Chapter 5
Terms
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- 8. What was the purpose of gold finger and toe-stalls?
- a. They protected the fragile fingers and toes of mummies and prevented them from breaking off and being lost.
- What are Corn Mummies?
- b. Corn Mummies, unique to the latter periods of Egyptian history, are made of mummified objects which are wrapped in linens and placed in coffins with falcon heads. The mummies are wrapped in the shape of Osiris and are stuffed with a grain/clay mixture. Other variations are wrapped in linen, placed on a linen bed and stuffed with barley. Both wheat and barley are rudimentary to nourishment in Egyptian life.
- 17. What are shabtis?
- a. A servant or serving statue that began to be included in tombs because the Egyptians believed the Afterlife should include leisure and should be devoid of labor. These statues were a vehicle to ensure not working.
- What is an amulet?
- A charm which usually had an inscripton of a spell, chant, or symbol and which was believed to protect the wearer from harm or evil.
- What is a rishi-coffin?
- a. A cover coffin for the large outer coffins of royal women in which only the top part is removable. These rishi-coffins had feather carving as the first layer and pieces of gold, glass or semi-precious stone were layered on top.
- 14. What is a sarcophagus and how does it differ from a coffin?
- a. A sarcophagus is a further protection for the body and the coffin is placed within it. The sarcophagus often indicated power of its occupant.
- 9. What are the two categories of jewelry found on mummies?
- a. Items made exclusively for the burial and items the deceased person used during their lifetime.
- What is a scarab?
- a. Scarabs evolve from the beetle Scarabeus sacer and were popular icons on amulets because they symbolied the sun god and ressurection. The Egyptians associated the dung scarabs leave with rebirth and thus the new-born sun god Khepri because scarabs lay their eggs in the dung.
- What is faience?
- a. A type of ceramic used to make amulets.
- What is cartonnage?
- Type of material, usually a conglomeration of linen and papyrus covered with plaster, which was used for funerary masks from the First Intermediate Period until the Roman period.
- 13. What was the origin of the Egyptian coffin?
- The myth of Osiris
- 11. During which period of Egypt's history were actual portraits of the dead person placed on the mummy
- The Roman period
- What is the wadjet eye?
- a. Also called the eye of Horus or of Re, this amulet supposedly protected the wearer from all evil by emulating the gods. Some people speculate that modern Islamic and Coptic prtectve charms originally derived from the wadjet eye.
- What are Osiris beds?
- a. Osaris beds are made of a shallow wooden outline figure of Osiris, with an
- 16. What are canopic jars?
- a. Special containers made to house the mummy's internal organs which were usually placed at the foot of the mummy. During the fourth dynasty their construction and design was rather simple but they became more complex through history until the Ptolemaic and Roman periods, when they vanished.
- What is an ankh the symbol for?
- It was the hieroglyphic symbol for life.
- What is the djed pillar?
- a. Another common funerary amulet related to the god Osiris which symbolizes endurance and strenth. Some say that the pillar is from Osiris' vertebrae and other say it is from the trunk of a palm tree. Archaologists have found this pillar on a monkey mummy.
- What determines an amulet's power?
- a. It's shape, material and color. Amulets are made from an assortment of materials and colors accordng to their purpose.
- How can burial jewelry be differentiated from real jewelry?
- a. Burial jewelry is much more flimsy and poorly constructed then real jewelry.