Ancient Egypt - Introductory

Travel back to the days of the pharaohs by studying this list of terms related to ancient Egypt. If it's all hieroglyphics to you, now's your chance to learn all about mummies, pyramids, and the mysterious sphinx.
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. afterlife
    life after death
  2. Akhenaton
    early ruler of Egypt who rejected the old gods and replaced them with sun worship (died in 1358 BC)
  3. Amen-Ra
    Egyptian sun god
  4. amulet
    a trinket thought to be a magical protection against evil
  5. Anubis
    Egyptian god of tombs and ruler of the underworld
  6. canopic jar
    a jar used in ancient Egypt to contain entrails of an embalmed body
  7. cataract
    a large waterfall; violent rush of water over a precipice
  8. deity
    a supernatural being worshipped as controlling the world
  9. delta
    a low area of alluvial deposits where a river divides
  10. dynasty
    a sequence of powerful leaders in the same family
  11. embalm
    preserve a dead body
  12. flax
    fiber of the flax plant that is made into thread and woven into linen fabric
  13. hieroglyphic
    a writing system using picture symbols
  14. Horus
    Egyptian solar god with the head of a falcon
  15. Isis
    Egyptian goddess of fertility
  16. linen
    a fabric woven with fibers from the flax plant
  17. mummy
    a body that is embalmed, dried, and wrapped for burial
  18. Nile River
    the world's longest river
  19. oasis
    a fertile tract in a desert
  20. obelisk
    a stone pillar tapering towards a pyramidal top
  21. Osiris
    Egyptian god of the underworld and judge of the dead
  22. papyrus
    paper made from a plant by cutting it and pressing it flat
  23. Pharaoh
    the title of the ancient Egyptian kings
  24. polytheism
    belief in multiple gods
  25. Pyramid
    large monument with a square base and four triangular sides
  26. pyramid
    a polyhedron having a polygonal base and triangular sides
  27. quarry
    a surface excavation for extracting stone or slate
  28. Ra
    ancient Egyptian sun god with the head of a hawk
  29. Ramses the Great
    king of Egypt between 1304 and 1237 BC who built many monuments
  30. Red Sea
    a long arm of the Indian Ocean between northeast Africa and Arabia; linked to the Mediterranean at the north end by the Suez Canal
  31. regent
    someone who rules during the absence of the monarch
  32. sarcophagus
    a stone coffin, usually bearing sculpture or inscriptions
  33. scarab
    a beetle considered to be divine by ancient Egyptians
  34. scribe
    someone employed to make written copies of documents
  35. scroll
    a document that can be rolled up (as for storage)
  36. silt
    mud or clay or small rocks deposited by a river or lake
  37. slavery
    the practice or system of owning people as property
  38. sphinx
    a mythical creature with a lion's body and a human head
  39. tomb
    a place for the burial of a corpse
  40. Tutankhamen
    Pharaoh of Egypt around 1358 BC
Created on Thu Jan 12 08:58:32 EST 2017 (updated Fri Mar 31 14:35:14 EDT 2017)

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