History 2.4

Hieroglyphics

1 A system in which symbols or pictures were used to represent objects, concepts or sounds. 2. It was the first writing system used by ancient Egyptians. The hieroglyphics were carved in stone by priests and scribes. 3. Hieroglyphics are important because they give us recorded information about economic, administrative, and royal matters; it gives us information of ancient Egyptian culture.

Book of the Dead

1. A book used to help the dead survive the dangerous journey through the underworld. 2. It included Negative Confessions which the dead could use to prove their worthiness to Osiris. 3. It is important because it contained spells, charms, and formulas that the people believed would help the dead in the afterlife,.

Osiris and Isis

1. A chief god and goddess of ancient Egypt. 2. Osiris was the god of the dead and judged souls seeking admission to the afterlife. Isis, wife of Osiris, also promised the faithful they would have life in the afterlife. 3. Osiris and Isis were important, not only because of their roles in the afterlife, but Osiris was also god of the Nile and he controlled the annual flood that made the land fertile, and Isis had a special place with women, as she was believed to have first taught them how to grind corn, spin flax, weave cloth and care for children.

Rosetta Stone

1. A flat, black stone on which was written information in hieroglyphics, demotic script, and Greek. 2. In the early 1800s, a French scholar, Jean Champollion ,unraveled the mysterious writings on Egypt's great monuments by using the Rosetta Stone. 3. It is very important because the meanings of ancient hieroglyphics had been lost until Jean Champollion deciphered the meaning of the passages written on the Rosetta Stone. By comparing the three versions of writing on the stone, scholars could begin to read the surviving records from ancient Egypt.

Happy Field of Food

1. A place in the afterlife where worthy souls would live forever in bliss. 2. Dead souls would be ferried across a lake of fire to the hall of Osiris where their heart would be weighed against the feather of truth. Souls that Osiris judged sinners would be fed to the crocodile-shaped Eater of the /dead. Worthy souls passed to the Happy Field of Food. 3. Egyptians believed each soul had to pass a test to win eternal life. The importance of the Happy Field of Food is that it was the place in which the Egyptians hoped to live forever once they entered the afterlife.

Papyrus

1. A plant that grows along the banks of the Nile 2. Ancient Egyptians used papyrus to make a paper-like writing material. 3. Writings of cursive scrips with reed pens and ink on papyrus strips was easier that chiseling words onto stone.

Akhenaton

1. Amenhotep, a pharaoh, who later took the name Akhenaton. 2. Akhenaton challenged the powerful priests of Amon-Re, as he devoted his life to a minor god, Aton. 3. The name Akhenaton means "he who serves Aton". Akeheaton was important as he ordered the priest to worship only Aton and to remove the other gods' names from their temples. After his death, the priests of the old gods resumed their power.

Howard Carter

1. British archaeologist. 2. In 1922, Howard Carter unearthed the tomb of Tutankhamen, a young pharaoh. 3. This was an important find because the tomb had remained practically untouched for over 3,000 years. Its treasures gave scholars a wealth of knowledge.

Negative Confession

1. Confessions of crimes the dead could say was not committed. 2. The Negative Confessions were found in the Book of the Dead. 3. The importance of the Negative Confessions was that the dead could use it to prove his or her worthiness to Osisris by confessing he or she had not committed certain crimes. This would help to prove the soul was pure.

Mummification

1.The preservation of dead bodies by embalming them and wrapping them in cloth. 2. To give a soul use of its body in afterlife, the dead person was mummified. 3. Its importance was to preserve the body for use in the afterlife; at first only rulers and nobles were mummified, but eventually ordinary people, and even pets, were given the right to be mummified. This allowed all souls to use their body in the after-life.