
Egyptology Glossary
Ancient Egypt and Egyptology has a bewildering array of confusing names and terminology, this Egyptology Glossary will hopefully go some way to describe many of the most common words and phrases.
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Wab meaning purification priest

The ordinary level of priesthood was the ‘wabw’ (wabau), which comes from the hieroglyphic word ‘wab’ meaning ‘to be pure’ or ‘purified’. They might be interpreted as meaning spiritually pure, though there is no real evidence to suggest this. In this case it means they were physically pure to enter the temple and to come into contact with the god statue and his equipment.

Wasir Nefer Netcher meaning Osiris beautiful God

This comes from the Myth of Horus and Seth, who fought each other and Seth plucked the eye from Horus and had to be restored before Horus was complete again. (The eye itself is a birds eye, rather than human.) It is associated with completeness, rebirth and the renewal of life.

Weret Hakau, meaning 'Great Of Magic'

The crown associated with rulership of Upper, or southern, Egypt. See also Blue Crown, Double Crown, and Red Crown.

Name given to the Southern of the Two Kingdoms of Egypt that developed during the Pre-Dynastic Period.
The capital of the White Land is at Nekhen or more often known by its Greek name Hieraconpolis. Rene Freedman who is director of excavations for this area has turned up some interesting finds, including early mummies, which throw up into question of when they were first introduced. This area is also made up of two areas, Nekhen and Nekheb.
The Englishman Green and Quibel excavated this site during the early part of the 20th century; they discovered a great group of votive offerings in the temple including the Narmer Palette. Towards the end of the 19th century, a famous tomb was found; the decorated Tomb number 100, the scenes that were found on the walls were recorded by the archaeologists, the tomb has subsequently been lost but represents the earliest of the decorated tombs.
In the part of Hieraconpolis called Nekheb, was the place of the cult centre of a vulture Goddess Nekbet. She was the parallel of the goddess of Red Land.
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Nubia - Land of the Bow
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Nubia, the "Land of the Bow," because of the fame of Nubian archers. Throughout history, pictures and drawings of Nubian gods, kings, and warriors show them holding bows. In graves of Nubian men, archaeologists often find their skeletons holding bows and lying beside quivers of arrows.