glyph s?' on page 13.
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An Egypt ian vulture ( Neophronpercnopterus) . The s oun d it
or igina l ly represented is
un ce r ta in , poss ib ly som eth ing
called a glot ta l s top , a soun d tha t
was m ade in th e la rynx (as in
Cockn ey ' bo t t l e ' when the two
't ' s a re pro n ou n ced a t the back o f
the th roa t , givin g 'bo ' l ') . In th is
bo ok ' a ' or ' ah ' is used for th is
s ign (pro n ou n ced ' a ' as in the
Engl ish wo rd ' pa r t ' o r the
G er m a n w o r d Vater). It is
technica l ly a weak consonant ,
no t a vowe l ( Gi )
aleph a , or ah
i, j o r i yodh , or y
)1] (o r \ \ ) y, ii y y
A flowerin g reed, the le t te r 'i ' or
was tech n ically a weak
conson ant and not a vowe l. It
was po ss ibly n ot even
pr onounc e d ve r y often. It
pe rh aps soun ded m ore like a ' y '
in th e English 'yes ' or the
G e r m a n ja (M17)
Two flowerin g reeds represented
a m uc h s t ronge r s ound o f 'y '
th an th e hieroglyph above (M 17
a nd Z4)
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n ' ayin a A person ' s a rm represented agut tura l soun d, m ade deep in
th e throa t , which occurs in
Arabic and H ebrew. It is usually
expressed in En glish as an 'a '
(D 3«)
^ (or 9 ) iv w u , o r w A qu a il ch ick formed the soun d
'oo' , 'u ' or even 'w ' as in th e
Engl ish word s 'bo ot ' or 'win d ' .
H iera t ic wri t in g la te r used the
sign 9 instead, wh ich was in
turn used as a hieroglyph ic s ign
(G43 and Z7)
b b b A lower leg an d foot of a person
(D58)
• p p p A reed m a t t ing s too l (one of th e
c om m one s t i t e m s of furni ture)
(03)
f f f A vipe r wi th two ho rn s ( I9)
Sk ( o r •— ) m m m An ow l ( t he on ly b i r d s how n in a
hieroglyph full-face, a nd no t
sideways). A sign of u n k n o w n
or igin ( , — ) was an a lte rna t ive
(G17 an d Aa y)
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, (or n n
ra
h h
h do t t ed h h
h th i rd h ch , o r kh
fi fou rth h c h
A s ign for r ippl ing water , or
water with waves . Th e Red
Crown was a la te r a l te rna t ive
sign for 'n ' (N35 and S3)
An out l ine of a per son ' s m ou t h
(D21)
A plan view of a reed sh e lte r o r
hu t was used for th e le t te r 'h ' , as
in th e En glish wo rd 'hi l l ' (O 4)
A twis ted wick (prob ably m ade
of cloth soaked in fat) used in a
lam p represented a ha rd ,
e m pha t i c ' h ' ( V 28)
A c ircular sign with ho r izonta l
l ines , an un cer ta in s ign b ut
t hou gh t pos sib ly t o be a hum a n
placenta , represented the sound
'ch ' or 'kh ' (as in the Germ an
Buch or th e Scot t ish ' loch ' ) (Aai)
A plan view of an animal 's belly
and ud der . It p oss ibly
represented the soun d 'ch', as in
the Ge r m a n ich (F32)
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Uni l i t e ra l Trans l i t e ra t ion
H i er o g l yp h Si gn N a m e
shin
q, o r k q
s, or i
sh
q , o r k
A doorb ol t , the type u sed toc lose dou ble doo rs from the
ou ts ide (as in a tem ple) (O 34)
A folded length of woven cloth
(usual ly te rm ed 'bol t of cloth',
which can cause confus ion with
the doo rbol t ab ove ) (S29)
A plan view of an artificial po ol
or bas in (N37)
A sideways view of a san dy h ill-
s lope was an em ph at ic 'k ' or 'q ',
as in the En glish wor d 'queen '
(N29)
A basket with a han dle (V31)
secon d t t j , or tsh
Th e side view of a circular s tand
for a jar . It rep resent ed a har d 'g ',
as in the wo rd 'go ld' (W 11)
A side view of a loaf of bread
(Xi)
A h obb le te th er ing rope for
animals (V13)
A ha nd of a pe rson (D46)
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A cob ra at rest was the sign forthe sou n d ' j ' or 'd j ' (as in th e
Engl ish word ' jok e ' ) ( I io )
secon d d j , or dj
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Biliterals
Biliterals (also called biconsonantals) are double consonants. They
are individual hieroglyphs that represent two sounds in the same
sign - n ot vowels like 'i ' an d 'e ', bu t con son an ts like 'g' an d 't ' . Th e
biliteral sign a is a picture of a gam in g board (viewed from the
side, with the gaming pieces on top), and represented a combin-
ation of the two letters 'm n ' (instead of usin g an d — ) . Sim ilarly,
\ is a picture of a h oe, and represented the two let ters 'm r ' com -
bin ed (in stead of using ^ an d <=•). These biliterals n um bered
over eighty, and examples are given below. Because the universal
tran sliteration alph abet h as not been used h ere (see page 26), it m ay
look as if som e of th ese h ieroglyph s have vowels and even m ore
than two consonants . For exam ple , the h ieroglyph t ^ would be
tran sliterated as h w in th e un iversal tran sliteration alph abet, bu t it
is easier to p ron ou n ce if it is writt en as 'kh u'.
W here h ieroglyph s represent soun ds such as 'm t ', 'n h ' and 'wr ',
the vowel 'e ' can also be introduced to make them easier to pro-nounce ( 'met ' , 'neh ' and 'wer ' ) . Some hieroglyphs had more than
one soun d or fun ction , so the on es given below m ay n ot always
op erat e as biliterals. For exam ple, the h ieroglyph can be a bilit-
eral 'h b ' an d a t riliter al 'shn a'.
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The Gardiner n um bers refer to th e classificat ion used b y m ost
Egypto logists, explain ed u n d er 'W h at Are H iero glyp h s?' on p age 13.
Bi li t e r a l Le t t e r s u s e d W ha t t h e H ie r og lyph D e p ict s
H i er o g ly p h in t h i s b o o k ( G a rd i n e r n u m b e r in b r a c k e t s)
/ n ^ it Eye ( D 4)
U ka Two arm s ra ised (D28)
chn Two a rm s rowing with an oa r (D33)
khu An arm h olding a fla il (D43)
m t Penis (D52)
i ib Kid (E8)
SL^ iw N e w bor n calf (E9)
ru Recum ben t lion (E23)
un Hare (E34)
u p O x h orn s (F13)
S i ph Rea r of lion (F22)
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Bi li t e r a l l e t t e r s u s ed W ha t t h e H ie r og lyph D e p ic t s
H i e r o g ly p h i n t h i s b o o k ( G ar d i n e r n u m b e r in b r a c k et s )
sh d W ater skin (F30)
H m s Thr e e fox skins t ied to geth er (F31)
fT ib H ear t (F34)
JM^ aw Spine with spina l cord a t each end (F40)
^ m t Vulture (G14)
^ ^ nh G u ine a fowl ( G 21)
akh Crested ibis (G25)
gm Black ibis (G28)
ba Jabiru (G29)
ak Corm oran t (G35)
^ ^ u r Sw allo w ( G36 )
^ ^ g b W h it e-fr on t ed g oo se ( G38 )
sa Pinta i l du ck (G39)
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pa P in ta i l du ck fly ing (G40)
p a Pint a i l d uck land ing (G4 1)
^ ja Du ckl in g (G47)
ff s hu Fea the r ( H S)
f~\ km Croco d i le sca les (16)
^ ^ ch a O x yr h yn c h u s fish ( K4 )
vj— kht Tree bran ch with twigs (M3)
m sha Pool wi th flowers (M8)
kh a Lotu s lily (M 12)
^ h a C lu m p of pap yrus (M 16)
^ su Sedge plant (M 23)
j| is Bun dle of r eeds (M40 )
= ta Strip of flat land wi th sand (N16)
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Bi li t e r a l l e t t e r s u s e d W ha t t he H ie r og lyph D e p ict s
H i e r o g ly p h i n t h i s b o o k ( G ar d i n e r n u m b e r in b r a c k e t s)
O kha Sun r ise over m oun ta in (N28)
m u W ater with r ipples or waves (N35a)
1—•• m r Can al (N 36)
[TD p r Plan of h o u s e ( O i )
| a a W ooden c o lum n ( O 29)
0 sp Thresh ing floor with grain (O50)
djd Reed colu m n (R11)
h dj Stone m ace ( T 3 )
|1 sn Arrowhead (T22)
ffi chr Butche r ' s b lock (T28)
| nm Butch e r 's kn ife (T34)
^ m a Sickle (U i)
^ m r H o e ( U 6 )
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hb Plough (U l3)
tm Sledge (U 15)
ab , m r Ch isel (U 23)
dja Fire dr ill (U29 )
ta Kiln (U30)
ti Pest le (U 33)
h m Laun derer ' s c lub (U36)
wa Lasso (V4)
shs Loop ed cord (V6)
shn Loop ed cord (V7)
, sa Cattle h ob ble (V16)3
w dj C or d w ou n d on a s tic k ( V24)
= c ad j W eaver 's shut tle (V26)
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Bi li t e r a l l e t t e r s u s e d W ha t t h e H ie r og lyph D e p ict s
H i er o g ly p h i n t h is b o o k ( G a rd i n e r n u m b e r in b r a c k et s )
^ sk Fibre swab (V29)
n b Basket (V31)
hs Ceram ic water ja r (W 14)
^ m i Milk jug with carrying ne t (W 19)
O nu C e r am ic po t ( W 24)
CT3 m n Gam ing bo a rd (Y5)
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literals, also called tricon son an tals, are t riple con son an ts. Th ey
n dividu al hieroglyph s th at represent th ree sou n ds in th e sam e
gn - n ot vowels like 'a ' and 'o ', b u t conson an ts like 'k ' an d 'p '.
u n d seventy tr i literals , m ost of which actually
led ou t a sin gle wo rd , such as ^j, wh ich was a pictu re of a flag
a pole (an em blem of d ivin ity), but which represented the
word for 'god '. Th e sign wh ich is a pictu re of an adze on a
of wood, expressed the three soun ds o f's tp ' com bin ed, ra ther
P o •. Several exam ples o f trilitera ls are
ven below, bu t b ecause the u n iversal tran sliteration alph abet h as
been used here (see page 26), it m ay look as if som e of these
ieroglyph s have vowels an d even m ore than three consonan ts . For
am ple , the h ieroglyph | | should be t rans lite rated as hpr, bu t it is
ier to pron ou n ce when writ ten as 'kh p r ' (or with add ed vowels
kh ep er ' ) .
W here h ieroglyph s represent soun ds such as 'n t r ' and 'spd ' , the
ction , so th e ones given below m ay n ot always operate in this
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way. For exam ple, th e hieroglyph | can b e a biliteral 'sk ' and a
tr ilitera l 'wah '.
Th e Gardiner n um bers refer to th e classificat ion used by m ost
Egypt ologists, explain ed u n d er 'W h at Are H ieroglyph s?' on page 13.
Tr i li t e r a l Le t t e r s U s e d W ha t t he H ie r og lyph D e p ic t s
H i er o g ly p h In T h i s Bo o k ( G a r d i n e r n u m b e r in b r a ck e t s)
^ khn t Person's eye, n ose, cheek (D 19)
wsr H ead and neck of jackal (F12)
£ idn, sdjm Ear of an ox (F21)
whm Leg and hoof of ox (F25)
t j1
sab Co w skin (with tail) (F28)
| n fr An im a l he a r t a nd w ind p ipe ( F35)
J sma Anim a l lun gs and win dp ipe (F36)
^ ^ isu Jo in t of meat (F44)
^ m ut Vul ture (G14)
asha Lizard (I i)
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Tr i li t e r a l Le t t e r s U s e d W ha t t he H ie r og lyph D e p ic t s
H ie r og lyph III Th i s Book ( G a r d ine r n um be r in b r a c ke t s )
H khp r Scarab bee t le (Li)
Q ima Tree (M i)
wadj Papyrus plant (M 13)
!J. n kh b Rush plan t (M 22)
shm a Flowering sedge (M 26)
^ sp d T h o r n ( M 4 4 )
g wbn Sun wi th rays (N8)
sba, d ua Star (N 14)
jfff. shsp Fence (O 42)
uh a Boa t wi th ne t (P4)
| aha Boa t ' s m ast (P6)
J kh rw O ar (P8)
h t p Loaf on a ma t (R4)
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Tr ili t e ra l Le t t e r s U s e d W ha t t h e H ie r og lyph D e p ic t s
H ier og lyph In Th i s Boo k ( G a r d in e r n um be r in b r a c ke t s )
n tr Flag on po le (R8)
q m d jh Ba n d o f c lo th ( Sio )
«==• sia Clot h wit h fringe (S32)
ankh Sand al s t rap (S34)
hka Croo k (S38)
aut Sh eph erd ' s c roo k (S39)
was Anima l -headed staff or sceptre (S40)
d jam Anima l -headed staff or scept re with spiral shaft
(S41)
| aba Sceptre (S42)
—<* swn Arrow (T u )
ru d j , ru d Bowstr ing (T12)
sshm Knife sharp en er (T31)
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shn a Plou gh (U 13)
p—> stp Adze on a block of wood (U21)
uba Dr i ll fo r cu t t ing beads (U26)
khs f Sp ind l e ( U 34)
^ shs r Loop ed cord (V6)
wah Fibre swab (V29)
chn m Stone j ug w ith ha nd le ( W 9)
h n w C u p ( W 10 )
khnt Rack of ceram ic water ja rs (W 17)
sua Crossed sticks (Z9)
.— 1 m aa Pedesta l o r p lat form (Aan )
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The W ay To Read Hieroglyphs
En glish is written an d read h orizon tally from left to right , wh ile Ara-
bic is written an d read h orizon tally from right to left . H ieroglyph s
could be written an d read h orizon tally in two d irection s: eith er from
left to r igh t or from right to left, although the top line was alwaysread first, th en the lin e b eneath, an d so on . In h ieroglyph ic in scrip-
tions written in vertical columns, the hieroglyphs were read from
top to b otto m (never bottom to top ), e ither star t ing with the left-
han d o r the r igh t-han d colum n . The d irection of writ in g an d read-
in g in both h orizon tal l ines an d vertical colum n s of h ieroglyph s
depen ded on the d irection in which th e h ieroglyph s faced.Because of th is variat ion and flexibility , scribes could com pose
their writing artistically, particularly when it accompanied other
pictures, such as those of people and gods in tom b p ain t in gs. The
writ in g w ould often face the sam e way as a person or god bein g
dep icted, so if two people sat opp osite each oth er , th e writ in g
wou ld be d ivided in the sam e pain t in g in to two groups facing twodifferent ways.
T he me thod of deciding which way hieroglyphs should be read
is to work ou t the d irection in which th ey are facing. For som e
h ieroglyph s, it is easy to see wh ich way th ey face. For exam ple, the
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The W ay To Read Hieroglyphs
ie roglyph s f̂ (an o ld m an with a st ick), fy (a wom an givin g
r th ) and ^ (a giraffe) all face left h ere, wh ile (a h eron ), ( a
an worsh ipp in g) and ^ (a kin g with th e Red Crow n ) all face
ght h ere. For m an y hieroglyph s it is im po ssible t o work o u t wh ichh ey are facing, such as fa (a th orn ) , f̂ a (a m oun ta in range)
d j] (an ob elisk), b u t this is rarely a p rob lem , sin ce the direction
f on ly one hieroglyph needs to b e identified to kn ow wh ich way a
of h ieroglyph s shou ld be read.
The way to read th e h ieroglyph s is to look in to the faces or th e
n t o f the signs be ing dep icted , no t at the back o f th em . If aof peo ple is im agin ed, all facin g th e sam e way, th en th e first
in the qu eue is read first. For exam ple, th e word for 'shield ' is
-sO ('ik em '). Th e d irect ion of read in g is best t aken from
owl, wh o is here facing left (alth ough its h ead is tur n ed to face
e reader) . W ith in creased fam iliar ity with th e h ieroglyph s, it will
so be ap par en t th at th e oth er signs are also facing left: I], th e reedgn for the letter ' i' ; an d zn, wh ich dep icts cro cod ile scales and
or 'km '; and th e last sign ^ m eaning 'cowskin ' , from which
e shield wou ld have b een m ade. Because of th e direction of th e
gn s, th is wor d is read from eft to r ight .
The same word ^ P^ f^ P is read from r igh t to left , because the
gns are n ow facing right , wh ile th ey can also ap pe ar as:(j when they are read from top to bot t om . Because they
13 are facing left, the reader would s tart with th is colum n
and wou ld then read the next co lum n to the r ight .
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In the word f0
^ ( 'm er ') , m ean ing 'pyram id ' , the d irec t ion o f
the three h ieroglyphs cannot be worked out , but the word is not
likely to occur on its own , so the direction of readin g can be
worked ou t from adjacent word s.Lin ear h ieroglyph s (see page 8) were usually writt en in colu m n s,
with th e signs facing right . Th e signs in an in d ivid u al colum n
would be read s tar t ing a t the top an d workin g d own to the bot t om .
The in dividu al colum ns were read from right to left .
H ieratic (see pa ge 8) was at first written in eith er h orizon tal
rows o r vertical colu m n s, like h ieroglyph s, bu t from abou t 1800 BCit was mainly writ ten in horizontal rows, with vert ical columns
reserved for religiou s t exts. Th is h an d writin g form of hieroglyphs
was on ly writ ten from r ight to left, with th e signs facing righ t. Like
h ieratic, dem otic was written in h orizon tal l in es, from right to left .
The later developm ent of Coptic was also writ ten in h orizon tal
lin es, bu t from left to r ight , following ancient Greek on wh ich the
script was b ased.
Mo st h ieroglyph s were n ot writ ten in an exact h orizon tal lin e or
vertical colu m n , bu t were arran ged in grou ps, with tall signs stand -
ing on th eir own and sm aller s igns posit ioned on e above th e other .
This can m ake it difficult a t first to work out wh ich h ieroglyph
shou ld be read first , as in the word This word spells
'm n m n t ' (which is easie r to p ronoun ce as 'm enm ene t ') and m eans
'a h erd ' (of cat t le) . The h ieroglyph s shou ld actu ally be read in the
followin g ord er ^ — — •
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ives, bu t n obo dy can be certain h ow th e langu age was spoken. The
ain clues com e from Copt ic , wh ich was a very late version of
of Copt ic was spoken. Clues can also be gain ed from how
e Egypt ian s wrote the word s o f foreign languages (as in the
ent Greek n am es of rulers such as Ptolem y and Cleop atra) . A
w m ore clues can be gained from h ow other ancient languages
down Egypt ian word s. There were prob ably variou s ways to
cien t Egypt ian , with different dialects in different region s
with the language changing over the hu n dreds of years t h at it
poken .
A m ajor difficulty arises for anyone learn in g h ieroglyph s,
th e Egypt ian s did n ot write vowels, so we are faced with
s withou t vowels like 'm n m n' , 's', 'pr ' or 'ndb', with n o idea how
en som e let ters to m ake the word s easier to learn and to pro -
ou n ce. The vowel that tends to be used the m ost in English is an
ent Egyptian word s. O ther vowels are som etim es u sed, though ,
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m ain ly to m ake the sound o f the words less m onot on ous . Th e
words 'm n m n ', 's', 'pr ' , 'n d b ' m ight therefore be writ ten tod ay as
'menmen ' , 'se', 'per ' an d 'nedeb'.
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Your Name
ecause h ieroglyph s look so very different from m ost , if n ot a ll,
er types of w rit ing, it can be fascinating to w rite you r own
e and those o f your fam ily and fr iend s in h ieroglyph s. W hen
gypt ian s foun d it n ecessary to write d own the n am es of for-
y), they m ainly used u n ilitera l signs (see page 37) with som e
iliterals (see page 43). Th is is b y far the m ost st ra ightforward way
writ ing you r own nam e an d it is a way of p ut t ing in to pract ice
of the signs seen in the pr eviou s p ages.
Th is is n ot a scient ific exercise an d th ere is n o single correct w aywrit in g n on -Egypt ian words in h ieroglyph s. W hen writ in g Eng-
ish wo rds in h ieroglyph s, the followin g tra n slation s of En glish
ds into h ieroglyph s are the ones m ost com m on ly used. This is
an Egypt ian a lph abet , bu t m erely a guide to writ in g your nam e
. There is n o difference in h ieroglyph s b etween up per-case
etters (A, B) an d lower-case letters (a, b ).
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^ ^ ^ t H ie r og lyph s You C a n U s e
a poss ibly. .—o
Jc For a hard 'c ', as in Caro l, use for a soft 'c', as in Celia , use P
ch For a 'ch ' sou n d, as in Char les , use s = ; for a hard 'ch ', as in Michael , use
or a lt e rna t ive ly o = or ©
d e =
e Th is was not wr it t en , bu t you can use ( j
g For a hard 'g ' as in Gai l use S ; for a soft 'g', as in George , use
h For a h ard 'h ' , as in H arry, use | ; for a soft o r s ilent 'h ' , as in Joh n , use IT]
1
i ^
k for a h ard 'ch', as in Ch ristine, alternat ives to 'k ' are an d ©
1 Th is is a bil iteral s ign , used for th e sou n d 'ru ' . Th ere was n o '1'
sou n d, bu t th e Egypt ians d id use this s ign for '1' in the Greek n am e
Pto lemy
m
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Engl i sh
A l p h a b e t
w
H ie r og lyph s You C a n U s e
o This is a bi lite ra l s ign, used for the soun d 'ooa ' or 'ua', bu t a l so u sed
by th e Egypt ians for the ' o ' in the Greek n ame Pto lemy
P •
p h F o r a n ' f' - s o u n d i n g ' p h ' as in C h r is to p h e r , u se
q A
sh for a ' sh ' sou n d , as in Char lot te or Josh ua , use i
t
You will need to use the 'b ' soun d J
x This sou n d is best spe lled out as 'ks ' us ing the two h ieroglyph s
y ( | (| , o r \ \
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If a nam e does n ot look right in h ieroglyph s, alternatives can be
tr ied, because often th ere is m ore than on e way of spellin g it . For
exam ple, th e n am e 'Sop h ie ' can be written by chan gin g every letter
in to a hieroglyph . This p rodu ces P-f̂ nnQQ , bu t the soun ds of thenam e ( 'soft ') can also be chan ged in to h ieroglyph s t o p rodu ce
P-f)"— Q • The ancient Egypt ian s ten ded to chan ge the soun ds of
th e nam e into h ieroglyph s, bu t n owadays th e letter-by-letter spell-
in g of a nam e is m ore often used .
Other hieroglyphs (determinatives) can be added to names,
such as the h ieroglyph ^ in "= = =
' - f l l J ' ]< = =
'c ,
i i ' (Rober t ) , whicshows it is the nam e of a bo y or a m an. Th e extra h ieroglyph s ^ in
the n am e (Clare) show th at this is the nam e of a
gir l or a wom an .
Names can be made more impor tan t by pu t t ing them ins ide
'cartou ch es' such as: ( j A t i a ^ ) (Ella), becau se th e an cien t Egyp-
tians used cartouches for th e n am es of royalty (see page 95), as in( Q u e e nCleopatra) .
Here are some names writ ten in hieroglyphs, but any other
n am e can be writ ten by u sin g the alph abet given above:
Adrian *
Alan
Alexander
Alexandra
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Alice
Alison
Amanda
Am yS A W
Andrew
An n & —Anne
& — 1Anthony
Antony
BenjaminJ - ' I S A ' ) -
BrianJ H * -
Caroline
Charles
Charlotte
Chloe
Christine
• h h hChristopher
Claire
Clare
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Craig
Daniel
Darren
David
Deborah
Derek
Diana
Diane
Douglas
Edward
Elizabeth
Ella
Emily
Emma
Frances
Francis
Gail
George
Gillian
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Gordon m-f\<=>«= 1
Graham
Gu y
Hannah A —Harry
Helen
lain
Ian
Jack
Jacqueline
James " I S A QP
Jane 1Jean
Jennifer
Jeremy
Jessica
Jill &
Joanne — i )
John ^ r a -
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Jonathan ^ f ^ — ^ o T D ^ —
Joseph
Joshua = ^
Judith ^ ^ d ^ o f D
Julian
Julie
Justin ^ M " "
Karen <=»(]—-
Katherine j ^ o rO () • = » () I)
Kelly ^ ( j ^ a A f i l j l J
Kenneth (]ofT3
Kerry I) <=» <=» I] ()
Kevin
Laura
Lawrence ^ <=>() — (1 (J
Leanne — — ( )
Lesley A s . I] P A * I) I] I]
Linda A i l ] ^
Lisa - M l1
^
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Louise
Lucy
Luke
Madeleine k A H H H )Malcolm
Margaret
Marion
Mark
Martin
Mary
Matthew
Maureen I M H hMegan
Michael
Miriam
Muriel
Natalie
Nathan
Neil
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Nicholas
Nicola
Nigel
Oliver - f W U H
Owen
Pamela
Patrick
Paul
Peter
Philip
Philippa
Poppy • ^ • D H H
Rachel- S H I - * *
Ralph
Rebecca
Richard
Robert
Robin <=>£\ J<H
Roger
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Rosemary
Rowena
Ro y -MRussell
Ruth
Ryan H Q S r -Samantha
P I A A - ^ :Samuel P M ^ * *Sandra
Sara
Sarah
Sebastian
Sheila
Simon
Sophie
Stephen
Steven
Stuart
Susan
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Suzanne ' Q
Thomas ^ r D - f t ^ U
Timothy
Tracy — M
Trevor
Valerie
Victoria
William
Zo e
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English, the most common way to make a plural is to add an's'
a noun, so that 'house' becomes 'houses'. The Egyptians
xpressed a plural by giving their nouns a 'w' ending (or 'wt' for
eminine nouns), using the hieroglyph } , which is the uniliteral
for 'w' or 'u'. They also included three strokes, either! or I 1 I, or
re rarely three dots 000. This plural did not refer to three, but to
y number.
The word for a wife or woman is 5;l1J, 'hmt', but the plural in
would be o } O , ~ , ('wives'). The 'w' hieroglyph is technically at
he end of the word, because the other two signs were additions:
e female indicator Co (see page 62) and a determinative 11J (see
31). In reality, } Cw') was rarely written for plurals because it
as a weak consonant, and the plural form that was used instead
as ~ ~ I ) 'hmwt'. In transliteration, the 'w' is written in order to
ndicate the plural, even if it was not specifically written in the hier-
glyphs, and the female indicator 't' is written after the plural 'w'.
order to make it easier to pronounce this word, it could be writ-
as 'hemut'.
The oldest method ofwriting a plural was to repeat a sign three
imes, so : : ) ern' meaning 'mouth', becomes in the plural form
71
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™ ™ '< r n w
- (These word s are easier to pro n ou n ce if spelled as
ren ' and 'ren u ') . In t im e, th is system becam e arch aic an d was
aced by three strokes. For "y1, 'per ', m ean in g 'hou se', the plura l
p eru ') was in it ia lly n n n , an d t hen |
[
y]
| or ^ .Th e Egyptian s also h ad several ways of showin g a pair of things,
h is plural of two th in gs on ly (a du al), with words en din g in
\ \ 'ty ' for fem in ine words and ^ .w or <?\\ 'wy' for m asculin e word s
alth ou gh these hieroglyph s were not always shown in full) . O ne
ay of in dicating two th in gs was sim ply to wr ite the word twice, soc
j , 'n tr ', a god, is writ ten ^ for two gods ( 'n t rwy') .Det erm in atives (see page 31) were also do u bled wh en expressin g
th in gs. O ne sister wou ld be 'sen t ', wh ile two sisters was
M > 'senty'. O ne broth er would be $— ^ , 'sen ', while two
ot h ers is 'senwy'.
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ieroglyph ic n um bers are prob ably the easiest of the h ieroglyph s
derstan d. Th e Egyptians used a decim al system of coun ting,
th on es, tens and h un dred s. In En glish, ten n um erals (from 0 to
e used, bu t in Egypt ian six basic n u m erals were used to cover
th ousan ds. There was no sign for zero.
Except for on e ('wa ', ^ ) , nu m bers were usually writ ten with
m bo ls (as in 3, 27), n ot in word s (as in th ree, tw en ty-seven ). M ost
he Egypt ian nam es for the n um bers a re un known , bu t h ave
recon structed from th e later Copt ic lan guage (see page 6).
Th e basic s ix nu m bers were:
1 ('w a '): 1
n ( 'm ed ju '): 10
^ ( 'sh et '): IOO
I ('kha'): 1,000
j] ('djeba'): 10,000^ ( 'h efen '): 100 ,000
Th e sign for 1,000 is th e lotu s lily plant , th at for 10,000 is a
and tha t for 100 ,000 a tad po le.
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An y nu m ber could be constructed b y com bin in g an d/ or repeat-
ing one o r m ore of these basic s ix n um bers. A hieroglyph ic n um ber
is read by sim ply add in g u p wh at t he signs represent. For exam ple,
^IIIII is ^ ( too) p lus mil (5), to ta llin g 105. Th e h igh er n u m era ls alwayscom e firs t , so if th e writ in g was being don e from left to r ight , it
wou ld app ear as in the following exam ples:
1111 4
mill 14
w i 30 1
SSI 50,000^ W n n n l l 2,432
If the w rit ing was do n e from right to left , then 2,432 would
a p p e a r a s l l n n n ? ? ? ? £ | .
There was also a sign for one m illion ^ ( 'h eh ') , a lth ough this
tended to be used more to imply 'many ' or ' too many to count ' ,ra ther th an the precise figu re.
Fract ions are n ot com m on ly found , bu t they were genera lly
expressed by placing <=. (the letter ' r ' ) above the numeral. The
fraction for % (which has a num erator of 1 and a denom in ator of 5)
wou ld be ,7 , . For fractions with n um erators larger than 1 (such as
%, %), th e Egyp tian s com bin ed several fraction s, n ot n ecessarilywith th e sam e d en om inat or. A sim ple exam ple is ,',',> wh ich
equals %.
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Little More Grammar
om e e lem ents of t he gramm ar of the an cient Egypt ian lan guage,
uch as plurals , have already been mentioned, but anyone intend-
ing to m ake a seriou s s tud y of hieroglyph s shou ld learn all the
lements of the gram m ar - too large a topic to be covered in detailere. H owever, som e aspects of gram m ar can h elp im m ensely, an d
few further exam ples are set out below.
Egyptian sentences do not always have verbs, but they need a
'm an old ' wou ld be t ran slated in En glish as 'th e m an is old '. Verbs
in En glish h ave variou s form s (such as 'writes', 'wro te', 'writin g','wri t ten ') , and verbs are equally com plex in Egypt ian , form ing the
ost exten sive p art of any book on Egypt ian gram m ar.
In a lan guage such as En glish, a few n ou n s an d associated word s
re ob viou sly female (such as 'm oth er ', 'she', ' he r ' ) , som e are m ascu-
in e (such as 'br ot h er' , 'h e', 'h is '), wh ile the m ajority are tech n ically
euter (such as 'tree', 'pot', 'river', 'it ' , 'its'). Adjectives remain theame in English, whatever their use, such as 'a good book' or 'a
em inine or m ascu lin e, sin gular or p lu ral, an d adjectives reflect the
ender and n um ber of the nouns. For example u n livre interessant
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( 'an interestin g boo k' - m asculin e, sin gular) bu t des lettres interes-
santes ( 'in terestin g letters ' - fem in in e, p lu ral). Often in Fren ch, a
'm asculin e-soun d in g' word will be fem in in e, and vice versa, such
as la guerre ( 'war ' - feminine) and le sein ( 'br east ' - m asculin e).In Egypt ian , there are two gen ders - m asculin e and fem inine -
and so all nou n s have to be on e or th e other , even if th ey do not
always seem m asculin e or fem inine in n atu re. Most fem inine
noun s have a ' t ' , Q , added to the end of a word (but placed before
any det erm in atives), alth ou gh th ere are also a few m asculine n oun s
which end in a ' t ' . The wo rd for 'house ', c r f l , is m asculin e , but theword for 'town', ®( , i s feminine and has a fem ale 't ' end in g .
The word for 'm an ' ( 's', perh aps p ron ou n ced as 'se ') is —-
with — being the le t t e r ' s ' and being the de term inat ive for a
m an. The word for 'wom an ' is the de term inat ive has changed
to a fem ale on e, and a le t t er ' t ', o , has also been add ed, so the n oun
n ow read s as 'st ' (or 'set ').
Adjectives (such as 'good', ' large') change their endings accord-
ing to the noun they are accompanying, as happens in languages
such as French and Latin . So a 'good m an ' is — and a
'good wom an ' is If the m asculin e n oun is p lura l, the
adjective wo u ld also be sh own in the plura l (for exam ple, with j) ,
bu t t he p lu ral is rarely sh own in fem in in e adjectives.
There was n o exactly equivalen t word for 'of' ( the genitive), bu t
in Middle Egyptian the 'possessing noun' ( the one that owned
som ething , or the one to which som ething belonged) cam e second .
The ph rase 'th e scribe of the tem ple ' wou ld be writ ten 'scr ibe
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'god ', 'k ing ' or som eth in g associated such as th e n am e
a god , as th ese wo u ld be p laced first ou t of respect, as in m an y of
An alternative method to show possession was to l ink the two
if the firs t n oun (not th e possessing n ou n ) was m asculine
d sin gular, then t h e un iliteral — ( 'n ', m ore easily pr on ou n ced as
en ') was used as a lin k; if the fir st nou n was m ascu line and a dua l
a plural, th en 01 ( 'nw ' or 'n u ') was used as a lin k; bu t if the firstou n was fem in in e, eith er sin gular or plu ral, th en ™ was used .
In M id d le Egypt ian th ere were n o d efinite or ind efinite articles,
for 'a p en ' wou ld be th e sam e as 'th e pen' . In Late Egyp -
n (which was n ot written in h ieroglyph s - see page 7), word s for
th e ' and 'a ' do occur in the writ ten language.
There was a lso n o word for conjun ct ion s such as 'an d ' and 'o r ' ;e n oun usually follows anoth er , so that 'r iver and desert ' wou ld
er desert'.
There were words for different pron oun s (words that stand for
n s such as 'he', 'him', 'my', 'th at ' ). Som e were added to the end s of
n s (as suffixes), so 'a h ou se' or 'th e h ou se' is ' y1, wh ile 'h is h ou se'
IT^1
, 'p r f o r 'peref'. is a sin gular m ascu lin e suffix pronoun thatn be used for 'he', 'his ' or 'him '. It was always add ed to the en d of a
d , and Egypt ologists often tran sliterate it w ith a d ot (as '.f'), so
r f would be writ ten as 'pr .f'. The sam e en ding occurs in 'h is
. wh ile 'th eir h ou se' wou ld be ™ , 'pr.sn '
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or 'persen'. [ I ™ is th e plural suffix pronoun for 'th ey' or 'th eir'.
There were also n um erous prep osit ions, such as (]— ( ' in ' ) ,
m eaning 'by'; ^ ( 'em '), m eaning ' in ' ; £(] ( 'm i') , m ean in g 'like ' ;
and — ( 'en ') , m eanin g ' to ' or 'for'.
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In Action
Few Examples
hen faced with individual words in a hieroglyphic text, it is
ecessary to try to assess the different function and meaning of the
arious hieroglyphs. The following examples will give some clues
to what to expect:
U}.* is the word for 'sba' (or 'seba'), meaning 'star'. can be
n abbreviation for 'seneb' in - ' t ! ~ (see page 165), but otherwise it is
st likely to be the uniliteral hieroglyph for's'. j can on its own
'bu', meaning 'place or 'position', but in that case it would tend
o be written as j1. It is more likely to be the uniliteral hieroglyph
or 'b'. Although } . can mean simply 'a bird', it is nearly always
as the uniliteral hieroglyph for 'a'. So far this word spells 'sba'
r 'seba'), a word that can mean 'star'. The final hieroglyph is the
ign for a star, and so it is being used as a determinative, indicating
t this word does indeed mean 'star'.
= ~ is the word for mnmnt (or menmenet), meaning 'a
erd'. This consists of the biliteral hieroglyph = for 'mn' and the
niliteral hieroglyph _ for 'n'. The two instances of _ are acting
phonetic complements (see page 32), emphasising the 'n' in 'mn',
79
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The h ieroglyph a, is a ' t ' , showing th at th is is a fem inine n ou n (see
page 76), wh ile t he h ieroglyph of the cow is a determ in ative, sh ow-
ing that the word is associated with cattle. The three strokes
ben eath th e cow is a plural sign, sh owing th at th is is a plu ral in th esense th at several cat t le wou ld m ake u p a h erd; the word does n ot
m ean several h erd s, so it is a 'false plura l ' word .
is the word for 'shsr ' (or 'sh eser ' ), m eaning 'arrow'. The
h ieroglyph 5 can be a bilitera l for 'sh s' or (as h ere) a triliteral for
'shsr' . The next two hieroglyphs p an d <=> give th e clue th at X is
'shsr ' , because they are phonetic complements emphasising the 's 'and Y let ters. The final h ieroglyph is of an arrow and is a
determinative, showing that the word means 'an arrow' or
som eth in g associated with an arrow.
is ^ e word for 'snwy ' (or 'senwy') , m eanin g 'two
brothers'. The hieroglyph J is of an arrow h ead and is a biliteral for
'sn'. Th e n ext h ieroglyph — is the letter 'n ' , actin g as a ph on etic
com plem ent to em ph asise the 'n ' in 'sn '. Th e hieroglyph ^ is the
u n iliteral for the letter 'w', represent in g a p lu ral, an d w, th e u n ilit-
eral for expresses th e du al plura l (that is , two bro th ers on ly).
The final two h ieroglyph s bo th represent a seated m an , the d eter-
minative for a m an, showing tha t the word is som ething to d o with
a m an; two seated m en are shown because of the du al plu ral.
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me Chart
efore m ovin g on to see how h ieroglyph s operated w ith in th e
of p h ara oh s, th e followin g dates give a checklist of what was
enin g at any one t im e in Egypt . Most of the dates refer to th e
gns of the p h araohs . Pharaoh s were the k ings of Egypt , m ost lyen , very occasion ally wom en. The word 'ph araoh ' is com m on ly
of 'kin g', because t h is was a term used b y th e an cient
wh en tran slating th e Egypt ian h ieroglyph s " (per-aa),
ich origin ally m eant a great h ouse or palace an d was then used
th e kin g h im self.
In the th ird centu ry BC an Egypt ian high priest by the nam e ofeth o wrote down in ancient Greek a lis t of the rulers of Egypt,
iding them in to t h ir ty dynasties or group s. This flawed system is
ll used tod ay, with the add it ion of d yn asty o for early ru lers,
th ou gh th ere rem ain s a big pro blem concern in g d ates. Dates for
rom bo ok to bo ok. Up to arou n d 650 BC, dates can be verycer ta in and are a constant source of argum ent . The dates when
u led, for exam ple, are given as 2343-2297 BC in on e b oo k,
289-2255 BC in ano th er, and different again in oth er b ook s. New
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dat in g. The dates for th e ph araoh s given here follow th ose in Ian
Sh aw an d Pau l Nich olson (199 5), Brit ish M useum Dict ionary o f
Ancient Egypt.
Som e dates overlap, because different ph araohs could ruledifferent pa rts of Egypt at th e sam e tim e, as in dynasties 7 to 11.
Other overlapping dates occur when a pharaoh's successor (often
h is son) shared p ower (a co-regency), as in th e case of Senu sret I
wh o shared power with h is father Am enem het I for up to a decade
before h is father 's deat h . W ith new ideas on dates, som e dynasties
app ear in a confused ord er: for exam ple, dyn asty 25 begin s beforedyn asty 24. All dates are BC ('before Ch rist ' ) , an d so th ey work in
an opp osite way to th e dates of th e last 2,00 0 years. A d ate of 2000
BC, for exam ple, occurr ed 500 years before a date of 1500 BC.
Earliest h ieroglyph s 3500
Ear ly Dynas t ic Pe r iod
Dyn asty 0 begins 3150
Scorpion 3150
Narmer 3100
Dynas ty 1 begins 3100
Aha 3100
Djer 3000
Djet 2980
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Den
Anedjib
Semerkhet
Q aa
Dynasty 2 begins
Hetepsekhemwy
Raneb
Nynetjer
Peribsen
Khasekhemwy
O ld Kingdom
Dynasty 3 begins
Sanakht
Djoser
Sekhemkhet
Khaba
Huni
Dynasty 4 begins
Sneferu
Cheops
2950
2925
2900
2890
2890
2890
2865
f
2700
2686
2686
2686-2667
2667-2648
2648-2640
2640-2637
2637-2613
2613
2613-2589
2589-2566
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Djedefra 2566-2558
Chephren 2558-2532
Menkaura 2532-2503
Shepseskaf 2503-2496
Dynasty 5 begins 2496
Userkaf 2496-2487
Sahura 2487-2475
Neferirkara 2475-2455
Shepseskara 2455-2448
Raneferef 2448-2445
Niuserra 2445-2421
Menkauhor 2421-2414
Djedkara 2414-2375
Unas 2375-2345
Dynasty 6 begins 2345
Teti 2345-2332
Pepi l 2332-2287
Merenra 2287-2278
PepiII 2278-2184
Queen Nitiqret 2184-2181
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Fi r s t I n t e r m e d ia t e Pe r iod
Dynast ies 7 an d 8 begin
Wadjkara
Qakara Iby
Dynast ies 9 an d 10 begin
Meryibra Khe ty
Merykara
M i d d le Ki n g d o m
Dynas ty 11 begins
M e n t u h o t e p I
In te f I
IntefH
Middle Egypt ian language develops
In te f I I I
M e n t u h o t e p II
Me n tuho t e p I I I
Me n tuho t e p I V
Dynas ty 12 begins
A m e n e m h e t I
Senusret I
2181
!
!
2160
2160
!
2130?
2125-2112
2112-2063
2100
2063-2055
2055-2004
2004 -199 2
1992-1985
1985
1985-1955
1965-1920
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Ame n em h et II 1922-1878
Senu sret II 188 0- 1874
Senu sret III 1874 -1855
Am en em h et III 1855-180 8
Am en em h et IV 180 8-1799
Q u een Sobekn eferu 1799 -1795
Dynas ty 13 begins 1795
Wegaf 1795
A m e n y Intef IV 1760
H o r 1760
Sobekhotep I I 1750
Khendje r 1750
Dynas ty 14 begins 1750
Sobek h otep I I I (dynas ty 13) 1745
Neferhotep I (dyn asty 13) 1740
Sobekh ot ep IV (dyn asty 13) 1725
Ay (d yn ast y 13) 1720
Neferhotep I I (dynas ty 13) ?
Nehesy (dynasty 14) ?
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Se c o n d I n t e r m e d i a t e P e r io d
Dynas ty 15 begins 1650
Sheshi 1650
Yakhubher ?
Dynas ty 16 begins 1650
Ana the r ?
Yaobaam ?
Dynas ty 17 begins 1650
Intef VI(?) ?
Sobekemsaf I I !
Taa I ?
Kh yan (dyn asty 15) 160 0
Late Egyptian langu age develops 160 0
Taa II (d yn ast y 17 ) 1560
Kamose (dynasty 17) 1555-1550
Apepi I (dynasty 15) 1555
Apepi II (dynasty 15) ?
N e w K ingdom
Dynas ty 18 begins 1550
Ahm os e 1 1550-1525
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Amenhotep I 1525-1504
Tuthmosis I 1504-1492
Tuthmosis II 1492-1479
Tuthmosis II I 1479-1425
Queen Hatshepsut 1473-1458
Amenhotep II 1427-1400
Tuthmosis IV 1400-1390
Amenhotep II I 1390-1352
Akhenaten 1352-1336
Smenkhara 1338-1336
Tutankhamun 1336-1327
Ay 1327-1323
Horemheb 1323-1295
Dynasty 19 begins 1295
Ramesses I 1295-1294
Setil 1294-1279
Ramesses II 1279-1213
Merenptah 1213-1203
Amenmesse 1203-1200
Seti II 1200-1194
Siptah 1194-1188
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Queen Tausret 1188-1186
Dynasty 20 begins 1186
Setnakhte 1186-1184
Ramesses III 1184-1153
Ramesses IV 1153-1147
Ramesses V 1147-1143
Ramesses VI 1143-1136
Ramesses VII 1136-1129
Ramesses VIII 1129-1126
Ramesses IX 1126-1108
Ramesses X 1108-1099
Ramesses XI 1099-1069
Third Interm ediate Period
Dynasty 21 begins 1070
Pinudjem I 1070-1032
Smendes I 1069-1043
Menkheperra 1045-992
Amenemnisu 1043-1039
Psusennes I 1039-991
Amenemope 993-984
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Osorkon th e Elder 984-978
Siamun 978-959
Psusennes 11 959-945
Dynasty 22 begins 945
Sheshonq 1 945-924
Osorkon 1 924-889
Sheshonq II c.890
Takelot I 889-874
Osorkon II 874-850
Takelot II 850-825
Harsiese 840
Sheshonq II I 825-773
Dynasty 23 begins 818
Pedibastet 818-793
Sheshonq IV c. 78 0
Osorkon III 777-749
Pimay (dynasty 22) 773-767
Sheshonq V (dynasty 22) 767-730
Dynasty 25 begins 747
Piankhi (dynasty 25) 747-716
Osorkon IV (dynasty 22) 730-715
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Dynas ty 24 begins 727
Tefnakht (dynas ty 24) 727-720
Bakenren ef (dynas ty 25) 720-715
Sh abaka (dynas ty 25) 716-70 2
Shab i tko (dynas ty 25) 702-69 0
Taharqo (dynas ty 25) 690 -664
Tanutam un (dynas ty 25) 664-656
La te Pe r iod
Dynas ty 26 begins 664
Psamt ek I 66 4-6 10
Dem otic lan guage develops 650
Nek au II 610-595
Psam tek II 595-589
Wahibra 589-570
Ahm ose II 570-526
Psam tek III 526-525
Dynas ty 27 (First Persian Period) begins 525
Persia con qu ers Egypt 525
Cam byses II 525-522
Da riu s I 522-486
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Xerxes I 486-465
Artaxerxes I 465-424
Darius II 424-405
Artaxerxes II 405-359
Dynasty 28 begins 404
Amyrtaeus 404-399
Dynasty 29 begins 399
Nefaarud I 399-393
Hakor 393-380
Dynasty 30 begins 380
Nakhtnebef 380-362
Djedhor 362-360
Nakhthorheb 360-343
Second Persian Period begins 343
Persia takes Egypt again 343
Artaxerxes 343-338
Arses 338-336
Darius III 336-332
Graeco-Roman Period
Alexander th e Great takes Egypt 332
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Alexander t h e Great 332-323
Foundation of Alexandr ia 331
Philip Arrh idaeus 323-317
Alexander IV 317-305
Ptolemaic dynasty begins 305
Ptolemy I 305-282
Ptolemy II 285-246
Ptolemy III 246-221
Ptolemy IV 221-204
Ptolemy V 204-180
Rosetta Ston e is set u p 196
Ptolemy VI 180-145
Ptolemy VI I 145-144
Ptolemy VIII 145-116
Ptolemy IX 116-81
Ptolemy X 116-88
Ptolemy XI 80
Ptolemy XI I 80-58,55-51
Queen Berenice 58-55
Queen Cleopatra VI I 51-30
Egypt becomes a Roman province 30
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Cop tic langu age develops A D 10 0
Last hieroglyphic inscription A D 394
Last dem otic in scr ipt ion A D
452
Arab conqu est of Egypt A D 641-2
O t tom an Turks take Egypt A D 1516
French invasion of Egypt A D 1798
Discovery of Roset ta Ston e A D 1799
H ie roglyphs : the b ig breakth rough in th e d ec iph e rm ent A D 1822
Discovery of T u t an k h a m u n 's t o m b A D 1922
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oyal Names
am es and t ides of ph araoh s developed over tim e. By 2000 BC
were known by a com bin at ion of five different nam es or t i t les
'fivefold t itu lary'), a form of aggrandisement and propaganda
y wh ich a ph araoh 's role as ruler was stressed, as well as his right
e thron e an d his relat ion ship with the gods. These five types ofe becam e m ore or less stand ard for ph araohs after th is t im e,
t it is very rare to find all five of a p h araoh 's n am es lis ted
er in a text. The five different types of n am e are called:
H o ru s n am e
Nebt i nam e
Golden H orus nameT hrone nam e
Bir th nam e
The H oru s nam e is the earliest type of n am e and appears from
n d 3150 BC. At first it was t he on ly nam e a ph araoh h ad. The
serekh, 2 , a rectangular fram e tha tpresented a rectangular enclosure and the front of a m ud -br ick
placed the h ieroglyph the sym bol of the god H orus (see
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page 141), showing that the p h araoh was the incarnat ion of that
god. Serekh was an Egyp tian word for 'm akes kn own', im plyin g th at
th is was how the pharaoh 's name was made known. For a shor t
p eriod in dynasty 2 (aro u n d 2700 BC), th e falcon was replaced bythe sym bol for the god Seth (see page 150), so th is type of n am e
becam e the Seth nam e ins tead of the H orus n am e (used by the
pharaohs Peribsen and Khasekhemwy).
The Nebti n am e is som etim es called the 'Two Ladies' n am e an d
is preceded by th e h ieroglyph ( 'n eb ti ' ) , m ean in g 'tw o ladies'.
The 'n ebt i' h ieroglyph was the s ign for the vultu re godd essNekhb et of Upp er Egypt (see page 146) an d the cobra goddess
W adjet of Lower Egypt (see page 154). It b ecam e a stan dard
element of a ph araoh 's n am e from dynasty 12, a lth ough it was used
as early as d yn asty x.
The Golden H oru s or Golden Falcon nam e was preceded b y the
h ieroglyph ^ ( 'H oru -n eb u ') , m eaning 'Gold en H orus '. The sig-nificance of this sign is still dispu ted am on g Egypt ologists, bu t po s-
sibly refers to th e divin ity of the p h araoh , with h im represen ting
the god H orus on ear th .
The last two nam es o f the pharaoh (the th rone nam e and the
bir th name) were writ ten in 'name r ings ' cal led cartouches, a
French word meaning 'cartridges' . A cartouche, CI, was an ovalou tlin e which literally represent ed a ring of rope . W hen the French
in vad ed Egypt in 1798 th ey gave th e wo rd cartouche to these ovals,
because t o th em th ey looked like t he p rofile of th eir own field gu n
cartr idges. The ancient Egyptian word for cartouche was £
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u ler of everyth in g encircled by the sun - the wh ole world.
a ter on it becam e cus tom ary to write the nam es of queens an dh ildren in cartouch es as well. Foreign rulers of Egyp t
ted the royal n am es, bu t gen erally on ly the on es in cartou ches:
am e and th e ir own fo reign b ir th nam e, bu t no t the o th er
m only seen on m onu m ents , rathe r than th e o ther th ree nam es.
writ ten in side cartouches.
The th rone n am e was a lso ca lled the prenom en (from the Lat in
'forenam e') . It d id n ot com e in to use un ti l dynasty 5,
became the m ost im por tan t nam e o f the ph a raoh , oft en the
ly one m ent ion ed in texts , and was adopted on h is accession to
rone . This throne nam e often in corpora ted reference to theRa (page 149 ), wh ose sign © wou ld be placed first ou t of rever-
am ple , the thron e n am e of the ph araoh Senu sret II was
h akheperra , and tha t of Q ueen Nit iqret was , Men kara.
The title ̂ "M, ( 'nesu-bity', or 'nesut-bity') was generally placed
ore the thron e nam e cartouch e. The h ieroglyph ^ m eans 'sedge ',t can also m ean kin g, and the h ieroglyph ^ m eans 'bee ' or
in g of Up pe r an d Lower Egypt ', because th e sedge is the sym -
o l of Upp er Egypt and the bee the sym bol of Low er Egyp t . It also
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for 'King of the Du alit ies', a t it le with a ran ge of com plex
n terp retat ion s reflecting th e stark con trasts in Egypt , such as lush
arm land and barren deser t .
The fifth name of the pharaoh was h is b ir th n am e, which wasally the first n am e given to h im . It is today also called t he
en (from the La t in n o m e n , meaning s imply 'name ' ) , and the
tou che was preceded by the h ieroglyph s ^ (Sa-Ra), m eanin g
on of Ra', em ph asisin g the p h araoh 's direct conn ection with the
an cient Egypt ian texts, ph araoh s tod ay are u sually referredtheir b ir th nam e.
The com bin at ion of five nam es was un iqu e to each ph araoh.
ecause m any ph araohs were n am ed after th eir ancestors , espe-
ally their fathers or grand fathers, m an y bir th nam es were du pli-
ted over tim e. Th ere are, for exam ple, several ph araoh s with the
fferent ph araohs are tod ay given n um bers, such as Ram esses I
The two names in car touches ( the b ir th name and the throne
am e) are usually sufficient to identify a ph araoh, even where th ey
hared th e sam e bir th n am e. For exam ple, the ph araoh Tuthm osis Ithe b ir th nam e ^ ( 'Born of Tho th [the god ] ' ) , which
s exactly the sam e as the bir th n am e of the next ph araoh , Tu thm o-
is II. H owever, the th ron e nam e of Tuth m osis I was 4=W (®
akhep erkara, m eaning 'Great is the Form of the Sou l of Ra ',
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eas the th rone nam e of Tuthm osis I I was
eaning 'Great is the Form of Ra'. Even th ou gh th e
ference between ^ Q g t ^ ® ® an d M C O R
C^'fft J, is slight, it is enough to distinguish Tuthmosis I fromson Tut h m osis II.
O ne exam ple of th e full set of five names of a pharaoh is tha t of
en em h et III, wh o ru led in dynasty 12 from 1855 to 1808 BC. H e is
m bered ' III ', because h e had th e sam e bir th nam e as Am enem het
o ru led 198 5-1955 BC) an d Am en em h et II (wh o r u led 19 22-
BC). Th e son of Am enem het I II is in tu rn called Am enem het
H orus nam e: ^ — (Aa-baw, m eaning 'H is Im pressiveness
(Wahankh, meaning 'He Whose
(Nimaatra , meaning 'Belonging to
t ').
Neb t i n am e: ^ T Y3
^ " (Iwat -tawy, m ean ing 'H e W ho Takes
of the Inheri tance of the Two Lan d s ') .
Go lden Horus name :is Enduring ') .
T h rone name :
e Ju stice of Ra').
Bir th nam e: ^ ( t (Am enem het , m ean ing 'Am un is at
ead ') .
Later p h araoh s from dynasty 18 often h ad adjectives accom -
t ' ( ' ruler of Theb es ') within the cartou che of h is birth
e, and Seti II , wh o has 'm erenp tah ' ( 'beloved of Pt ah ') with in
rtouch e of his b ir th nam e.
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Th e sp ellin g of the names of ph araohs can vary and there is no
ut ely correct system , becau se h ieroglyp h s are being tran slated
n to En glish, so that Am enh otep can app ear as Am en h otp e or even
ear as Ram ses or Ram eses.
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of N am es
es of people , especia lly the various nam es of th e ph araohs ,
ld b e spelled ou t usin g th e u n iliteral h ieroglyph s (see page 35),
h as Teti, (2j) | > wh ich is actually tt i , bu t for convenien ce th e let-
e a part icular m ean in g, while the m eanin g of m any others can
d ou t , such as in the th rone nam e of Pepi I, which is
eryra, m ean in g 'Beloved of Ra' - th at is to say, 'Beloved of th e
d Ra'.
Wi th in the names of ph araohs , Ra, Am u n , Sobek, Thot h , P tah ,
o rus , Mon tu and Seth a re the n am es of gods. 'Ra' is often par t of
th er ' ra ' or 're ', such as Neferkara or Neferkare. An ot h er exam ple
the th rone n am e (3n p }0) | of the ph araoh Merykara , com posed
© ( 'ra,' referring to th e god Ra), ( 'm er ', m ean in g 'beloved' or
d '), (|(j (the letter 'y '), an d U ('ka', m ean in g 'sou l'). Th is spells
n am e Ram eryka, bu t to m ake sense, this is writ ten in English as
erykara, which can b e tran slated as 'Beloved is the Sou l of Ra' or
'Th e Sou l of Ra is Loved'. Very often in Egyp tian n am es, the
e of a god is p laced first in a sequence of h ieroglyph s out of
for the god .
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The b ir th nam e of the ph araoh Am enhotep I is wr it ten as
(] is th e letter 'i' . cm is th e b iliter al sign for 'm n ', written in
En glish for convenience as 'm en ' and u sually m ean in g 'everlastin g',
alth ou gh here it is used to spell out th e word 'im en' . In En glish th isword ' im en ' is m ore u sually writ ten as 'am en ' or 'am un ' and m eans
the god Am un . The sign — is also part of t h e n am e of Am u n : it is
the letter 'n ', used here as a ph on etic com plem en t (see page 32) to
m ake the le t ter 'n ' in 'm en ' quite clear an d not to give anot h er 'n '.
The second par t of the ph araoh 's b i r th nam e is a group of
signs representin g th e word 'htp ', wh ich is m ore con ven ien tly writ-ten in English as 'hotep'. This word can be translated as 'offering',
'content ' or 'pleased' . In names, 'hotep' can appear simply as
The las t two s igns in th is name are the le t te rs ' t ' (o) and 'p ' ( • ) ,
which are phonetic complements , s imply emphasising those two
letters in 'hotep '. Th e n am e Am enh otep therefore m eans 'Am un is
content' .Som e words which fo rm the mos t com m on par t s of n am es are:
aa io r
~ = ( 'great ' )
akh ( 'helpful ' )
am en (j o r s im ply ( Am un ( the god) )
ankh * ('livin g', 'lives')
ba ( 'spir i t ' )
djed ft ( ' endur ing ' )
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M e an in gs o f N a m es
%J ( 'holy ' )
V — ( ' a t ' or ' in ' )
— ('of or 'be lon gs to ' )
</ ( ' b r igh t ' )
I ( ' ru le r ' )
-£> ( 'first ' , ' foremost')
k ( H or u s (t he god ) )
o r he t ep ^ o r = £ =o D
('offering', ' con ten t ' , 'pleased ')
( ' hea r t ' )
8 (He l iopo li s (the t own ) )
u ( ' soul ' )
•a . ( 'app ears ', ' app earan ce ' )
often abbrevia ted a s
or or ) o r
o r ^ o r o r :o r m e ry " t :
ffior
jfiPten spe lled ou t in t ran s la t ion s as 'm ose ' )
( 'appearance ' , 'form', ' come into
be ing ' )
( ' body ' )
( 'justice ', ' t ru th ' )
( ' e te rna l ' )
( 'beloved' , ' love ' )
( 'bo r n o f','fo r m e d by ')
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mi M('like')
nakht 0 1i S
('strong')
n eb ('lord')
nefer I ('beautiful')
netjer1
('divine','god')
n u b ('golden','gold')
per n ('home','house')
ptah (Ptah ( the god ) )
ra © o r $ (Ra ( the god ) )
sekhemt
('powerful','power''
setep ('chosen')
sheps ('noble')
si or sa ^ o r Q ('son')
sobek ^ or (Sobek ( t he god) )
tawy = ( 'th e two lands')
user
T('powerful')
wadj1
('flourishing')
wah 1('always', 'endu res')
waset T (Thebes ( the city))
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Few Famous Pharaohs
or th ose ph araohs whose nam es frequ en t ly occur in books and
useum exhibits, som e inform at ion is given here on the ir n am es,
l as a litt le fam ily h istory, th eir d yn asty (see page 81), and
eir b u rial place at death . It will be ob viou s th at m an y of the pha r -
m arried and had children by th eir own sis ters, half-sisters and
of th e
(see page 96) - usually the bir th n am e an d thron e nam e.
ey are shown with out th eir t it le of (Sa-Ra) and (nesu-
plain ed u n d er 'Royal N am es' on page 95.
If known , the p resen t whereabou ts o f the ph araoh 's m um m y
d coffins is given . Ma n y ph araoh s were b u ried in th e Valley of
Kings at Theb es, bu t th eir tom bs were con stan tly plun dered for
of the m um m ies with the ir coffins. M an y cen tu ries later, two
caches of royal and h igh-sta tus m um m ies were found, one
n 1881 with over forty m u m m ies, an d an oth er in 1898 with arou n d
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ift e en m um m ies. T he word 'm um m y' com es from the Arab ic
m u m i a ( 'm in eral pi tch ') , an d un ti l the nineteenth cent ury crushed
nd powdered m um m y was recom m ended as m edicine for va r ious
ilm ents ; the dem and becam e so grea t tha t fake m um m ies wereanu factured usin g bodies that h ad on ly been dead a few years!
h araohs were bu r ied in a nest of wooden coffins ins ide a
tone coffin (which is u sually called a sarcoph agus).
h m o se I (or Ah m osis). Birth n am e: Ah m ose (S^ jjjjlj ( 'Bor n of th e
oo n ') . Thron e n am e: Nebp eht yra ( 'Ra is the Lord oftren gth '). H is father was the ph araoh Taa II and h is m oth er
ueen Aah otep . By h is prin cipa l wife an d sister Ah m ose N efertari,
on who becam e the pharaoh Am enh otep I and a daugh-
Ah m ose wh o m arr ied the ph araoh Tuthm osis I. H is o ther wives
a area of Thebes , but the locat ion of h is tom b is u n known ,
lth ough h is m u m m y was in the cache found in 1881 and is now in
ro M useum alon g with his coffin. H e reigned for twenty-five
550-1525 BC, in d ynasty 18, p ossib ly in itially with Q ueen
ahot ep as co-regent . He died at about the age of thirty-five.
O rigin ally called Am enh otep IV, he adop ted the bir th
am e Akhen aten ( 'Servan t of Aten ') , because h e restr ic ted royal
p to the sun god Aten only. Bir th nam e: Am enh otep ( 'Am un
s Content ' ) . Adopted bir th name: Akhenaten
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Servan t of Aten ') . Thro n e nam e: Neferkheperura-waenra
i ©in ( 'Beautiful are th e Form s of Ra, Unique On e of Ra'). H is
ther was the pharaoh Am enh otep I II and h is m oth er Q ueen Tiy.
is chief wife was Nefert it i (the dau ghter of his chief m in ister Aytherefore not of royal b lood ). Ot her wives were M erytat en (his
daughter , wh o becam e his ch ief wife after the d eath of
ertit i) , Kiya, Mekytaten an d An kh esen paaten (his own
wh o after his dea th becam e the pharaoh Tutankham un 's
Akh en aten was possibly the father of one daugh te r and of a
Tutan kham un by h is wife Kiya, and he h ad six daught ers byert it i in clud in g Merytaten, Mekytaten and An khesenpaaten . H e
po ssibly the father of Merytaten -tash erit (Merytaten th e
ger) b y his own dau ghter an d wife Merytaten an d p ossibly the
ther of anoth er daughter b y h is own daughter and wife
tal Akhetaten ( 'H orizon of th e Aten ', today known as El-m arn a), where fragm ents of his stone sarcoph agus have been
which are n ow in the Cairo Mu seum . H e was later rebu ried
the Valley of the Kin gs, and th e m ale m u m m y discovered in
b KV55 (origin ally identified as Qu een Tiy) m ay be his. H e
igned for sixteen years, 1352-1336 BC, in d ynast y 18, p ossib ly with
s you n ger broth er Sm enkh ara as co-ruler for th e last two years.
(o r Amenemhat o r Ammenemes) . Bi r th name:
m enem het ({ ( 'Am un is a t the H ead ') . Thron e nam e:
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(© H ^ j ( 'T he H ear t o f Ra is Sa tisfied '). H e was o f
on -royal ran k, the son of a pr iest by the n am e of Senusre t and a
by the nam e of N o fret. H e himself was the chief m in ister ofIV. Amenemhet had severa l
ves, and he in trod uced the practice of co-regency, sharing th e
ron e in the last years of h is reign with h is eldest son Senu sret I .
r ied in a pyram id after h is assassin ation , bu t the bu rial ch am ber
s no w below wat er level. He reign ed for thirty years, 1985-1955 BC,n d ynasty 12.
(o r Amenemhat o r Ammenemes) . Bi r th name:
m enem het ('Am un is a t the H ead ') . Thron e nam e:
u bkau ra ( ® ('Th e Sou ls of Ra are Golde n ') . His father was\ J w l u j \
araoh Senusre t I an d h is m oth er was Neffu . H is p r in c ipal
fe was Mereryet, and he h ad several dau ghters, as well as a son
o becam e the ph araoh Senu sret II. H e was bu ried in a pyram id
shu r, wh ich still cont ain s h is ston e sarcoph agus. H e reigned
or forty-fou r years, 1922-1878 BC, in d ynasty 12, in p ar t with h is
ather and la ter with h is own son.
(o r Amenemhat o r Ammenemes) . Bi r th name:
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m aat ra Q L ^ ^ ? $ j j ('Be long ing to the Ju st ice o f Ra ') . H is
ather was the p h araoh Senu sret III and h is mother was
ebekshed ty-Neferu. H e had a dau ghter called N eferu-Ptah an d h is
but was bur ied in anoth er pyram id a t Hawara , in front of
of the labyrin th . Ston e sarcoph agi survive in bot h pyram id s.
e reigned for fort y-six years, 1855-180 8 BC, in dynasty 12.
m e n h o t ep I (or Am enh otpe or Am en oph is). Bir th nam e: Am en -
(Am u n is Cont en t ' ). Thron e nam e: Djeserkara
1( 'H oly is the Sou l of Ra ') . His father was the ph araoh
h m ose I an d h is m oth er was Ah m ose-Nefertar i. H is wives were
of Thebes. H is m um m y was in t he cache found in 1881
d still has a face m ask. Now in the Cairo Mu seum , it rem ains th e
ly roya l m um m y no t to have been un wrapped in m odern t im es.
e reigned for tw en ty-on e years, 1525-1504 BC, in d yn asty 18, p ro b -
in itially with h is m oth er an d in h is last years with Tuth m osis I .
m e n h o t e p I I (or Am enh otpe or Am eno ph is). Bir th nam e: Am en-
otep (with the t it le h eqa-iu n u ) j[f] ( 'Am un is Conten t ',
th the t it le 'Ruler of H el iop ol is ) . Thron e n am e: Aakheperura
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H1^ ( Great are the Form s of Ra'). H is father was the p h araoh
Tuthmosis III and h is m other H atshepsut-Merytra (not to be con-
fused with the p h araoh Q ueen H atshepsut) . H is wives were his sis-
ter Merytam un as well as Tio , by wh om he h ad a son wh o becam ethe ph araoh Tuth m osis IV. Am en h otep was bu ried in tom b KV35
in the Valley of the Kin gs, wh ere h is ston e sarcoph agus was found
with h is m um m y which h ad been part ly rewrapp ed b y priests after
ancient tom b rob bing. H is sarcophagus is st ill in th e tom b, bu t the
m u m m y (six feet ta ll) has been m oved to the Cairo M useum . The
priests also used h is tom b to h ide a cache of other royal m um m ies,wh ich were rediscovered in 1898. H e is the o n ly ph araoh to be
foun d still in his sarcoph agus within h is own tom b, apar t from
Tutankham un . He re igned for tw en ty-seven years, 1427-140 0 BC, in
d ynast y 18.
A m e n h o t e p I I I (or Amenhotpe or Amenophis) . Bir th name:Am enh otep (with the t it le heqa-waset) (Am u n is
Conten t ', with the t it le 'Ruler of Th ebes ' ). Th ron e n am e: Neb-
m aat ra ( ^ J j ( 'Ra is Lo rd of Truth ') . H is father was the p h araoh
Tuthm osis IV and h is m other Q ueen Mutem wiya . H e had nu m er-
ous wives, m any from diplom atic m arriages, bu t his chief wife Tiy
was of n on -royal rank, a d aughter of a nob le called Yuya and hiswife Tju iu, wh o ou tlived h im . By Tiy he h ad at least two son s an d
four daughters: the e lder son d ied , and the youn ger one becam e
the pharaoh Amenhotep IV ( la ter changing h is name to Akhen-
aten). Am en h otep III a lso m arried two of his own dau ghters , Isis
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Sitam un . He was bur ied in tom b W V22 in the Valley of the
in gs, wh ich was robbed in ancien t t im es alth ou gh fragm ents of a
che found in 1898 an d is now in the Cairo M useu m . He reignedor th irty-eigh t years, 1390 -1352 BC, in dynasty 18, in itially wit h h is
oth er as co-ruler. He m ay have been about forty-five years of age
t h is death .
(or Kh ufu or Kh eop s or Sup h is I) . Birth n am e: Khu fu
(An abbrevia t ion o f Khn um -khu efu i, 'Kh n u m [a god]tects M e') . H is father was the ph araoh Sneferu and his m oth er
e tepheres I . Cheops m arr ied an u nkn own queen, then Merita tes,
dau ghters, the sons includ in g th e la ter ph araoh s Djedefra and
ain ed th e ta llest b uilding in the world u n ti l the n ineteenth cen-ry, an d h is stone sarcoph agus (em pt y on d iscovery) is still in the
rial ch am ber (the Kin g 's Ch am be r) . He reigned for twenty-three
twen ty-fou r years, 2589-2566 BC, in d yn asty 4.
(or Khafra or Rakhaef or Kheph ren or Suph is II). Birth
am e: Kh afra ( 'App earin g like Ra'). H is father was the phar-
III and Khamererneb ty I. His sons included
ater ph araoh Men kaura (by Kh am erern ebty I ) , and he had on e
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r ied. H is plain polished stone sarcoph agus was found sunk in to
e floor of the bu rial cham ber. H e reigned twenty-four to twen ty-
ea rs, 2558-2532 BC, in d ynast y 4 .
(or Zoser or Tosorthos). Birth name: possibly Djoser.
oru s n am e: Netjerikh et ^ ]<=• _ ( 'Divin e Bod y') . H e was
of the pharaoh Khasekhem wy and broth er of the ph araoh
an akh t. H is wife was Hetep h erneb ty, wh o was p ossibly his sister.
e was bu ried in the Step Pyram id at Saqqara, wh ich was bu ilt as a
of six steps by his chief m in ister and architect Im h otep - the
irs t m on um ent a l stone bu ild in g in the world . A m um m ified left
oot a n d o th er m u m m y fragments were found in the bu r ia l cham -
reigned for n inet een years, 2667-2648 BC, in d yna sty 3.
(a fem ale ph araoh) . Bir th nam e: H atshepsut-Am un
( 'Foremost of Noble Ladies, Am u n ') . Th ron e nam e:
kara (©Ji_T ( 'Trut h is th e Sou l of Ra') . H er father was the
arr ied her half-brother Tuthm osis II an d h ad o n ly one child , a
ghter called Neferura. Sh e was port rayed in ar t with all thein gs o f a ph araoh , in clud in g the royal false beard . She pre-
a tom b for herse lf to the west of the Valley of the Kin gs,
tone sarcoph agus was foun d un used, bu t instead was
ried in the Valley of th e Kin gs, sh arin g t om b KV20 with her
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her Tuth m osis I . Two stone sarcophagi, one for h er (now in the
ro Mu seum ) and one for Tu thm osis I (now in the Mu seum of
in e Arts , Boston , U SA), were found in the KV20 tom b. H er
um m y has no t been found. She a lso had a hu ge m ortu ary tem pleated to th e god Am un at Deir El-Bah ari , bu ilt b y th e architect
enen m ut . She reigned alongside Tuthm osis II and III , bu t pu shed
er stepson Tut h m osis III to on e side from 1473 BC u n til h er d eath
overth row in 1458 BC. Sh e r eigne d for fifteen years, 1473-1458 BC,
d ynasty 18.
(o r H orem hab o r Harem hab) . Bir th nam e: H orem heb
ith the t it le m eryam un ) (1)-— ^ w ) | (< H o r u s i s
Jubilant' with
e title 'Beloved of Am u n ') . Thron e n am e: Djeserkheperura-se te-e n r a
( 'H o l
ya r e t h e F o r m s o f R a
>c h o s e n b
yR a
n arm y officer un der previou s ph araoh s. His fam ily cam e
om H eracleopolis , but h is parents are un kn own . After the deaththe ph araoh Ay, he d eclared h im self k ing . He had two u nkn own
ves as well as Mu tn od jm et , po ssibly a sister of Nefertiti (the wife
araoh Akhenaten ) . He replaced a ll th e n am es of the two
u ried in th e Valley of th e Kin gs, in tom b KV57, bu t had earlier
a private tom b for h im self a t Saqq ara. His stone sarco-agus is st ill in KV57, bu t his m u m m y has n ot b een found. The
of a fem ale with a newborn ch ild found in h is tom b m ay
e been h is wife Mu tn odjm et ; H orem heb d ied with out an h eir .
e reigned for twe n ty-eigh t years, 1323-1295 BC, in dynasty 18.
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(or Mycerinus or Mencheres) . Bir th name: Menkaura
® ^ ^ ( 'Th e Sou ls of Ra are Etern al') . H is father was the ph ar-
ad two sons and on e d aughter . He was bu r ied in the Third Pyra-
ound in the bu rial cham ber, in side wh ich was a wood en coffin .
coffin was m ade for him arou n d 650 BC. Th e sarcoph agus
in Lond on , bu t th e wooden coffin alon g with parts of the
u m m y did reach the m useum . He re igned for twent y-nin e years,
BC, in dynasty 4.
(or Mentuhotpe) . Bir th name: Mentuhotep
lE ^ g fa ) ! ( 'Mon tu is Con ten t ') . T h rone nam e : Nebhepe t ra
ble m eaning 'Pleased is the Lord Ra') . H is father was the
araoh In tef III and h is m oth er was Yah or Aoh . His m an y wives
n clud ed Tem and his sister Neferu. H is son by Tem becam e the
ort u ary tem ple at D eir El-Bah ari in Thebes. O n ly fragm ents of a
offin and som e b ones of the m um m y have su rvived and a re nown th e Brit ish Mu seum in Lon d on , bu t h is stone sarcoph agus is st ill
n the tom b. H e reigned for fifty-on e years, 2055-2004 BC, in
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(or Mern eptah ) . Bir th n am e: Merenp tah (with the t it le
er-m aat) ( 'Beloved, of Ptah ', with th e t it le
is Joyfu l') . Th ron e nam e: Baen ra-m eryn etjeru (©
e Spirit of Ra, Beloved of the God s ') . He is often th ough t to bearaoh o f the Exodu s , bu t for n o good reason . H e was the
ir teent h son of th e ph araoh Ram esses I I and h is m oth er was
ueen Istnoffet . H is wives were Istnofret and Takhat . H is son was
-Merenp tah wh o becam e th e p h arao h Seti II. H e was bu ried in
e Valley of the Kin gs, in tom b KV8, in a nest of three s tone sar-
n is for the bu r ia l of the pharaoh Psusenn es I (and is now in the
of th e o th er two sarcoph agi are still in
b KV8. H is m u m m y was in the cache found in 1898 and is now
the Cairo M useu m . He reigned for ten years, from when he was
h is sixt ies, 1213-120 3 BC, in d yn asty 19 .
(possibly also called Menes) . Horus name: Narmer
( S > Y ( 'The Str ikin g Catfish ') . This pharaoh 's nam e ap pears
m an y objects, and he h im self is depicted on a carved p iece o f
xford): he wears the W hite Cro wn (hedjet) of Upp er Egypt on theet te and the Red Crown (deshret) of Lower Egypt on the m ace-
ther of the p h araoh Aha. He m ay have been b ur ied in a royal
etery at Abydo s. H e reigned aro u n d 3100 BC, in d yn asty 1.
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Pepi I (or Pepy or Piopi or Ph iops). Birth name: Pepi ( ••( ^
Throne nam e: Meryra ('Beloved of Ra'). His father was the
pharaoh Teti and his m other was Ipu t. H is wives wereAnkhnesm erire 1 and II (daughters of a noblem an from Abydos:
they were both given the sam e nam e) and Weret-Im tes (who
un successfully plotted to assassinate h im , and was probably exe-
cuted). His sons by Ankhnesmerire I and II were Merenra and Pep
II (both would becom e ph araohs), and his daughter was called
Neith . He was bu ried in a pyram id at south Saqqara, which stillcontains his stone sarcophagus. Only one of his mummified hands
has survived and is now in the Cairo Museum . He reigned for
forty-five years, 2332-2287 BC, in dynasty 6, probably f r o m a young
age.
Pepi II (or Pepy or Piopi or Ph iops). Birth nam e: Pepi ( ••(Throne name: Neferkara (®D)| ('Beau tifu l is the Sou l of Ra'). His
father was the pharaoh Pepi I and his m other was Ankhnesmerire
II. His nu m erous wives includ ed his sister Neith. He was buried in
a pyram id at south Saqqara, which still con tains h is stone sarco-
phagus. He reigned for ninety-four years, 2278-2184 BC, in dynasty
6, from the age of six, the lon gest-reigning m onarch in history.
Pin ud jem I (or Pinedjem ). Birth nam e: Pinud jem (with the title
m eryam un ) ('H e who belongs to the Pleasant On e',
with the title 'Beloved of Am u n '). Thron e nam e: Khakh eperra-
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etepenam un ('The Appearance of Ra Com es in to
ein g, Chosen by Am u n '). As High Priest of the god Am un at
ruled an area from Aswan to just south of the delta. Hi
her was Piankh , a high priest and general. H is wives werey I (a daughter of the pharaoh Ramesses XI) and his own
hter Maatkara. By Henuttawy he had four ch ildren : h is
hter was Maatkara and one son became the ph araoh
usennes I, while two other sons, Masaherta and Menkh eperra,
h became high priests at Thebes. Pinu djem 's m um m y, now in
he Cairo Museum together with his coffins, was in the cachein 1881. It is n ot known where he was originally buried, but
reused the coffins of Tuthm osis I. He reigned for th irty-eigh t
1070-1032 BC, in dynasty 21.
I (or Psam m etichus I). Birth name: Psam tek Q L J ^ ^ ) .
name: Wahibra ('Th e Heart of Ra is En d u ring'). H isther was Nekau I, pharaoh of Sais, and one of his daughters was
tiqret . H is son became the pharaoh Nekau II. Psam tek began by
ing Egypt on behalf of the conquering Assyrian s, but by the
inth year of his reign he had becom e an independent ruler of
r and Lower Egypt. He defeated h is opponents in the delta
sing m ercenary soldiers from Greece. He reigned for fifty-four664-610 BC, in dynasty 26.
am esses I I (or Ram ses or Ram eses - and is also known as Ram-
ses the Great). Birth nam e: Ramesses (with the title m eryam un )
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( H H ® ^ ('Ra h as Fo rm e d H im ', w it h t he t it le 'Be lo ve d of
Am u n ') . Throne nam e: Userm aatra-se tepenra ( 'Th e Jus-
t ice of Ra is Powerful, Chosen by Ra') . H is father was the ph araoh
Seti I an d h is m oth er was Tuya. H e h ad n u m erou s wives; his eightm ain wives were Nefertar i (his first an d favourite , bu ried in tom b
Q V66 in the Valley of the Q ueen s), Istnofret , Bin t-An ath (his
dau ghter by Is tnofret), Merytam un (his daught er by Nefertar i) ,
Nebettawy (his daughter) , Henutmira (his younger s is ter) ,
Maathornefe ru ra and one of un kn own n am e. H e had well over 100
children . His sons by Nefertar i in clud ed Am enh irkhopshef. H issons by Istnofret in clud ed Ram esses, Khaem waset and Merenp tah
(who became the next pharaoh) . His daughters inc luded
Merytam u n , Bin t-An ath and Nebettawy. H e was possibly the ph ar-
aoh of the Exodu s , when the H ebrews un der the leadership of
Moses escaped from slavery in Egypt to th e Prom ised Lan d.
Ram esses II was bu ried in th e Valley of the Kin gs, in tom b KV7,bu t on ly a few of the conten ts survive, and are n ow in the Brit ish
Museum in London, the Louvre in Paris , Berl in Museum, and
Brooklyn Mu seum (USA). H is m um m y was in th e cache found in
1881 and is now in the Cairo M useum . He re igned for sixty-six years
from the age of twenty-five, 1279-1213 BC, in dynasty 19.
Ram esses I I I (or Ram ses o r Ram eses). Birth n am e: Ram esses (with
the t it le h eqa- iun u) ffl IH (j) ( 'Ra h as Form ed H im ', with the
t ide 'Ru ler of H eliopo lis ') . Th rone nam e: U serm aatra-m eryam un
('The Justice of Ra is Powerfu l, Beloved of Am un ') . H is3 \
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her was the pharaoh Setnakhte and his m other was Tiy-Meren -
ittle is known of his wives and ch ildren . His wives included
is (the ch ief queen), Titi (possibly h is daughter) and Tiy (who
otted to m urder him and was probably executed). He also hadany m inor wives and num erous ch ildren , in clud ing at least ten
, but m any died before him and were buried in the Valley of
Qu eens. Th ey includ ed Khaem waset, Parahirwenem ef,
hirkhopshef, Am enhirkhopshef, and the later pharaohs
amesses IV (possibly by Titi), Ramesses V and Ramesses VI (by
is). His daughter was called Titi. He was bu ried in the Valley ofKings, in tom b KV11, which was discovered in 1769 by Jam es
ruce. The tom b has pain tings of two blind harpists and is often
led 'Th e Tom b of the H arpers' or 'Bru ce's Tom b'. H is stone sar-
is in the Louvre in Paris and the sarcophagus lid is in the
itzwilliam Museum , Cam bridge. H is m um m y was in the cache
in 1881 and along with a wooden coffin is in the Cairoreigned for thirty-one years and forty-one days, 1184-
BC, in dynasty 20.
(or Senwosret or Sesostris). Birth nam e: Senu sret
1P T I 3 ( 'H e
of Wosret [a goddess]'). Throne name: Kheperkara
('The Soul of Ra Com es into Bein g'). H is father was the
oh Am enem het I and his m other was Nefrytatenen .
ret 's chief wife was Nefru, by whom he had a son who
am e the pharaoh Am enem het II. His daughters were Itekuyet
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probably Nefru-Sobek, Nefru-Ptah and Nenseddjedet. He was
ed in a pyram id at El-Lisht , bu t on ly a leg bone has been
ound. He reigned for forty-five years, 1965-1920 BC, in dynasty 12,
n part with his father and later with his own son.
en usret II (or Senwosret or Sesostris). Birth nam e: Senu sret
('H e of Wosret [a godd ess]'). Th rone nam e:
hakh eperra ('Th e Form of Ra Appears'). H is father was
pharaoh Am enemhet II and his mother was Nefru. His prin ci-
al wife was Nofret. His son became the pharaoh Senusret III. Heas buried in a pyram id he built at El-Lah u n , where the bu rial
still contains an empty stone sarcophagus. He reigned for
1880-1874 BC, in dynasty 12, in part with his father.
en usret III (or Senwosret or Sesostris). Birth nam e: Senusret
^ ('He of Wosret [a god dess]'). Th rone nam e: Khakaura
o ^ P ('Th e Souls of Ra Appea r'). H is father was the pharaoh
enusret II. He had several wives, in cluding Mereret and possibly
s sister Sit-Hath or. H is sons includ ed the pharaoh Am enem het
enusret was buried in a pyram id at Dahshu r, which still con -
ns h is sarcoph agus. He reigned for nineteen years, 1874-1855 BC,n dynasty 12.
et i I (or Sety or Seth os). Birth nam e: Seti (with the tide
ryenptah) ( J U I 3 ) | (< H e o f S e t h
>w i t h t h e t i t l e
'Belove
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'). Th rone nam e: Menm aatra ('Etern al is the Justice of
). H is father was the pharaoh Ram esses I and his m other was
itra. His wife was Tuya (the daughter of a military lieutenant) wh o
ed in her sixties and was buried in the Valley of the Queens. Hetwo sons by Tuya; one died young and one becam e the ph ar-
h Ram esses II. His daughters were Tia and Hen utm ira (who
her broth er Ramesses II). Seti I was buried in the Valley of
Kings, in tom b KV17, the longest and deepest tom b in the val-
Seti's mummy was in the cache found in 1881 and is now in the
airo Museum , along with a coffin. His stone sarcophagus is in theoane Museum in Lond on. He reigned for f if teen years, 1294-1279
C, in dynasty 19.
heshon q I (or Sheshonk or Shoshenk or Sh ishak). Birth nam e:
heshonq (with the title meryamun) (the title 'Beloved
Am un ', with the foreign name Sheshonq). Thron e n ame:kheperra-setepenra P ^ W ^ ) ('Th e Form of Ra is Bright,
hosen by Ra'). He was a nephew of the pharaoh Osorkon the
and a general un der the pharaoh Psusennes II whose daugh-
r he m arried. He had several sons, includ ing Iuput,
edptahaufankh, Nim lot and the pharaoh Osorkon I. He is the
hishak m entioned in the Bible as un dertaking conquests in JudahIsrael and taking away treasure from cities in the region
clud ing Jerusalem . The location of h is tom b is unknown. He
for twenty-one years, 945-924 BC, in dynasty 22.
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neferu (or Snefru or Snofru or Soris). Birth nam e: Sneferu
B H B ('H e of Good n ess'). His parents were the pharaoh Huni
nd probably H un i's m inor wife Meresankh I. Sneferu m arried his
alf-sister Hetepheres, who was h is principal wife. Their soncame the pharaoh Cheops. Sneferu m oved the royal burial
round to Dahshur, where he bu ilt two pyram ids: the Bent Pyra-
id and a m ile away the f i r s t rue pyramid known as the Red (or
h ) Pyram id, where parts of his m umm y were found. He
for twenty-four years, 2613-2589 BC, in dynasty 4.
Birth name: Teti ( ^ j j - His origins are unknown, but his wives
ncluded Ipu t, who was a daughter of the pharaoh Unas, and
huit. He had a son by Iput who became the pharaoh Pepi I and
hter nam ed Seshseshet (who m arried the ch ief m inister
Teti may have been murdered by his bodyguard, and he
as bu ried in a pyram id at north Saqqara. H is lidless stone sar-ophagus is still in the pyram id's bu rial cham ber, and a wooden
is in the Cairo Museum , along with a few fragments of his
my. He reigned for thirteen years, 2345-2332 BC, in dynasty 6.
utankham un (or Tutankham en or Tutankh am on). Birth name:
utankhaten ('Living Im age of Aten '). Adopted birth nam e: Tut-nkham un (with the tide heqa-iun u-shem a)
of Amun', with the title 'Ruler of Upper Egyptian
eliop olis'). Thron e name: Nebkheperura ('Ra is Lord of
orm s'). This pharaoh is especially famous because his spectacular
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m b was discovered alm ost in tact in 1922 by Howard Carter and
ord Carnarvon, although it had been broken into twice in ancient
His mother was possibly Queen Kiya and his father was pos-
bly the pharaoh Akh enaten . His wife was h is half-sisternkhesenpaaten (who later changed her name to Ankhesenamun).
had no sons, although two m um m ies found in his tomb were
ably stillborn daughters. He was buried in a nest of coffins in
b KV62 of the Valley of the Kings, a sm all tom b that was pos-
bly the only one available at the tim e of his sudden death. The
e num ber of objects from the tomb are now in the Cairoeum , includ ing the inn er coffin of sheet gold, the m iddle
ooden gilded coffin and the in laid gold m ask covering the
um m y. Other ob jects are in Luxor Museum , while in the tom b
e preserved the stone sarcophagus, the outerm ost wooden gilded
and the m um m y. He reigned for nine years from about the
e of nine, 1336-1327 BC, in dynasty 18.
uth m osis I (or Thu tm ose or Djehu tym es). Birth name:
QHjj[J)| ('Born of Thoth'). Throne name: Aakheperkara
®J$y ) ('Great is the Form of the Soul of Ra'). He was a general of
pharaoh Am enhotep I. His wife was Queen Ahm ose, who was
daughter of the pharaoh Ahm ose I and Queen Ahm osefertari. His two elder sons, Wadjm ose and Am enm ose, pre-
eased h im . A youn ger son , by h is m inor wife Mutnefert,
came the pharaoh Tuthm osis II. H is elder daughter by Queen
hmose became the pharaoh Hatshepsut. He was the f i rs t pharaoh
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to be buried in the Valley of the Kin gs, in tom b KV38. A stone
sarcophagus was found in the tomb and is now in the Cairo
Museum, while another was found in KV20, the tomb of Hatshep
sut, where his m umm y m ay have been transferred. His m umm y
has not been found, but his coffin is in the Cairo Museum. He was
co-ruler with Amenhotep I and then reigned for twelve years, 1504
1492 BC, in dynasty 18.
Tuthmosis II (or Thu tm ose or Djehu tym es). Birth name:
Thutmose (^-ffijj ('Born of Thoth'). Throne name: Aakheperenra
('Great is the Form of Ra'). His father was the pharaoh
Tuthm osis I and his m other was Mutnefert. He m arried his half-
sister Hatshepsut. He had one son, Tuthm osis III, by his m inor
wife Isis, and a daughter, Neferura, by Hatshepsut. He was possibl
buried in tomb KV42 in the Valley of the Kings which still con tain
an un decorated sarcoph agus. His mummy was in the cache found
in 1881 and is now in the Cairo Museum . He reigned for thirteen
years, with Hatshepsut as co-ru ler, 1492-1479 BC, in dynasty 18,
until his death in his early thirties.
Tu thm osis III (or Thu tm ose or Djehu tym es). Birth nam e: Th u t-
m ose ('Born of Th oth '). Th rone name: Menkheperra
('Etern al is the Form of Ra'). His father was the pharaoh
Tuthmosis II and his mother was Isis. His wives were Neferura (his
half-sister, who died before he cam e to the thron e), then
Hatshepsut-Meryetra (of non-royal rank and his principal queen),
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nd several m inor ones such as Menhet, Menwi and Mert i. H is son
Hatshepsut-Merytra) becam e the pharaoh Am enhotep II.
ecause of his num erous m ilitary campaigns and because he was a
m an, he has been described as the 'Napoleon of ancientgypt'. He was bu ried in tom b KV34 in the Valley of the Kin gs,
ich still con tains the stone sarcophagus. H is mummy was in the
found in 1881, in its origin al outer wooden coffin, and is now
the Cairo Museum. He reigned for fifty-four years, 1479-1425 BC,
dynasty 18, although his aunt and stepm other Hatshepsut in i-
ally acted as regent and then took over h is power from 1473 BCntil she died or was overthrown in 1458 BC. Later in his reign
uthm osis erased all m em ory of her by ph ysically ob literating her
me on many monuments.
uth m osis IV (or Thu tm ose or Djehu tym es). Birth nam e:
(j^fjjjjj ('Born of Th oth '). Throne name: Menkheperura® ('Etern al are the Form s of Ra'). H is m other was Queen
io and his father was the pharaoh Am enhotep II. His son by one
h is ch ief wives, Queen Mutem wiya, becam e the pharaoh
m enhotep III. He was buried in tom b KV43 in the Valley of the
ings, which still con tains his stone sarcophagus. H is mummy was
the cache found in 1898 and is n ow in the Cairo Museum . Hefor ten years, 1400-1390 BC, in dynasty 18.
nas (or Wenis or Unis). Birth nam e: Unas ( S B - His wivesluded Nebet and Khenut. One daughter was Iput who m arried
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e pharaoh Teti. Unas had no heir. He was buried in a pyram id at
orth Saqqara, th e earliest to have its in ternal walls inscribed with
pells of the Pyramid Texts. Parts of his mummy were found in th
and are now in the Cairo Museum. His stone sarcophaguss still in th e pyramid. He reigned for thirty years, 2375-2345 BC, in
5.
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h could be depicted wearing a num ber of different
rowns, which also appear as h ieroglyph ic sign s:
Th e White Crown, (J (hedjet), was the earliest form of crown,
ten called the Crown of Upper Egypt (the south ). It is seen asy as the reign of the pharaohs Scorpion and Narmer. The crown
as som etim es called the Nefer or the White Nefer and was
asion ally depicted in a sim ilar way to the h ieroglyph | for
meaning 'good' or 'beautiful'.
The Red Crown, cj/ (deshret), is often called the Crown of Lower
gypt (the n orth ). As a hieroglyph, it was commonly used to write
e letter 'n', as an alternative to
The Double Crown , (pschent), was formed by the white and
d crowns com bined and was worn by pharaohs of the unified
tate of Upper an d Lower Egypt.
From dynasty 18 pharaohs also wore the Blue Crown (khepresh),
, which at times is referred to as the war crown.Th e Atef Crown , com prised a crown with doub le feathers
nd a ram 's horns. It was worn by the ph araoh in certain religious
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Time and the Seasons
es were written according to the particu lar year of reign of the
urrent pharaoh, giving the regnal year, the month, season and day
nd then the ph araoh's throne nam e, such as 'year two, second
of the inun dation , day one under the m ajesty of the phar-oh Khakaura' f
The Egyptians divided the year in to twelve m onths, and the
onths into thirty days, with three ten-day weeks per m onth. The
ear therefore consisted of 360 days, and so to bring the number u
365, five days were added at the end of the year that were
as the birthdays of the deities Osiris, Isis, Horus, Seth an d
The night was divided in to twelve hours and the daytim e into
elve hours, the word for 'an h ou r' being 'un u t'. The
of the hours would vary from season to season , as daytim e
gan with sun rise. The word for 'm orn in g' or 'tom orrow' was
^ © , 'd u a ' . 'To d a y 'w a s £ ™, 'm in '. 'Nigh t ' was JLITVge re h ',nd 'day' was i H , ^ ® 'heru'.
Th e year was divided in to three seasons (rather than the four
of spring, sum m er, autum n and winter found in Europe).
e seasons were tied in with the annual flooding of the River Nil
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the in u n dation ), which no longer occurs as the water is now held
k artificially in Lake Nasser by the Aswan Dam . Th e nam e for
he inu nd ation was =s , 'hapy' (the same name that was given
o the god of the Nile - see page 139).Th e year began in m id -Ju ly when the ann ual inu nd ation began,
nd that season was called ir f, 'akhet ', which lasted to m id-
ovem ber. Th en cam e the growing season, < = > q , known as 'peret',
ch lasted to m id -March , then the harvest season , ,
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Body and Soul
The ancient Egyptians thought that the world was inh abited by
three types of con scious beings: livin g peop le,
('an kh u '); gods, TH ('n eteru '); and the akhs, ^H ('ak h iu '), who
were spirits of the ancestors. The Egyptians believed that eachhuman being was made up of five elements, every one of which wa
necessary for existence. These elem ents were the body, ('ha'),
the shadow, f T ( 'sh u t '), the ba, V ( 'b a'), the ka, U ( 'k a'), and
the name,< = >
|f| ('ren').
The body was obviously an essential part of each person, and th
shadow was regarded as an important extension of the body; in thbrigh t ligh t of Egypt, shadows are ever-present. Their name was
also considered to be an essential p art of a person , and som eone
whose nam e was destroyed or lost ceased to exist. Because of this,
m any people tried to ensure that their nam e would continu e to
exist after they died by carvin g or pain ting it on their coffin, tomb
and anywhere else it m igh t survive. Som etim es the nam es ofpeop le, in cluding ph araohs, would be system atically erased in an
attempt to destroy them in the afterlife.
The ba is part of the person that is difficult to define precisely.
was a spirit of the person that was in part made up of their perso
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the ba was th e element that made each person an in dividual,
it was believed to live on after the death of th e person. It is
portrayed as a h um an-headed bird in Egyptian art and as a
ieroglyph showing a human-headed bird with an offering of a potsm oking incense in f r o n t of it: The final elem ent that went
o m ake up each person was th e ka. Like the ba, the ka is also dif-
icult to define but approximated to the person's soul or 'life-force',
it too was believed to live on after a person's death.
Although the ba and the ka were believed to live on after death,
ittance to the afterlife was not autom atic. What ancientgyptian s feared m ost was the 'secon d death' that resulted in
if a person failed to obtain the afterlife, and consequen tly
any religious rituals and m agic spells were used to try to ensure
a person did not suffer this second death. It was believed that
hen a person died their ka was automatically separated from their
, bu t the ba was n ot. Th e person's body was preserved byan d variou s rituals were perform ed to free th e ba
om the body, so that it could join the ka. Once the ba had joined
ka, the dead person became an akh ^ and could live on in th e
Before the ba could join the ka, however, the dead person had to
e final judgem ent by th e gods. The person's heart was weighedo see if they had led a just and proper life, and only if the decision
in their favour could they survive. Because this judgement was
onsidered so im portan t, collection s of spells such as the Book of
Dead were largely concerned with ensuring that the dead
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gave all the righ t answers and so passed th e tests, as well as
to provide an easy life for the dead person in the afterlife.
Once the dead person had become an akh, they continu ed to
rejoining their mummy each nightsleeping in their tomb to emerge in th e daytim e and enjoy life
f r o m he burdens of physical existence. Akhs were thou ght to
on the same plane as the gods and have some god-like powers,
they could also derive nourishm ent fr o m food which was
aced as offerings in m ortuary chapels; they were believed to be
e to extract the nourishing essence from such offerings, leavinghe actual food apparently un touched. They were also thought to
able to assist the livin g, and letters written to the dead and
in tombs often asked for such help.
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an d Goddesses
writin g developed in Egypt, and so literally before history,
ch sm all com m un ity within the Nile Valley had its own group of
and goddesses. Over the cen turies, as Egypt becam e un ited,
e gods and goddesses m erged where it was seen that theirction was the sam e and on ly their names were different. For
am ple, in the hot sunn y clim ate of Egypt, the sun was
as a god in most places, but had different names. This
cess of m erging gradually reduced the num ber of gods and
esses, bu t tended to take p lace on ly in adjacent areas. Priests
the local people were probably reluctant to let their own deitiesreplaced by ones from far away. Even so, Egypt still had a large
of gods and goddesses, m ostly worsh ipped within quite
ited areas of the country; very few were worshipped throughout
country.
All the gods and goddesses had their own m yths and legends,
though in the m erging of deities som e m yths and legends wereixed together, while several m inor gods and goddesses survived
elem ents of other m ore im portant gods and goddesses. These
em pts at ration alisin g Egyptian religion were not entirely
essful, leaving several different groups of m ajor gods
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worshipped in different cities in Egypt, with conflicting myths an d
legends, while m any m inor local and household gods were
honoured by sm all shrines and statues rather than in grand and
im pressive tem ples.A collection of major gods was called ® (Pesedjet) by the
Egyptians, bu t Egyptologists now use the term enttead, which is
derived from he ancient Greek word for 'nine', even though m ost
enneads do not consist of exactly nine deities! The Heliopolitan
Ennead, the centre of whose cult was at the city of Heliopolis, co
sisted of the creator god Atum and his son Shu and daughterTefhut whose m arriage produced a son Geb and a daughter Nut.
The m arriage of Geb and Nut produced two sons, Osiris and Seth
and two daughters, Isis and Nephthys. These nine deities are some
times known as the Great Ennead.
An other group of deities was called ~ (Khem nyu),
meaning 'the eight gods', although Egyptologists now use the termogdoad, derived f r o m he ancient Greek word for 'eight'. The grou
was made up of four f rog -headed gods and four snake-headed god
desses who were thought to have ruled before the creation of the
world. Pairs of gods and goddesses represented different aspects of
the prim eval chaos that existed before the em ergence of the sun
god: the god Nun and the goddess Nunet represented the primevaocean, the god Heh and the goddess Hehet represented infinite
space, Kek and Keket represented darkness, and Am un and
Am un et represented hidden power or in visibility. This last group
was especially popular at Hermopolis.
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Through the gradual merging of many local gods and goddesses,
om e came to be worshipped throughou t the Nile Valley, and yet
never had a universal system of religion, no sacred books like
Bible or the Koran, and no religious dogm a. Religion was partdaily life, with no hard division s, as there are today, between
gion , m agic, superstition , m edicine or science. Religious rituals
re regarded as having practical and im m ediate effects, such as
the cycle of the seasons, m aking the sun sh ine, avoid-
ng the collapse of order, curin g illness and ensuring life after
In the following alph abetical list of gods and goddesses, their
es are given in h ieroglyph s. Som etim es these deities are better
n today not by their Egyptian name, but by a later form of
eir name (usually ancient Greek). So for Anubis, for example, the
igin al ancien t Egyptian name of Inpu is given as well. The hiero-
lyph s $ and are determ inatives (see page 31) for 'god ' or
ivin e', and can occur at the end of a hieroglyphic name, which
hows the reader that this is definitely the name of a god or god-
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Am un or the single h ieroglyph Recognis-
able by the two high plum es on his crown , Am un
was also linked with the fertility god Min, as Amun
Min , in which case he is portrayed with an erectpenis. He was also linked with the sun god Ra, as
Am un -Ra, when he is portrayed as wearing a sun
disc as well as plum es on h is crown . Th e m ain
anim al sacred to Amun was the ram, and so the god
was som etim es portrayed with a ram's head.
H is name Am un m eans 'the hidden one', and hewas thought of as the invisible force in the wind. Originally one o
the prim eval gods of the ogdoad, Am un became associated with
the reigning pharaoh. From dynasty 11 he was a god of Thebes and
rose in im portance to becom e the suprem e god of the Egyptians.
Later, the ancient Greeks equated him with their chief god Zeus.
Anubis (literally Tnpu') or the single
h ieroglyph Th is god can also be portrayed as a
crouching jacka l, with the h ieroglyph is^ used on
its own to represent the nam e An ubis in h iero-
glyph ic texts. He usually appears as a m an with the
head of a jackal, but he was not the only jackal-headed god worsh ipped by the Egyptian s. Origin -
ating in Upper Egypt as a god of the dead, Anubis
was even tually regarded throughou t Egypt as the
god who presided over cemeteries and burial rituals
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who protected the dead on their journey to the afterlife.
'Hapu'). Represented as a bull with a sun
sc on his head, Apis was believed to be the god Ptah livin g onth in the form of a bu ll. At the tem ple of Ptah in Mem phis a
cred bull was kept, worshipped and consulted as an oracle. When
he bull died it was m um m ified and buried at Saqqara in a huge
dergroun d com plex, now known as the Serapeum , and another
acred bull was found. The bull that was selected would have eithe
white crescent on one side of its body, a white crescent on its foread, a black vulture-shaped patch on its back, or a black spot
its tongue.
W l (literally Ap ep '). Represented as a huge serpen t,
pophis was the snake god of the un derworld. He was the
ndestructible and eternal enem y of the sun , and every night heth e sun as it journeyed through the un derworld fr o m he
est to the east. Every night Apophis had to be defeated so that th
n could rise again. He sym bolised the forces of darkness and evil
at were constantly at war with the forces of goodness and light.
ten (literally Aten -Ra '). Aten was a sunod very closely conn ected with the sun god Ra.
ten was considered to be the disc of the sun (the
of Ra) and was portrayed as a sun disc with a
(representing the goddess Wadjet) and with rays radiating
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from the disc which ended in hands. During the reign of the pha
aoh Akhenaten all the gods were abandoned in favour of a religion
based solely on the worship of Aten, but at the death of Akhenaten
the situation was reversed and Aten once m ore becam e one godamong many.
Atum ^ JNJ . Represented as a m an wearing the
com bined crowns of Upper and Lower Egypt, or
wearing the royal headdress, Atum can be confused
with po rtraits of pharaohs. He was the creator godwho emerged f r o m he primeval waters (sym bolised
by the god Nun ) to create Shu and Tefnut whose
m arriage produced the rest of the gods and god-
desses. Atum was seen as th e father of the pharaoh
and after death a pharaoh would return to Atum .
Atum protected the pharaoh and others in theunderworld.
Bastet ff^ . Originally represented as a woman with
the head of a lion, and so easily confused with othe
lioness goddesses (Mu t, Sekhm et, Tefhut), fr o m
about 1000 BC Bastet was portrayed as a wom anwith the head of a cat. Having started as a lioness
goddess, she becam e a cat goddess and was very
popular in Lower Egypt. As a lioness goddess she
sym bolised the anger of the sun god Ra, but as the
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at goddess she was a protector of pregnant women and of people
ainst disease and dem ons, as well as being a goddess of music,
cing and pleasure.
es J j l^ . Represented as a grotesque deform ed
arf, Bes was in fact a kindly god offering protec-
on in all situation s, in particu lar protection of
omen in ch ildb irth and of the family. Bes had no
m ples of his own but appears on the walls of tem-
es of other gods and was worshipped at home. Hiszarre appearance was to frighten away evil spirits.
eb V J ^ . A prim eval god of the earth, Geb was
rayed as a m an with a crown , but som etim es a
oose, on his head. He was also regarded as a god of
ility, and in th is role he was som etim es shown
reen in colour and with an erect penis. In the cre-
ion m yth at Heliopolis, Geb was the son of Shu,
d of the air, and of Tefnut, the goddess of mois-
t gods in Egypt were thought to be ch il-
en resulting from the m arriage of Geb and his
ister Nu t, the sky goddess. Geb frequently appears
scenes connected with fun erary rituals, being
f r o m his sister Nut by their father Shu.
y (or H ap i) f ^ H f • Represented as a long-haired naked m an
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with a large paunch and hanging breasts, often with a crown of
water plan ts, and pouring water from an urn, Hapy was th e god of
the annual Nile flood (the in un dation ). There were no temples
dedicated to Hapy, but he is often portrayed on the walls of templdedicated to other gods. Another god also called Hapy was one of
the Sons of Horus - see page 151.
H ath or Q J^ J bu t m ore usually the single h iero-
glyph [S|o r
On e
of the m ost im portant god-
desses, Hathor was represented in variou s forms: asa woman with cow horns and a sun disc on her hea
(a form similar to one of those of Isis); as a cow; an
as a pillar in a temple, at the top of which is carved
woman's face with the ears of a cow. Hathor was a
sky goddess, bu t also a protector of cem eteries, a
goddess of the dead, and a goddess of love, as well apresiding over fate, healing, m usic and dan ce. She
was believed to be the wife of Horus.
i f
Heket (som etim es called Heqat) I Q ^ - Portrayed
as either a f r o g or a woman with a f rog 's head, Heke
was a goddess of ch ildb irth , fertility and regener-ation of plant life.
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but more usually the single h ieroglyph
Represented as a falcon or as a m an with the
of a falcon, Horu s was one of the oldest and
ost im portan t gods in Egypt. His m ain roles weres a sky god and a sun god, but he was also protector
the pharaoh (who was considered to be Horus
ive on earth) and a sym bol of perfection. Horus
m any form s such as Harpocrates (Horus as a
Harakhty (H orus of the horizon, a sun god),
Harendotes (Horus the avenger of O siris). Inyth, H orus was the son of Osiris and fought with
god Seth after he had killed Osiris. Im ages of Horus are seen
ghout Egyp t, and the variou s m yths about him and his vary-
ng fun ctions in different places are very com plex and difficult to
An official, arch itect and h igh priest of Ptah
served four pharaohs in dynasty 3, he was responsible for sev-
l buildings including the Step Pyram id of the pharaoh Djoser
see page 112). He becam e so famous that about 2,000 years after
s death he was regarded as a god. He was revered as a god of
ledge and healing and was portrayed as a seated man with ahaven head (the m ark of a priest), with an open papyrus scroll on
knees.
Portrayed as a h ippopotam us, Ipy was a protective
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goddess, particularly of the royal family, bu t also of mothers and
ch ildren . In her form an d function she is alm ost indistinguishable
from the goddess Taweret.
Isis J o or JQ (literally'Iset'). Usually portrayed as
a wom an with the sym bol of a throne on her head,
Isis is som etim es seen as a wom an wearing a crown
with cow h orns and a sun disc in a form that is
easily confused with some of the representations of
the goddess Hathor. Isis was one of the m ostim portan t goddesses in Egypt, a m other goddess
thought to possess immense magical powers. In
m yth she was the sister and wife of Osiris and the
mother of Horus. Since the pharaoh was regarded as
the god Horus livin g on earth, Isis was called the
mother of the pharaoh.
Khepri or (literally'Kheperer'), but
often the single h ieroglyph Portrayed as a dun g
_ beetle (scarab) or as a man with a dung beetle for a
head, Khepri was a form of the sun god Ra. The
JL im age of the dung beetle was commonly used as anam ulet to sym bolise the sun god and to provide
protection for the person wearing it.
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Khnum 0 or the single hieroglyph ^jf orPortrayed as a man with the head of a ram , and
som etim es wearing a sun disc and plum es on h is
head, Khnum can be confused with the sun god Ra.
Khnum was a creator god, origin ally worsh ipped at
Elephantine in Upper Egypt. He cam e to be
regarded as guardian of the source of the Nile andcontroller of its floods. He was also associated with
Ra.
Khonsu A m oon god and a god of war,
Khonsu was represented in several different ways: as
a mummified ch ild stand ing uprigh t, with one sidelock of hair (the fashion for ch ildren) and holding
the royal crook and f lai l sceptres; as a youth with the
head of a falcon, on top of which is a com bination
of a crescent and a m oon disc; and as a baboon (in
which form he can be confused with Th oth ).
Origin ally a violen t god of war, Khonsu developedinto a god of healing and came to be regarded as th e
son of Am un and Mut.
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Maat0 1
^ e single hieroglyph $ or - J.
Portrayed as a wom an with a single ostrich feather
in her hairband , or som etim es just by the feather
itself, Maat was the goddess of cosmic harmony andpersonified truth and justice. In portrayals of judg-
ing the dead, to see if they were eligible for the afte
life, the dead person 's heart was weighed against
Maat's feather jj. If the scales d id not balance, the
dead person could not enter the afterlife. In m yth,
Maat was the wife of Thoth.
Meretseger • Represented as a coiled cobra or as a
cobra with the head of a woman, Meretseger was a local goddess
the m oun tain that overlooks the ancient cem etery of the Valley of
the Kings at Thebes. She was a cobra goddess who protected the
royal tom bs at Thebes and came to be regarded as a goddess of th
whole of Thebes.
Min or the single hieroglyph f\ Min was usu-
ally portrayed as a man with an erect penis and bot
arm s raised (he appears to have only one arm in
some pictu res), holding a flail and wearing aplumed headdress. He was the god of sexual activity
an d fertility and was sometimes linked with the god
Amun.
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o rsom etim es the single h ieroglyph Repre-
m an with th e head of a falcon, on top of which are two
um es with a sun disc and uraeus (representing the goddess
et), Montu was a god of war. A white bu ll with a b lack face,alled Buchis, was worsh ipped as Mon tu alive on earth at the city
Hermonthis.
t ^ or the single hieroglyph Usually repre-
ented as a woman wearing a headdress in the shape
a vulture, on top of which was the double crownUpper and Lower Egypt, Mut is som etim es
hown as a wom an with the head of a lion and so
an be confused with the other lioness goddesses
Bastet, Tefnu t, Sekh m et). Mut was a sky goddess
nd a goddess of war, but was also associated with
cat goddess Bastet.
efertum J ̂ ^ • Portrayed as a m an with a
on his head, or occasion ally as a m an
a lion 's head, Nefertum was the god of rebirth
was symbolised by the lotus. In myth he was th e
n of Ptah and Sekhmet.
Q or the single h ieroglyph ><=>< Repre-
ented as a woman with bows and arrows, or simply
s two crossed arrows tied up in a package (of which
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the hieroglyph ><=>< is a m uch sim plified version ), Neith was the
goddess of war. Originally a local goddess of Sais in the Nile Delta
Neith developed into a goddess known throughou t Egypt and was
regarded as the wife of the god Seth. Because her symbol of crossearrows was m istaken for a weaving shuttle, she later became the
goddess of weavers.
Nekhbet Represented as a vulture, Nekhbet was the goddess
of Upper Egypt . She cam e to sym bolise that part of th e country
and was often portrayed with th e goddess Wadjet to sym bolise theunity of Upper and Lower Egypt . In this respect, Nekhbet som e-
times appears alongside the uraeus (representing the goddess
Wadjet) on the headdress of the pharaoh, to show that he ruled th
whole of Egypt.
Neph th ys ' (literally 'Nebeth u t') or thesingle h ieroglyph g . Portrayed as a wom an with
the h ieroglyph s m eaning 'th e lady of the mansion'
on her head, Nephthys was a funerary goddess who
protected the ph araoh in the un derworld. In m yth
she was the wife of Seth, but she seduced Osiris, and
Anubis was their son.
Nu n ooo . A prim eval god of water, Nun sym bol-
ised the origin al watery abyss from which the cre-
ator sun god Atum em erged. Nun is portrayed as a
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with no instantly recognisable identifying marks.
t . Usually shown as a wom an, Nut was occasion ally por-
ed as a cow. She was a prim eval sky goddess. In the creationth at Heliopo lis, Nut was the daughter of Shu, god of th e air,
d of Tefnut, the goddess of moisture. Most of the gods in Egypt
re thought to be children resulting from the marriage of Nut and
ther Geb. Nut frequently appears in scenes connected with
erary rituals, being separated from her brother Geb by their
Shu.
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Osiris (literally 'Wsir' or 'Usir ') . One of the
m ost im portant gods of Egypt, Osiris was repre-
sented as a mummified man standing upright, hold-
ing the royal crook and flail and wearing a tallcrown with two plumes. He was the supreme god o
the dead and ruled over the un derworld. He was
also a god of resurrection and the judge of the dead
deciding who was admitted to the afterlife. In m yth,
Osiris was brother and husband of Isis and was
killed by their brother Seth, but brought back to lifeby Isis. Osiris was closely associated with Ptah and
Sokar, and the association became so strong that the
three gods were virtually interchangeable.
Ptah or the single h ieroglyph § or ff. The
m ost distinguishing feature of Ptah was his smoothshaven head, and he was usually p ortrayed as a
m um m ified m an standing upright and holding a
sceptre. At Mem phis he was con sidered to be a cre-
ator god, but he becam e known throughout Egypt
as a god of architects, artists and craftsmen. He was
also a fun erary god, closely associated with Osirisand Sokar, and th is association becam e so strong
that they were virtually interchangeable.
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RaorRe or as the single hieroglyph § or ^ .
The hieroglyph ® represents the sun and was also
used to represent the god Ra. It is often seen in the
names of pharaohs in cartouches. The m ost com -
m on representation of Ra was as a falcon with a sun
disc on its head, leading to confusion with some
representations of Horus, with whom Ra was in any
case closely linked . Ra was also portrayed as a sun
disc being rolled along by a scarab (dun g beetle),
and when portrayed in the un derworld he took the
form of a m an with the head of a ram , on top of
whose horns was a sun disc. O rigin ally worshipped
as a creator god at Heliopolis, Ra becam e the m ost
popu lar sun god in Egypt. See also Khepri on page
142.
Sekhmet Portrayed as a woman with the
head of a lion , and often with a sun disc on her
head, Sekhm et was a lion ess goddess of Memphis.
She can som etim es be confused with other lioness
goddesses (Bastet, Mu t, Tefnut). Sekhm et cam e to
be regarded as the daughter of the sun god Ra and
th e wife of the god Ptah. Her n am e m eans 'power-
ful', and she represented the destructive power of
the sun , although she was also thought to be a
powerful sorcerer and healer.
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Sesh at f ^ A ^ - V • Represented as a woman wear-
ing a panther-skin robe and a seven-pointed star on
top of a stick on her head, Seshat was a goddess of
writin g and recording, concerned with accoun ts,m easurem ent of time and the laying out of building
foundations. Often seen with writing implements or
a tally-stick, in m yth she was the wife of the god
Thoth.
Seth or the single h ieroglyph $ or & J.Represented as the 'Seth an im al' an im agin -
ary creature sim ilar to a jackal, or as a m an with a
'Seth anim al' head, the god Seth was the em bodi-
ment of evil. In m yth , Seth killed his brother Osiris
and usurped the throne. Seth was eventually
defeated by Horus, the son of O siris. Seth cam e tobe regarded as lord of the desert and of non-Egyp-
tian lands. He took up a p osition in the solar boat,
which was used by the sun to travel through the
un derworld each n igh t, and helped to fight off
attacks from the serpent Apoph is. He also con trol-
led the weather.
Sh u . Represented as a man with a plum e on his head, or
occasionally as a man with the head of a lion, Shu was a primeval
god of the air. In the creation m yth at Heliopolis, he was the son
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creator god Atum. He m arried h is sister Tefnut, the goddess of
oisture, and had a son Geb (the ear th) and a daughter Nut (the
. Portrayed as a m an with a crocodile
d or as a crocodile with two plum es on its head,
obek was a crocodile water god. In some m yths his
made up the waters o f th e River Nile.
as a m an with the head of a
k, Sokar was a god of the dead at the cem etery
r the city of Mem phis at Saqqara. He becam e
sociated with Ptah and O siris, and so from a local
od he developed in to one worshipped throughout
gyp t. Th e association between O siris, Ptah and
on s of H oru s. These were four gods called Im sety Q ^ Jj ,
u t e f , H a p y f / j j l ) an d Q e b eh se n u ef ft J J J w . Th ey
ere four fun erary gods who protected specific organs removedom the b ody du rin g m um m ification. Im sety was portrayed as a
and looked after the liver; Duam utef was portrayed as a jackal
nd looked after the stomach; Hapy took the form of a baboon and
guardian of the lun gs; and Qebehsenuef was represented as a
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hawk and protected th e intestines. The organs were often stored in
sets of four jars called Can op ic Jars, the lids of which were made to
Sothis [\ £ (literally 'Sop d et '). Represented as a wom an wearing a
tall crown with a live-po in ted star on top, Sothis personified the
star Sirius. Because the bright appearance of Sirius in the dawn sky
in July marked the start of the inu ndation - the annual flooding o
the River Nile - Sothis was known as the herald of the New Yearand the Nile flood.
Taweret ^ j ^ l l s A hippopotam us goddess who
protected wom en in ch ildb irth , Taweret (m eaning
'th e great on e') was usually represented in a gro-
tesque form, shown as a female hippopotam us withhum an breasts. Her back, tail and part of her head
were those of a crocodile, she had the feet of a lion
and wore a wig of straight hair. Her bizarre appear-
ance was only to frighten off evil spirits, and she wa
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kindly goddess. In her form and function she is almost
from the goddess Ipy.
efnut ^ ^ • Represented as a lioness or as a wom an with thead of a lion, Tefnut can be confused with other lioness goddesses
astet, Mut, Sekhm et). Tefnut was a prim eval goddess who per-
fied m oisture. In the creation m yth at Heliopolis, Tefnut was
daughter of the creator god Atum . She m arried her brother
god of sunlight and air, and had a son Geb (the earth) an d
daughter Nut (the sky).
ot h (literally 'Djhuty') or the single h iero-
yph Represented as an ibis or as a baboon, bu t
f r e q u e n t l y as a man with the head of an ibis,
d often shown writing on papyrus, Thoth was the
ribe of the gods. He was an im portant godghout Egypt and had several other roles. He
s the god of knowledge and wisdom as well as of
ribes, and so he became the protector of priests
physicians. Thoth was believed to have invented
and writing, but he was also concerned
ith num bers. As 'reckoner of the years' he washt of as 'lord of t im e'. He was a god of the
as well, and was som etim es regarded as a god
f the dead.
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Usually represented as a cobra rearing up to
rike, the goddess Wadjet is occasion ally also shown as a wom an
a lion 's head and can be confused with Sekhmet. Wadjet was
e local goddess of the town of Buto in the Nile Delta, but becamegoddess of Lower Egypt. She is the cobra frequently shown on
pharaoh's forehead as p art of h is headdress; th is im age of a
obra is now generally called the uraeus (from a Greek word
'of a ta il') and the Egyptians believed it sym bolised a
upernatural force ready to strike down enem ies of the pharaoh.
he uraeus was som etim es accom panied on the pharaoh's head-s b y a vulture representing Nekhbet, the goddess of Upper
awet A jackal god, often portrayed as a jacka l-
ded m an like An ubis. Originally a god of Upper Egypt, his
means 'opener of the ways', and he was regarded as a guide he dead through the un derworld. In funeral rituals the m ore
known god Anubis took over the role of Wepwawet because
was easily confused with him.
• A local goddess of Thebes who is mainly known
from Thebes includ ed her name (whichns 'powerful') as part of their own name.
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Few Place Names
he ancient Egyptians had several names for their coun try, and
reveal what they considered was im portant about the
egion where they lived. Egypt was - " " ^ Q i ® (Ta Meri), 'Th e
of the Hoe', because it was agriculture that m ade Egypt rich .e Nile Valley, where most Egyptians lived, was ZD (Kem et),
Th e Black Lan d', because the silt from the annu al flooding of the
ver Nile fertilised the surrou nding f i e ld s and turned the soil a
k colour which contrasted with the surroun ding desert which
as called ^ ^ "g^t^a (Desh re t),'The Red Land'. The most com-
on name for Egypt , thou gh , was _ _ (Tawy), 'The Two Land s',gnifying Upper and Lower Egypt.
For m ost of its h istory Egypt was un ited, but there continued a
emory of a time when the Nile Valley was divided into two coun
es that were later un ited, and the Egyptians still recognised dif-
between the southern part of the coun try, \ m (Ta
hem au), 'Upper Egypt', and the region of the Nile Delta in theMehu), 'Lower Egypt'. To the Egyptians, south
as 'up' and north was 'down'. The River Nile, whose annual flood-
ng was essential for successful crops and the con tinued existence
Egypt itself, was called f ^ J0
™ (H apy). In flood, the Nile was
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WES (Hapy), which is a plural form of the name of the river.
When reading about Egypt or visitin g the country, place names
can be quite bewildering. Many places in Egypt have been occupied
for thousands of years, du ring which tim e their nam es havechanged, particularly as Egypt has been conquered successively by
the Assyrian s, Persians, Greeks, Rom ans, Arabs and Ottom an
Turks. For exam ple, the ancient Egyptian city of
(Shabet) became Kainopolis under Greek rule and Maximianopolis
under the Romans. Th e Copts called it Kournah and it is now a
large city usually known as Qena. The ancient names of some sitesare not yet known (if they ever had a name), and so these tend to
referred to by their m odern nam e. Som etim es on ly the Greek and
Roman names are known, n ot the earlier ancien t Egyptian nam es,
so such sites can be referred to by these or even their m odern nam
A f i n a l source of confusion with place names is the often wildly
different ways m odern Egyptian (Arab ic) nam es are spelled inEnglish: for exam ple, Madinat al-Fayyum and Medinet El-Faiyum
are the sam e place, as is Sakkara and Saqqara. There are no rules
governing which name should be used for which place; in the fol-
lowing list the ancient name of each place (often the ancient Gree
nam e) is usually the one m ost com m only used today. Th e second
column gives the m odern Arabic name, while the last two columngive the ancien t Egyptian name - in hieroglyph s and in transliter-
ation (see page 25). Th e h ieroglyph ® is a determ inative (see page
31) m eaning 'town ' or 'settlem ent', so in the following place nam es
it shows that these were the names of settlements.
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M ED IT ER RA N EA N : SEA
Place Nam es in Lower Egypt
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Ancient Name
(mainly
Greek/Roman)
Modern NameAncient Egypt ian
Hieroglyph ic Nam e
Ancient Egyptian Name
(Transliteration)
- Ab u Simbel
Per Rarnesses
Meryamun Pa Demi
AbydosEl-Araba El-
Madfina U1
®Abju
Akhetaten El-Amarna Akhet-Iten
Apollinopolis
MagnaEdfu (o r Idfii) y ®
Djeba
Bubastis Tell Basta t f®Baset
Busiris
Abusir(orAbu
Sir Baria)Dedu
Buto Tell El-Farain•® Pe
Coptos Qift Gebtiu
CrocodilopolisMedinet El-
FaiyumShejet
Cusae El-Qusiya Kis
Eileithyiaspolis El-Kab UiNekheb
Heliopolis Tell Hisn 8 ®Iunu
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A Few Place Names
Heracleopolis
Magna
Hermonthis
Hermopolis
Magna
Hieraconpolis
Kainopolis
Latopolis
Letopolis
Lycopolis
Memphis
Mendes
Ombos (north
of Luxor)
Om bos (south of
Luxor)
Oxyrhynchus
Sais
Syene
(Elephantine)
Tentyris
Ihnasya El-
Medina
Ar m a n t
El-Ashmunein
Kom El-
Ahmar
Qena
Esna
Ausim
Asyut
M it Rahina
Tell Er-Ruba
Ko m Ombo
Tukh
El-Bahnasa
Sa El-Hagar
Aswan
Dendera
®
n
i
mt e a
Neni-Nesut
Iuny
Wenu
Nekhen
Shabet
Iunyt
Khem
Zaut
Men-Nefer
Jedet
Nebyt
Nebet
Per-Mejed
Za u
Ab u
Iunet
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Thinis GirgaT h i l l i
( the an cient s ite h as not yet been prec ise ly loca ted, an d m ay even h ave been a t n earby
Birba)
Thebes
(Diosp olis Lu xor J g W aset
M a g n a )
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Sense ofInscriptions
is one thing to attempt to translate a hieroglyphic text in a quiet
om, surrounded by dictionaries and reference books, with
limited time to spare. It is quite another to try to make sense of
inscription on a monument in Egypt or on one of the thousands
f Egyptian objects in museums around the world, with limitedme to spare.
Even though pocket dictionaries of hieroglyphs do not yet exist
something handy to carryon such excursions. it is still possible
make some sense of an inscription without being an expert. The
st approach is to look for clues rather than try for a word-by
d translation:• Decide which way the hieroglyphs should be read: are they in
horiwntal lines or do they seem to be in vertical columns?
And which way are they facing: 111 or ~ • Look for clues giving the ends of words. such as determina
tives (like f , <;;;r. and i!l!l, which occur at the end of
words. The plural sign I , I or : is easy to spot and will alsomark the end of a word.
• Look at what the determinatives mean. Apart from indicating
the ends of words, determinatives can also give clues to the
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m eaning of those word s. For exam ple, shows a prison er,
indicating that the associated word is something to do with
an enem y; ^ ind icates som ething to do with the m out h ,such as speakin g, and so on.
Look for fam iliar ph rases or fam iliar groups of h ieroglyph s,
such as ft | and flit
Look for n am es in cartouch es, such as • Identify th e
signs accom pan yin g the cartouch es , so th at you will
know if you are lookin g a t a b i r th nam e or th rone nam e, orb o t h .
Becom e fam iliar with the h ieroglyph s for th e n am es of gods
and godd esses, as well as the ap pearan ce of th ese deities in
art. Many gods and goddesses look very similar in artistic
representat ions (such as H ath or and Isis) an d som e can even
look like pharaohs, so it is essential to be able to recognisetheir d is t in guishin g features and read t heir n am es.
Look for th e h ieroglyph s for n um bers: this m ay give a clue as
to th e cont ent of th e inscript ion . Man y scenes in tem ples
depict offerings being presented to gods, with the n um bers of
gifts listed.
Make sure you kn ow the difference between what is ar t an dwhat is an accompanying inscription. Because hieroglyphs
are p ictures of th in gs, anyone un fam iliar with h ieroglyph s
can be confused between the h ieroglyph ic writ ing and the
artistic representations: writing almost always accompanied
pictures and often encroaches on p arts of a picture.
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he LastWord
atever aspect of ancient Egypt you next explore, you will proba-
ly encounter various formulaic phrases on monuments in Egypt
d in museums. A handful of the more common ones are given
ere to help you tackle inscriptions.
about Life
common formula, already seen in abbreviated form (see page
is fH· [n full, this is 1'-;:t>a ~ ~ n , 'ankh udja seneb',hich means 'life, prosperity, health' (or 'may he live, be prosper-
us and healthy), often abbreviated by Egyptologists to 'lph'. In
is phrase, f is the triliteral 'ankh', and _ and e are phonetic
mplements, reinforcing the 'n' and 'kh' in 'ankh'. :t> is the unilit-
al 'u' or 'w' and l is the biliteral 'dja', with (the uniliteral for
') acting here as a phonetic complement to reinforce the 'a' in 'dja'.is a determinative placed after words that are abstract ideas. The
nal part of the phrase is spelled with uniliterals: rfor's', _ for 'n'
d J for 'b', which spells 'snb', easier to pronounce in English if
ten as'seneb'.
165
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Parts of this form ula are seen alon gside the n am es of pharaohs ,
in clu ding ^ ^ , 'ankh djet ', which m eans 'livin g forever', with
used again for 'ankh '. ^ is a u n iliter al for 'dj ' and Q is a un iliteral
for ' t ' , wh ile = is a det erm in ative in word s related to eternity. Itcan also be written as A , 'd i ankh djet', 'given life forever'.
Anoth er p hrase u sed after the n am es of ph araohs is
an kh ', 'given life', as we ll as 1> d i an kh d jed was', 'given life,
s tabil i ty and power ' . These phrases became so common that they
could th em selves be used as nou n s, such as in ^ A'f'fl >s o
tha t
h e [the p h arao h ] m ight ach ieve given life, stability an d p ower'.
Offering Formula
N u m ero u s h ieroglyph ic texts, especially on fun erary tablets(stelae) an d coffins, begin with wh at is today variou sly called th e
'offering form ula', 'd ed icatory form ula' or 'ho tep -di-ne su formu la'.
This is the s tart of a prayer to en able the ka (sou l) of the dead
person in the afterlife to have a share of the offerings m ade by the
kin g (that is , th e ph arao h ) to the god s at tem ples, especially d u ring
festivals.The formu la begin s with 4= J^ A (som etim es writ ten as
=)=A J L ) ' 'ho t ep-di-nesu ' , m eaning 'an offering which the k ing
gives' ( in oth er word s, 'a royal offerin g') , an d is followed by the
n a m e of the god an d a lis t of the provision s requ ested.
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Th e word for 'king' ( 'nesu ') , written as , is placed first ou t o f
eren ce (hon orific tra n sposition ). ^ is th e biliteral 'su ', bu t it can
of 'n esu'. In full, th e wo rd for 'kin g' is
comprising ^ and ^ 'sut ' or ' swt ' , meaning 'sedge ' ( them bol of Upp er Egypt: see page 97) and — (m eaning 'of' ) . Th e
is som etim es transliterated as 'nesu', som etim es as 'n esut ' . Th e
ct that 'su t ' is writ ten firs t is th ou ght po ssibly to be ano th er
of honorific t ransposit ion.
Th e next part of th e p h rase is =A=, wh ich is th e triliteral 'h tp '
s ier to pron ou n ce as 'h ot ep ' or 'h etep ') . This is an abbreviat ionr 'offering ', wh ich is usually spelled ou t as ^ , com prisin g the
literal 'h tp ' and two un iliterals for ' t ' and 'p ' (act in g here as ph on -
c com plem ent s to reinforce those le t ters in 'h t p ' ) .
Th e final part of the ph rase is 4> wh ich is th e verb 'give'.
The n am e of on e o r m ore gods then fo llows, m ost com m only
siris, (see page 148) , o r An u b is, Q TT-^S (s e e
Pa
ge
136).om etim es th e god is m ent ion ed instead of the kin g, as in
otep -di-in pu ', m eanin g 'an offering th at An u b is gives'.
Next com es 'peret-kh eru' , wh ich is a com binat ion of n (an
reviation for 'goin g forth ') , j (an abb reviation for 'voice '), and
0 (an abbreviat ion for 'bread an d beer', staple elem ents of the
cien t Egypt ian d iet) . Even th ou gh ^ is u sually written with
wh ich can be tran slated as 'voice offering' or 'in vocation
fering'. The precise m ean in g o f this ph rase is un certain ; it p os-
refers to the p erson wh o is recitin g th e prayer. Th e p hrase can
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also be writ ten with OD (a determ in ative used in words relat ing to
bread an d food) as ^ = > .
I t became more common to wri te the 'pere t -kheru ' phrase as
^ o T s ' di.f peret -khe ru ' 'so th at h e [that is, the god ] m ay give an
invocation offering'. 4__D is 'give', the same verb written as ^ in the
'h otep -di-n esu ' form ula m ent ion ed above. is used here as 'he ', a
singular masculine suffix pronou n added to the end of a word , and
usu ally tran sliterated with a d ot, as .f (see page 77). If th ere were
several god s, this wou ld b ecom e4—"PiT^ > 'di.sen ', 'so th at th ey m ay
give'. P,"^ (.sen ) is th e p lu ra l suffix p r o n o u n for 'they' (see page 78).
The offerings are n ext listed, wh ich can be th e m ost extensive
par t of an in script ion . Som e are writ ten in abbreviated form , m ost
c o m m o n l y 0, 't', a word m eaning 'b read ' (and n ot the le t te r ' t ' ) , and
5, 'h en qet ' , m eaning 'beer '. Th e br ead an d beer signs are n ot always
in clud ed, bu t they m ay always have been in tend ed b y their inclu-
sion in 0Fa-
ct th er offerings cou ld in clud e t f, 'kau', m ean in g 'oxen '; 1?,
'aped u', m ean in g 'fowl'; 8, 'shes', m ean in g 'alab aster' (p rob ab ly ala-
aster oil jars); an d Ji , 'm enkh et ', m ean in g 'cloth ' or 'lin en '. O ften
he offerings are accom pan ied by 'kha ', 'on e th ousand ' , so a typ-
ca l ph rase cou ld be o fo l s l ?: a n
invocation offering of a thousand
an d beer an d a t h ousand oxen and fowl.
The final part of such an in script ion wo u ld be jjj j, 'en ka en', 'for
ka [spir it] of', wh ich is often followed by a d escript ion of the
ead per son as , 'im akh', 'revered', th en th e dead person 's n am e
n d th en S S , 'm aa-kheru ', 'th e just ified ' ( litera lly't ru e of voice').
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w o u i d t h e r e f o r e r e a d
'An offering that the king gives to Osiris, so that he may give a voi
offering of i,ooo bread and beer, 1,000 oxen and fowl, for the ka o
the revered one, Intef the justified'.
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inding Out More
way to find out more about hieroglyphs is to sign up fo
college course or evening class. You can practise your hieroglyphs
visiting m useum collection s: a very large number of museums
oun d the world have collection s from Egypt . A visit to Egypttself is also an incredible experience for seeing h ieroglyph s, as they
cur on virtually all the m onum ents and m useum exh ibits. The
ost convenient way to jou rn ey to the ancient sites is down the
ver Nile, and particu larly for the first-tim e visitor an organised
provides an excellent in itiation .
Hundreds of books on Egypt are published each year, aim ed atof knowledge and all age groups. A selection of books is
iven here, but you are bound to come across others which may be
as attractive. There are also many websites devoted to nu m er-
of Egypt.
Packed with num eroustries, illustration s, plan s, m aps and reading references, the
rit ish M useum Dic t ionary o f An c ien t Egypt by Ian Shaw and Pau l
cholson (1995, British Museum Press) covers a whole range of
ics. Anoth er useful reference book is the Atlas of Ancient Egyp
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ohn Baines and Jarom ir Malek (1984, Phaidon ), which is well
lustrated and covers m any elem ents o f ancient Egypt, not ju st
An in troduction to aspects of the Egyptian language, includin gariou s script s, gram m ar and deciph erm ent, is given in W.V.
Egyptian Hieroglyphs (1987, British Museum Press), which
Reading the Past. Ancient W riting from Cunei-
t o t h e Alphabet, in trod uced by J.T. Hooker (1990, British
eum Press).
To accom pany an exh ibition on the Rosetta Ston e, the BritishPress pub lished Cracking Codes. The Roset ta S tone and
by Richard Parkinson (1999). Most of the book con -
on the languages and scripts used throughout the history
ancien t Egypt, with plen ty of illustrated exam ples and detailed
references.
Two books explain the m eaning of a wide selection of hiero-lyph s, in particu lar what the pictures represent, so they provide
excellent way of getting to know hieroglyphs and ancient Egyp-
life: Reading Egyptian A rt . A H ieroglyphic Guide to A ncient
is by Richard H. Wilkinson (1992
The W ritings of Ancient Egypt (Englis
slation 1996, Abbeville Press) is by Maria Carm ela Betro (bu te aware that the Gardiner num bers on pages 24-7 are wrong, but
ily corrected, in th is book, because the letter 'J' has been used,
hich Gardiner did n ot). These books are recom m ended for any-
with an in terest in ancient Egypt, bu t particu larly those who
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want an un derstand ing of the significance of hieroglyph s bu t do
not necessarily want to learn how to read them.
Another readable book by Richard H . Wilkinson is Symbol &
Magic in Egyptian A rt (1994, Tham es & Hudson), which explainsthe sym bolism of many aspects of ancient Egyptian life underlying
art, including shape, colour, numbers and hieroglyphs.
Much recom m ended is Papyrus by Richard Parkinson and
Stephen Quirke (1995, British Museum Press): not ju st about
papyrus, this well-illustrated book con tains a host of information
on Egyptian writing, writing materials and hieratic.
D e c i p h e r m e n t . The Keys of Egy pt . The Race to Read the Hieroglyp
by Lesley and Roy Adkins (2000, Harp erCollin s) tells the exciting
story of the decipherm ent of h ieroglyphs by Jean -Francois
Champollion, and his rivalry with Thomas Young. The book is also
a readable introduction to Egypt and h ieroglyphs, givin g a glimpseof what Egypt and Egyptology was like in the early nineteenth cen
tury.
The Story of Decipherment. From Egyptian Hieroglyphs to M a y
Script by Maurice Pope (revised edition 1999, Tham es & Hudson)
gives explanations of the decipherm ent of various ancient lan -
guages. The section on h ieroglyph s includes a discussion of earlyattempts at decipherment up to the eighteenth cen tury.
Learn in g the Language. The two m ost useful books for anyone
wanting to study the language of hieroglyph s in any depth are the
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y Allen and Gardiner. Middle Egyptian. A n Introduction t
an d Culture of Hieroglyphs by Jam es P. Allen (20
ambridge University Press) is an absolutely essential book for stu-
and gives up-to-date lessons on gram m ar, as well as explan-of all the hieroglyphs (following the Gardiner numbers) and
small but useful vocabulary.
The standard textbook for decades has been Egyptian Grammar
eing an In t roduct ion to t he Stu dy of Hieroglyphs by Sir Alan
ardiner (1957, th ird edition , Griffith In stitute, Oxford). The last
00 pages of this book (Gardiner's sign-list and extensive vocabu -) are the m ost useful for a student today. Althou gh invaluable,
should be used with caution, as some of it is out of date
H ow To Read Egypt ian Hieroglyphs. A Step-By-Step Guide to
ch Yourself by Mark Collier and Bill Man ley (1998, British
eum Press) is also a good, up-to-da te guide. Not as exhaustive
s Allen's book (and therefore possibly less daunting for the begin-
um bers, bu t a different system that is confusingly sim ilar to
ardiner nu m bers. It is therefore a 'stand-alone' book, which can -
easily be used alongside other reference books and dictionaries.
There is no com prehensive d iction ary of hieroglyphs in English,
t the best available short diction ary is A Concise Dictionary ofby Raymond O. Faulkn er (1962, Griffith Institute,
A very accessible d iction ary for beginners, but in French,
Petit Lexique de I'Egyptien hieroglyphique a I'usage des debutants
ernadette Menu (1997, Geuthner).
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There are two very recent, comprehensive dictionaries, but in
German . Die Sprache der Pharaonen: Grosses Handworterbuch
Agypt isch-Deut sch (2800-950 v. Chr) by Rainer Hannig (1995,
Ph ilipp von Zabe rn ) is sub stantial and in valuab le. An oth er in thesame series is W ortschatz der Pharaonen in Sachgruppen by Raine
Hannig and Petra Vomberg (1998, Phil ipp von Zabern), a dic-
t ion ary of word s grou ped by th em e, such as 'Fam ily an d Life',
'M ath em atics' and 'Metereology'.
Apart from a sm all En glish to Egypt ian dict ion ary in Gardin er 's
bo ok, there are no d ict ion aries th at way rou n d, except for English-
Egypt ian Index o f Faulkner's Concise Dic t ionary o f M iddle Egypt ia
by David Sh en n u m (1977, Un den a P u blicat ion s). Th is gives the
English words in alphabetical order, then the transliterated Egyp-
t ian word, which in turn has to be looked up in Faulkner 's dic-
t ion ary to obtain the h ieroglyph s.
P h a r a o h s . Th e on ly well-illustrat ed accoun t of all ph araohs up to
the Rom an per iod is Chronicle of the Pharaohs. The Reign-by-Reig
Record of Rulers an d Dynasties of A n cien t Egypt b y Peter A. Clayton
( 1 9 9 4 , Thames & Hudson). In German a complete l is t of n am es is
given in H andbuch der agyptischen Konigsnamen by Jurgen von
Beckerath (revised ed ition 199 9, von Zabe rn ).
The types of names of the ph araohs, h ow th ey changed th rough
h istory, an d discu ssion s of selected p h araoh s with th eir cartouch es
are given in W ho W ere the Pharaohs? A History of Their Names wi
List of Cartouches by Steph en Q uirke (1990 , British M u seum Press).
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Biographies of some of the ph araoh s and oth er peop le are given
n d iction ary form , with readin g references after each en try, in
W ho's W ho in Ancient Egypt (1999, Routledge).
A great deal on ph araohs can also be learned from th e book ssted below un der 'Bu rial of th e Dead' , an d b iograp h ies have also
n pub lished o f som e of the m ost fam ous ph araoh s, such as
d Go d d e ss es. A sm all bu t useful reference bo ok is George
A Dict ionary o f Egypt ian Gods and Goddesses (1986,
The Gods an d Symbols o f A n c ien t Egy pt (1980, Thames &
ud son) , t ransla ted from his 1974 German book Got ter und Sym -
derAlten A gypter.
The only comprehensive, readable book to deal with temples
rou gho u t Egypt is the h ighly illustrated The Complete Temples ofEgypt by Richard H . W ilkin son (2000, Tham es & H ud son) .
of t h e D e a d . Essential reading is Death and the Afterlife in
cient Egypt b y Joh n Taylor (20 0 1, British M u seu m Press), fully
lustrated in colou r, and anot h er u seful bo ok is The M u m m y in
cient Egypt. Equipping the Dead for Eternity by Salim a Ikram andidan Do dson (199 8, Tham es & H ud son). Pyram ids were bu rial
of the p h araoh s an d th eir family, and anot h er essential and
The Com plete Pyram ids by Mark Lehner
Tham es & H ud son ) .
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A ph araoh-by-ph araoh guide to the tom bs in th e Valley of the
Kin gs is th e w ell-illu strat ed The Complete Valley of the Kings. Tomb
an d Treasures of Egypt's Greatest Pharaohs by Nicholas Reeves an
Richard H . W ilkin son (1996, Tham es & H u d son ). Focusin g on just
on e b u rial in th e Valley of the Kings is the sim ilarly we ll-illust rat ed
The Complete Tutankhamun by Nicholas Reeves (1990, Thames &
H u d s o n ) .
An up- to -da te accoun t o f the tom bs and tem ples o f Thebes
(in clud in g Valley of th e Kin gs an d Karn ak) is Thebes in Egypt . A
Guide to the Tombs an d Temples of Ancient Luxor by Nigel and
Helen Strudwick (1999, British Museum Press).
Guidebooks . There are many guidebooks to Egypt, but only two
that give d etailed descr ip t ions of the ancient m onu m ent s for the
visitor: The Penguin Guide to Ancient Egypt by Wil l iam Murnane
(revised edition 1996, Penguin) inc ludes numerous maps and
plans. Blue Guide: Egypt by Veronica Seton-Williams and Peter
Stocks (3rd edition 1993, A & C Black/ W W No rto n ) is in dispen s-
able for visito rs to t he wh ole of Egypt , not jus t the ancient m on u-
ments .
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Index
Ahmose 187. 106.109.12)
Akhenaten 88. 106-7, 110, u3, 123, 1)3
akhs 130, 13l , 1)2
Alexander the Great 6.9.59.92
alphabets 3D, 35-6, 60-1
Amenemhel I 82. 8s. 99. 107-8, 119
Amenemhet J] 86. 99. 108. U9. uo
Amenemhet 111 86. 99. loB-9, 120
Amenemhet IV 86, 99. 109
Amenhotep 188. 102, 106. 109. 12]. 124
Amenhotep n 88. 109-\0 , 125
Amenhotep fII as. 107. lIo-n, 125
Amun 136, 143, 144in pharaohs' names 99. ]01,102,106.
108,109, LID, I12,lI). U6-U7.1I8,
121, 122
Arnunet 134
ankh 1-1 . 20, 520 102, 166
Anubis 135. 136-7. 146. 154. ]67
Apis 137
Apophis 21. 137. 150
Atef Crown 127
Attn 106. U2. 13,8
Atum 134, 138, 146, 151, 153
Ay 88. 107. 113
ba 102, 130-1
Bastet 138-9, 145. 149. 153
Bes 139
biconsonantals see hieroglyphs
biliterals see hieroglyphs
Blue Crown (khepresh) U7
Book of the Dead 23-4. 131-2
cartouches see royaJ names
CbampoUion, Jun·Franc;ois 11, 13, 25
Chrops 83> Il l , 122
C h ~ p h r ~ n 8'h Ut. 114
C 1 ~ o p a t r a 6. 35. 57, 62, 93Coffin Texts 23-4
coffins
and h i ~ r o g l y p h s 8. 17. 2)-4. 130. 166
of pharaohs 105. 106. 114. il7. 119.
122,12). 124, U5
Coptic
Church 2. 7
language 7. 9-10. tI , 57. 73, 94
writing 10, 25. 56
Dahshur 108, 109, 120.122
dates 81-94. 128
177
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decipherment 11-12,13, 25,94
d e m o t i c
langu age 6, 9 ,10 ,11, 91
la st k n o wn in sc r ip t i o n 9 , 9 4
wr it ing 9 ,10 ,11, 56
de te rmina t ives see hie rog lyphs
dialects see spoken l anguage
djed 20,102
Djoser 83,112,141
Do ub le Crow n (pschen t ) 145
D u a m u t e f 151
dynast ies see p h a r a o h s
Ear ly Dynast ic Per iod 82-3
en n ead 134
Firs t In term edia te Per iod 85
G a r d i n e r n u m b e r s see hie rog lyphs
Geb 134,139,147.151.153
Greek
lan guage 6 , 9 ,11
wri t in g 9 -10 , n , 56
h a n d w r i t i n g see hiera t ic
H apy 139-4 0
H apy (Son of H or u s) 151Hathor 140 ,142 ,164
Hatshepsut (Queen) 88,112-13,123.124
hedje t see W h i t e Cr o wn
Heh 134
H eh et 134
H eket 140
Heliopolis 103,109,118,122,134,139,147,
149,150.153.160
Heracleopolis 113,161
Hermonth i s 145 ,161
Hermopol is 134,161
hierat ic 8,10,17,38, 56
conver t to h ieroglyph s 8
Late Egyptian 9
l igatu res 8
su rvivin g 22
t ra in ing of scribes 16-17
see also d e c i p h e r m e n t
hieroglyphic 15
h ie rog lyphs
ad jectives 76
b iconsonan ta l s 42
b i l i t e r a l s 3 0 - 1 , 3 2 - 3 , 4 2 - 8 , 5 0 , 5 9 , 6 0 ,
79, 80,102,165,167
c o m p u t e r p r o g r a m s 14
cursive 8,10,17
d a n g e r o u s 21
de te rmina t ives 18 ,28 ,31-2 ,62 ,71 ,
72 ,76 ,79 ,80 ,135 ,156 ,163-4 ,165 ,
166,168
di rec t ion 54-6 ,74 ,163
earliest 4 , 83female in d ica to r 7 1,76 ,8 0
Gard ine r numbers 13-14 ,36-53
god ' s word s 20
grou p ing 34, 56
i d e o g r a m s 2 8 , 3 0
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last kno wn inscript ion 10, 94
lin ear 8 -g, 56
logogra m s 25
magic spells 23-4
Mid d le Egypt ian 7, 11,7 7
n u m be r 2 ,13, 29, 32
numbers 73-4 ,164,169
O ld Egypt ian 7
painted 8,17
phonemic s igns 30
phone t i c complements 28 ,32-3 ,79 ,
80,102,165,167phonetic symbols 28, 30-1,32
p h o n o g r a m s 30
pictogram s 29
pictograph s 29 ,32
plurals 71-2, 76,77, 80,163
pro n ou n s 77-8 ,168
pu n ctu at ion ( lackin g) 26,32, 33
sem ogram s 31soun d com plem ent s 33
sou n d signs 30
su rvivin g 22
Th ot h the in vento r 153
transl i terat ion 26-7,36, 42, 49,71,
77,156,168
tr iconsonantals 49triliter als 30- 1,32, 4 3, 49 -53, 80 ,16 5,
167
uniconsonantals 35
uni l i tera ls 27,30-1,32-3,35-41,59,
71, 77,79, 80, ioi, 165-6,167
vowels (lacking) 26-7, 31,34,37, 42,
4 9 , 5 7 - 8
see also car touches , dec ipherment ,
hieratic
h on orific t ran sposi t ion 77,16 7
Horemheb 88,113
Horus 95-6,128,140,141,142,149,150
in p h ara oh s' nam es 10 1,10 3,113
i deograms see hie roglyphs
Imhotep 112,141
Im set y 151ink 8,18,19
Intef III 85,151
Ipy 141-2,153
Isis 64,128,134,140,142,148
ka 101,103,130-1,166,168
Kek 134
Keket 134
Khasekh em wy 83, 9 6 ,112
Kh ep ri 142
Kh n u m 111,14 3
Kho n su 143
language see spoken language
Late Egyptian see h ierat ic, spokenlanguage
Late Period 91-2
literacy levels 5,16
logograms see hieroglyphs
Lower Egypt 96, 97-8,115,127,138,145,
146,154,155
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Ma a t 1 4 4
M e m p h i s 13 7 , 14 8 , 14 9 , 15 1, 16 1
M e n k a u r a 8 4, 111, 114
M e n t u h o t e p I I 8 5 , 114
M e n t u h o t e p I I ] 8 5 , 114
M e n t u h o t e p I V 8 5 ,10 8
M e r e n p t a h 8 8 , 1 1 5 , 1 1 8
M e r e n r a 8 5 , 1 1 6
M e r e t s e g e r 1 4 4
M i d d l e E g y p t i a n see h i e r o g l y p h s ,
s p o k e n l a n g u a g e
M i d d l e K i n g d o m 8 5 - 6M i n 1 3 6 , 1 4 4
M o n t u 1 0 1 , 1 1 4 , 1 4 5
m u m m i e s 2 0 , 13 2 , 14 3 , 14 8
o f p h a r a o h s 10 5 , 10 6 , 10 7 , 10 9 , 110 ,
111, 112 , 113, 114 , 115 , u 6 , 118 , 119 ,
1 2 1 , 1 2 2 , 1 2 3 , 1 2 4 , 1 2 5 , 1 2 6
m u m m i fi c a t i o n 2 3 , 13 1, 13 7
M u t 1 3 8 , 1 4 3 , 1 4 5 . 1 4 9 , 1 5 3
n a m e s 13 0
o f fo r e i g n e r s 3 , 3 5 , 5 7. 59
see also r o y a l n a m e s
N a r m e r 8 2 , 115 , 12 7
N e fe r t u m 14 5
N e i t h 1 4 5 - 6N e k h b e t 9 6 , 1 4 6 , 1 5 4
N e p h t h y s 1 2 8 , 1 3 4 , 1 4 6
N e w Ki n g d o m 8 7 - 9
Nile 128,143,151.155
i n u n d a t i o n ( flo o d i n g ) 12 8 - 9 , 14 0 ,
143 .152 .155-6
n u m b e r s see h i e r o g l y p h s
N u n 1 3 4 , 1 3 8 , 1 4 6 - 7
N u n e t 134
Nut 134,139, 147,151,153
o g d o a d 1 3 4 , 1 3 6
O l d E g y p t i a n see h i e r o g l y p h s , s p o k e n
l a n g u a g e
O l d K i n g d o m 8 3 - 4O s i r i s 6 7 , 1 2 8 , 1 3 4 , 1 4 1 , 1 4 2 , 1 4 6 , 1 4 8 , 1 5 0 ,
15 1, 16 9
p a l e t t e ( o f a s c r i b e ) 18
p a p y r u s 8 , 9 , 16 , 17 - 18 , 19 , 2 1, 2 4 , 4 5 , 5 1,
14 1. 15 3
p e n s 8 , 1 6 , 1 8 , 1 9
P e p i 1 8 4 , 1 0 1 , 1 1 6 , 1 2 2
Pepi I I 84 ,116
P e r s i a n c o n q u e s t 9 1 , 1 5 6
p h a r a o h s 10 5 - 2 6
i n a ft e r life 23
d y n a s t i e s 8 1- 9 3 , 9 6 , 9 7 , 9 9 , 10 6 - 2 6
m a r r i a g e 10 5
m e a n i n g 8 1
re ig n s 8 1 -9 4t o m b s 2 3
see also k i n g l is t s , r o y a l n a m e s
p h o n e t ic c o m p le m e n t s see h i e r o g l y p h s
p h o n e t i c s ym b o l s see h i e r o g l y p h s
p i c t o g r a p h s see h i e r o g l y p h s
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p l u r a l s see h i e r o g l y p h s
p r o n u n c i a t i o n see s p o k e n l a n g u a g e
P s u s e n n e s 1 8 9 , 1 1 5 , 1 1 7
P t a h 9 9 , 1 0 1 , 1 0 4 , 1 1 5 , 1 2 1 , 1 3 7 , 1 4 1 , 1 4 5 ,
1 4 8 , 1 4 9 , 1 5 1
P t o l e m y 3 5 , 5 9 , 6 0 , 9 3
p u n c t u a t i o n see h i e r o g l y p h s
P y r a m i d T e xt s 2 3 , 12 6
p yr a m id s 1, 23 , 56 , 10 8 , 10 9 , i n , 112 , 114 ,
1 1 6 , 1 2 0 , 1 2 2 , 1 2 6 , 1 4 1
Q e b e h s e n u e f 151
R a 9 7 , 9 8 , 13 6 , 13 7 , 13 8 , 14 2 . 14 9
in p h a r a o h s ' n a m e s 9 8 - 9 , 10 1, 10 4 ,
1 0 6 , 1 0 7 , 1 0 8 , 1 0 9 - 1 0 , 1 1 1 , 1 1 2 , 1 1 4 ,
1 1 5 , 1 1 6 - 1 8 , 1 2 0 , 1 2 1 , 1 2 2 , 1 2 4 , 1 2 5
R a m e s s e s I 8 8 , 9 8 , 1 2 1
R a m e s s e s II 88 , 9 8 , 115 , 117- 18 , 12 1
R ed C r o w n ( d e s h r e t ) 3 9 , 5 5 , 12 7
R o m a n p e r i o d 6 , 10 , 13 , 9 3 - 4
R o s e t t a S t o n e 9 , 1 1 , 9 3 , 9 4
r o y a l n a m e s 9 5 - 1 0 0
b i r t h n a m e ( n o m e n ) 2 1 , 9 5 , 9 6 , 9 7 ,
9 8 , 9 9 , 1 0 2 , 1 0 6 - 2 5 , 1 6 4
c a r t o u c h e s 6 2 , 9 6 - 7 , 9 8 , 9 9 , 1 0 5 , 1 4 9 ,
16 4five fo ld t i t u l a r y 9 5
G o l d e n F a l c o n n a m e 9 6
G o ld e n H o r u s n a m e 9 5 , 9 6 , 9 9
H o r u s n a m e 9 5 , 9 9 , 112 , 115
m e a n i n g s 1 0 1 - 4
n a m e s o f g o d s 10 1- 2
N e b t i n a m e 9 5, 9 6 , 9 9
n e s u - b i t y t i t l e 9 7 , 1 0 5
S a - R a t i t l e 9 8 , 1 0 5
s e r e k h s 9 5 , 1 0 5
S e t h n a m e 9 6
s p e l l i n g 1 0 0 , 1 0 1
t h r o n e n a m e ( p r e n o m e n ) 2 1, 9 5 , 9 7 ,
9 8 - 9 , 1 0 1 , 1 0 5 , 1 0 6 - 1 0 , 1 1 2 - 2 5 ,
128 , 164
T w o L a d i e s ' n a m e 9 6
Sa is 117 ,146 ,161
Sa q q a r a 112 , 113 , 116 , 122 , 12 6 , 137 , 151, 156
s a r c o p h a g i
a n d h i e r o g l y p h s 16
o f p h a r a o h s 10 6 , 10 7 , 10 8 , 10 9 , 110 ,
111, 112 , 113 , 114 , 115 , 116 , 119 , 12 0 ,
121 , 122 , 124 , 125 , 126
s c a r a b b e e t l e s 2 0 , 2 9 , 5 1 , 1 4 2 , 1 4 9
s c r ibe s 10 , 16 - 19 , 22, 32 , 54 , 7 7 , 153
Se c o n d I n t e r m e d i a t e P e r io d 8 7
S e k h m e t 1 3 8 , 1 4 5 , 1 4 9 , 1 5 3
s e m o g r a m s see h i e r o g l y p h s
Se n u s r e t 18 2 , 8 5 , 10 8 , 119 - 2 0
Se n u s r e t I I 8 6 , 9 7 , 12 0
Se n u s r e t I I I 8 6 , 10 9 , 12 0s e r e k h s see r o y a l n a m e s
S e t h 9 6 , 1 0 1 , 1 2 0 , 1 2 8 , 1 3 4 , 1 4 1 , 1 4 6 , 1 4 8 ,
150
Se t i I 88 ,118 ,120
S e t i I I 8 8 , 9 9 , 1 1 5
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S h u 1 3 4 , 1 3 8 . 1 3 9 , 1 4 7 . 1 5 0 - 1 , 1 5 3
Sne f e r u 8 3 , 111, 122
S o b e k 1 0 1 , 1 0 4 , 1 5 1
Soka r 148 , 151
S o n s o f H o r u s 15 1- 2
Soth i s 152
s o u n d s ig n s see h i e r o g l y p h s
s p o k e n l a n g u a g e 4 - 7 , 2 9
c h a n g e s 4 - 5 , 7 , 2 5 , 5 7
C l a s s i c a l E g y p t i a n 5
d i a l e c t s 4 , 7 , 5 7
L a t e E g y p t i a n 5 - 6 , 7 , 8 7
M i d d l e E g yp t i a n 5 - 6 , 7 , 10 , 11, 85
O ld E gy p t i an 5 - 6 , 7
p r o n u n c i a t i o n 7 , 3 1 , 3 3 , 3 6 , 5 7
see also C o p t i c , d e m o t i c , G r e e k
T a w e r e t 1 4 2 , 1 5 2 - 3
T e fn u t 13 4 , 13 8 , 13 9 , 14 5 , 14 7 , 14 9 , 15 1, 15 3
t e m p l e s 1 0 , 1 7 , 2 2 , 4 0 , 7 6 , 1 3 7 , 1 3 9 , 1 4 0 ,
16 4
T e t i 8 4 , 1 0 1 , 1 1 6 , 1 2 2 , 1 2 6
T h e b e s 1 0 4 , 1 1 0 , 1 1 7 , 1 3 6 , 1 4 4 , 1 5 4 , see
also V al le y o f t h e K in g s
T h i r d In t e r m e d i a t e Pe r io d 8 9 - 9 1
T h o t h 2 0 , 9 5 , 1 0 1 , 1 2 3 , 1 2 4 , 1 2 5 , 1 4 3 , 1 5 0 ,
153t o m b s 2 3 - 4 , 1 0 5 , 1 3 0 , 1 3 2 , see also Val ley
o f t h e K i n g s , Va lle y o f t h e
Q u e e n s
t r a n s l i t e r a t i o n see h i e r o g l y p h s
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t r i l i t e r a l s see h i e r o g l y p h s
T u t a n k h a m u n 8 8 , 9 4 , 1 0 7 , 1 1 0 , 1 1 3 , 1 2 2 - 3
T u t h m o s i s I 8 8 , 9 8 - 9 , 10 6 , 10 9 , 112 , 113 ,
117,123-4
T u t h m o s i s I I 8 8 , 9 8 - 9 , 1 1 2 , 1 2 3 , 1 2 4
T u t h m o s i s I I I 8 8 , n o , 113
T u t h m o s i s I V 8 8 , 110 , 12 5
U n a s 8 4 , 1 2 2 , 1 2 5 - 6
u n i l i t e r a l s see h i e r o g l y p h s
U p p e r E g y p t 9 6 , 9 7 , 1 2 7 , 1 1 5 , 1 3 6 , 1 3 8 ,
1 4 5 , 1 4 6 , 1 5 4 , 1 5 5 , 1 6 7u r a e u s 1 4 6 , 1 5 4