Early Dynastic Egypt (74 page)

stratigraphic
(adj.)
Relating to the sequence of layers (strata), their order and significance (stratigraphy), on an archaeological site.

subsidiary burial
(n.)
A small grave, usually one of a group, accompanying the tomb of a king or high official, or a royal
funerary enclosure;
the servants and retainers interred in subsidiary burials would accompany their master or mistress into the afterlife to continue their service.

syncretism
(n.)
The identification or fusion of two (or more) deities to produce a compound deity incorporating attributes from both (or all) its ‘parent’ gods; an example of early syncretism is the close identification of the goddesses Bat and Hathor.

Syria-Palestine
(n.)
Geographical term applied by Egyptologists to the area of the Near East comprising the modern countries of Israel, Lebanon, Syria and western Jordan.

tell
(n.)
Arabic for ‘hill’, ‘mound’. An archaeological site, especially in the Nile Delta, where the accumulation of cultural material over centuries has resulted in a mound visible above the surrounding area.

Thinite
(adj.)
Belonging to the city or royal house of This/Thinis, capital of the Abydos region from
Predynastic
times and ancestral home of the First and Second Dynasties.
titulary
(n.)
The collected titles and names borne by a king, comprising a number of

separate and distinctive elements;
Early Dynastic
royal titularies comprised the
Horus
title (written with the
serekh), ‘Two Ladies’
title,
nswt-bỉty
title and the ‘Golden Horus’ title; the name which followed the last of these came to be written in a
cartouche.

transliteration
(n.)
The rendition into the Roman alphabet (with some additional special signs and accents) of ancient Egyptian words, using a standard system; this allows ancient Egyptian words to be written when a hieroglyphic font is not available, and to be ‘pronounced’ following certain conventions:

3
stands for a sound which occurs in Hebrew and Arabic but not in English, a little like the glottal stop; conventionally pronounced like the
a
in ‘c
a
r’

í
another sound common in Hebrew and Arabic but not in English; like the English
y
; conventionally pronounced like the
i
in ‘b
i
t’

stands for the equivalent of the Hebrew and Arabic letter
ayin,
not found in English; a guttural sound made in the back of the throat; conventionally pronounced like the
a
in ‘c
a
r’, so difficult to distinguish in ‘spoken ancient Egyptian’ from
3

h
an aspirated, emphatic
h
; often pronounced like a normal
h

h
like the
ch
in Scottish ‘lo
ch
’ and conventionally pronounced as such

h r
ather softer than
h ,
more like the
ch
in German ‘i
ch
’; sometimes pronounced more like the
ch
in ‘
ch
aos’

š
stands for a single letter corresponding to
sh
as in
sh
ip, pronounced
sh

q
a guttural
k
sound made in the back of the throat; often pronounced like a normal
k
usually said to represent the sound
ch
as in ‘
ch
air’, and conventionally pronounced as such; but perhaps more like
ty,
as in ‘mee
t y
ou’

usually said to represent the sound
j
as in ‘
j
am’, and conventionally pronounced as such; but perhaps more like
dy,
as in ‘fee
d y
ou’

To assist pronunciation of ancient Egyptian words in transliteration a neutral vowel (
e
as in b
e
d) is generally inserted between adjacent consonants, while
w
— when it occurs in the middle or at the end of a word—is pronounced like the
u
in r
u
ne. Hence,
pr-nswt
is pronounced per-nesut.

travertine
(n. and adj.)
The yellowish or white translucent stone, technically calcium carbonate, often called ‘Egyptian alabaster’; it was mined at Hatnub in northern Upper Egypt and was widely used for stone vessel manufacture.

triad
(n.)
A statue comprising a group of three figures.

tumulus
(n.)
A low, rounded artificial mound.

Turin Canon
(n.)
Name given to a fragmentary papyrus, now in the Egyptian Museum in Turin, inscribed with a
king list
compiled in the reign of Ramesses II (c. 1279–1213 BC); unlike other king lists, the Turin Canon seems to have aimed at completeness.

‘Two Ladies’
(n.)
Translation of the ancient Egyptian word
nbty,
referring to the two protector deities of
Upper Egypt
and
Lower Egypt:
the vulture goddess Nekhbet of Elkab, and the cobra goddess Wadjet of Buto; from the late First Dynasty, the ‘Two Ladies’ formed one of the king’s titles, expressing the geographical duality of his rule; some
Early Dynastic
kings bore a distinctive Two Ladies’ name, written after this title.

Umm el-Qaab
(n.)
Arabic for ‘mother of pots’ (from the huge quantities of later offering-pottery which still litter the site). The name given by Egyptologists to the desert cemetery at Abydos in Upper Egypt where the kings of the First Dynasty and the last two kings of the Second Dynasty were buried.

unification
(n.)
Term applied to the formation of the ancient Egyptian state,
c.
3100 BC; a lengthy and gradual process rather than a single, swift event, unification involved the coalescence of a number of territories to form a single country from the Mediterranean coast to the First Cataract at Elephantine.

Upper Egypt
(n.)
The southern half of the Egyptian Nile valley, from the Fayum entrance in the north to Elephantine in the south; the northernmost stretch, north of the
Thinite
region, is sometimes called
Middle Egypt.

uraeus
(n.)
The figure of a rearing cobra which adorned the brow of the king to give him magical protection; in
Early Dynastic
inscriptions, the uraeus also appears on the standard of the jackal god Wepwawet.

vizier
(n.)
Name given by Egyptologists to the person at the head of the ancient Egyptian administration who bore the title(s)
(t3ítí z3b) 3tí
; the position entailed judicial as well as political authority.

votive
(adj.)
Donated to express or reinforce a wish or prayer.

wadi
(n.)
A dry valley, often marking the course of a torrent during rare rainstorms.

white crown
(n.)
The head-dress worn by the king in his capacity as ruler of Upper Egypt; called
h t
(‘the white one’) in ancient Egyptian, the crown is tall and conical in shape with a bulbous tip.

year label
(n.)
An elaborate type of
label,
on which specific events are depicted in order to identify the year and hence date the attached commodity; year labels provide much of our evidence for
Early Dynastic
history; year labels are also referred to by the German term
Jahrestäfelchen.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
‌

ABBREVIATIONS OF SERIES AND PERIODICALS

ÄA Ägyptologische Abhandlungen.

Ägypten und Ägypten und Levante. Zeitschrift fur Ägyptische Archäologie und

Levante

deren Nachbargebiete.

AJA American Journal of Archaeology.

Antike Welt Antike Welt. Zeitschrift fur Archäologie und Kulturgeschichte. ASAE Annales du Service des Antiquités de l’Egypte.

Atiqot Atiqot
(Israel Department of Antiquities).

AVDAIK Archäologische Veröffentlichungen, Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, Abteilung Kairo.

BASOR Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research.

Biblical Archaeologist

Biblical Archaeologist.
Perspectives on the Ancient World from Mesopotamia to the Mediterranean.

BIFAO Bulletin de l’Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale. CdE Chronique d’Ègypte.

CRAIBL Comptes Rendus à l’Academie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres.

Egyptian Archaeology

Egyptian Archaeology.
The Bulletin of the Egypt Exploration Society.

Eretz-Israel Eretz-Israel.
Archaeological, Historical and Geographical studies.

Expedition Expedition.
The Bulletin of the University Museum of the University of Pennsylvania.

Geographical Journal

(Royal Geographical Society).

GM Göttinger Miszellen.
Beiträge zur Ägyptologischen Diskussion. HÄB Hildesheimer Ägyptologische Beiträge.

IEJ Israel Exploration Journal.

Iraq
(British School of Archaeology in Iraq).

JARCE Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt. JEA Journal of Egyptian Archaeology.

JNES Journal of Near Eastern Studies.

JSSEA Journal of the Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities.

Kêmi Kêmi.
Revue de Philologie et d’Archéologie Égypti-ennes et Coptes.

KMT KMT.
A Modern Journal of Ancient Egypt.

LÄ
Lexikon der Ägyptologie. (Vol. I: eds W.Helck and E.Otto; Vols II- VII: eds W.Helck and W.Westendorf).

Levant Levant.
Journal of the British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem.

Man Man.
A Monthly Record of Anthropological Science (Royal Anthropological Institute).

MÄS Münchner Ägyptologische Studien.

MDAIK Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Abteilung Kairo.

Nyame Akuma Nyame Akuma.
Bulletin of the Society of African Archaeologists.

OMRO Oudheidkundige Mededeelingen uit het Rijksmuseum van Oudheden te Leiden.

Orientalia Orientalia,
Nova Series.

PSBA Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology. RdE Revue d’Égyptologie.

SAK Studien zur Altägyptischen Kultur.

Science
(American Association for the Advancement of Science).

Sphinx Sphinx.
Revue Critique Embrassant le Domaine Entier de l’Égyptologie.

ZAS Zeitschrift fur Ägyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde.

Abdel Tawab, M., Castel, G. and Pouit, G. (1990) ‘Archéo-géologie des anciennes mines de cuivre et d’or des regions el-Urf/Mongul-Sud et Dara-Ouest’,
BIFAO
90:359–64, figs 1–18.

Adams, B. (1977) ‘Hierakonpolis’,
LÄ
II: 1182–6.

——(1987)
The Fort Cemetery at Hierakonpolis,
London: Kegan Paul International.

Studies in Egyptology.

——(1994) ‘Possible s3-signs from the tomb of Djet (Uadji)’,
JEA
80:183–7.

——(1995)
Ancient Nekhen. Garstang in the City of Hierakonpolis,
New Malden: Sia Publishing. Egyptian Studies Association Publication No. 3.