Suez Canal

1. Suez Canal

2. Words from Egypt • Luxury – from city of Luxor

3. Modern Egypt • Muslim

4. Hieroglyphic Alphabet

5. Egyptian Symbols

7. AnhkSymbol of eternal life Believed to unlock the mysteries of heaven and earth. Hence, why it is often referred to as, 'The Key of Life'.

9. Eye of Horus • The Udjat eye represents the eye of the god Horus which was torn from his head by the storm god Seth. It is a composite of the human eye and the markings of a falcon's eye and was used as an amulet against injury. • During his confrontations with the god Seth, Horus is said to have lost his left eye, which represented the moon. However his wife, the goddess Hathor, restored it. That is why the wedjatsymbolises healing. Extremely common as an amulet it represented strength, protection, perfection, and the act of 'making whole'.

11. Scarab Called the dung beetle because of its practice of rolling a ball of dung across the ground. The Egyptians observed this behavior and equated it with the ball of the sun being rolled across the sky. They confused this balled food source with the egg sack that the female dung beetle laid and buried in the sand. When the eggs hatched the dung beetles would seem to appear from nowhere, making it a symbol of spontaneous creation. In this role it was associated with the sunrise. Khepri was the scarab headed god. Sign of Resurrection The scarab was a favourite charm / amulet becoming associated with renewal and regeneration. It personified the god, Khepri, a sun god associated with resurrection. From the middle kingdom, they was often used by pharaoh as a royal seal and would also be produced to celebrate certain events during his reign.

13. SphinxSign of Wisdom and Protection • With a human head, body of a beast, the sphinx had access to all wisdom and strength and symbolised the riddle of human existence.

15. Cartouche In the form of a knotted rope it was used to enclose the royal name of the pharaoh. As with the Shen hieroglyph (see below), the cartouche signified the concept of encircling protection. The cartouche may also have symbolised the universe being circled by the sun.

17. Nile River

19. The Cobra Protection, and Lower Egypt • The cobra symbolized the divine protection of the Pharaoh. Originally the cobra appeared on the red crown of Lower Egypt. When the Two Lands were united, their two crowns were also united. The red crown combined with the white crown of Upper Egypt to become the double crown. The cobra is related to a goddess of Lower Egypt, Uadjet (or Wadjet).

20. How many gods can you identify? Egyptian Gods

22. Isis • Mythology: Isis was the daughter of Nut and Geb and the sister and wife of Osiris. In myth, Isis aided her husband during his reign as the king of Egypt and searched madly for his body after his death so that he might be given a proper burial. Isis conceived her son Horus either through magic or by resurrecting Osiris. Isis raised Horus on a floating island called Chemmis to protect the child from his uncle Seth. Seth wanted to murder Horus, but Isis hid the child so that some day he might avenge his father’s death. • The ancient Egyptians saw Isis as a benevolent goddess, good and kind. Each pharaoh was her son and Isis loved all creatures like a mother. She was the chaste and devoted wife and as a result most highly regarded among the Egyptian gods. Her benevolence resulted in her worship beyond Egypt and as far away as Great Britain. The ancient Greeks associated Isis with Athena and Tethys. In the Egyptian Book of the Dead, Isis is the giver of food and life to the dead. In the Pyramid Text, Isis suckles each pharaoh at her breast as his mother. The pharaoh was considered the embodiment of Isis’ son, Horus, on earth. Isis was also known for her magic and, with this gift, created the first cobra.

24. OsirisKing of the dead • Symbols:crook and flail, Bennu (phoenix), djed, White and atef Crowns, bull, mummified form • Depiction: Depictions of Osiris showed the god as green faced and bearded holding the flail and crook in his hands. He was portrayed as a mummified human who wore the atef crown. • Mythology: Osiris held an important role in ancient Egypt. His death at the hand of his brother Seth represented the yearly Egyptian drought, while his miraculous rebirth represented the flooding of the Nile Valley and its nourishment by the silt left on the land after the flood. Osiris’ rivalry with his brother Seth, the god of storms and the desert, represented the constant struggle in Egypt between the fertile Nile Valley and the surrounding desert. Osiris’ death and rebirth also represented the rising and setting of the sun. • Osiris was an earth god and the god of vegetation. According to myth, it was Osiris who brought civilization to Egypt whose population was once cannibalistic and barbarous. Having inherited the throne from his father Geb and being distressed by the behavior of the Egyptian people, Osiris taught the Egyptians how to farm, what to eat, and gave them laws and religion. With the assistance of Thoth, who invented science, nomenclature, and the arts, Osiris ruled as the benevolent and kind king of Egypt. Once he had established civilization in Egypt, Osiris traveled to distant lands to teach others what he had taught the Egyptians. He left Isis to rule in his absence but Seth’s actions troubled her. While Osiris was away, Seth plotted to usurp the throne and take Isis as his wife. Isis’ fears were realized when, in the twenty-eighth year of Osiris’ reign, on the 17th day of Hathor (late September or November), Seth and 72 conspirators murdered Osiris. Seth and his co-conspirators threw the coffin containing Osiris’ body into the Nile. Isis recovered Osiris’ body only to have Seth tear it into 14 pieces, which he scattered all over Egypt. Nonetheless, Isis with help from Nephthys, recovered every piece of Osiris’ body. Using her magical powers, Isis reassembled Osiris and gave him life just long enough to conceive Horus, the future king of Egypt. • Ancient Egyptian religious texts describe Osiris as the god of the dead with the understanding that Osiris died and was resurrected. As the king of the underworld, Osiris admitted only those souls who had lived good lives and who had received the proper burial rights under the protection of certain amulets and the recitation of certain words of power and divinity.

26. Set or SethGod of the desert, storm and violence • Attributes: Early in Egyptian history, Seth is spoken of in terms of reverence as the god of wind and storms. He was even known as the Lord of Upper Egypt. Horus being the Lord of Lower Egypt. It was Seth who stood in the front of the solar barque to defended the sun god Ra from his most dangerous foe, the serpent Apep. At this time, he seems to have had no conflicts with the cults of Isis or Osiris. In fact, he was part of the same family of gods, and married to his twin sister, Nephthys. • However, it appears the followers of Seth may have resisted the followers of Horus and the First Dynasty pharaoh, Menes, when he united Upper and Lower Egypt. This struggle for control of Egypt seems to be reflected in the mythology. At this point, Seth is portrayed as questioning the authority of his brother, Osiris. The Osiris cults took this opportunity to discredit the followers of Seth; he was now considered to be Osiris' evil brother. And the story was told that Seth was evil since birth, because he ripped himself from his mother's womb by tearing through her side. In the Osiris legends, it is Seth who tricks and murders Osiris. He is also the antagonist of Horus. By the Twenty-sixth Dynasty, Seth was the embodiment of evil. He was depicted with red eyes and hair. The ancient Egyptians beleived red represented evil. • Seth (or Set) is shown with an animal's head with a long curved pointed snout, slanting eyes, and square-tipped ears. Sometimes he has a forked tail. No one seems to know what the animal is. Aardvark, antelope, ass, camel, fennec, giraffe, greyhound, jackal, jerboa, long-snouted mouse, okapi, oryx and pig have all been suggested! Seth was the God of the desert, storm and violence, which are all enemies of the fertile, prosperous, narrow valley of the Nile. His sceptre has his head on top and his tail at the other end. Several other gods seem to carry this sceptre as well. • Seth had killed Osiris by tricking him into a coffin, which he threw into the Nile. When Osiris' wife Isis heard about this, she started searching desperately for her husband's body, to bury it properly. She asked everyone she met and finally some children told her where it was. Isis mourned for her dead husband. Then she hid the body, while she went back to look after her son Horus, still a baby. Seth was terrified that Isis might be able to bring Osiris back from the dead, since she was a great magician. So Seth found where she had hidden the body and cut it into pieces, which he scattered up and down the Nile. Now Isis had to find all the scattered pieces of Osiris. Whenever she found a piece, she buried it there and built a shrine. This means that there are lots of places in Egypt where Osiris was buried! Osiris himself became the King of the Dead, and all Egyptians hoped they would join him after death.

28. Horus He Who is Above • Depiction: As the older Horus, Haroeris, he was depicted as a falcon-headed man wearing the crowns of Upper and Lower Egypt. • Mythology: The ancient Egyptians believed that their pharaohs were the earthbound embodiment of Horus, one of the greatest Egyptian gods. Egyptian pharaohs would take the name of Horus as their own to show their direct relation to him. The patronage of Horus was disputed and eventually justified by the Egyptians through the establishment of fifteen distinct forms of Horus. The fifteen forms of Horus fall into two categories, the solar god and the son of Osiris. Horus, when associated with the sun, was said to be the son of Atum, Re, or Geb and Nut. As the son of Isis and Osiris, Horus is called Harsiesis, which means “Horus the son of Isis”. Isis was said to have conceived Horus miraculously by resurrecting Osiris just long enough to conceived Horus. Isis alone raised Horus, who as a child was known as Harpokrates, “the infant Horus.” She raised him on a floating island called Chemmis to protect the child from his uncle Seth. Seth wanted to murder Horus, but Isis protected the child so that some day he might avenge his father’s death.

30. Re (Ra) Father of the gods • Depiction: Depictions of Re showed him as a hawk or falcon or hawk-headed man. • Mythology: Re was the god of the sun and was associated with Horus, the god of the sky. Re was known as the creator of men by some and became the state deity during the Fifth Dynasty. An ancient god, Re was the father of Shu and Tefnut, the grandfather of Geb and Nut, the great-grandfather of Seth, Nephthys, Isis, and Osiris. According to myth, Re traveled through the waters of heaven in two different boats each day. The first boat, Madjet (“becoming strong”), was a galley that rose out of the east behind the Mount Manu and then passed between two sycamore trees. The second boat, a small barge called Semektet ("becoming weak"), took Re to sunset. Ma’at determined the course of this boat. Re did not navigate the boats himself, Horus, accompanied by Ma’at, navigated the boat for Re. In front of the boat swam Abtu and Ant, two pilot fish. Geb, Hu, Sia, and Hike traveled with Re. And at night, the god Upuaut stood on the boat’s prow. Re’s travels were impeded by three monsters, Sebau, Nak, and Apep. In order for the sun to rise, Re fought and defeated these monsters every night. Apep, the personification of darkness, was the most powerful of the three monsters and was depicted either as a serpent or crocodile. If Apep defeated Re, then the weather was stormy. If Apep swallowed Re’s ship then a solar eclipse occurred. n or hawk-headed man.

32. ThothGod of Wisdom, Time, Writing and the Moon • Depiction: Thoth is the wise god who was often depicted holding scrolls and a pen with which he recorded all things. He was depicted as a man with the head of an ibis or baboon, though some times he was the dog-headed ape. He was most often depicted as a dog-headed ape when attending the judgment of a soul. • Mythology: Thoth was the god of writing, wisdom, learning, and the moon. According to myth, Thoth invented writing, was the author of the Book of the Dead, and was the vizier and scribe of the afterlife. With his wife Ma’at, Thoth had eight children, including the god Amon. Thoth was a self-created god who invented magic and the hermetic arts. Associated with the moon, Thoth rose after sunset to vanquish darkness. Thoth was present at the judgment of souls and sat on top of the scale that weighed the hearts of the dead against the feather of Ma’at. When passing judgment on the deceased, the baboon Thoth told the ibis-headed Thoth when the scales were balanced. The ibis-headed Thoth related his findings to the other gods who were present at the judgment.

34. Bastet • Symbols: cat, lioness, sistrum, Udjat (Eye of Horus) • Depiction: Until ca. 1,000 BCE, the goddess Bastet was depicted as a lioness. Later she was depicted as a woman with the head of a house cat. When portrayed as a lioness, Bastet was associated with sunlight. When portrayed as a cat she was associated with the moon. • Mythology: The daughter of Re and mother of Khonsu (the moon), Bastet was the goddess of cats, fire, the home, and pregnant women. Appearing in myth as both submissive and belligerent, Bastet protected expecting mothers and slaughtered enemies. Bastet was personification of the soul of Isis. The ancient Egyptians celebrated festivals in her honor in April and May at her cult center, Bubastis. According to the ancient Greek historian Herodotus, when the Egyptians traveled to Bubastis, they traveled in boats, men and women together. During the journey, some women shook rattles and some men played pipes while the remainder clapped their hands. The women on the boat taunted women on the banks of the river while the other revelers danced and made lots of noise. Upon arrival at Bubastis, a sacrifice was made and the revelers made merry by drinking lots of wine.

36. Ma’atThe Goddess of Truth & Justice • Symbols: ostrich feather, scales • Depiction: Depicted as a seated or standing woman, Ma’at held an ankh in one hand and a specter in the other. She wore an ostrich feather in her hair. Some depictions showed Ma’at as a woman with an ostrich feather for a head or with wings attached to her arms. • Mythology: A positive force in the life of the ancient Egyptians, Ma’at was the goddess of truth, order, and Egypt’s physical and moral law. Ma’at had eight children with Thoth; one of these children was the god Amon. Together with Ammut, Ma’at judged the souls of the dead in the "Hall of the Two Truths,” Maaty. Before a soul could enter the afterlife it had to pass judgment. To judge whether a soul was worthy of entering the afterlife, the deceased’s heart was placed on one side of the Scales of Truth and the feather of Ma’at on the other side. If the heart, where the Egyptians believed the soul dwelled, was heavy with sins and out weighed Ma’at’s feather, Ammut ate the soul, dooming it to eternal death. If the heart weighed equal to Ma’at’s feather the soul earned eternal life in the Duat. The ancient Egyptian word ma’at means truth. • Ma’at served as a guide to Re, the sun god, as he made his journey across the sky in his boat. Ma’at guided the Egyptian pharaoh’s in their journey through life having been set in place as principles to live by when the world was formed. If a pharaoh failed to uphold the truth, ma’at, then the chaos that existed before Ma’at would return and the world would be destroyed.

38. SobekHe who causes to be fertile • Mythology: As told in the Book of the Dead, Horus the Elder enlisted the help of Sobek to kill his uncle Seth. Sobek helped Horus on another occasion when he rescued Horus’ four sons from the waters of Nun. Sobek was the god of crocodiles. Ancient Egyptians, who lived in cities that depended on water, worshipped him to placate the crocodiles. For instance, the people of Crocodilopolis (Arsinoe) would husband crocodiles in pools and adorn them with jewels. The importance of crocodiles to ancient Egyptian culture is demonstrated by the numerous mummified crocs that have been found in tombs.

40. NutThe Sky Goddess • Symbols: stars, the night sky, cows • Depiction: Depictions showed Nut as a woman wearing a vase of water on her head with her hands and feet touching the ground to form an arch. This arch or semi-circle represents the sky and heaven. Her father the god of air (Shu) holds Nut, the sky, above her husband, Geb, the earth. According to myth if Shu ever left his duty chaos would return. • Mythology: Nut was the goddess of the daytime sky and later the goddess of the entire sky and was the place where clouds formed. Her father and mother were Shu and Tefnut. Her husband was the earth god Geb, with whom she had four children, Osiris, Isis, Seth, and Nephthys. Nut’s children were born on the five (5) epagomenal days of the Egyptian year as described in The Story of Re. Egyptians held celebrations each year on these five days. The day of Osiris was unlucky, as were the days of Nephthys and Seth. The day of Horus the Elder was both lucky and unlucky. The day of Isis was lucky. Given her position as the sky, Nut gave birth to the sun every day. Through the day he passes under Nut’s arched body, through her mouth and body and was reborn again the next day. Alternatively, the sun takes the boat Atet up Nut’s legs, changes boats at noon, and takes the boat Sektet over Nut’s body until sunset.

42. AnubisThe Jackal; God of Embalming • Symbols: jackal, ox-hide hanging from a pole, embalming equipment, flail, flags • Depiction: Anubis is portrayed as a black dog who accompanies Isis or as a man with a jackal’s head who holds a scepter. It is thought that Anubis was portrayed as a jackal because these scavengers were often seen lurking about graves and tombs. Ancient Egyptians began the practice of elaborately decorating graves and tombs to protect the dead from desecration by jackals. • Mythology: Anubis assisted in the funerary rites of the dead used to assure admittance of the dead into the underworld. Worshipped as the god of mummification, it was said that Anubis invented the process of embalming in order to preserve the body of Osiris who was briefly resurrected by Isis. Following a person’s death, it was believed that Anubis oversaw the embalming of the body, welcomed the body into the tomb, conducted the “Opening of the Mouth” ceremony, and escorted each soul to the “Field of Celestial Offerings.”

43. Egyptian Monuments

45. Great PyramidEngineer: Imhotep; Pharaoh: Khufu (Cheops) • The Great Pyramid is the most remarkable building in existence on the face of our planet today. It was built with such precision that our current technology cannot replicate it.  This pyramid is so precisely constructed that until recently (with the advent of laser measuring equipment) scientists were not able to discover some of its subtle symmetries (not to mention duplicate them).  Among other aspects, there are also very exact geometric relationships between all the structures in the pyramid complex at Giza. • It is facts such as these that should raise questions as to the commonly accepted (and mostly mistaken) interpretations of its purpose, history and construction, as well as the history of our society (and especially the so-called 'pre-history' of mankind).  There are many answers out there, all you have to do is look. • Here are some facts that have recently been re-discovered about this structure... • General: • The pyramid is estimated to have about 2,300,000 stone blocks weighing from 2-30 Tons each with some weighing as much as 70 tons. • There is so much stone mass in the pyramid that the interior temperature is constant and equals the average temperature of the earth, 20 Degrees Celsius (68 Degrees Fahrenheit). • Two types of limestone were used for construction. A soft limestone either pure or nummulitic was used for the bulk of the core blocks and a hard white limestone for the mantle. Hard limestone becomes more polished with age. • The base of the pyramid covers 55,000m2 (592,000 ft2) with each side greater than 20,000m2 (218,000 ft2) in area. • The outer mantle was composed of 144,000 casing stones, all highly polished and flat to an accuracy of 1/100th of an inch, about 100 inches thick and weighing about 15 tons each. • The average casing stone on the lowest level was 5 ft. long by 5 ft. high by 6 ft. deep and weighed 15 tons. • The mortar used is of an unknown origin. It has been analyzed and its chemical composition is known but it can't be reproduced. It is stronger than the stone and still holding up today. • The cornerstone foundations of the pyramid have ball and socket construction capable of dealing with heat expansion and earthquakes. • There are no hieroglyphics or writing in the Great Pyramid. • With the mantle in place, the Great Pyramid could be seen from the mountains in Israel and probably the moon as well. • Its polished surfaces would have reflected light like a beacon. • Aligned True North: The Great Pyramid is the most accurately aligned structure in existence and faces true north with only 3/60th of a degree of error. The position of the North Pole moves over time and the pyramid was exactly aligned at one time. • Centre of Land Mass: The Great Pyramid is located at the centre of the land mass of the earth. The east/west parallel that crosses the most land and the north/south meridian that crosses the most land intersect in two places on the earth, one in the ocean and the other at the Great Pyramid. • The relationship between Pi (p) and Phi (F) is expressed in the fundamental proportions of the Great Pyramid.

49. Abu Simbel • Built by Ramses II