Africa Resource Guide

Like everything else about ancient Egypt, the nature of the country's myths, and of the religion and society they sustained, was dictated by two factors above all others: geography and enormous, unbroken stretches of time.

Dead human or animal body preserved by embalming or by unusual natural conditions. Refers primarily to the burials found in Egypt, where the practice of mummification was perfected over the centuries to an extreme of elaboration.

Ancient Egyptian god, the embodiment of goodness, who ruled the underworld after being killed by Set. The pharaohs were believed to be his incarnation.

Mythological creature, depicted in Egyptian, Assyrian, and Greek art as a lion with a human head. One of the oldest monuments is the Great Sphinx at El Gîza, Egypt, which was probably built about 2900-2750 BC.

The first kingdom for which there is documentary evidence is that of Aksum (Axum), a kingdom which probably emerged in the 2d cent. A.D., thus making Ethiopia the oldest independent country in Africa and one of the most ancient in the world.

It was not until c.3000 B.C. that the Sahara transformed into its present arid state. The camel was introduced probably in the 1st cent. A.D. and facilitated occupation by nomads.

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
Ancient state of NE Africa. At the height of its political power Nubia extended, from north to south, from the First Cataract of the Nile (near Aswan, Egypt) to Khartoum, in Sudan.

Considering the great importance of the Nile to Egypt, it is not surprising that in ancient times it was deified, and it has always been regarded with the utmost reverence. Each year the Nile floods its banks and the height of the flood has been recorded annually since at least 3600 BC.

From A Guide to the Ancient World, H.W. Wilson
A city on the Nile in Upper Egypt, four hundred and forty-six miles south of Cairo. The capital of the Pharaonic empire in the second millennium BC—replacing Memphis—Thebes was later praised for its wealth in Homer's Iliad.

The ancient Egyptian language first used a hieroglyphic form of writing that underwent several stages of development in the course of the centuries. From hieroglyphics evolved an Egyptian cursive handwriting known as hieratic; and from hieratic, a simplified script called demotic, in which was recorded the form of the Egyptian language also called demotic.

Extinct language of Ethiopia belonging to the North Ethiopic group of the South Semitic (or Ethiopic) languages, which, in turn, belong to the Semitic subfamily of the Afroasiatic family of languages.

Egyptian hieroglyphics appear in several stages: the first dynasty (3110–2884 B.C.), when they were already perfected; the Old Kingdom; the Middle Kingdom, when they were beginning to go out of use; the New Empire, when they were no longer well understood by the scribes; and the late hieroglyphics (from 500 B.C.), when the use of them was a tour de force.

A stone found in 1799 by a French officer of engineers named Bouchard or Boussard in an excavation made near Rosetta (Rashid), in the Nile delta northeast of Alexandria.

This classic program travels to a land of mystery and marvel as archaeologists investigate the secrets of long-lost Pharaonic culture and technology.