11 AH Egypt Maxi Revision

The name given to the yearly flood in Egypt

• Iteru

• Inundation

• Big Water Time

• Kemet

Answer explanation

Iteru is the Egyptian word for the Nile, it simply means 'river'

Kemet is the Egyptian word for the good farming soil created by the Inundation, it literally means 'black land'

The name of this feature is the

(a)  

Answer explanation

The Faiyum, a depression that is filled with water during very high Inundations, was used for hunting in the Old Kingdom, and opened up for farming in the Middle Kingdom

What was the name of the legendary first king of Egypt?

• Sneferu

• Mentuhotep II

• Djoser

• Narmer

Answer explanation

As we know, there is some dispute about whether or not Narmer was the fist ruler of a united Egypt!

What was the name of the first king to build a pyramid tomb?

• Djoser

• Narmer

• Sneferu

• Khufu

Answer explanation

Djoser built the Stepped Pyramid for his tomb.

Sneferu and Khufu built later, also important pyramids

What did Djoser's architect Imhotep stack, one on top of the other, in order to come up with the idea for the Stepped Pyramid?

• Smaller pyramids

• Sarcophagi

• Mastaba

• Slaves

Answer explanation

Mastaba, the Arabic word for bench, describes the rectangular tombs built in Egypt.

They continued to be used throughout Egypt during the Old and Middle Kingdom periods

What was the ka?

• The life force of a person

• The body of a person

• A small vehicle used for transport

• A symbol representing eternal life

Answer explanation

The ka was described or is interpreted variously by Egyptologists as meaning the life force or the personality or the double twin or the spirit of a person.

Commoners were believed to have one ka but the king would have many .

Without a body or a dwelling place the ka would cease to exist. It needed a dwelling place and it could move around and leave that dwelling place but it always had to return back to it in order to remain viable.

Where were Egyptian kings hoping to spend the afterlife?

• On the Sun barge with Ra, sailing through the heavens

• Amongst the stars with the gods

• All people ended up in the same dark, shadowy Underworld

• In the Field of Reeds, a place like Egypt, but better

Answer explanation

“Lack of a consistent point of view (about the afterlife) did not trouble the Egyptians whose ideology was well able to accept the identification of the king or god with several entities at the same time”

Spencer, Death in Ancient Egypt, p. 139 (Spencer, A.J. Penguin Books, 1982)

The sarcophagus was usually a stone box, intended to...

• Physically protect the body from harm

• Represent the eternal home of the king's ka

• Represent the womb of the sky goddess Nut

• Allow for the ka to move in and out

Answer explanation

The sarcophagus (lit. ‘eater of flesh’, Greek) was used to protect the body physically and spiritually.

It could represent a range of different things; pictured here is an artists reconstruction of the sarcophagus of King Menkaure. It is decorated to look like a palace, with a door for the ka to come in and out of

What did king Khufu do that was significant?

• Built the first 'true' pyramid

• Built the biggest pyramid ever

• Built the first stone tomb ever

• Built the last pyramid ever built in Egypt

Answer explanation

Until the Lincoln Cathedral was built, the Great Pyramid of Khufu at Giza was the tallest structure in the world. It held this title for over 4,000 years!

Cleopatra is closer to us in time than she was to the building of the Great Pyramid

Which god ruled the Underworld?

• Seth/Set

• Horus

• Anubis

• Osiris

Answer explanation

Osiris was the ruler of the Underworld, depicted often as green - not because he was a zombie, but rather as a marker of new life, regeneration!

Set was his brother, wo killed him and cut his body up

Anubis was the god of death, mummification and the protection of dead bodies