Ancient Egypt questions

Hathor was the mother of Horus and the sun god Ra, and therefore she was the symbolic mother of pharaohs. She is often depicted as a cow or as a woman with cow’s horns.

Bastet was originally a lioness. Later, she was more and more depicted as a cat, representing a gentler nature.

Apis was a son of Hathor. Since Hathor was a symbollic mother of pharaohs, Apis bull was often a symbol of pharaoh.

The Pyramid of Djoser, or Step Pyramid is an archeological remain in the Saqqara necropolis, Egypt, northwest of the city of Memphis. It was built in the 27th century BC during the Third Dynasty for the burial of Pharaoh Djoser by his vizier, Imhotep.

Sobek was an aggressive and animalistic deity, dangerous and fearsome, but also protective and fertile.

Horus was most often depicted as a falcon, most likely a peregrine falcon, or as a man with a falcon head.

Horus was a god of arable land and the order, while Set was a god of the desert and chaos. Both fought for the throne of Egypt after Osiris, father of Horus, had been murdered by Set. Horus won the battle. Since then, all the pharaohs ruled Egypt as incarnation of Horus.

The Rosetta Stone is an example of what is known as a “donation stele” and the decree on it proclaims the divine rulership of King Ptolemy V (as endorsed by the priesthood), details the tax exempt status of the resident priesthood, and concludes with the instruction that a copy was to be placed in every temple (inscribed in all three languages). The Rosetta Stone is a granodiorite stele, found in 1799, inscribed with three versions of a decree issued at Memphis, Egypt, in 196 BC during the Ptolemaic dynasty.

The sistrum was one of the most sacred musical instruments in ancient Egypt and was believed to hold powerful magical properties. It was used in the worship of the goddess Hathor, Isis, Bastet, mythological character of joy, festivity, fertility, eroticism and dance. It was designed to produce the sound of the breeze hitting and blowing through papyrus reeds.

Ammit's body was part lion, hippopotamus and crocodile - the three largest "man-eating" animals known to ancient Egyptians. In the underworld, if the heart of a person weighed by Anubis was judged to be not pure, Ammit would devour it, and the person undergoing judgement was not allowed to continue their voyage towards Osiris and immortality.