residents. In 2016, the Republican Party of Iowa exposed information from around 2 million voters and in 2015, a badly configured database was spotted exposing voter registration info, including addresses, party affiliations and voter IDs, for 191 million Americans.

Last year, Harvard researchers also found that some states' voter registration websites left voter records vulnerable to manipulation and earlier this year, the Department of Homeland Security revealed that Russian forces accessed a number of US states' voter registration databases ahead of the last presidential election.Computers were developed to aid people with repetitive tasks that were deemed to be extremely time consuming. Most of the early computers were used for complex mathematical problem solving. The first computing machines were extremely large compared to computers utilized today. Despite their enormous size, the early machines had vastly less computing power than today's machines. Generally speaking, the sizes of computing devices were driven by the sizes of the existing electronic components of that era. This meant that only large research facilities or big businesses could employ computing machines. As new technology allowed for smaller electronic devices to be developed, computing devices also diminished in size. Although still lacking in power by today's standards, the size of the computing machine was reduced enough that it could be


Luxembourg

Official name: Grand Duchy of Luxembourg
Capital: Luxembourg City (coordinates: 49° 36′ 36″ N, 6° 7′ 40″ E)
107,000 inhabitants, of whom 70% are foreign residents in 2014 (December 31, 2014). The capital, Luxembourg City, has a history going back more than a thousand years. It was founded in 963, and counts a number of historic sites, including its former fortress (a UNESCO World Heritage Site), as well as more contemporary sites. Luxembourg is one of Europe’s most important financial centres. The city is home to several European Union institutions and is one of the capitals of Europe, along with Brussels and Strasbourg.
Neighbouring countries: Germany, Belgium, France
Area: 2,586 square kilometres The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg extends from north to south over a maximum distance of 82km and 57km from eastto west.
Perimeter: 359km. The country has 148km of borders with Belgium, 135km with Germany and 73km with France.
Population: 563.000 inhabitants (1 January 2015), of whom 46% are foreigners of more than 170 nationalities.
Form of government: constitutional monarchy functioning as a parliamentary democracy
National language: Luxembourgish (Lëtzebuergesch)
Administrative languages: French, German and Luxembourgish


As a blues harmonica player and teacher, Adam Gussow has few peers in the business.Currently an Associate Professor of English and Southern Studies at the University of Mississippi with a specialty in blues literature and culture, Gussow was one of the first amplified blues harp players to make overblows a key element of his stylistic approach, adapting Howard Levy's innovations in the late 1980s in a way that helped usher in a new generation of overblow masters such as Jason Ricci and Chris Michalek.According to a reviewer for American Harmonica Newsletter, Gussow's playing is characterized by "technical mastery and innovative brilliance that comes along once in a generation."

A student of the New York blues harp legend Nat Riddles (1952-1991), Gussow is best known for his long partnership withMississippi-born guitarist and one-man-band Sterling "Mr. Satan" Magee as the duo Satan and Adam.After working the streets of Harlem from 1986 to 1991, Gussow and Magee duo toured internationally between 1991 and 1998.Their performing credits include the Chicago Blues Festival, the Newport Jazz Festival, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, The King Biscuit Blues Festival, the Kansas City Jazz & Blues Festival, the Philadelphia Folk Festival and RiverBlues Festival, and more, along with hundreds of club gigs.They toured with Bo Diddley and opened for Buddy Guy, David "Honeyboy" Edwards, Otis Clay, Johnny Winter, and Jimmy Thackery.They released two albums on Flying Fish Records, including the W. C. Handy-nominated Harlem Blues (1991) and Mother Mojo (1993).Later releases include Living on the River (1996) and, on the Modern Blues


Harmonica label, Word on the Street:Harlem Recordings, 1989 (2008) and Back In The Game (2011). In 2008, after a decade-long hiatus, Satan and Adam came back on line, and they've played occasional festival and club gigs ever since. In 2013 they made a triumphant return to the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (see video below).

In 1996 Satan and Adam were the cover story in Living Blues magazine; according to editor David Nelson, Gussow enjoyed the curious honor of being "the first white blues musician to be so prominently spotlighted in the magazine's 26-year history."

My own harmonica teacher,

the great Nat Riddles

(1952-1991)

In addition to his career with Magee, Gussow has worked in duo, band, and studio settings with guitarists Charlie Hilbert, Irving Louis Lattin, Wild Jimmy Spruill, Robert Ross,Bill Abel, Andrew "Shine" Turner, Bill Sims, Jr., and Brian Kramer.He has released two albums with Hilbert on the Modern Blues Harmonica label:Blues Classics (2007) and Live in Klingenthal(2008).In his recent incarnation as a one-man band, Gussow takes a cue from Magee and does it all-singing, blowing amplified harp, and stomping out some thump-and-metal grooves.Gussow's first solo album, Kick and Stomp (2010), spent many weeks at #1 in the "Hot New Releases in Acoustic Blues" chart at Amazon mp3's. It also received extensive airplay on Bluesville (SiriusXM), America's premier satellite radio blues show, and rose to the #2 position in the "picks to click" category. His second solo album, Southbound (2011), expands the one-man band sound with the help of Mississippi's finest session musicians, including bassists Jerry Jemmott


and Dave Woolworth; it takes Gussow's distinctive mix of blues, jazz, and down-home funk to the next level. Southbound spent most of March and April 2012 at the #1 position on the Mississippi Roots Rado Airplay Chart.

Currently, Gussow is recording and touring with Mississippi blues veteran Alan Gross in a duo known as the Blues Doctors. Their first album, Roosters Happy Hour, was released in the fall of 2013. Gussow has also recently signed a licensing deal with Right Recordings, an indy label in the UK, which will distribute Kick and Stomp worldwide. A spring 2014 launch and a major UK publicity campaign are planned.

Gussow is known to harmonica students around the world as a result of his "dirty-South blues harp channel" at YouTube and his pioneering offeringsin the field of digital-download video tutorials at his website, Modern Blues Harmonica.Gussow's other musical credits include a stint with the bus-and-truck tour of Big River; several decades as a blues harmonica instructor at The Guitar Study Center in New York and in private practice; and a nine-time coach at Jon Gindick's Blues Harmonica Jam Camps. He's also headlined the Mundharmonika-Live festival in Klingenthal, Germany (2008) and has taught at Blues Week in the UK (2008).In the spring of 2010, Gussow added a new credit line to his resume´ as the creator and promoter of Hill Country Harmonica, a two-day intensive that drew more than 100 players from 30 states and 7 foreign countries to Foxfire Ranch in north Mississippi to study with Billy Branch, Billy Gibson, Johnny


Sansone, and other top pros.HCH 2011 drew almost 150 players and featured Sugar Blue, Jason Ricci, Charlie Sayles, Jimi Lee, Deak Harp, and Brandon Bailey, among others. HCH 2012 featured Billy Branch & Sons of Blues, Mitch Kashmar, Phil Wiggins, and Dr. "Feelgood" Potts, along with Annie Raines and Todd Parrott.

In August 2011 I sat for an extended interview with David Barrett of BluesHarmonica.com. It offers a comprehensive look at my own journey on the harp, at the outlines of the craft (positions, techniques, wisdom), and at the future of blues harmonica in the 21st Century--including the ever-present YouTube videos that we've all come to depend on for information about the contemporary scene. It comes as twenty 7-10 minute videos bundled into a big zip file. It costsonly $5 and you can access and preview it HERE.

Finally, here are a few videos that will give you a vivid sense of who I am and what I do.

In May 2013, I appeared with my longtime guitar-man Sterling "Mr. Satan" Magee in the blues tent at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival:

In July 2012 we played a festival in West Virginia:

My long career with Sterling began back in 1986, on the sidewalks of Harlem, where we played together on a near-daily basis for five years. The "street days," as I call them, strengthened every element of my playing, molding me into the blues musician I am today. The trailer for a forthcoming documentary gives you the flavor of that proving ground:

My debut music video, a solo


performance of "Crossroads Blues" recorded in July 2010, had 250,000 hits on YouTube before YT deleted it for "violating community standards." I'm a dangerous man! I've re-uploaded it so you can be freshly scandalized by it. (The dancer and singer need more time in the woodshed, but the harp player and drummer are feeling it):

Here's a 2012 music video featuring an original instrumental composition of mine, a joyously funky blues called "Thunky Fing Rides Again." My approach to the harmonica here--it's played in third position with an unusual and prominent 5 overblow--is one reason this website is called MODERN blues harmonica:

....and here's a performance from the early days of Satan and Adam: Friday night at the 1993 Philadelphia Folk Festival in front of 15,000 fans. We're playing "SunshineGold Rush! takes you back to the year 1849, when gold was discovered in California. It was certainly one of the most exciting times in American history. Gold Rush! includes the three routes tens of thousands took to the gold regions. Become Jerrod Wilson and experience each trek as you travel from New York to California.

Whichever route you decide to take, you will see many historical sights. Try going overland across the Great Plains and huge mountain ranges, crossing the Isthmus of Panama, or rounding Cape Horn on the tip of South America. If you survive and arrive at Sutter’s Fort, the adventure is still only half over! Many other puzzles remain to be solved before you achieve your goals in California.

Experience the classic style of the original


Total worldwide shipments and digital sales for Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age have exceeded four million units, Square Enix announced.

That includes the following versions of the game:

Japanese (PS4, 3DS) – Released July 29, 2017

English, French, Italian, German, and Spanish (PS4, PC) – Released September 4, 2018

Korean (PS4)

The Japanese 3DS version last appeared on the Media Create sales charts in October 2017 at 1,741,582 retail sales, while the Japanese PlayStation 4 version last appeared in September 2017 at 1,347,582 retail sales. We also know that 113,182 digital copies were sold on PlayStation 4 and 62,939 digital copies were sold on 3DS in Japan in the game’s first two days of release. That said, at least 3,266,285 sales come from Japan.While leading the Catholic diocese in one of the poorest states in the nation, former West Virginia Bishop Michael Bransfield spent millions private jets, limousines, plush hotels and other luxury travel, according to a report in the Washington Post.

Bransfield, who was removed from public ministry in July after allegations of sexual harassment and financial abuses, took more than 150 private jet trips and 200 limo rides on the church’s tab during his 13 years in West Virginia, the report said.

He spent nearly $1 million in church funds on private jets alone at a time when his diocese was cutting funding to West Virginia Catholic schools, the Washington Post found. His travels included personal vacations and business trips to Washington, Rome, Paris, London and the Caribbean.

He also took an


annual vacation to the Jersey Shore, where he often spent up to a month with friends and family while the Catholic Church paid the bills, according to receipts, flight records, church reports and other documents obtained by the Washington Post.

In August of 2018, Bransfield’s Jersey Shore bills included $276 at a liquor store in Somers Point, $1,002 at the Flanders Hotel in Ocean City and $2,975 to rent a car for a month, the newspaper found.

The bishop also spent $12,386 for a private jet in and out of Atlantic City to briefly return to Washington, D.C., in the middle of his August 2018 Jersey Shore vacation, the Washington Post reported. He took a limo to the Vatican’s diplomatic office, where he was told his job was in jeopardyafter two young priests accused him of sexual harassment and another priest accused him of excessive spending and other financial abuses.

West Va's former Bishop Michael Bransfield was leader of Catholics in the nation's poorest state, but he spent millions of church money like a prodigal prince -- on private jets, limos and penthouse suites. https://t.co/9LI7BXK6na — Robert O'Harrow Jr. (@robertoharrow) September 12, 2019

Bransfield, 76, told the Washington Post he took vacations to take a break from his church work and some of the other trips were church business. He blamed his aides for booking ultra-luxury accommodations, including a $9,336-week in a penthouse suite in a Palm Beach, Florida, hotel.

“That was done by staff," he said.

Church officials said they may try to recover some of the money Bransfield spent


on travel if it was for his personal benefit.

In an interview, Bransfield, 76, did not dispute the findings but defended his frequent vacations as necessary breaks from his religious responsibilities. -- the @washingtonpost reports https://t.co/ZAr2QZAW3Q — Gazette-Mail (@wvgazettemail) September 12, 2019

Some of Bransfield’s luxury travel was on business as president of the Papal Foundation, a fundraising group that often courted wealthy Catholic donors. The foundation was founded by the bishop’s close friend former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick.

McCarrick, the former head of the Archdiocese of Newark and the Diocese of Metuchen, was removed from public ministry and defrocked by the Vatican earlier this year after allegations he sexually abused boys, seminarians and young priests.

Bransfield is the second Catholic priest to be accused in recent weeks of spending church funds atAnalysis: Why Are All the Stories About Boys Falling Behind Girls at School Ignoring the Forces Keeping Them There?

Dec 3, 2017

The 74 Million – Richard Whitmire

“A recent flurry of articles on boys falling behind in school do a great job laying out the facts — but fall short when it comes to asking the right questions. Take the recent Atlantic piece as an example. Great facts, all accurate: As of 2015, 72.5 percent of females who recently graduated from high school were enrolled in college, versus 65.8 percent of men (compared to 1967 when 57 percent of the males were in college and 47.2 percent of the females.). This is important stuff. Today, at a time when college has become the new high school as many employers demand


Indian Government intends to use these defence articles and services to modernise its armed forces.

The US has approved 75 million US dollars high-tech chemical protective clothing for the Indian armed forces that will protect soldiers against biological and chemical warfare. The Joint Service Lightweight Integrated Suit Technology (JSLIST) consists of 38,034 each: suits, pairs of trousers, pairs of gloves, pairs of boots and NBC bags; 854 aprons; 854 alternative aprons; 9,509 Quick Doff Hoods; and 114,102 M61 filters. The entire package also includes 38,034 M50 general purpose masks.The Defence Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) made a notification to the Congress on May 10 after the State Department made a determination in this regard.India had made a request for these special clothing as part of its military modernisation programme.In itsnotification to the Congress, the DSCA said this proposed sale will contribute to the foreign policy and national security of the United States, by helping to improve the security of a friendly country which has been, and continues to be, an important force for political stability and economic progress in South Asia.

The Indian Government, it said, intends to use these defence articles and services to modernise its armed forces. "This will contribute to the Indian military's goal to update its capability while enhancing the relationship between India and the United States," DSCA said."The proposed sale of this equipment and support will not alter the basic military balance in the region," the DSCA said.


2014 is the Year of New Beginnings

During his annual New Year's Eve benediction (delivered on December 31, 2013, during his retreat held in Indian Wells, California), Louix Dor Dempriey announced that 2014 is the Year of New Beginnings. Those who have been experiencing challenging times in the past year (or more) may see these rites of passage find completion and experience wondrous rebirth in their lives, while others may see the beginning of new and life-changing catharsis in 2014. He gives insights about the wider implications of this, and offers tools to help align with and amplify these energies, so that ones can make the most of all that this year has to offer.The Van Swinderen Huys opened its doors in 2014 as a unique meeting-, congress-, dinner- and lunchhall in the centre of Groningen.

In the centre of Groningen you will find the elegant and historical Van Swinderen Huys: an exclusive meeting and conference location nearby the Groningen University. Come on in and discover our beautiful seven rooms. Because of our luxorious rooms, drinks and food we welcome people from the Groningen University, entrepreneurs, government and network clubs als our daily guests. Our superb location is most suitable for your seminars, workshops, meetings, coaching sessions, dinners and drinks.


of parenting characterized by parental guidance, family teaching, coaching, and monitoring, Parents, through "tact" and "skills," successfully influence and guide their adolescent children. Adolescents, motivated by their sense of loyalty to family and the concepts associated with parental guidance, reinforce their parents' covert control and the indigenous concept of "guan" in the practice of Chinese parenting.Getty Images

Last week, with the release of the Shady Records compilation Shady XV, Eminem gave fans a previously unreleased version of "Lose Yourself." If that wasn't enough, don't worry: On Monday (December 1), we got some more rare Slim Shady rhymes.

Back before Marshall became one of the biggest rappers out, only appearing on the biggest platforms, he was a hungry, underground MC trying to prove himself. And that's exactly what we hear in this freestyle from 1997 at Baruch College's radio station in New York City, brought to light by HipHopDX.

"Eminem comes in somewhat shy or just cool and I thought [his manager] Paul [Rosenberg] was his bodyguard because he was a big dude," DJ Sincere, who hosted the station's Solo Vibes radio, said. "Needless to say, Em


killed it with a battle style that was so sharp, besides his flow and delivery, how he spit, what he spit, and how everyone in the room was so impressed."

Not that hearing that is a surprise, all these years later.

The two-part December 9, 1997 session brought Eminem and rapper A.L. together, as the two traded bars over a variety of beats, including Diamond D's "Soul on Ice" remix. Some of the raps may be new to you, while others you may have heard appeared in other places: There's a verse from "As the World Turns," off of The Slim Shady LP; one from "3hree6ix5ive," a "Stan"-immortalized collaboration with Skam; one from a freestyle that he did in 1998 on "The Wake Up Show."

Listen up.Getty Images

Soon You Can Smoke Weed At Denver Bars And Restaurants It's the first U.S. city to legalize marijuana use at public establishments. By Katherine Biek | November 16, 2016

People in Denver will soon get to smoke marijuana at restaurants and bars — a first for a U.S. city.

Residents voted on the measure during the Nov. 8 election, but it took a full week for a clear majority of votes to be tallied.

But it's not as simple as just saying people in the city can smoke wherever they want now.

SEE MORE: Legalizing Weed Doesn't Necessarily Mean More People Would Smoke It

First, businesses will need to apply for permits that allow those who are at least 21 years old to consume marijuana in designated indoor or outdoor spaces, and


becoming a monk at Mount Sinai and later he became the abbot of the Great Lavra on Mount Athos. At Mount Athos he was a close friend of St. Gregory Palamas and became a follower and advocate of the form of contemplative prayer, Hesychasm.

Philotheus was a writer of note, writing works on the theology of the Uncreated Energies of God and attacking the scholastic philosophy that was then current in the Western church.  His most famous work is the Hagiorite Tome, the manifesto of the Mount Athos monks on how the saints partake of the Divine and uncreated Light that the Apostles beheld at the Transfiguration of Jesus.

In 1347, Philotheus was consecrated Metropolitan of Heraclea, in Thrace. Becoming a protégé of co-Emperor John VI Kantakouzenos, Bishop PhilotheusDescription

The Ozark Hills region of southern Illinois is characterized by the severe topography typical of the Ozark Plateau, but is overlain by loess deposits and therefore supports site conditions more typical of mesophytic forests. As is common in lightly disturbed and undisturbed mesic upland sites throughout this region, mature stands in Trail of Tears State Forest are characterized by an oak and hickory-dominated overstory and an under- and mid-story where sugar maple and American beech predominate. Between 1980 and 2000, oak and hickory species generally declined in importance while sugar maple, American beech, and yellow-poplar increased, a trend consistent with those reported in other southern Illinois forests of similar species composition. However, the sugar maple and American beech component at Trail of Tears State Forest are larger and


$600 million underground utility plan in October 2018. But that's just the beginning of the process.

If residents want the utility lines moved underground, they have to initiate creating a special district to tax themselves to pay for the project. To create a special district, residents need to collect signatures, and residents within the district's boundaries need to vote on the issue. In Palm Desert, the city hopes to help fund some of these projects, such as by paying for the portion of the move underground that is on public property.

Electric wires are increasingly placed underground in areas of new construction for aesthetic reasons, with developers picking up the cost. And in Paradise, where the devastating 2018 Camp Fire sparked by a power line flattened most of the townadmit any of the exhibits

into evidence, but relied on the testimony that a TPO existed on December 1, 2015, when Boone

admitted making contact with T.W. after an asserted dismissal of the case. The TPO entry,

identified as Exhibit D in the trial transcript, was read into the record by the city at the trial

court’s request.      The entry provided, “‘Temporary Protection Order issued and valid until case

is adjudicated,’” and is dated November 24, 2015. (Tr. 47.) While Boone admitted to signing

a TPO at the time of his release on bond, he also testified that he was informed by counsel that

the TPO was terminated and he was legally free to send the text message on December 1, 2015.

The parties did not stipulate that a TPO was


Childhood asthma and indoor woodsmoke from cooking in Guatemala.
We estimated the prevalence and severity of asthma, and the association with cooking on open wood fires, as preparation for a large-scale randomized field trial on effects of indoor air pollution and child health. This is one of the first systematic studies of asthma and indoor wood-smoke pollution and to our knowledge the first asthma study in a purely indigeneous population in Latin America. The mothers of 1058 children aged 4-6 years were interviewed, using the standardized ISAAC (International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood) procedures and questionnaire. The study population is a Mam-speaking (Maya), indigenous group living at relatively high altitude (2000 m) in Western Guatemalan Highlands. We found that asthma prevalence is low among indigenous children inMain menu

Heart of Brooklyn names new director

Heart of Brooklyn names new director

Liz Harris, director, Heart of Brooklyn

By Raanan Geberer

Brooklyn Daily Eagle

The Heart of Brooklyn, a consortium of six leading cultural institutions near Grand Army Plaza – Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Brooklyn Children’s Museum, Brooklyn Museum Brooklyn Public Library, Prospect Park Alliance and Prospect Park Children’s Zoo – now has a new director.

Liz Harris, who was selected by the organization’s board of director, has a background in both finance and arts. She most recently served as executive vice president at Boston’s UNC Partners, Inc., which invested venture capital funds with a focus on entrepreneurs of color, and as principal of Harris Associates, a management consulting firm specializing in arts management, strategic planning and more.

Harris, speaking to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle,


The bipartisan efforts of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor Eric Ivan CantorThe Hill's Campaign Report: Florida hangs in the balance Eric Cantor teams up with former rival Dave Brat in supporting GOP candidate in former district Bottom line MORE (R-Va.) on a range of issues have attracted grumblings from the right.

Cantor recently has played a leading role in moving legislation on jobs, banning congressional insider trading, and reauthorizing the Export-Import Bank.

ADVERTISEMENT

The bank legislation easily passed the House on Wednesday, but it was rejected by 93 Republicans. Cantor crafted the compromise bill with House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.).

Opponents of the measure, including right-leaning organizations and blogs such as Redstate.com, Heritage Foundation and Club For Growth, ripped GOP leaders for moving what they deemed a “corporate welfare” program.

Club ForJoseph Imhof,
Apache

Joseph Imhoff was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1871. His first exposure to art was at age six when his godfather gifted him with a box of watercolors. Upon graduation, his father refused him further education unless he became a priest. Rejecting his father's wishes, he started teaching himself lithography and was hired by Currier & Ives. He eventually earned enough money from this job to buy a bookstore. In 1991 he eventually quit his job and sold the bookstore to pursue a formal art education in Europe. Traveling and painting for four years in Paris, Brussels, Antwerp and Munich he apprenticed with several artists.

But perhaps the most important experience he had in Europe was to meet Buffalo Bill Cody on board the ship and join


him in Antwerp to spend time sketching and painting various members of the "Wild West Show". This experience set in place a style of painting for the rest of his life which focused on ethnographic and anthropological data rather than artistic expression. He documented the religious ceremonies of Pueblo Indians in large, rather simplified oils. He also learned new techniques for lithography which had a long-term influence on his artwork.

When he returned to New York, he rented a studio in Flatbush and began to study the Iroquois Indians in New York and Canada. He spent the next ten years painting and improving his lithography, photography and color printing innovations - which financed his early painting career. He also freelanced for Allen and Ginter, painting his Indian Head Seriesfor insertion on cards in boxes of cigarettes.

In 1897 Joseph married Sarah Ann Elizabeth Russell, and they traveled to Europe several times until 1905 when they visited the Southwest for the first time to record the ceremonies of the Pueblo Indians. Joseph and built a studio in Albuquerque in 1906, and spent much time in the next few years traveling around the region.

In 1929 Joseph and Sarah moved to Taos permanently and built their new home facing the sacred mountain behind the Taos Pueblo. Their neighbor for some twenty years, Mabel Dodge Lujan, was known to refer to him as, "The Grand Old Man of the Pueblos". He would ask native models to live in his home for a time before he painted them. He felt he needed


to know the person's soul that the eyes revealed in order to paint an accurate likeness. He collected many Indian artifacts and also had the first lithography press in Taos, which he used to make ethnographic prints and teach his techniques of recording the region's history. His series of paintings called Kivas and Corn which he gifted to the University of New Mexico was his most famous work. The Koshare Indian Museum also houses one of the largest collections of his paintings.

Joseph Imhof died in 1955 leaving an important legacy of the American Southwest. His wife Sarah in later years said of her husband, "...a gentle, dignified man who loathed the publicity and the limelight that other artists seemed to seek; he avoided publicity at all times..."Q:

Novel about space marine dealing with relativity?

I read half a book in a library a while ago that followed a guy from the first set of marines to actually go fight. They have gel-pod-beds to survive accelerations in space. after the first mission, which goes poorly, he gets back to earth like 20 years later and finds everyone else got really old, there's massive crowding, and society has gotten very corrupt. He rescues his fellow female marine from her family farm, and they go back into service, wanting to escape but not really being able to deal with society as it races past them.
Any ideas on what this book is called?

A:

That would be The Forever War by Joe Haldeman.
Amusing side note:  The Female marine you mention?


and beliefs of the first Egyptians. More than any other ancient culture, the Egyptians were fascinated by the mystery of death, and they put as much effort into creating a “good life” in the next world as they did in this world. The gods of ancient Egypt were complex deities who merged and evolved during Egypt’s long history. Even those gods and goddesses with distinct identities were often combined into one, sharing attributes, signs, and duties. We find the mythology of ancient Egypt filled with inconsistencies, a situation that never seemed to bother the Egyptians. The ancient Egyptians were, except for a brief moment in their history, polytheists, believing in many gods, and when a new god emerged and rose to prominence, it was willingly accepted.

Egypt: a BriEfthe desert, and today that is where these stone tools are found. Neanderthals lived during this time—practicing simple surgery, caring for the injured and old, and burying the dead with rituals. Around 30,000 b.c., the Late Paleolithic period, Homo sapiens, modern humans, replaced the Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis). The level of the Nile began to decline, and the people lived in or near the swampy areas along the banks of the river. They lived on mollusks and fish, cooked on clay hearths, and fashioned grindstones on which they prepared wild cereal grains. Some time around 15,000 b.c. these early inhabitants began hunting with bows and arrows. When the Nile

vii

viii Egyptian Mythology A to Z
reached its lowest level between 10,000 and 5,000 b.c. and much of the land had turned


to desert, survival was difficult. At this time Homo sapiens probably numbered no more than a few thousand. Luckily, at about the same time the Nile was low, a freshwater lake appeared in the Fayoum area (southwest of Cairo), and settlements grew up along its shores. Pottery was developed, and the Egyptians began farming and raising cattle. The history of Egypt is so closely associated with the Nile that to understand the civilization, one must understand something about the river. The Nile is the longest river in the world. Its main branch, called the White Nile, flows north from Lake Victoria in east-central Africa 3,470 miles to the Mediterranean Sea on Egypt’s northern border. Starting in Ethiopia, another river, called the Blue Nile, joins the White Nile atKhartoum, Sudan, where the rivers merge and flow into Egypt. It was the Blue Nile, swollen by spring monsoons and the runoff of melting snow in Ethiopia, that caused the river to rise. Each year the Nile overflowed its banks, depositing fresh, rich topsoil on the flat plains that spread to either side of the river and enabling Egypt to grow an abundance of crops. Other ancient civilizations had to rely on their unpredictable rainfall to water crops, and often there was too much or too little. Egypt’s great fortune was to have a river that renewed the topsoil annually and flowed in sufficient volume to water the fields. Every year Egypt harvested a variety of crops, while other countries thanked their gods when they produced only one.


No wonder the ancient Greek traveler Herodotus called Egypt “the gift of the Nile.” The annual inundation amazed the Egyptians, who had no explanation for the river’s sudden great swelling, nor the change in its color from red to green. At first the silt suspended in the water caused the Nile to look red, and then the slow moving vegetation floating on top made it look green. It was a natural occurrence, of course, but the Egyptians viewed it as the work of the gods, and they noticed that a certain star (Sothis) rose on the horizon just before the inundation began. The annual spectacle of the rising Nile was surpassed only by the daily performance of the dazzling sun. Each day it rose in the east, traveledacross a cloudless, jewel-like sky, and descended into a fireball of colors over the western horizon, as constant and predictable as the Nile. The sun god Re was one of Egypt’s most ancient deities. The Nile was the heart and life of the country, and although Egypt was vast, most of the population lived near the banks of the river. Their lives revolved around the Nile, and the seasons of the year were determined by it. Our 365-day calendar comes from the Egyptians, but they counted only three seasons: 1) inundation, when the Nile overflowed its banks and flooded the land; 2) emergence, when the waters receded; 3) summer, the dry season. Each season had four months of 30 days each. At the end of the year, five


extra days, the “epigominal days,” were added to make 365 days in the year. These days later became known as the birthdays of the goddess Isis and her siblings. Inundation was Egypt’s most unusual season, for it changed the look of the land. It was a time when the fields were under water and little work could be done. Emergence was the season for planting, and the crops were harvested in summer. The food staples of the Egyptians were bread and beer, a phrase that became synonymous with “food”—similar to our “meat and potatoes.” A common funerary prayer begins, “May the king make an offering to Osiris, Lord of the West. May he give bread and beer, cattle, geese, oxen, and all things good and pure on whichthe gods live.” The long growing season allowed the Egyptians to grow a variety of crops, the most important being emer (wheat) and onions. Meat was reserved

Introduction ix

for the upper classes, but everyone had bread, beer, and onions as well as fish from the Nile. Year after year the Nile rose, the crops were abundant, and the Egyptians believed that this was the way their world was supposed to be. This idea was expressed in the notion of “divine order,” the way the gods wanted things to be. This belief was encouraged by Egypt’s geographical isolation from its neighbors. To the west are endless miles of desert between Egypt and the Libyan border, to the east a hundred miles of desert and the Red Sea. In the south


there were huge boulders in the river, called cataracts, that were all but impassable. The Mediterranean Sea formed a natural border to the north, more of a psychological barrier than a real one. The Egyptians never really developed their sailing skills or ventured out into the open sea if they could avoid it. Their navigational skills developed on the smooth-flowing Nile, where they could sail south with the prevailing wind and north with the current. In later centuries military expeditions took Egyptians to other lands and they returned with great riches, but it was always clear to them that their homeland was a paradise on Earth. Soon after recorded history began, when the Egyptians began to write in a script called hieroglyphs, their burials became more elaborate. Atfirst the dead were buried in shallow pit graves in the desert, and the hot, dry sand preserved the bodies naturally. But as their mythology and religion continued to develop and become more elaborate, so did their burials. To prevent wild animals from digging up the burials, shallow pit graves were replaced with brick-lined tombs; bodies were covered with animal skins and placed on woven mats. The brick structures became more elaborate and varied with the status of the deceased. Because these bodies were now in tombs, far removed from the natural drying process of the hot sand, they began to rot and decay. While the natural preservation of the hot sand in the desert may have spawned the idea of mummification, Egyptian religion required it, so burials


in these tombs forced the Egyptians to devise a means of preserving the dead. Central to the religious beliefs of the ancient Egyptians was the myth of Isis and Osiris, in which Isis’s husband, Osiris, is killed by their evil brother Set, who tricks Osiris into climbing into a box. Osiris is sealed in the box and dies when it is thrown into the Nile. Isis, the bereaved wife, searches for and finds the body of her dead husband and is determined to give him a proper burial on Egyptian soil. It is from this myth that the crucial elements of Egyptian funerary practices derived. Like all myths, this one revealed important truths about nature, the universe, and life after death, and many beliefs of the ancient Egyptianthe “books” have somewhat different expectations of what the next life will bring. In the Book of Gates, the followers of Osiris believe he is the supreme god, and his judgment determines if a soul will go out of existence or will be allowed to resurrect. Temple walls tell us about the function of the gods and how they interacted with humans. Sometimes the source is smaller than a tomb or temple. The Metternich Stele, for example, a round-topped, flat carved stone, tells the story of the suffering of Isis when her son, the infant Horus, is stung by a scorpion. Later Greek writers are important sources of Egyptian mythology. The Greeks were always fascinated with Egypt, and many Greek writers were proud to trace their heritage to


Nubia rules Egypt Persians rule Egypt PTOLEMAIC PERIOD Alexander the Great conquers Egypt Cleopatra VII ROMAN PERIOD

A 8
AAh
A very early form of the moon god, who was sometimes portrayed as a young boy wearing the side lock of youth, a long lock of hair that was not cut until a boy reached puberty. The Egyptians were fascinated with the phases of the moon. When early farming settlements sprang up on the banks of the Nile, farmers used the moon as their planting guide.

UUh

In some ways the moon was as important as and far more interesting to the ancient Egyptians than the sun, because over a period of 30 days, the moon changes its shape. This waxing (becoming larger) and waning (becoming smaller) of the moon has four distinctphases. The first phase or quarter of the moon’s cycle is called the new moon. As the moon moves into the

Abu Simbel was built by Ramses II (also known as Ramses the Great) to demonstrate his power and grandeur. One of the four colossal figures was damaged during an earthquake in ancient times and has not been restored. (Photograph by Pat Remler)

AAh-Djuhty
second quarter, it becomes a half-moon. During the third quarter the half-moon grows into a full moon, and in the fourth quarter it appears as a half-moon again. As time passed, Aah became Aah-Djuhty, god of the new moon; he later became associated with the god Thoth. with the two northern statues are: Queen Nefertari, Princess Beket-mut, Prince Pi-Ramses, Princess Merit-Amun, Queen Muttuya, and Princess Nofretari. Beneath


the statues are figures of bound captives, and above the entrance to the Great Temple is a carving of the sun god Rehorakhty. To his right is a jackal-head symbol meaning “power”; to the left is Maat, the goddess of truth. Together the three symbols form an ancient Egyptian pun: they spell one of Ramses’s names, Usr-Maat-Re, “the Truth of Re is Power.” In front of the Great Temple were two stone basins where the priests purified themselves with Nile water before entering the temple. The Great Temple has four rooms: The first, called the great hall, has eight square pillars each with a statue of Ramses. The four on the right wear the double crown, signifying the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt, and those on theleft wear the white crown of Upper Egypt. In the second hall, the four pillars are decorated with religious scenes—the king in the company of the gods: Anubis, Satis, Min, Mut, Wadjet, Amun-Re, Hathor, Montu, and several manifestations of Horus. On the entrance to the vestibule the king makes offerings of wine, incense, bread, and flowers to the gods. The vestibule leads to the sanctuary, where statues of the gods are cut into the rock. From left to right are Ptah, Amun-Re, Ramses II (as a god), and Re-Horakhty. The image of Ramses is the same size as those of the gods, suggesting he is the equal of the gods he is honoring. The holy of holies at Abu Simbel is oriented so that on February 21 (Ramses’s


birthday) and October 21 (Ramses’s coronation date), the rays of the sun shine through the corridor into the sanctuary and illuminate Ramses and the gods. Just north of Ramses’s temple is the Small Temple, built for Queen Nefertari, and dedicated to Hathor as Abshek, an obscure Nubian goddess of love and beauty. The front of Nefertari’s temple is shaped like a pylon and faced with six colossal statues: four of Ramses and two of Nefertari, each about 33 feet tall. An inscription over the door reads:
Rameses II, he has made a temple, excavated in the mountain, of eternal workmanship, for the chief queen Nefertari, beloved of Mut, in Nubia, forever and ever, Nefertari for whose sake the very sun does shine.

AAh-Djuhty

God of the new moon, Aah-Djuhty evolved fromthe moon gods Aah and Thoth.

UUhp

Abtu AnD Ant A pair of pilot fish, mentioned in Chapter 9 of the Book of the Dead, that possessed protective powers and swam on each side of the sun god Re’s boat to ward off evil spirits as it passed through the Underworld. Abu Simbel A site in Egypt where Ramses the Great (Ramses II) (1304–1237 b.c.) carved a pair of rock-cut temples. Situated on the west bank of the Nile at Egypt’s southern border, Abu Simbel lies 180 miles south of Aswan. The larger of the two temples, the Great Temple, Hwt Ramesses Meryamun, called the Temple of Ramses Beloved of Amun, is dedicated to Egypt’s principal gods: Amun-Re, Rehorakhty, Ptah, and the deified Ramses. The walls of the Great Temple


plants around the hieroglyph “to unite,” symbolizing the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt. Statues of the royal family are carved between and beside the legs of all four colossal statues of Ramses. Prominently shown around the first southern statue are: Queen Nefertari (the Great Wife), Muttuya (king’s mother), and Prince Amen-hir-khep-shef (the firstborn son). From the second southern statue are: Princess Bint-Anat, Princess Nebet-awy-by, and a female figure whose name has been lost, perhaps Esenofre, a minor wife. The family members shown

Inside, the great hall is supported by six Hathorhead columns that incorporate the shape of the sistrum, the sacred rattle used in religious ceremonies. In the vestibule, or second room, are religious scenes

AbyDos

with Nefertari in the company of goddesses. On the right of the main vestibuledoor, Hathor-Abshek looks on as Isis places a crown upon Nefertari’s head. On the left side of the vestibule door, Nefertari stands with Ramses, who presents a bouquet of flowers to Tauret, the goddess of pregnancy and childbirth. The third room, the Holy of Holies, where the cult statues were kept, is decorated with various goddesses. One wall is carved to show Hathor as a cow goddess emerging from a mountain to protect the king, who stands in front of her. On the side walls, Ramses and Nefertari appear in the company of the gods with Ramses offering incense and libations to himself and his queen, indicating that they are both deified. The temples at Abu Simbel are unique because they were carved from a mountain, not built


of stone blocks. When the Aswan High Dam was being constructed in the 1960s, both temples were saved from the rising water that formed Lake Nasr behind the dam. UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, and the Egyptian government dismantled the temples, cut the facades into blocks, numbered them, and moved them to higher ground. The reassembled temples were carefully placed so the sun still shines into the holy of holies on February 21 and October 21, just as in ancient times. The most sacred city in all of Egypt, located on the West Bank of the Nile near modern Sohag, Abydos was a center for religious activity for centuries, from Egypt’s Predynastic period to Christian times. Abydos was the earliest and most important cultand several wooden boats. A mud-brick tomb of the First Dynasty king, Djer, was thought to be the tomb of Osiris in ancient times. This may have

AbyDoS

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contributed to the growing popularity of the cult of Osiris. The most impressive monument to Osiris at Abydos is the Osireion, a chapel constructed of huge granite blocks and believed to be his false tomb, or cenotaph. In the Middle Kingdom (2055–1650 b.c.), people made pilgrimages to Abydos and many left stele, or offering tablets, for Osiris inscribed with their names and prayers. Abydos was the center for the “mysteries”—passion plays revolving around the life of Osiris. Abydos became a place of pilgrimage, both real and symbolic. A chorus sang prayers, and the audience lit lamps to represent Isis’s search


for the pieces of her husband’s body. Osiris was the first mummy and was believed to be the first one to resurrect. He became the king of the Netherworld: Anyone seeking to enter needed Osiris’s permission. Besides being the god of the dead, Osiris also represented the fertility of the land. Tomb paintings often show him with green skin and his arms crossed over his chest in the form of a mummy. The symbol of Osiris at Abydos was a pole covered with an animal skin and two plumes, which was also associated with Anubis (see Imiut). The Second Dynasty kings Peribsen and Khasekhemwy constructed their tombs at Abydos to be near the burial place of Osiris. Today, the greatest monument at Abydos is the Temple of Setiplaced on the neck of the ka, the spirit of the deceased, on the day of burial. The collar is a symbol for an embrace by the god. An example of this collar can be seen in one of the small chapels in the Temple of Seti I at Abydos. Here, the king presents a collar to Re-Horakhty in hope that he will be united with his Ka for eternity. The aegis sometimes decorated the prow of sacred boats and was usually shown with an animal head at the top. Sometimes the aegis collar was incorporated into jewelry or ritual objects with the head of Sekhmet or Isis.

AeSculApiuS Greek god of medicine identified with Imhotep, the Old Kingdom architect of the Step Pyramid, who was deified during the


Ptolemaic period (332–32 b.c.) and worshipped as a god of healing and medicine.
An aegis, a miniature shield. For the Egyptians, the aegis was a sign of protection, and they often decorated the prows of their boats with it.
(Drawing by Mary Jordan)

his shrine. The king withdraws, bowing, and sweeps away his footprints. This ritual is repeated in each of the other six chapels that are dedicated to Horus, Isis (wife of Osiris and mother of Horus), Amun-Re (the great god of Thebes), Re-Horakhty (Horus of the Horizon), Ptah (the creator god), and Seti I. In the chapel of Seti I, the king performs the ceremonies in front of a cult statue of himself.

Af The name given the sun god after it has set on the horizon and moved intothe duat. Af is the night sun or the dead sun, for it gives no light while it is traveling through the 12 hours of the night in the Sektet boat of the Underworld. Af is shown with the head of a ram and wears the solar disk on his head, a sign representing the sun that is frequently worn on the headdress of Egyptian deities. Af-oSiriS
A composite god derived from the dead sun god, Af, and Osiris, the god of the dead. During the festival of Sokar each year, the ceremonial boat was placed on its sled at sunrise so the first rays of the sun would shine upon the boat and the sacred chest that rested on its deck. The chest supposedly held the bodies of


with an Eye of Horus or a scarab for protection. Aegis is the Greek word for shield. Chapter 158 of the Book of the Dead men-

;

Air, goD of See Shu.

Z

Aker One of the early lion gods in Egyptian mythology, Aker, the god of land, is represented by two lions seated back to back or two lions supporting the symbol for the horizon with the sun rising. The two lions symbolize the sun setting in the west and the sun rising in the east. Because of this, Aker is viewed as an ally of Re, when Re makes his nightly journey through the Underworld. Aker is mentioned in the Pyramid Texts as the earth god who guards the gates to the Underworld. In the Book of the Dead, heis shown in the solar boat accompanying Re during his nightly journey. In the Fifth Hour, the Amduat, which helped the deceased make the journey through the Underworld, Aker appears as

AkhEnAtEn

the two-headed lion god carrying sand upon his back. In The Book of Caverns, another religious text, the sun god Re travels across Aker as he continues his journey through the caverns.

akh The akh was part of a person’s vital force, and when a person died, it was believed that his or her spirit, or akh, acquired magical power. The Egyptians thought the akh was a radiant light, something like a star. The Pyramid Texts tell us that when a man died, his akh went to heaven. From the Pyramid Texts of King Unas, spell 245, the king


joins the stars:
This Unas comes to you oh Nut [the goddess of the sky] This Unas comes to you, oh Nut, He has consigned his father to earth, He has left Horus behind him . . . His magic has equipped him

Nut, the sky goddess, replies:
Make your seat in heaven, Among the stars of heaven, For you are the Lone Star. . . .

The akh was the resurrected form of the king when he had gained mobility in the Netherworld. The nature of the akh changed over time as the intricacies of Egyptian mythology evolved. Much later, when religious beliefs had changed, the Book of the Dead viewed the akh as an evil force:
My mouth is strong: and I am equipped against the Akhs. Let them not havepower over me.

Akhenaten, the “heretic king,” changed the religion of Egypt from many gods to one and was the first known monotheist in the world. (Photo by Pat Remler) temples, and Queen Tiye, a strong-minded woman if her portraits tell us anything about her personality. Akhenaten’s ideas were revolutionary, and from his statues, we can see that his looks were different as well. Instead of an idealized king with a perfectly proportioned body, images of Akhenaten show a long, thin face, slanted eyes, thick lips, pointed chin, and a scrawny neck. He had breasts, a swollen belly, wide hips, and spindly arms and legs. This highly unusual and perhaps realistic portrayal of the king became an artistic fashion as Egyptian art changed to a more realistic style under


his reign. It is not certain when Akhenaten began worshiping the Aten. There were references to the Aten during his childhood: Akhenaten’s mother, Queen Tiye, had a pleasure boat named The Aten Gleams that she sailed on her private lake. Right after his coronation, Akhenaten made it clear to everyone how important

Akhekh

A composite animal, something like a griffin, associated with the evil aspects of the god Set. Ancient myths describe the Akhekh as the body of an antelope with wings and the head of a bird, on which sat three cobras.

AkhenAten

(1352–1336 b.c.) Called the “heretic pharaoh” because he changed the religion of ancient Egypt, Akhenaten was the first known monotheist in history. He believed there was only one god, the Aten. Soon after he was crowned king, hechanged his name from Amenhotep IV to Akhenaten, meaning “Aten is on the horizon.” He then raised the little-known god, the Aten, meaning “disk of the sun,” to supreme god in the religion. Akhenaten was the son of Amenhotep III, a pleasure-loving king who devoted his life to building

AkhEt
the new god was. He began building temples to the Aten next to the temple of the traditional god, Amun, at Karnak Temple, a group of religious buildings in Thebes. The Aten was unlike any god the people had ever worshipped. Represented as a sun disk with rays of light reaching down and ending in hands holding an ankh (the sign of life) and was scepter (the sign of power), it bestowed light and warmth upon the king and his


family. Unlike the traditional gods of Egypt, however, the Aten was an abstract god without personality. Akhenaten and his followers left Thebes, the capital of Egypt, and traveled north to a remote desert site about halfway between modern Luxor and Cairo to build a new city in the desert, called AkhetAten, “the horizon of the Aten.” The king erected boundary markers called stele that described how the Aten directed him to build the holy city on this site. Akhet-Aten was one of the most beautiful cities in the ancient world, stretching for five miles along the Nile. There were extra-wide streets for the king’s chariot procession and planned neighborhoods with houses for the laborers, administrators, and nobles of the court, as well as several palaces for the royalfamily and temples for the Aten. The Aten temples were unlike any other temples in Egypt. There were no roofs and no sanctuary, or “holy of holies,” for the god. Completely open, their vast courtyards were filled with sunshine and altars for offerings to the Aten. Akhenaten and his wife, Queen Nefertiti, had six daughters. Akhenaten’s happy isolation lasted only a dozen years, as one by one, five of the princesses and Nefertiti died. When Akhenaten himself died after reigning for about 17 years, Tutankhamen, his probable young son by a second wife, became pharaoh. Egypt returned to the old religion, and the city of Akhet-Aten was abandoned when the capital was moved back to Thebes. It has been said that Akhenaten was a man born before his


time, that his ideas were too revolutionary to be accepted in conservative Egypt. He changed his name, the art style, the religion, and the capital. In so doing, Akhenaten’s legacy to the world was monotheism, a new art style, and his beautiful prayer praising the Aten (see hymn to the Aten). Underworld. When the sun appeared on the horizon at dawn, it was recognized as a sign of rebirth and renewal and a triumph over darkness. The heretic king Akhenaten believed the akhet appeared on the horizon to show him where to build Akhet-Aten, his new city in the desert. Akhet is the hieroglyph for horizon, and the word akhet is also the name of one of the three seasons in the ancient Egyptian calendar. It was thefirst season after the Egyptian new year and corresponds with our month of July. Amulets in the shape of the akhet represented Re the sun god and provided powerful protection to the wearer. Akhet amulets are almost always red—carved from carnelian or made of red glass or faience.

Akhet-Aten

See Amarna.

AlexAnDer the greAt

Akhet The exact spot on the horizon where Nut, the sky goddess, gives birth to Re the sun god each morning. Egyptian mythology relates that at the end of each day, when the sun set, the sun god traveled through the 12 hours of night, crossing the

;

(352–323 b.c.) Macedonian ruler who conquered Egypt and was declared a god. When his father, Philip II, died, Alexander became king of the small Greek state, Macedon. Within a few years, he


and his army of devoted men united the Greek states and conquered the Levant and a good part of western Asia. When Alexander and his army marched into Egypt and defeated the hated Persians who occupied the land, the Egyptians hailed Alexander as a liberator. Alexander, ever mindful of local customs, made offerings to the Egyptian gods at Memphis, Karnak, and Luxor temples and at Siwa Oasis in the western desert near the Libyan border. This was more than just a goodwill gesture on his part. Alexander believed that he was descended from the legendary Greek hero Heracles (Hercules) and Achilles through his mother and father. To strengthen his claim to the throne of Egypt he needed to be acknowledged as a god by the Egyptian oracle atSiwa Oasis in the western desert. Legend has it that on the long march through the desert, when Alexander and his men became lost, a flock of crows appeared in the sky and led them to the safety of the oasis. When Alexander approached the Oracle of AmunRe (called Zeus-Amun by the Greeks), he asked one question: “Who is my father?” When the Oracle answered “Amun,” Alexander knew he would rule. With the endorsement of the Oracle, Alexander, like all Egyptian kings before him, was recognized as the son of Amun and a god on Earth and was crowned king of Egypt. Alexander founded his capital city, Alexandria, in 331 b.c. on the site of a small fishing village, Rhakotis (Raqote), on the Egyptian shore of the Mediterranean.


The architect Deinocrates, who was

AMArnA

Alexander the Great respected Egyptian religion and culture after he invaded. His image was often commemorated on silver coins called tetra drachma. (Photo by Marie-Lan Nguyen/Used under a
Creative Commons license)

or “Horizon of the Aten”) Amarna was built by Akhenaten (the heretic king) as a cult city to honor his new god, the Aten, whose motto was: ankh m maat, or “living in truth.” Worship of the Aten brought with it a new art style. Emphasis was placed especially on “truth in nature.” Artists and craftsmen abandoned the traditional static style of depiction and began painting scenes from nature and carving lifelike natural statues of the royal court. When Akhenaten (1352–1336 b.c.) changed Egypt’s religion from the worship of many gods (polytheism) to the worshipof one god (monotheism), he claimed he was guided by the Aten. Akhenaten moved his court from the old capital city Thebes (modern Luxor) to a new desert location some 200 miles north. Akhenaten marked the boundaries of his new city with 15 stelae (stone slabs). Some stelae were carved into the limestone cliffs like shrines; others were actual stone slabs erected along the east and west sides of the Nile. On the stelae, Akhenaten recorded his vow never to leave the holy city of Akhet-Aten:
The southern stela which is on the eastern mountain on Akhet-Aten . . . I shall not pass beyond it southward ever. The middle stela . . . [Eastern] I shall not pass beyond it eastward ever. The northeastern stela . . .


than half a million. The most famous building in ancient Alexandria was the “pharos” lighthouse, designated one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World by a Greek librarian. Little of the original structure remains today. Another famous landmark in ancient Alexandria was the library, with its priceless collection of papyrus manuscripts. Legend tells us that the library was burned to the ground when Julius Caesar entered Egypt to settle a quarrel between Cleopatra VII and her brother Ptolemy XIII. Alexander never saw his city but moved on to continue his conquest of the Persian Empire. For all his dreams of ruling as a living god, Alexander died of a fever in Babylon in 323 b.c. When asked by his generals, upon his deathbed, who should succeed him,he simply said, “The strongest.” Eventually Alexander’s empire was divided among the generals. General Ptolemy chose Egypt and established the Ptolemaic dynasty there. His was the last dynasty, ending when Cleopatra VII committed suicide and the Roman Empire annexed Egypt.

Amarna was built on the east bank of the Nile, with three broad streets parallel to the river. Wide enough to accommodate the great chariot processions of Akhenaten and his queen, Nefertiti, the Royal Road was the main street. Because it was a planned city with defined neighborhoods (called the North and the South Suburbs and the Central City), Akhet-Aten grew in an orderly way. Akhenaten’s royal palace, official buildings, the Great Aten Temple, and the Small Aten Temple were in the Central City—the hub of all activity. Officials


and nobles lived in the North and South Suburbs. The famous Nefertiti bust, now in the Charlottenburg Egyptian Museum in Berlin, was found in the South Suburb house of

AMArnA lEttErs
Thutmose the sculptor, along with other portraits of the royal family. Because Amarna is one of the most thoroughly excavated sites along the Nile, Egyptologists know a lot about ancient life there. At the height of Akhenaten’s reign, the city had about 20,000 people. All of the buildings were constructed of mud brick with plastered walls, except for the Great Aten Temple called Gem-Pa-Aten (the Aten is Found). Its facade was gleaming white limestone. The temple complex included several structures, open courtyards, and 365 altars for offerings from Upper Egypt and from Lower Egypt (see sun temple). The greatpalace (Mansion of Rejoicing in Akhet-Aten) for receiving foreign dignitaries and conducting palace business was at the end of the Royal Road. A bridge over the Royal Road connected the main palace with the king’s living quarters, and the bridge may be the site of the “window of appearances,” where Akhenaten and Nefertiti appeared to give necklaces of gold to the Aten’s faithful followers. A smaller Aten temple next to the king’s living quarters was called hwt-aten “Mansion of the Aten” and was probably used exclusively by the royal family. Houses in Amarna were usually square-shaped, with a large open courtyard in the center. Reception rooms, bedrooms, storage rooms, and a kitchen with a clay bread oven were all built around the open courtyard. Houses of the nobles


from polytheism (many gods) to monotheism (one god). Akhenaten remained isolated in his holy city, neglected his duties, and ignored his neighbors, and Egypt went from her “golden age” into decline. “The book of that which is in the Underworld” is an account of the nightly journey of the sun god in his sacred boat through the realm of the Underworld. Unlike earlier funerary texts, the Amduat gives a detailed description of what the god will encounter during the 12-hour journey. The Amduat explains in text and pictures what happens to the sun when it falls below the horizon each night—a phenomenon that must have been debated by Egyptian priests. The Amduat chronicles the perils of the Underworld and the victorious emergence of the sun each dawn. Amduat,“The book of that which is in the Underworld,” first appeared in the tomb of Thutmose III (1504–1492 b.c.) in the Valley of the Kings. His walls were painted to resemble papyrus, and the text of the Amduat was in cursive script. The many variations of the Amduat were favorite tomb decorations for Egyptian kings. Most important to the deceased king was the set of directions contained in the Amduat to help him make his way through the 12 dark and dangerous hours of the Underworld. When priests began to collect and condense assorted myths in the temple libraries, they must

AmDuAt

AmArnA letterS In 1887, a local peasant woman walking through Amarna found a group of clay tablets inscribed in cuneiform script (wedge-shaped writing developed in Babylonia). She had


stumbled upon a storehouse of diplomatic letters between Egypt and her Middle Eastern neighbors. More than 350 inscribed tablets were discovered, written mostly in Babylonian cuneiform, the language of diplomats and foreign traders. The letters were sent from foreign kings with their ambassadors bringing gifts or tribute to Akhenaten.

AMEnhotEp-son-of-hApu

have seen the similarity of human life on Earth and the daily life of Re, the sun god. Just as the sun was reborn each day, so, too, could humans be reborn by resurrecting in the next world. If the proper burial rituals were performed, the deceased could join Re in his sacred boat and travel in safety through the 12 hours of the Duat. In the Amduat, Re and Osiris each worked to ensure eternal life for the soulsof the deceased, but Re was the more important god. Although his light died each night, Re was still the chief protector and guide for the souls of the deceased as they made their way through the terrors and darkness of the Duat. The Amduat is divided into chapters representing the 12 hours of the night, each one describing the dangers encountered during each hour. The First Hour of the night is called “Crusher of the forehead of the enemies of Re.” Re and the solar (sun) boat are between the sky and the Underworld. The god has lost his vitality and has become a “sun of night,” a sun without light. The Second Hour of the night is called “She who knows how to protect her lord.”


Re and the souls of the deceased enter the Ur-Nes, the land near the Nile of the Underworld. They meet the souls or gods of the Duat and are advised to address them by their names. In the Third Hour of the night, the solar boat enters the realm of “those who slay” and passes over the Stream of Osiris, accompanied by three boats rowed by Osiris, who appears in various forms. In the Fourth Hour of the night, Re and the souls of the deceased travel into the realm of Sokar, a desert guarded by snakes. In order to travel across the sand, the sacred boat turns into a snake and slithers across the desert. In the Fifth Hour of the night, Re and the souls ofthe deceased, still in their serpent boat, continue through the domain of Sokar. Seven gods and seven goddesses, representing 14 days of a month, tow the sacred boat and accompany the travelers as they approach the secret cave of Sokar. In the Sixth Hour of the night, Re and the souls of the deceased return to the solar boat. They approach the Shrines of Osiris in the Delta. The Shrines of Osiris occupy a large hall with 16 rooms, each holding a mummy. Re commands the 16 mummies to be pleased with his

offering, to protect him, and to kill his enemy, the serpent Apophis. The Seventh Hour of the night takes the solar boat into the hidden place of Osiris. It describes the terrible battle between Re and


his archenemy, the serpent Apophis, who blocks the way of the sacred barque. In the Eighth Hour, Re and his entourage enter the city of Tebat-Neteru, where they come under the protection of the mighty serpent called Mehen. It is here that the gods and souls come to life as Re passes their secret homes, and Re commands them to kill his enemies and all the demons in that domain. In the Ninth Hour, the solar boat reaches the “Hidden Circle of Amentet,” where anyone who learns the names of the gods and their places shall be honored in the city. They are accompanied by 12 divine sailors, each carrying an oar so that he might splash water upon the spirits that stand on the banks of theriver. In the Tenth Hour, the solar boat continues its journey, with Re holding a snake as his staff. Several boats carrying gods of the Underworld have joined the solar boat, and the gods of the Underworld kill the enemies of Re as they make their way to the eleventh hour. In the Eleventh Hour, Re holds a scepter of authority, and on the bow of the boat a solar disk represents the sun with a serpent around it. The serpent, Pestu, symbolizes time and swallows the stars that represent the hours of the night that have passed. In the Twelfth Hour, Re and the souls of the deceased leave the darkness of the Duat and enter the circle where they will be reborn. Re will enter this


world as the rising sun, and the deceased safely enter the Netherworld (heaven).

Amenhotep-Son-of-hApu A royal scribe in the court of Amenhotep III (1390–1352 b.c.), Amenhotep-son-of-Hapu, was deified during Ptolemaic times (332–32 b.c.) as a man of great wisdom. His cult center was at Karnak Temple in Thebes (modern Luxor), where he was worshipped as a healer and benefactor. Petitioners brought their requests and prayers to Amenhotep in the hope that he would serve as an intermediary for their prayers to the great god Amun. Amenhotep was a northerner born in the Delta, but he spent most of his 80 years in Thebes in the

0 AMEnt
service of his king. Working his way up through the ranks in the court of Amenhotep III, he impressed superiors with his ability torecruit men for the pharaoh’s army and to supervise monumental building projects. He earned the title “chief architect of all the king’s building projects.” As Amenhotep III’s most trusted official, Amenhotep-son-of-Hapu was depicted, along with the king, on the wall of the great temple at Soleb in southern Nubia. A man of many talents, Amenhotep-son-of-Hapu became manager of the vast estates of the royal family and was rewarded with his own mortuary temple on the West Bank at Thebes. He was enormously popular among the people, and his mortuary temple soon became the center for his growing cult. A copy of a royal decree from the Twenty-first Dynasty grants permission for the construction of his temple, the only nonroyal temple to be built among the royal monuments on


the West Bank. Amenhotep-son-of-Hapu, in spite of his fame, seemed to be most pleased with his title as a royal scribe, for his statues often show him sitting with a roll of papyrus across his knee. Many of Amenhotepson-of-Hapu’s statues were found in Karnak temple, and their inscriptions tell us much of what we know about him. with the rebirth of their souls and provided them with food and drink. Amentet often appears in the company of other goddesses associated with fertility and resurrection. Sometimes she is a winged goddess, along with Isis and Nephthys when they assist with the magical resurrection of a mummy. When Amentet appears with Hathor (Hathor-Amentet), she becomes a solar goddess of the west. She is often in the company of Re-Horakhty (Horusof the Two Horizons). Together they welcomed the souls of the deceased to their new dwelling place in the Netherworld and assisted with their resurrection. Amentet also sometimes appeared with Iabet, who, as goddess of the east, was Amentet’s counterpart. Depicted as a young woman, Amentet wears the hieroglyph of the west (ü) on her head and carries an ankh and scepter. The standard of the west is represented by a half circle sitting on two poles of uneven length, with an ostrich plume resting on top of the standard. Sometimes she wears only a falcon as her headdress, showing her association with ReHorakhty. The Egyptian word for “west,” Amenti was where the blessed dead lived, and it could only be the Netherworld. The land of the dead


was believed to be a beautiful and peaceful place where the deceased would spend eternity. A mythical creature of the Netherworld with the head of a crocodile, front legs of a lion, and back legs of a hippopotamus. Ammut was called the “devourer of the dead.” In illustrations for Chapter 125 of the Book of the Dead, she sits in the Hall of Two Truths, next to the scale of justice, on which the heart of the deceased was weighed against the feather of truth that represents justice or maat. If the heart was found to be heavy with evil deeds, it fell to Ammut, who devoured it. This was the worst thing that could happen, for then the soul of the deceased could never resurrect in thenext world.

Amenti

Ament

One of the many names for the goddess Isis. Isis was called Ament, “the Hidden One,” when she assisted the souls of the dead as they passed from this world to the Netherworld.

Amentet

(also ament, amentit, imentet) A goddess of the dead, Amentet is the personification of the west, the home of the deceased. Amentet, a compassionate companion, helps the souls of the dead journey to their dwelling place in the Netherworld. From her home in the branches of a tree at the edge of the desert, Amentet watched for the souls as they approached the entrance to the Netherworld, or next world. Its location was believed to be in the western desert. Amentet offered bread and water to the weary souls, and if they accepted her hospitality,


over Egypt. The first step was to prepare a mold.

AMulEt
A master amulet was carved, usually in stone, and pressed into a lump of soft clay. The clay was baked or fired until it was hard, and that became the mold used to make amulets. Any number of molds could be made from the master amulet, and any number of amulets could be made from each mold. A small lump of faience was rolled into a ball around a string and pressed into the mold. When the mold was fired, the paste hardened and the string burned away, leaving a hole so the amulet could be strung on a cord. Faience amulets came in many colors, but the ancient Egyptians favored shades of turquoise and blue. Amulets changed overEgypt’s 3,000-year history. Those from the Old Kingdom (2686–2181 b.c.) tended to be hawks, hippopotami, or lions. Later, in the First Intermediate period (2181–2055 b.c.), amulets were often in the shape of body parts: arms, hands, feet, hearts, and eyes. The Middle Kingdom produced one of ancient Egypt’s most popular amulets, one that is still worn today: the scarab beetle. During the New Kingdom, amulets represented the most popular gods. They were usually worn on a string around the neck or inlaid in other kinds of jewelry. The favorites were of Amun, Isis, Hathor, Bes, and Tauret. Funerary Amulets Some amulets were made to ensure that the mummy remained intact and had the power to resurrect in the next world. The MacGregor Papyrus, a version of the Book


of a broad collar necklace with the head of a god worn for protection Bastet The cat-headed household goddess who brought good luck Bes The grotesque dwarf god who brought good luck to families Eye of Horus Eye of the falcon god Horus, worn for good health Isis The greatest Egyptian goddess, who was “Keeper of Secrets” Isis Suckling the Infant Horus For the protection of mother and child Hathor Cow-headed goddess of music and dance Horus Falcon-headed protector god Maat Goddess of truth and justice, whose attribute was the feather of truth Nefertum The god of the blue lotus blossom Nekhbet The vulture goddess who protected the pharaoh Nephthys The lady of the mansion and sister of Isis Ptah The god of craftsmen, and a creator godPtah-ek Dwarf god protector of children scarab Beetle whose image means “to exist” for protection and to give long life Tauret Pregnant hippopotamus, for protection during childbirth Thoth Ibis-headed god of writing and wisdom

AMun

Amun, called “the hidden one,” was often shown as a man with two plumes on his crown or as a ram. Sometimes Amun is shown as a goose and called the “great cackler” who laid the cosmic egg and created the world.

Amun The supreme deity of ancient Egypt during the New Kingdom (1550–1069 b.c.), Amun is one of the most ancient gods in the Egyptian pantheon. Amun was the principal god of the city of Thebes, along with his wife, Mut, the lion-headed goddess, and their son, Khonsu, the moon god. Egyptian gods frequently came


a kilt and a round, flat crown with a sun disk and two tall ostrich feathers on top. His skin is often blue, perhaps a symbol for water or lapis lazuli, a highly prized stone worthy of the gods. The animals sacred to Amun were the goose and a special breed of ram with large, curling horns. The ram became the symbol of Amun, as did the ram’s horns, and sometimes Amun was depicted as a ram or as a ram-headed man. Amun probably was first worshipped as an agricultural god who assured abundant crops and fertility in animals. Over time he evolved from a minor local god to the supreme deity in the Egyptian pantheon. Amun is mentioned in the Pyramid Texts, where he is said to“protect the other gods with his shadow.” The earliest known temple for Amun was built in the Eleventh Dynasty (2125–2055 b.c.) in Thebes. In ancient Egypt, religion and politics went hand in hand, and when the Theban princes in the south won a battle with the north, they united the country and started the Twelfth Dynasty (1985–1795 b.c.). The powerful southern kings paid special homage to Amun, in thanks for his divine help, by taking the god’s name as their own. King Amenemhet I (Amunem-het) took the name “Amun is Supreme,” as did his immediate successors. Their patron deity became “the king of the gods.” As the cult of Amun became powerful, Waset (later called Thebes by the Greeks), grew in power and wealth and was called the


City of Amun. During the New Kingdom (1550–1069 b.c.), when Egypt was at the height of its Golden Age, Waset was named the capital of Egypt and the most important religious center in the land. Amun’s most important religious celebration was the Festival of Opet in Thebes. Cult statues of Amun, Mut, and Khonsu were carried from Karnak Temple to Luxor Temple once a year, and the whole city celebrated the joyous event. Amun was often credited by the queens of Egypt as having fathered their children. When Queen Hatshepsut came to power, she inscribed the story of her divine birth, from the union of Amun and her mother, Queen Ahmose, on the wall of her mortuary temple at Deir el Bahri. The queen is visited by Amunvenerated deity. Amun of Thebes emerged as a manifestation of the ancient sun god and as such was identified as the “fierce red-eyed lion” (the sun) and “Amun when he rises as Horakhty” (Horus the hawk god on the horizon). Amun-Re is shown with the body of a man and a hawk’s head or a human head with a beard. He wears a tall crown with double plumes, a broad collar necklace, and a kilt. He carries an ankh, the symbol of life, and a scepter, a symbol of power. The uniting of these two powerful deities was seen as the symbolic uniting of Upper and Lower Egypt and consolidated power in the priesthood. Amun-Re then became the “king of the gods.”

AnAt (also anath, anthat) Sometimes linked to


during battle, and she was often shown holding an ax, lance, and shield above her head in a menacing gesture. She is often shown in a long slim dress or a panther skin, wearing the tall Egyptian crown with two plumes. In Egyptian mythology, Anat and Astarte, another foreign goddess, were both seen as daughters of Re the sun god, along with Hathor, who acted as the “vengeful eye” of Re. Anat is sometimes called a “virgin goddess,” but in other contexts, she is seen as the wife or consort of Baal and Reshef. Similarities between Anat and Astarte sometimes caused their personalities to be combined, but generally they were worshipped as individual goddesses. Anhur
See Onouris.

AnimAl goDS Animals played a big part in the mythology and religion ofancient Egypt. Some animals were associated with or sacred to the gods, but animals themselves were not worshipped. While the falcon was the symbol of Horus and the cat was the symbol of Bastet, for example, the Egyptians did not worship every falcon and cat or believe these animals were gods. Some animals sacred to the gods were raised on farms specifically to be killed and mummified and sold to people who made pilgrimages to the temples. The faithful could purchase a mummified cat, ibis, or falcon and present it to the god as a votive offering in the hope that their prayers would be answered.

AnIMAl goDs

Some animals, however, were designated as the living embodiments of a god. The Egyptians believed a god could inhabit the body of


Mut, and Tefnut Maftet Set when he is defeated by Horus Amun, Ba-neb-djet, Bata, Khnum Selket Buto/Wadjet, Meretseger, Renenutet Nut Isis and Nephthys Nekhbet

Dolphin Donkey Falcon

Frog Goose

Animals were sacred to many gods and were often left as offerings in the temples. This mummified falcon was probably a fake sold to an unsuspecting pilgrim. It was impossible to raise enough falcons in captivity to meet the high demand, so often a bundle of rags and sticks was wrapped to look like a falcon. (Photograph by Pat Remler)

image. As the living representation of the god, that falcon would be worshipped as if he were the actual god, Horus. Particularly during the Late and Ptolemaic periods, any animal in which the spirit of the god was believed to dwell was housedin luxury in the temple precincts. The many different manifestations of the gods included the ram of Amun, the ibis of Thoth, the crocodile of Sobek, and the falcon in various forms of Horus, to mention a few. The faithful had various ways to identify which animal a spirit inhabited. During one ceremony to determine which animal would represent the god, the cult statue, carried by the priests, would seem to dip toward a particular animal. Each year a new living manifestation of the god was chosen and installed in the temple precinct with a great deal of pomp and ceremony. The fate of the deposed animal is not known. Some animals, like the Apis, Buchis, and Mnevis bulls, were chosen for their

Ankh
may have been the property of


the gods only, for rarely is a person shown carrying an ankh. Interestingly, the word ankh means “hand mirror” as well as “life.” Tutankhamen had a mirror case in the shape of an ankh buried with him in his tomb, a play on words that any Egyptian would have recognized.

AnkhAt One of the titles of Isis, meaning “she who gives life.”
The jackal god of mummification and the guardian of the cemetery, Anubis played three important roles in the funerary rituals. First, he was the guardian of the cemetery, where he often appears as the jackal wearing a collar decorated with magical inscriptions and holding a flail or whip, a sign of authority. Second, mythology tells us that Anubis embalmed Osiris and was the protector of the god’s bodyduring and after the embalming. Anubis’s most important role is to prepare the mummy for its journey to the Netherworld. Third, Anubis is the guardian of the mummy in his or her tomb. Images of Anubis are prominent in the tomb of Tutankhamen. When the British Egyptologist Howard Carter opened Tutankhamen’s tomb in 1922, he found the storeroom packed with magical items that the king would need in the next world. Between the paws of a statue of Anubis facing west was a magical reed torch with a brick stand that had a small hole in the middle in which the reed could be placed. Scratched on the brick was the ominous spell:
It is I who hinder the sand from choking the sacred chamber, and who repel he


would repel him with the desert-flames. I have set aflame the desert(?), I have caused the path to be mistaken. I am for the protection of Osiris.

AnubiS

C ∆ ç W≈ (anupu)

Cats were sacred to the goddess Bastet, and cat statues of all sizes were popular offerings in her temple. (Photo by Oxyman/Used under a Creative
Commons license))

special markings. They were selected after an exhaustive search that began when the previous bull died. Once found, the bull traveled to its new home in the temple to be installed with great ceremony as the living manifestation of Apis, Buchis, or Mnevis, an honor it would hold for the rest of its life. When a bull died, Egypt went into mourning. The bull was mummified and placed in a tomb fit fora head of state.

Ankh The sign of eternal life in ancient Egypt, the ankh is something of a mystery, for no one knows what the shape represents. It has been suggested that the ankh symbolizes a key, part of the human anatomy, or, more likely, a sandal strap as seen from above. The hieroglyph means “to live,” and the ankh was a powerful and protective force in ancient Egypt. Paintings on tomb walls show the gods offering “eternal life” to the king and again bestowing “eternal life” upon the mummy by holding an ankh to its face and reciting a magical spell. The ankh is the rarest of ancient Egyptian amulets and

Œ

It was the duty of Anubis to guard this room, which in ancient times was called the


“Treasury of the Innermost.” Anubis was perched on a shrine that had several compartments, each of which held funerary objects, including four blue faience forelegs of a bovine animal and two wooden amulets in the shape of a mummy. Different myths claim different gods as the parents of Anubis. One myth says his mother was Nephthys and his father was Osiris; in other myths his father was Set. The Greek writer Plutarch wrote that Anubis was the son of Osiris and Isis. Plutarch also

AnubIs

a priest wearing a jackal-head mask played the part of Anubis. Anubis is mentioned in several mythological texts. In the Book of the Dead, he is shown in the vignettes or illustrations attending the weighing of the heart ceremony in the Hall of the TwoTruths. Anubis stands next to the scale where the heart of the mummy is weighed to make sure it is as light as the feather of truth; if so, he will prepare the deceased for immortality while Thoth stands ready to record the decision. In the Book of Caverns, Anubis first wraps the head of the deceased king, placing linen strips on the face of the mummy to support and preserve it. It is Anubis who prevents the corpse from decaying by anointing the mummy with sacred oils and fragrant incense. The seven magical unguents used in embalming were also used in daily life. They were called festival perfume, Hekenu oil, Syrian balsam, Nechenem salve, anointing oil, best cedar oil, and best Libyan oil. Anubis’s several titles acknowledged


his varying roles as god of mummification: Imy-ut, “he who is at the place of embalming” (guardian of embalming) Tepy-dju-ef, “he who is upon his hill” (Anubis guarding the necropolis) Neb-ta-djser, “lord of the sacred land” (the actual necropolis) Khenty-imentiu, “foremost of the westerners” (first among the deceased) Khenty-seh-netjer, “lord of the god’s pavilion” (a symbol for the tent where mummification took place) When the Greeks and, later, the Romans ruled Egypt, Anubis was worshipped as a cosmic deity who brought light to the people. Shown on the walls of the catacombs in Alexandria, Anubis appears in the garb of a Roman general while serving as the guardian of Osiris. In second-century Rome, Anubis was described as he appeared in the Procession of Isis by the author Apuleius:
Immediatelyafter these came the Deities condescending to walk upon human feet, the foremost among them rearing terrifically on high his dog’s head and neck—this messenger between heaven and hell displaying alternately a face black as night, and as golden as the day . . . Golden Ass Book xi

Anubis, the god of embalming, has the head of a jackal and the body of a man. He holds an ankh in his right hand to give life and breath to the deceased. (Drawing by Mary Jordan)

noted that the dog (Anubis) “. . . is equally watchful by day and by night, making him a good guardian.” Anubis’s home was the cemetery, and his most important duty was to preside over embalming and mummification. Anubis is said to have mummified


headdress made of ostrich feathers or reeds. Because of her popularity in the south, she was known as “Mistress of Nubia.”

AnukiS (also anqet, anuket) Important in the Old Kingdom, Anukis

aCªµ§

is a water goddess from the south. Her title, “she who embraces,” reflects her association with the Nile. Anukis was worshipped in southern Egypt and Nubia and was honored with an important cult center at Aswan. She was said to be a daughter of Re, the sun god, but Anukis’s most important role was her position in the Elephantine Triad. She was the wife of Khnum, the

ApeDemAk A southern war god whose cult, complete with a temple and cadre of priests, flourished in the eastern desert at Meroe in southern Nubia (modern Sudan). The long and tumultuous relationship betweenEgypt and Nubia produced an exchange of ideas and religion that was to influence both countries profoundly. When the Egyptians saw Apedemak, the fierce lion, guarding his temple, they equated him with their own fierce gods. Apedemak’s Egyptian-style temple in Nubia is covered with perfect Egyptian hieroglyphs praising him as “the splendid god at the forefront of Nubia” and “lion of the south, strong of arm.” ApiS bull (hap) The Apis bull is a rare example of the Egyptians worshipping a living animal as a god. The Apis was a special bull believed to be a god by the ancient Egyptians. He was worshipped during his life and then mummified when he died. The cult of the Apis was central to Egyptian religion and dates from Egypt’s earliest


settlements. Because of its strength and virility, the bull was associated with the pharaoh and his divinity. The cult of the Apis, associated with Ptah, the creator god of Memphis, was very popular during the reign of the Ptolemies, Greeks who ruled Egypt from the city of Alexandria (332–32 b.c.). According to the Greek historian Herodotus, a bolt of lightning came down from heaven and

”çµ

Anukis, a water goddess, was worshipped in the south at her cult center on Sehel Island. (Photograph
by Pat Remler)

This alabaster embalming table was made especially for the mummification of the Apis bull and is designed so the body fluids can run off during embalming. (Photograph by Pat Remler) impregnated the mother of the Apis. The Apis calf had special markings: It was black witha white diamond on its forehead, an eagle on its back, a scarab under its tongue, and split tail hairs. There was only one Apis bull alive at any time. When the bull died, all of Egypt mourned, and a search for the new Apis calf began. In general, the Egyptian religion was based on the idea of resurrection: When a person died, he or she could resurrect in the next world. When the Apis bull died, however, the Egyptians seemed to believe in reincarnation, that the bull would be born again in this world in the body of another bull. During its lifetime, the Apis was pampered, perfumed, and adored each day in luxurious surroundings at the temple complex in Memphis. The cow that gave birth to


the Apis was also venerated and associated with Isis as a divine mother; when the cow died, it was buried in a special tomb called the Iseum. When the Apis bull died, it was mummified on a huge alabaster table, and several of these mummification tables can still be seen at the site of the ancient city of Memphis. After the rites of mummification, the Apis was taken in sacred procession to a special burial place, the serapeum, an extensive underground cavern at Saqqara that held the granite sarcophagus of each Apis bull. After death the Apis became one with Osiris and was called Osirapis (see Serapis). The Apis bull was one of three sacred bulls in ancient Egypt (see the Buchis and the Mnevis bulls). The cultof the Apis bull was so popular and so important to the Egyptians that when the invading Persian king Cambyses (ruled 525–522 b.c.) reached the city of Memphis, he could think of no greater insult than to kill and eat the Apis bull.

(apep) The serpent god of the Underworld, Apophis represents all that is malicious and evil. As a primeval force of darkness and chaos, Apophis is the opposite of the sun god, Re, and his life-giving rays. The great serpent was the most wicked and eternal adversary of Re, who was forced to battle and defeat him each night. Apophis’s greatest threat to the sun god was that if Re was not watchful, Apophis would capsize and destroy the solar boat as it sailed through the hours


burning Apep with fire. Each part of Apophis’s body was mentioned with the specific method of destroying him. Sometimes wax figures were fashioned of Apophis and bound with red and black string, then pierced with knives and burned. To further ensure the destruction of Apophis, his secret name was inscribed on a new papyrus and burned over flames. So detested was the evil Apophis that Chapter 27 of the Book of the Dead tells of a local goddess, Henen-su, who turned herself into a cat and killed Apophis, the “Prince of Darkness.”

ApophiS

cPP¶

AstArtE

ApuleiuS, luciuS

A classical writer from the second century a.d. whose travels took him to Rome where the Egyptian cult of Isis was flourishing. His book The Golden Ass has been called the first novel in history. Thestory tells how the hero was turned into a donkey and then was saved by Isis. His fanciful tale revolves around a man called Lucius who, among his many adventures, was introduced into the “Mysteries of Isis.” In Chapter 11, Apuleius describes how Isis appeared to him wearing Roman dress:
First, she had a great abundance of hair, arranged and scattered about her neck, on the crown of her head she wore many garlands of flowers. . . . in one hand she held serpents, in the other, blades of corn, her garments were of fine silk in diverse colors, sometimes yellow, sometimes rose. . . .

The name Plutarch gave the Egyptian god Herishef, a primitive fertility god shown as a ram. His name means “he who is upon


his lake.” The god’s cult center was at Herakleopolis, near modern Beni Suef. At various times he has been associated with Re and with Osiris. The Greeks equated him with their hero Heracles.

ArSApheS

ArSenupiS

Warrior god from Nubia associated with the god Shu. Arsenupis, whose name means “the good companion,” is the principal deity of the Ptolemaic Temple of Dakka (south of modern Aswan). He is honored at Kalabsha Temple, the largest free-standing Nubian temple.

ArtiStS AnD crAftSmen, goD of See Ptah.

Apuleius’s writing gives a valuable insight into the cult of the Egyptian goddess, who became so popular in the ancient world that she was worshipped throughout the Roman Empire.

AStArte (also ashtoreth, asherah, attoret, anath) The great Canaanite mother goddess,
Astarte, was the unrivaled goddess of Canaan. As the consort of Baal,Astarte was also a powerful war goddess, and her reputation as a terrible and destructive force in war earned her the respect and worship of Egyptian kings. Astarte was adopted into the Egyptian pantheon during the New Kingdom, and chapels were built for her in Thebes and Tanis. In Egyptian mythology, she was the wife of Set, who resembled the Canaanite god Baal. Associated with horses and chariots in Egypt, Ashtoreth/Astarte was often shown driving her chariot or riding her horse and wearing the Egyptian atef crown with tall plumes and bulls’ horns. She was the guardian of the pharaoh’s chariot, and during the reign of Ramses the Great (1279–1213 b.c.), Astarte was called “Mistress of the Horse and Chariot.” Her cult centers flourished under Ramses’s reign. Worship


of Astarte grew rapidly in Egypt, especially in the Delta, where foreign gods were readily associated with Egyptian gods. Astarte was seen as a reflection of Isis and Hathor, and like her Egyptian counterparts, the many facets of her personality were understood by the people. Astarte, the mother goddess, was all knowing and understanding, the loving mother of her clan and a leader of her people. In the Delta city of Tanis, Astarte was recognized as a moon goddess and was associated with the moon god Aah as well as with Hathor-Isis, who also had ties to Aah. There are many biblical references to Ashtoreth/ Astarte, and the Bible tells us that even King Saul, the first Hebrew king (1050 b.c.), worshipped Ashtoreth, the Queen of Heaven. Inthe following Old Testa-

AreS Greek god of war identified with the Egyptian god Anhur, called Onouris by the Greeks. ArmAnt (hermonthis) Situated on the west bank of the Nile just south of modern Luxor, Armant rose to prominence as an important religious center during the Eleventh Dynasty when a temple was dedicated to Montu, the popular Middle Kingdom war god. The temple of Montu flourished until the end of the Roman period (a.d. 205), when all temples were closed during the rise of Christianity in Egypt. Armant is also the home of the Buchis bull, the animal sacred to Montu. The Buchis bull was thought to be a physical manifestation of the sun god Re and of Osiris, the god of the dead. When the bull died, it


was mummified and buried at the Bucheum, a great underground tomb similar to the tomb of the Apis bull, the Serapeum. The cult of the Buchis at Armant rose to power during the Late period when King Nectanebo II (360–343 b.c.) presided over the first burial of a Buchis bull. Eventually this tomb grew into an extensive burial place for all Buchis bulls. When Cleopatra VII (51 b.c.–30 b.c.) visited Armant, she dedicated a mammisi, a birth temple for the gods, to her son Caesarion. The temple is in ruins today, but a stone block remains with the cartouche of Cleopatra. Excavations have shown that during the Predynastic period in Egypt (5500–3100 b.c.), Armant was the site of an extensive settlement and cemetery.

AstronoMIcAl goDs
ment references to Ashtoreth, wethe Soul of Horus.”

So popular and well established was the cult of Astarte/Ashtoreth that it flourished in the Delta well into Christian times.

AStronomicAl goDS From earliest times the Egyptians studied the night sky, noting the position of the stars and plotting their courses as the seasons changed. The sky goddess, Nut, who protected mankind from her home in the heavens, was a common tomb decoration; she was often painted with her star-studded body stretching protectively across the ceiling, keeping the mummy safe in the same way that she sheltered the living. During the Old Kingdom (2686–2181 b.c.), two groups of stars were identified in the Pyramid Texts: the Akhenu seku, “imperishable stars,” which were believed to be the souls of the deceased who had gone to “heaven,” and