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King Tut Day

This word list honors the royal occupant of the world's most famous tomb, and one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of all time, Tutankhamun — King Tut — the final pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty of ancient Egypt.
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Full list of words from this list:

  1. pharaoh
    an ancient Egyptian king
    As pharaoh, Cleopatra had a strong personal and historical connection to the Egyptian gods and goddesses. Sterling Biographies®: Cleopatra: Egypt's Last and Greatest Queen
  2. pyramid
    large monument with a square base and four triangular sides
    “The Greeks built the Parthenon and the Egyptians built the pyramids back when the Anglo-Saxons were still dressing in animal skins.” Middlesex: A Novel
  3. tomb
    a place for the burial of a corpse
    Kofun tombs are up to 1,500 feet long and over 100 feet high, making them possibly the largest earth mound tombs in the ancient world. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
  4. sarcophagus
    a stone coffin, usually bearing sculpture or inscriptions
    In the end, the visit didn’t work out quite as Locke planned, since he got there too late for the initial opening and too early for the unveiling of the gold sarcophagus containing Tut’s remains.
    The New Yorker
  5. gilded
    made from or covered with gold
    And the architecture...gods, the architecture—gilded marble columns, dazzling mosaics, monumental arches, and terraced villas. The Mark of Athena
  6. mummy
    a body that is embalmed, dried, and wrapped for burial
    The guide told them how mummies were prepared and how Egypt’s dry climate helped to preserve them. From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
  7. embalm
    preserve a dead body
    He worked with animals too and, having studied in France, he even dabbled in the new practice of embalming bodies before they were buried. Cannery Row
  8. curse
    an evil spell
    “Well now, if the falling of this bird is a sign of a curse or bad luck, we are in both. So I am eating every bit of it. You can do as you please.” A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier
  9. royalty
    royal persons collectively
    They reported that the Africans lived like kings, even wearing the fabrics of royalty: velvet, damask, and brocade. The Poisonwood Bible
  10. dynasty
    a sequence of powerful leaders in the same family
    In her hands, she held the symbols of her reign as Egypt’s pharaoh and as the last of the Ptolemaic dynasty. Sterling Biographies®: Cleopatra: Egypt's Last and Greatest Queen
  11. reign
    the period during which a monarch is in power
    These were men created from ants on the island of Aegina, in the reign of Aeacus, Achilles’ grandfather, and they were Achilles’ followers in the Trojan War. Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes
  12. heir
    a person entitled by law to inherit the estate of another
    She stopped an arm's length away and said, “I never introduced myself. Vasilisa Tsarevna, the heir to the throne of Kiev, no matter what my father’s henchmen think.” Anya and the Nightingale
  13. hierarchy
    a series of ordered groupings within a system
    “Your prioress is like a queen, the fountain of all goodness. All the sisters are her ladies-in-waiting, happy to live under her benevolent rule. There is a hierarchy, with servants in the lowest place.” Ophelia
  14. kingdom
    the domain ruled by a monarch
    “He didn’t want anyone else in the kingdom to suffer as he had. So he ordered the destruction of all dragons.” Anya and the Dragon
  15. succession
    the action or process of taking over an office or position
    Just before he arrived, the third war between the Ptolemies and the Seleucid Empire broke out, this time over a succession dispute. Circumference
  16. throne
    the position and power of an exalted person
    By March 1917, Czar Nicholas II had been forced to abdicate the throne. The Gene
  17. obelisk
    a stone pillar tapering towards a pyramidal top
    In New York City there is an obelisk called Cleopatra’s Needle, which came from Egypt. Cosmos
  18. sculpture
    a three-dimensional work of art
    Like most monumental sculpture, Apollo and Daphne was intended for a specific location. History of Art, Volume 1
  19. sphinx
    a mythical creature with a lion's body and a human head
    The sphinx and pyramids were built by people fed on crops originally native to the Fertile Crescent, not to Egypt. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
  20. scarab
    a beetle considered to be divine by ancient Egyptians
    “If the Pharaohs of Egypt were content to be represented by a scarab, so am I,” he said. The Subtle Knife
  21. statue
    a sculpture representing a human or animal
    I greet the two large statues of draped women sitting in long skirts outside the library: Art, holding a paintbrush, and Science, holding the world. Muffled
  22. temple
    a place of worship
    Little remains of the Heraion on the Aegean isle of Samos, one of the wonders of the ancient world, a great temple dedicated to Hera, who began her career as goddess of the sky. Cosmos
  23. hieroglyphic
    a writing system using picture symbols
    The male symbol was remarkably similar to the Anubis god representation on Tutankhamen’s inner-chamber hieroglyphics. Artemis Fowl
  24. pictograph
    an image or drawing used to represent a word or phrase
    High up on many rock faces pictographs representing Native American rites of passage from centuries earlier could be seen.
    The Washington Post
  25. afterlife
    life after death
    “It’s related to the scarab beetle, which the ancient Egyptians worshipped as a symbol of the morning sun and the afterlife. Sometimes they wore it as jewelry.” The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate
  26. funeral
    a ceremony at which a dead person is buried or cremated
    Aunt Chipo dressed the dead woman again and wrapped her in a cloth to await the funeral. A Girl Named Disaster
  27. ritual
    any customary observance or practice
    The villagers who still practiced the old Slavist rituals would decorate birch trees, string up flowers and branches, and leave extra offerings for the rusalki. Anya and the Dragon
  28. deity
    a supernatural being worshipped as controlling the world
    The influence of Greek art and literature became so powerful in Rome that ancient Roman deities were changed to resemble the corresponding Greek gods, and were considered to be the same. Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes
  29. offering
    something presented to a deity as a symbol of devotion
    According to him, once the Kuhani entered the hall, patrons would be busy making offerings and asking him to relay their specific prayer requests. Beasts of Prey
  30. mythology
    the body of stories associated with a culture or institution
    In ancient Greek mythology, the Three Sisters of Fate spin out a person’s destiny within three nights of their birth. The Sun Is Also a Star
  31. archaeology
    the branch of anthropology that studies prehistoric people
    What can archaeology can tell us about actual dates and places for the rise of farming and herding in Africa? Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
  32. discovery
    the act of finding something
    A century after the discovery of King Tutankhamun's tomb, archaeologists are still unearthing more artifacts — and controversies.
    NPR
  33. artifact
    a man-made object
    Everyone in the grade got assigned an Egyptian artifact to work on for Egyptian Museum Day, which was in December. Wonder
  34. treasure
    accumulated wealth, as in the form of money or jewels
    As for the wealthy, their tombs were underground mansions crammed with gold and treasure. The Golden Goblet
  35. civilization
    a particular society at a particular time and place
    The Egyptian civilization’s lack of zero was bad for the calendar and bad for the future of Western mathematics. Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea
  36. amulet
    a trinket thought to be a magical protection against evil
    In addition to his tunic, Marcos wore a turban around his head and an Egyptian amulet around his neck. The House of the Spirits: A Novel
  37. ivory
    a hard smooth dentine of the tusks of elephants and walruses
    Gold-inlaid tables were crowded with jade and ivory statues of the most exquisite workmanship. The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm
  38. linen
    a fabric woven with fibers from the flax plant
    Among the many textiles are 145 loincloths, 12 tunics, 28 gloves, about 24 shawls, 15 sashes, 25 head coverings and 4 socks, which had separate places for the big toe so that they could be worn with the 100 sandals, some worked in gold. There are also one golden and one beaded apron, real leopard skins and even one faux leopard skin woven of linen with appliqued spots.
    The New York Times
  39. papyrus
    paper made from a plant by cutting it and pressing it flat
    Egypt’s dry, sandy soil preserves papyrus scrolls very well—copious quantities of documents have survived. Circumference
  40. cosmetic
    a toiletry designed to beautify the body
    There's also a large cosmetics case, only partly redeemed by its brutal imagery—carvings of lions attacking elk, and feet of the jar resembling the crushed heads of his enemies. Tut's eye makeup, said curator Dr. David Silverman, was practical. "It was for protection from the Egyptian sun--similar to football players using blackout on their cheeks."
    Chicago Tribune
Created on Thu Aug 03 15:25:00 EDT 2023 (updated Tue Oct 10 14:20:12 EDT 2023)

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