The Golden Falcon

by David C. Clark

  In penning a book about an ancient people, an author faces certain technical difficulties when writing for a contemporary readership, a difficulty compounded by the knowledge that a percentage of readers are familiar with metric measurements whilst others use the imperial system. The Ancient Egyptians had their own unique system of measurement – one that bears no relationship to either the metric or imperial units.

  There are two possible solutions to the problem. The first is to use the units of measure that the Ancient Egyptians employed, which can make part of the book meaningless. The second option is to use a contemporary unit of measure. This presents the additional difficulty of having Dennis Dunlop, the English civil engineer, using units of measurements that are common in England. These metric units will largely be incomprehensible to readers who use the imperial system. It would be un-natural for Dunlop, in discussion with his colleagues, to say something like “We will build a wall 3 metres or 10 feet long.”

  I have chosen, with apologies to readers familiar with feet, inches, yards and miles, to employ metric units throughout the book and, whilst this may mean a reader is constantly flipping back and forward to this section of the book trying to work out imperial equivalents, it does allow narrative to flow. The only constant is time. When I have used hour, the reader can safely assume the ancient hour is equal to the modern hour.

  A second problem relates to place names. Students of ancient history would be familiar with the place names the Ancient Egyptians used. However, the majority of readers will be much more familiar with present day names. The issue is made more complex in subtle ways. Obviously, it would be ridiculous for Ramesses to talk about Cairo, as this city had no equivalent during his reign and Giza, the location of the three great pyramids, is now a suburb of Cairo. A city like Memphis is a little more complex as it existed but not under that name. A city, such as Avaris, may have had several name changes under various Egyptian rulers. Wherever possible, I have used names that most readers are familiar with but offer, in this glossary, a selection of these names with their Ancient Egyptian equivalents.

  Ancient Egypt was divided into a number of provincial areas. Many readers will be familiar with the word ‘nome’ to describe such areas but ‘nome’ is a Greek word. The Ancient Egyptians used sepat. I have avoided the use of either nome or sepat, preferring to stay with province.

  The Ancient Egyptians widely used images to portray people, their deities and scenes from life. Many were incised in stone or created in paint, often in striking colours in a style unique to Egypt. Such images can be found within tombs and on the walls of buildings and so extensive are the visual images available to us we can readily see what the people looked like and how they led their lives. Such images stand alone and mean what they portray, although images were usually accompanied by the Ancient Egyptian written language – hieroglyphics. The language is a fascinating and complex subject and I would direct readers to consult a number of scholarly books on this subject, if they wish to tackle a language that is only fully understood by a few today.

  One further difficulty arises over the translation of hieroglyphics into another language and this is demonstrated in the many ways a personal name can be spelt. I am not quite sure why this has not become a subject of standardisation as it can lead to some confusion. For example, Amenhotep is variously written Amenophis or Amenhetep. A principal god, Amun, is also written Amen or Amon. Part of the problem is the lack of vowels – a, e, i, o, and u - in hieroglyphics. Translators therefore select English vowels as they see fit to fill in the gaps between hieroglyhpic consonants and symbols.

  The further example of confusion arises in the names given to the three pyramids at Giza. Modern teaching tells us that the pyramids were built by Cheops, Chepren and Mycerinus – all three are the names the Ancient Greeks gave to the pharaohs who built them – Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure.

  Therefore to assist the reader, I have compiled a glossary. It is by no means comprehensive and I would urge any reader who is interested in learning more to delve into any of the hundreds of publications on Ancient Egypt available in libraries, bookshops and, now, the Internet. A word of caution, however, about the Internet. During my research, I tried to determine data about the two massive statues that are almost the only relics of the mortuary temple of Amenhotep II. Quite apart from the now common name – The Colossi of Memnon, which is itself a misnomer – an Internet search offered a possible weight range of each statue from 600 metric tonnes to over 1400 metric tonnes with six different values in between! The usual complain about many Internet websites is still valid - ‘garbage in, garbage out’.

  Abu Simbel. Place in Nubia. Arabic. Site of two massive rock cut temples built by Ramesses II. Ancient Egyptian Meha.

  Abydos. City. About 120 kilometres north of Thebes. Ancient Egyptian Abedju. Site of early dynastic cemeteries and two temples to Osiris built by Seti I and Ramesses II.

  Akhet. Ancient Egyptian for horizon. Also the period of the inundation.

  Amenhotep. Name of pharaohs. Alternative spelling - Amenophis and Amenhetep. The name was written, in word order, ‘Re-Maet-Neb’ but may have been spoken as ‘Neb-Maet-Re’. The name means ‘Amun is satisfied’.

  Amun. Name of a principal god. Alternative spellings - Amon and Amen. As the Ancient Egyptians did not write vowels, any of the spellings and pronunciations is appropriate. The god’s name was written imn.

  Amun-Re. Name of principal combined god. Alternative spelling – Amum Ra.

  Ankh. The Spirit of Light. One of the three elements constituting the concept of the soul. Depicted as a loop with a cross at the end.

  Amarna. City. Now Tell el-Amarna in middle Egypt. Specifically built by Pharaoh Akhenaten as the new city dedicated to the god Aten he elevated to primacy during his reign. Ancient Egyptian Akhet-aten – literally, The Horizon of the Sun Disc. The image is the symbol for the god Aten.

  Ancient Egyptian. The language was written in three forms of hieroglyphics – the one we see on monumental work, hieratic and demotic. It was written without the use of vowels making it next to impossible to speak it as the Egyptians spoke it. When translating hieroglyphics, it is a convention to add vowels to make it both readable and to give readers some idea of how it may have been spoken. To give an example of the complexity of the language, consider Tutankhamen. His name was written Amun-tut-ankh meaning Living Image of Amun’. To confuse the issue further, certain names could be used by men or women. A popular name – Tiy – can be transcribed as Ti, Tiyi, Tey, Tia, Tuia, Tjuia, Thuya and others. The wife of Amenhotep III has been transcribed as Tiye and her mother as Tjuia. The Egyptians used a sign indicating a relationship to distinguish who such and such was as Tiy, son of Hapu. Not all names had a meaning and they could be amalgams of nouns and verbs. Possibly the closest we can get to how the language sounded is to listen to one of the few Egyptians who can speak Coptic, bearing in mind that Coptic comes from Greek with a few words of Ancient Egyptian thrown in. The language is a combination of ideographs and pictographs. The symbol is for an elephant. Even though it shows an elephant, the symbols before the image are the sounds or ideas required to formulate the word.

  Anubis. The protector of necropoli, guardian of the dead and their secrets, the god of embalming and was part of the process at which the soul was judged. Portrayed as a reclining jackal, sometimes with a human head.

  Aswan. City.Arabic.Ancient Egyptian Swenet. Site of Egypt’s biggest granite quarries.

  Avaris. City. Greek. Was the capital of the Hyksos invaders until they were driven out by Pharaoh Ahmose. Under Seti I, it developed into a commercial and military town. Ramesses II increased its importance and its name was changed to Pi-Ramesses-Aa-Nakhtu or The Domain of Ramesses - Great in Victory. Despite the prominence of both Avaris and the considerable Ramesside city of Pi-Ramesses, there are scant ruins of either. Both cities were located in the modern district of el-Khatana and Qantir.

  Ba. One of the three elements constituting the c
oncept of the soul. Usually depicted as a specific bird with a human head.

  Ben-Ben (stone).A conical stone worshipped at the temple in Heliopolis as a stylised version of the primeval mound. Was also a word used to describe the capping stone on a pyramid. May have been the inspiration for the obelisk.

  Byblos. City. Phoenician. Ancient Egyptian Gubla, Gebal. City in modern Lebanon.

  Cairo. City. Capital of modern Egypt. The area was part of the vast Memphite necropolis and not any known ancient town or village.

  Canaan. Ancient Phoenician Kana’n, for the area that encompasses modern Israel, Lebanon, Palestine, parts of Jordan and Syria. The Ancient Egyptians called the area Ka-na-na. During the Middle and New Kingdom dynasties, Egyptian power waxed and waned in this region as the pharaohs sought to extend their influence. The city of Qadesh was the site of a major engagement between the Kingdoms of Egypt and the Hittites during the reign of Ramesses II.

  Cataract. There are six cataracts on the Nile. The first at Aswan formed a historic boundary between Egypt and Nubia. The cataracts are hard rock stratum uncovered by the passage of water in the Nile through the erosion of the soft stone plateau. They formed natural barriers that limited water borne trade between Egypt and the lands to the south. The last cataract is at Khartoum in the Sudan.

  Cheops. Name of pharaoh. Greek. Ancient Egyptian Khufu. The image is the name of the pyramid – ‘where the sun rises and sets’

  Chepren. Name of pharaoh. Greek. Ancient Egyptian Khafre. The image is the name of the pyramid – ‘the great’

  Deir el-Medina. Arabic.Village adjacent to the Valley of the Kings. Its ancient name meant Servants of the Place of Truth. Established to provide a permanent residence for the workforce of artisans working on the royal tombs. Ruins of some 70 houses can be seen at the site on the western side of the Nile opposite Karnak and Luxor.The first symbol is for the place, the second for workmen who lived in the village.

  Deshret. Noun meaning desert. Also Khaset.

  Double crown. The combined crowns of the Upper and Lower regions of Egypt.

  Edfu. City. Arabic. Ancient Egyptian Djeba, Mesen.

  Egypt. Country. From the Greek Aiguptos to the Latin Aegyptvs. The Ancient Egyptians saw their country as basically the narrow strip of fertile land along the edges of the river Nile. Away from this area, they exerted rule over a much greater area. During the latter New Kingdom period the boundaries extended to the edge of the Red Sea, into part of the Sinai, north as far as Qadesh in the Canaan and down to the Fourth Cataract in Nubia though the area of pharaonic influence was fluid over dynastic history. The western boundary was flexible as it ran into the Libyan Desert but encompassed a number of oases such as the Faiyum. The fertile land along the Nile the Egyptians called Kemet, the Black Land, as distinct from Deshret, the Red Land, denoting the desert wastes that flanked the river. Alternative names were Tarwej or Tawy, literally, the Pair of Lands, denoting the union of Upper and Lower Egypt or Ta-Sheme’an and Ta-Mehen – Upper and Lower Egypt respectively.

  Electrum. A naturally occurring alloy of gold and silver

  Elephantine. Island on the Nile near Aswan. Ancient Egyptian Abu, Yebu. Literally, Place of the Elephant. Site of many ruined temples and fortifications.

  el-Ashmunein. Town. Ancient Egyptian Khmun. Site of a pylon Ramesses II built using stone pilfered from Akhet-aten.

  el-Kab. Town south of Luxor. Ancient Egyptian Nekheb. Site of a temple dedicated to the vulture headed goddess Nekhbet. Ramesses II built a pylon within the pre-existing temple.

  el Qurna, Qurn. Geological formation. Arabic. Ancient Egyptian Dehenet. The pyramid shaped mountain overlooking the Valley of the Kings and Western Thebes.

  Faience. A ceramic glaze widely used in jewellery.

  Gebel el-Silsila. Town 65 kilometres north of Aswan. Ancient Egyptian Khenu. Site of rock cut shrine built by Ramesses II.

  Giza. Town. Arabic. Now a suburb of Cairo. No ancient equivalent. About 20 kilometres north of Memphis. It was part of the Memphite necropolis forming a separate cemetery and it is the site of the three major pyramids and the Great Sphinx.

  Heliopolis. City. Greek. Ancient Egyptian Lunu. Was the site of important temples to the sun god Ra and the creator god, Atum. The city played a significant part in the development of religious doctrine of Ancient Egypt. Ramesses II restored a temple built by Amenhotep III.

  Herakleopolis. City. Greek. Ancient Egyptian Henen-Nesut.

  Hieratic script. Less stylised form of monumental hieroglyphic script used mainly in manuscripts – similar to cursive script in English.

  Hittites. An Indo-European race who established a kingdom – the Land of Hatti – in the region of Anatolia in modern Turkey. The Hittite kingdom rose to prominence in 1750 BC and fell about 1180 BC. The capital, Hattusa, was also called Hatti. Historians, until recently, confused the Hittites with a people called the Kheta but both are now recognised as separate races. The Hittites developed their own language – Nesili – though diplomatic communication between Egypt and the Hittites was conducted in Akkadian, the lingua franca of the region. The southern reach of the Hittite kingdom in Canaan ran up against the northern border of the Egyptian kingdom. The Battle of Qadesh, in 1274BC, took place just over the Hittite border. Ramesses II called the Hittites Humty which means women soldiers due to the long hair worn by Hittite soldiers.The image is the title -Kingdom of the Hittites.

  Hierakonopolis. City south of Thebes. Ancient Egyptian Nekhen.

  Hyksos. Ancient people, from the area of Canaan, who invaded and ruled Lower Egypt from their capital, Avaris, in the Delta, before the rise of the New Kingdom. Expelled by the first New Kingdom king. From the Greek Hyk-sos, literally, rulers from abroad. Ancient Egyptian Haqr-Khust. The first hieroglyph below is for ‘enemy’. The second is the verb ‘to be victorious’

  Ibri or Hiburu. Ancient Egyptian name for a people from Canaan, possibly the Hebrews or another Semitic people.

  Ihnasya el-Medina. Town. Ancient Egyptian Henen-nesut. Site of two temples built to a local deity, Harsaphes, by Ramesses II.

  Ka. The most important of the three elements constituting the concept of the soul. Considered to be the life force of a person incorporating all human qualities and characteristics. At death, the Ka left the body and became the immortal spirit of the person. It also returned to the physical remains and drew sustenance from the foodstuffs in or at the tomb. Usually depicted as two arms joined at the shoulder and pointing upwards.

  Kalabsha. Town. Arabic. Ancient Egyptian Taset. Site of a Ramesside temple in Nubia.

  Karnak. Major temple site in Thebes. Ancient Egyptian Ipet-Isut. Literally, the most secret of places. The cult centre of Amun.

  Kemat. Ancient Egyptian for the fertile black land fringing the Nile.

  Kepresh or Blue Crown. Sometimes called the War Crown. Looked like a bonnet with side wings. Made of blue stained leather with a metal overlay.

  Lapis lazuli. A deep blue stone containing sodium, aluminium, calcium, sulphur and silicon. Widely used in Egyptian jewellery and inlay work. Genuine lapis lazuli was imported. The Egyptians were able to reproduce the effect of the imported material.

  Luxor. Major temple site in Thebes. Ancient Egyptian Ipet-Resyt, literally, Southern Place. Second cult centre of Amum

  Ma’at. The Ancient Egyptian concept of truth, harmony, peace, balance.The most important responsibility in the relationship between a king, his people and the deities. The opposite concept was Isfret meaning chaos, sin, disorder. The first hieroglyphic is for ma’at, the second for an evil person.

  Maat. The female goddess who personified the concept of Ma’at

  Maiherpri. Name of Nubian tomb occupant in the Valley of the Kings (KV36). Alternatively, Maiherperi or Mahirpra.

  Medinet Habu. Site of the mortuary temple of Ramesses III in Thebes, on the west bank of the Nile. Ancient Egyptian Tjamet.

  Medjat. Ancient Egyptian for papyrus scroll. Papyrus is a plant that grew prolifically along the bank
s of the Nile. Its stem was split into thin strips then dried and laid, layer on layer, to form writing paper. The plant was also symbolic of renewal and freshness and its representation can be seen in a number of architectural styles, mainly in columns.

  Mekhat. The scales of justice upon which Osiris weighed the deceased heart against a feather from the goddess Maat.

  Memphis. City. Greek. Derived from the abbreviated Ancient Egyptian Pepy-men-nefer shortened to Min Afar. Was the capital of the first nome of Lower Egypt. Ancient Egyptian name was Ineb Hedj - literally the ‘White Walls’. Also known as Ankh Tawy, ‘That which binds Two Lands’. Memphis was the cult centre of the god, Ptah, and the region is the site of the largest ancient necropolis. The city was the administrative capital of the country during most of Egypt’s long dynastic history. The ruins of Memphis are 20 kilometres south of Cairo in an area that includes the modern towns of Dashur, Mit Rahini, Saqqara, Abusir, Abu Gorab and Zawyet el’Aryan.

  Metals. The Ancient Egyptians extensively used copper and bronze for their working tools. The first hieroglyph is for bronze, the second for copper. Copper was mined at Timna and Wadi Nasb in the Sinai and from extensive areas of the upper eastern desert. Tin alloyed with copper produces bronze. Iron was imported from Asia in limited quantities. The first image is for copper, the second for bronze.

  Mycerinus. Greek. Name of Pharaoh. Ancient Egyptian Menkaure. The image is the name of the pyramid – ‘the divine’