Egypt Articles

Shabti dolls (also known as `shawbti’ and `ushabti’) were funerary figures in ancient Egypt who accompanied the deceased to the after-life. Their name is derived from the Egyptian `swb’ for stick but also corresponds to the word for `answer’ (`wSb’) and so the Shabtis were known as `The Answerers’. The figures, shaped... [continue reading]

The Battle of Pelusium in 525 B.C. was the decisive conflict between the Pharaoh Psametik III (also known as Psammenitus) and the Persian leader Cambyses II. Cambyses, upset that Psammenitus' father, Amasis, had sent him a `fake daughter' , decided to invade Egypt to avenge the insult. Cambyses had asked for Amasis' daughter for a concubine and Amasis... [continue reading]

Is it possible to have a heart that is lighter than a feather? To the ancient Egyptians it was not only possible but highly desirable.  The after-life of the ancient Egyptians was known as the Field of Reeds and was a land very much like one's life on earth save that there was no sickness, no disappointment and, of course, no death. One lived eternally... [continue reading]

Hathor: The Mother Goddess In ancient Egypt, Hathor was the goddess of old, later re-imagined as Isis, who gave all the good gifts of life to humanity. Early depictions of the goddess show a queenly woman with the sun disk and horns on her head; later she came to be seen as a woman with the head of a cow or, simply, as a cow, symbolizing her life-giving energy... [continue reading]

The Great Pyramid of Giza is the oldest monument on the list of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. It is also the only one left standing. It is a marvel of human engineering and construction, and its sheer size and scale rivals any structure built within the last few hundred years. It's construction, though, has always been the subject of much debate... [continue reading]

The Pharos at Alexandria was the last structure to be named on Antipater of Sidon's list of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. It was constructed at the beginning of the 3rd century BC, begun by Ptolemy Soter, the ruler of the Egyptian region after the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC. It was impressive in its construction and scale, and legends... [continue reading]

Buried for most of its life in the desert sand, an air of mystery has always surrounded the Great Sphinx, causing speculation about its age and purpose, method of construction, concealed chambers, role in prophesy, and relationship to the equally mysterious pyramids. Much of this theorizing is to the despair of Egyptologists and archaeologists, who, reasonably... [continue reading]

The Papyrus Lansing is an ancient Egyptian document that dates to the reign of the Pharaoh Senusret III (also known as Sesostris III, and, arguably, the legendary Sesostris written of by Herodotus) the 5th ruler of the 12th Dynasty of Egypt from 1878-1839 BCE. It was written by the scribe Nebmare-nakht to his younger apprentice Wenemdiamun and is... [continue reading]

The Pyramid Texts are the oldest religious texts in the world (some scholars cite the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh as the oldest, though it is debatable whether the Epic of Gilgamesh is a religious text). They comprise the texts which were inscribed on the sarcophogi and walls of the pyramids at Saqqara in the 5th and 6th Dynasties of the Old Kingdom (2465-2150... [continue reading]

The Tale of The Ship-Wrecked Sailor is an epic tale written on papyrus around the year 2000 BCE, during the Middle Kingdom of Egypt. Contemporary with the rise of the Cult of Osiris and the inscribing of the Coffin Texts, the Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor tells a similar story of redemption. The basic form of the story is very simple: a sailor returns... [continue reading]