scholarly journals The Significance and Symbolism of Grifon in Ancient Egypt till the Greco-Roman Periods

2022 ◽  
Vol 12 (2022) ◽  
pp. 151-172
Author(s):  
Ahmed Mashhot Ahmed keshka
Keyword(s):  
Ancient Egypt ◽  
Greco Roman

The Planets in Ancient Egypt

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joachim Friedrich Quack
Keyword(s):  
Mathematical Models ◽  
Ancient Egypt ◽  
Roman Period ◽  
Maximum Power ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Late Period ◽  
Religious Texts ◽  
Greco Roman ◽  
Religious Associations ◽  
Night Sky

The five visible planets are certainly attested to in Egyptian sources from about 2000 bce. The three outer ones are religiously connected with the falcon-headed god Horus, Venus with his father Osiris, and Mercury with Seth, the brother and murderer of Osiris. Clear attestations of the planets are largely limited to decoration programs covering the whole night sky. There are a number of passages in religious texts where planets may be mentioned, but many of them are uncertain because the names given to the planets are for most of them not specific enough to exclude other interpretations. There may have been a few treatises giving a more detailed religious interpretation of the planets and their behavior, but they are badly preserved and hardly understandable in the details. In the Late Period, probably under Mesopotamian influence, the sequence of the planets as well as their religious associations could change; at least one source links Saturn with the Sun god, Mars with Miysis, Mercury with Thot, Venus with Horus, son of Isis, and Jupiter with Amun, arranging the planets with those considered negative in astrology first, separated from the positive ones by the vacillating Mercury. Late monuments depicting the zodiac place the planets in positions which are considered important in astrology, especially the houses or the place of maximum power (hypsoma; i.e., “exaltation”). Probably under Babylonian influence, in the Greco-Roman Period mathematical models for calculating the positions and phases of the planets arose. These were used for calculating horoscopes, of which a number in demotic Egyptian are attested. There are also astrological treatises (most still unpublished) in the Egyptian language which indicate the relevance of planets for forecasts, especially for the fate of individuals born under a certain constellation, but also for events important for the king and the country in general; they could be relevant also for enterprises begun at a certain date. There is some reception of supposedly or actually specific Egyptian planet sequences, names and religious associations in Greek sources.

Transnasal excerebration surgery in ancient Egypt

2012 ◽  
Vol 116 (4) ◽  
pp. 743-748 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew A. Fanous ◽  
William T. Couldwell
Keyword(s):  
Skull Base ◽  
Surgical Techniques ◽  
Ancient Egypt ◽  
Transnasal Approach ◽  
Old Kingdom ◽  
Greco Roman ◽  
Ancient Egyptian ◽  
Transnasal Surgery ◽  
The One

Ancient Egyptians were pioneers in many fields, including medicine and surgery. Our modern knowledge of anatomy, pathology, and surgical techniques stems from discoveries and observations made by Egyptian physicians and embalmers. In the realm of neurosurgery, ancient Egyptians were the first to elucidate cerebral and cranial anatomy, the first to describe evidence for the role of the spinal cord in the transmission of information from the brain to the extremities, and the first to invent surgical techniques such as trepanning and stitching. In addition, the transnasal approach to skull base and intracranial structures was first devised by Egyptian embalmers to excerebrate the cranial vault during mummification. In this historical vignette, the authors examine paleoradiological and other evidence from ancient Egyptian skulls and mummies of all periods, from the Old Kingdom to Greco-Roman Egypt, to shed light on the development of transnasal surgery in this ancient civilization. The authors confirm earlier observations concerning the laterality of this technique, suggesting that ancient Egyptian excerebration techniques penetrated the skull base mostly on the left side. They also suggest that the original technique used to access the skull base in ancient Egypt was a transethmoidal one, which later evolved to follow a transsphenoidal route similar to the one used today to gain access to pituitary lesions.

Ancient Egyptians’ Atypical Relationship with Invertebrates

2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (7) ◽  
pp. 716-732
Author(s):  
Linda Evans ◽  
Philip Weinstein
Keyword(s):  
Vital Role ◽  
Ecological Systems ◽  
Ancient Egypt ◽  
Roman Period ◽  
Food Sources ◽  
Greco Roman ◽  
The People ◽  
Cultural Roles ◽  
Ubiquitous Presence

AbstractDespite the ubiquitous presence and vital role of invertebrates in all known ecological systems, insects and arachnids are largely viewed as repugnant by people. Consequently, until nature intervenes in the form of infestations, swarms or plagues, we largely prefer to ignore them, lest our attention invite unwelcome interaction. In contrast, the people of ancient Egypt did not distance themselves from invertebrates but instead celebrated their myriad forms. Egyptian appreciation of insects and arachnids is reflected in a range of art, artefacts, and texts dating from the predynastic era until the Greco-Roman period, revealing many positive cultural roles, from practical to conceptual. By assigning them a useful function, they were rendered visible and relevant to Egyptian society. The Egyptians’ example suggests that as necessity forces us to acknowledge the value of invertebrates—from their function as pollinators to becoming future food sources—our respect for them may also grow.

scholarly journals Investigating the Revival of Ancient Egyptian Artifacts as a Symbol of Power through their Occupation of European Public Spaces: A Chrono-Morphological Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 187-200
Author(s):  
Mohamed Raslan ◽  
István Bartók ◽  
Zoltán Szécsi
Keyword(s):  
Public Spaces ◽  
Ancient Egypt ◽  
Greco Roman ◽  
Chronological Change ◽  
Ancient Egyptian ◽  
Architectural Styles ◽  
Architectural Features ◽  
European Public ◽  
Egyptian Revival ◽  
Roman Antiquity

Numerous architectural styles have been explored in recent years (Pakkanen 2018). However, Egyptian revival did not obtain the consideration it deserved till lately, when there was a remarkable flow of attention coursed by various significant ancient Egyptian exhibitions all over the world, which led to the publications of books and articles tackling the Egyptian revival (Curl 2013). In this paper the researcher will try to investigate the chronological change of form and shape of ancient Egyptian architectural features that were revived in European public spaces to signify power, sovereignty, and authority. Curl (2013) charts the argument of the persistence of Egyptian motifs in design from Greco-Roman Antiquity, through the Mediaeval, Baroque, and Neo-Classical periods. Our hypothesis is that Ancient Egypt is a central source, rather than peripheral, to the development of considerable volume of European urbanistic and architectural features. We will distinguish manifestations with Egyptian connotations based on literature reviewed, field observation and the methodology of Curl (2013). Aiming only on three ancient Egyptian sources, the Sphinx, the obelisk, and the temple. Keywords: Egyptian revival, Ancient Egyptian artifacts, morphological regeneration, space occupation, public spaces

Astronomy in Ancient Egypt

2018 ◽  
pp. 60-70
Author(s):  
Joachim Friedrich Quack
Keyword(s):  
Ancient Egypt ◽  
Roman Period ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Greco Roman ◽  
The Hours ◽  
Greek Myths

This chapter studies Egyptian astronomy based on the very few surviving texts. The Egyptian calendar was purely solar, unlike most ancient calendars. The oldest astronomical monuments from Egypt are the star clocks, mainly on the interior of coffin lids from the Eleventh and Twelfth Dynasties. They divide the year into 36 ten-day intervals (decades), each with 12 stars, to mark the hours of the night for religious purposes. The major text of Egyptian astronomy is the Book of Nut, the sky goddess, which describes the behavior of the sun, moon, and especially fixed stars, as well as shadow clocks and water clocks. The Egyptian constellations were fundamentally different from ours (based on Mesopotamian and Greek myths), with Osiris (our Orion), Seth (our Big Dipper), and Sirius playing a prominent role, plus the Ship, the Sheep, and the Two Tortoises. Late Egyptian astronomy borrows some techniques from Mesopotamian astronomy. In the Greco-Roman period, Egyptian astronomy borrows elements from Greco-Roman astronomy.

Mathematics in Ancient Egypt

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annette Imhausen
Keyword(s):  
Mathematical Knowledge ◽  
Ancient Egypt ◽  
Middle Kingdom ◽  
Old Kingdom ◽  
Material Resources ◽  
Greco Roman ◽  
Unit Fractions ◽  
Egyptian Culture ◽  
Mathematical Techniques ◽  
Egyptian History

This book traces the development of Egyptian mathematics, from the end of the fourth millennium BC—and the earliest hints of writing and number notation—to the end of the pharaonic period in Greco-Roman times. The book surveys three thousand years of Egyptian history to present an integrated picture of theoretical mathematics in relation to the daily practices of Egyptian life and social structures. It shows that from the earliest beginnings, pharaonic civilization used numerical techniques to efficiently control and use their material resources and labor. Even during the Old Kingdom, a variety of metrological systems had already been devised. By the Middle Kingdom, procedures had been established to teach mathematical techniques to scribes in order to make them proficient administrators for their king. The book looks at counterparts to the notation of zero, suggests an explanation for the evolution of unit fractions, and analyzes concepts of arithmetic techniques. It draws connections and comparisons to Mesopotamian mathematics, examines which individuals in Egyptian society held mathematical knowledge, and considers which scribes were trained in mathematical ideas and why. Of interest to historians of mathematics, mathematicians, Egyptologists, and all those curious about Egyptian culture, the book sheds new light on a civilization's unique mathematical evolution.

See how they ran: morphological and functional aspects of skeletons from ancient Egyptian shrew mummies (Eulipotyphla: Soricidae: Crocidurinae)

2019 ◽  
Vol 100 (4) ◽  
pp. 1199-1210
Author(s):  
Neal Woodman ◽  
Alec T Wilken ◽  
Salima Ikram
Keyword(s):  
Ancient Egypt ◽  
Locomotor Function ◽  
Form And Function ◽  
Greco Roman ◽  
Ancient Egyptian ◽  
Modern Species ◽  
Functional Aspects ◽  
Components Analysis ◽  
And Function ◽  
The Last Two Millennia

Abstract Animals served important roles in the religious cults that proliferated during the Late (ca. 747–332 BCE) and Greco-Roman Periods (332 BCE–CE 337) of ancient Egypt. One result was the interment of animal mummies in specialized necropolises distributed throughout the country. Excavation of a rock-tomb that was re-used during the Ptolemaic Period (ca. 309–30 BCE) for the interment of animal mummies at the Djehuty Site (TT 11–12) near Luxor, Egypt, was carried out in early 2018 by a Spanish–Egyptian team sponsored by the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Madrid. The tomb burned sometime after deposition of the mummies, leaving behind abundant disassociated skeletal remains, primarily of avians, but also including two species of shrews (Soricidae): Crocidura olivieri and C. religiosa. To investigate possible intraspecific variation in morphology and locomotor function in these two species during the last two millennia, we measured morphological features of individual postcranial bones from the two archaeological samples and calculated indices that have been used to assess locomotor function. We compared the measurements to those from modern C. olivieri, C. religiosa, and C. suaveolens using principal components analysis, and we compared locomotor indices to those we calculated for the three modern species of Crocidura and to those from nine species of myosoricine shrews. Osteological features of the postcranial skeleton of conspecific Ptolemaic and modern samples of C. olivieri and C. religiosa are generally similar in character and proportion, and, skeletally, these shrews and modern C. suaveolens are consistent with soricids having a primarily ambulatory locomotor mode. One exception is the deltopectoral crest of the humerus, which appears to be longer in modern C. religiosa. Despite general conservation of form and function, Ptolemaic C. olivieri had larger body size than modern Egyptian populations and were more similar in size to modern C. olivieri nyansae from Kenya than to modern C. olivieri olivieri from Egypt.

Twins in Myth

1976 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. De Rachewiltz ◽  
P. Parisi ◽  
V. Castellani
Keyword(s):  
Ancient Egypt ◽  
Important Place ◽  
Roman World ◽  
Greco Roman ◽  
African Populations ◽  
Ancient Times ◽  
Ancient Civilizations ◽  
Negative Sense

Twins have an important place in mythology and a sacred character appears to be attached to them since the most ancient times. In ancient Egypt, the royal placenta was worshipped, being considered as the Pharao's twin (a conception that is still alive among certain African populations), and actually everyone was considered to possess a spiritual twin, the Ka or astral body, through whom it was supposed to be possible to operate with magic rituals and hit enemies. Twin gods were worshipped by Babylonians and Assyrians (who even introduced them among astronomic constellations), and may be also found in the Persian and Veda religions. In the classic, Greco-Roman world, the examples of twin gods and heroes are innumerable: from the twin sons of Zeus, the Dioscuri, to the opposite-sexed twin gods Apollo and Diana, to Rome's founders, Romulus and Remus, etc. Since the most ancient times, a magic conception is connected to the twins, either in a positive or a negative sense, but often with some kind of a “fatidic” aspect. Such a two-faced approach to the phenomenon of twinning, that variously characterizes neareast, protomediterranean, classic, and other ancient civilizations, may still be found in contemporary primitive societies.

From the Beginning to the End: How to Generate and Transmit Funerary Texts in Ancient Egypt

2016 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 202-223
Author(s):  
Foy Scalf
Keyword(s):  
Oral Tradition ◽  
Ancient Egypt ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Greco Roman ◽  
Core Set ◽  
Pyramid Texts ◽  
Textual Traditions ◽  
Funerary Texts ◽  
First Time

With a continuous tradition spanning more than two millennia, funerary texts from ancient Egypt offer an excellent data set for studying how compositions were composed and passed on in the ancient Near East. Clear evidence demonstrates the importance and mechanics of scribal copying in the transmission process. What remain less clear are the methods by which new compositions were created. In some cases, the accretion of scholia, commentary, and exegesis produced new versions of old texts. This is well illustrated by the continuum between Coffin Text (ct) spell 335 and Book of the Dead (bd) spell 17. In other cases, however, large collections appear in writing for the first time showing few hints at the earlier stages of their production. This is true for the Pyramid Texts (pt), whose pre-written forms can only be hypothesized. Fortunately, fragmentary steps from conception to textualization are partially preserved for a relatively little studied corpus from Roman Period Egypt, sometimes known by the title the Demotic Book of Breathing. Despite clearly representing the final stage in the pt-ct-bd tradition, scribes did not create this composition by copying from its predecessors. Instead, a new composition was crafted without direct parallel. In addition, the new text was never fixed, as fifty separate exemplars attest to a core set of formulae that could be added to, subtracted from, or rearranged at will. The variance in this corpus reflects a growing trend toward multiplicity in similar funerary manuscripts from Greco-Roman Egypt. A portion of this variance can be demonstrated to derive from an active oral tradition and it is this oral tradition, I will argue, that provided the raw material for new compositions such as the Demotic Book of Breathing. This paper will therefore address how textual traditions began by looking at the very end of funerary literature in ancient Egypt.

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