Archaising: An artistic or literary style that imitates techniques of the Old Kingdom.
Ba: Part of the soul, usually represented as having the head of a man and the body of a bird.
Ben-ben stone: The earliest form of the obelisk, worshipped in temples.
Book of the Dead: A collection of magical spells and prayers intended to help the deceased resurrect in the next world.
Canopic jars: Four jars used to hold the internal organs removed at the time of mummification.
Cartouche: An oval encircling the name of a king or queen.
Cenotaph: A symbolic tomb in addition to the deceased’s real place of burial.
Coptic: Christian art and religion as practiced in Egypt.
Corbel: An inward stepping of the walls of a room toward the ceiling.
Coregency: Two pharaohs ruling at the same time by agreement, usually father and son.
Demotic: A later form of writing the Egyptian language used after the seventh century BC. The word is from the Greek meaning people, because it was the secular form of writing, as opposed to hieroglyphs.
Determinative hieroglyph: A hieroglyph placed at the end of a word to clarify its meaning.
Faience: A ceramic material used for making amulets and tiles.
Festival of Opet: A religious festival during which the statues of the gods Amun, Mut, and Khonsu were taken from Karnak Temple to Luxor Temple.
Heb-sed festival: A ritual intended to be celebrated every thirty years by the pharaoh to ensure his rejuvenation.
Hieratic: The cursive form of writing the Egyptian language derived from hieroglyphs.
Hypostyle hall: A room of a temple with columns supporting a roof.
Ka: Part of the deceased’s soul that is thought of as a double.
Kings list: An official list of the kings of Egypt, usually carved on a temple wall.
Kiosk: A small, open structure made of stone, usually attached to a temple in honor of a god.
Maat: Divine order; also, the Goddess of Truth.
Mastaba: A bench-shaped structure above a tomb, especially during the Old Kingdom.
Mummy: Any preserved cadaver.
Natron: A naturally occurring mixture of sodium carbonate, sodium bicarbonate, and sodium chloride—used to dehydrate the body in mummification.
Necrotome: A knife believed to have been used by embalmers (“death knife”).
Obelisk: A tall shaft of a single stone, usually pink granite. Obelisks were placed in pairs at the entrances to temples.
Oracle: A person divinely inspired who foresees the future.
Papyrus: Writing material made from the stalks of the papyrus plant.
Pharaoh: The divine ruler of Egypt, associated with Horus, the falcon god.
Pylon: A monumental gateway or entrance to a temple or palace.
Registration: In art works, the practice of having different figures on different levels or registers.
Relieving chambers: Small rooms designed to distribute the weight stresses of the pyramid above; also called "stress-relieving chambers.”
Resurrection: The belief that the body will get up and live again in the next world.
Sarcophagus: A stone receptacle for preserving a mummy.
Scarab: The sacred beetle. Often amulets were carved in this shape to ensure continued existence.
Serekh: A schematic representation of a palace facade with a rectangle above it in which the king’s Horus name was written.
Sesperonch: A Coptic word for “magician” derived from the ancient Egyptian words “scribe of the house of life.”
Stela: A round-topped standing stone carved with an inscription.
Stretching the Cord: A ceremony performed at the beginning of the construction of a temple.
Ushabti: Small statues of servants intended to serve the deceased in the next world.