Authors: Paul Sussman
Benben
A conical or obelisk-shaped stone venerated in the ancient sun temple of Iunu.
Benu
A sacred bird closely associated with creator-god Ra-Atum. It was depicted as either a heron or a yellow wagtail. Considered by many scholars to be the prototype of the phoenix.
Bersiim
A type of clover used as cattle feed in Egypt.
Blessed Fields of Iaru
Ancient Egyptian term for the afterlife. Iaru was sometimes spelt ‘ialu’, which some scholars have suggested is the derivation of the term Elysian Fields.
Blix, Hans
Swedish diplomat who from 2000 to 2003 was the head of Unmovic (United Nations Monitoring, Inspection and Verification Commission), the organization tasked with investigating Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction. Born 1928.
Boat Pit
A number of Egyptian royal burials included pits containing full-sized boats. Five such pits surround the Great Pyramid of Khufu at Giza, two of which – discovered in 1954 – yielded intact vessels.
Butneya
An area of Cairo renowned for its thieves and drug dealers.
Cam
Short for ‘camming device’. A spring-loaded device wedged into a rock crack to secure a climber’s rope.
Carabiner
An oval or D-shaped ring with a spring-loaded gate through which a rope can be threaded. One of the most basic items of climbing equipment.
Carter, Howard
English archaeologist, discoverer in 1922 of the tomb of the boy-pharaoh Tutankhamun, the greatest find in the history of Egyptian archaeology. When he first looked into the tomb and was asked by his companion and sponsor Lord Carnarvon if he could see anything, Carter uttered the immortal words: ‘Yes, wonderful things!’ Lived 1874-1939.
Cartouche
An elongated oval enclosing the name of a pharaoh.
Clayton, Lieutenant-Colonel Patrick
British surveyor, soldier and desert explorer. Mapped large areas of the western desert in the 1920s and 1930s. Lived 1896-1962. Two other Claytons also played a prominent role in the exploration of the Gilf Kebir during the 1930s: British aviator
Sir Robert Clayton-East-Clayton
(1908-1932), who gave his name to the geographical formation Clayton’s Craters, and his wife
Lady Dorothy Clayton-East-Clayton
(1908-1933), who was the model for the Kristen Scott Thomas character in the film
The English Patient.
Copt
An Egyptian Christian. The Copts are one of the oldest Christian communities in the world, dating back to the first century AD when St Mark brought the Gospel to Egypt. They account for approximately 10 per cent of the population of modern Egypt. The word ‘copt’ is derived from the ancient Greek
Aigyptos,
which in turn comes from the ancient Egyptian
hut-ka-Ptah –
the House of the Spirit of Ptah.
Cuneiform
Ancient Mesopotamian wedge-shaped script.
David-Neel, Alexandra
French explorer, adventurer, mystic and writer, famous for her travels in Tibet and the Himilayas. In 1924 she was the first European woman
to enter the forbidden city of Lhasa. Lived 1868-1969.
Dead Hang
Hanging from a hold with your arms completely straight.
Deadman
A climbing manoeuvre in which the climber swings his arm upwards towards a difficult hold, making contact with the hold at the very limit of his reach.
De Lancey Forth, Lieutenant-Colonel Nowell Barnard
Australian soldier and desert explorer. Served with the Sudan Camel Corps from 1907 to 1916. Lived 1879-1933.
Deshret
Literally, ‘red land’. The word used by ancient Egyptians to describe the arid desert to either side of the Nile.
Djed
An ancient Egyptian symbol of stability depicted as a pillar surmounted by four horizontal branches. Considered to represent the backbone of the god Osiris.
Djedefre
Fourth Dynasty (Old Kingdom) pharaoh, son of Khufu. Ruled
c.
2528-2520
BC.
His name is sometimes written Ra-djedef.
Djellaba
Traditional robe worn by Egyptian men and women.
Djoser
Third Dynasty (Early Dynastic) pharaoh. Ruled
c.
2630-2611
BC.
His Step Pyramid at Saqqara, just south of Cairo, was the world’s first monumental stone building.
Duco
A cellulose nitrate bonding cement used extensively in the repair and conservation of archaeological artefacts.
Dynasty
The ancient historian Manetho divided Egyptian history into thirty ruling Dynasties, and these remain the basic building blocks of Ancient Egyptian chronology. The Dynasties have subsequently been grouped into Kingdoms and Periods.
Early Dynastic
The earliest period of recorded Egyptian history, when the Nile Valley was first unified as a single state. It comprises the first three dynasties of ancient Egypt and lasted
c.
2920-2575
BC.
Eighteenth Dynasty
The inaugural dynasty of the New Kingdom. It comprised some of Egypt’s greatest and best known pharaohs, including Tuthmosis III, Amenhotep III, Akhenaten and Tutankhamun.
El-Ahly
Famous Cairo football club, founded in 1907 (by Englishman Mitchel Ince). Nicknamed the Red Devils, they have an intense and often violent rivalry with the other main Cairo football club, Zamalek. El-Ahly is Arabic for ‘national’.
El-Capitan
A sheer, 910-metre granite rock face in Yosemite National Park. One of the world’s great ‘Big Wall’ climbs. It was first conquered in 1958 by Warren Harding, Wayne Merry and George Whitmore, who pioneered a route called The Nose.
Ennead
A group of nine deities (’Ennead’ comes from the Greek for ‘nine’) associated with the great sun temple at Iunu. The group consisted of Atum, Shu, Tefnet, Geb, Nut, Osiris, Isis, Set and Nephthys.
FAAAS
Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Fairuz
Famous female Lebanese singer. Real name Nouhad Haddad. Born 1935.
Fao Peninsula
Strategically important peninsula at the southernmost tip of Iraq. Scene of bitter conflict during the Iran-Iraq War of 1980-1988.
Fatir
A type of pancake.
Fellaha
(pl.
fellaheen
) Peasant.
FInstP
Fellow of the Institute of Physics.
First Intermediate
The first of the three intermediate periods that divided the three great Kingdoms of ancient Egypt. It lasted
c.
2134-2040
BC
and saw the fragmentation of the Egyptian state following the strong central rule of the Old Kingdom.
Free-climb
To climb a route without the use of any artificial equipment to aid ascent. Ropes, pitons etc. are only used to provide protection. The opposite of aid climbing.
Freerider
A climbing route up El-Capitan in Yosemite National Park.
Gezira Sporting Club
A 150-acre sports facility on Gezira Island in central Cairo.
Giza
A desert plateau (and town) on the western edge of Cairo, site of the Pyramids, the Sphinx and numerous other archaeological remains.
Great Sand Sea
A vast area of dunes covering some 300,000 square kilometres of western Egypt and eastern Libya.
Graeco-Roman
The final period of ancient Egyptian history, inaugurated with Alexander the Great’s conquest of Egypt in 332
BC
and lasting until
AD
395. The final native Egyptian ruler of Egypt was Cleopatra, who died in 30
BC
, after which the country was ruled directly by Rome.
Hafeez, Sayed Abd-el
Egyptian footballer (midfield). Former captain of El-Ahly. Born 1977.
Hall of Two Truths
The hall where, according to ancient Egyptian mythology, the deceased’s heart was weighed against the feather of Maat, or truth. If the deceased was judged to have done no evil they were allowed to join Osiris in the afterlife.
Hamas
Militant Palestinian nationalist Islamic movement,
founded in 1987. Hamas is both the Arabic for ‘zeal’ and a reverse acronym for ‘The Islamic Resistance Movement’.
Hamdulillah
Literally, ‘Praise be to Allah’.
Hassanein Bey, Ahmed Mohammed
One of the great figures in early twentieth-century Egyptian politics, culture and exploration. In 1922-23 he undertook a groundbreaking, eight-month, 2,200-mile expedition across the Sahara from Sollum on Egypt’s Mediterranean coast to el-Obeid in the Sudan, in the process discovering the hitherto unknown Jebel Uweinat and Jebel Arkenu. Lived 1889-1946.
Hatshepsut
Eighteenth Dynasty (New Kingdom) queen, who ruled Egypt
c.
1473-1458
BC
as joint pharaoh with her stepson Tuthmosis III. Her mortuary temple on the west bank of the Nile at Luxor – one of the most spectacular monuments in Egypt – was the scene of a notorious massacre in 1997 when Islamic extremists killed 58 tourists and four Egyptians.
Heliopolis
Literally, ‘City of the Sun’. Greek name for the ancient Egyptian temple city of Iunu.
Hezbollah
Literally, ‘Party of God’. Militant Shia Islamic group based in Lebanon.
Hierakonpolis
A hugely important archaeological site in Upper Egypt. Known to the ancient Egyptians as Nekhen, it was one of the earliest known urban centres in the Nile Valley, with settlement evidence dating back to 4000
BC.
Hieratic
A cursive form of hieroglyphs. The ancient Egyptian equivalent of joined-up writing.
Holocene
A geological epoch lasting from around 10,000
BC
to the present.
Horus
Ancient Egyptian god, son of Isis and Osiris. Portrayed with a human body and the head of a hawk.
Hypostyle hall
A large hall with a roof supported by columns.
Imma
(pl.
immam
) A headscarf or turban. Worn by men throughout Egypt.
Intermediate Period
The three great Kingdoms of ancient Egypt were separated by three ‘intermediate periods’ during which central authority collapsed and power became localized, with no single king ruling the entire Nile Valley.
Isis
Ancient Egyptian goddess. Wife of Osiris and mother of Horus. Protector of the dead.
Islamic Jihad
Militant Palestinian Islamic group, founded in the late 1970s.
Iteru
An ancient Egyptian unit of measurement, equivalent to approximately 10.5 km. Also the ancient Egyptian name for the Nile.
Iunu
One of the three great cities of ancient Egypt, along with Mennefer (Memphis) and Waset (Thebes/Luxor). Located in what is now northern Cairo, it was a site of huge religious significance, home to a vast temple complex dedicated to the sun god Ra-Atum.
Jihaz amn al-daoula
Egypt’s state security service.
Karkaday
A soft drink made from an infusion of hibiscus petals. Popular throughout Egypt.
Karnak
A vast temple complex just to the north of Luxor, with buildings spanning almost 2,000 years of Egyptian history. The complex was sacred to the god Amun, although many other deities were also worshipped there.
Kemal el-Din Hussein, Prince
Egyptian millionaire, royal scion and desert explorer. Discovered and named the Gilf Kebir in 1926. A monument to him still exists at the
southern tip of the Gilf, erected by Ladislaus Almasy. Lived 1874-1932.
Kemet
Literally, ‘black land’. The word ancient Egyptians used to denote their country. ‘Egypt,’ or Aigyptos, was used initially by the ancient Greeks and is a corruption of the Egyptian
hut-ka-Ptah –
House of the Spirit of Ptah.
Kenem
Ancient name for the oasis of Kharga.
Khan al-Khalili
A large bazaar in Cairo selling everything from jewellery to shisha pipes, gems to leatherwork.
Khasekhemwy
Second Dynasty (Early Dynastic) pharaoh. Built a number of monumental structures including a huge tomb at Abydos. Died
c.
2649
BC.
Khepri
Ancient Egyptian god of creation, renewal, rebirth and the dawn sun. He was portrayed with a human body and the head of a scarab, or dung beetle.
Khet
Ancient Egyptian unit of measurement equivalent to 52.5 metres.
Khomeini, Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah
Iranian Shia cleric and leader of the 1979 Iranian Revolution. Supreme religious and political leader of Iran from 1979 to 1989. Lived 1900-1989.
Khufu
Fourth Dynasty (Old Kingdom) pharaoh, builder of the Great Pyramid at Giza. Also known by the Greek version of his name, Cheops. Ruled
c.
2551-2528
BC.
Kingdom
The history of ancient Egypt covers almost 3,000 years, from the first appearance of a unified nation state around 3000
BC
to the death of Cleopatra and the imposition of direct Roman rule in 30
BC
. During this vast span of time there were three extended periods of national unity and powerful central government, known as the Old, Middle and New Kingdoms.
Kufra
A large desert oasis in south-east Libya.
Late-Period
As the name suggests, this was the period covering the later years of the Egyptian state, when a degree of central authority was re-established following the confusion of the Third Intermediate Period.
Lead-Line
The main rope used by climbers.
Long Range Desert Goup
A special operations unit of the British Army during the Second World War. Founded in 1940 by Ralph Bagnold, the group operated reconnaissance, intelligence-gathering and sabotage missions across the Sahara.
Lugal-Zagesi
King of Umma, a Sumerian city-state. Ruled
c.
2375-2350
BC.
Mahfouz, Naguib
Nobel Prize-winning Egyptian author, widely credited with bringing Arab literature to a wider international audience. Lived 1911-2006.
Majnoon Islands
A strategically important area in southern Iraq, site of numerous Iraqi oil and gas fields.