GLOSSARY
Abu Kabir
A neighbourhood in the south of Tel-Aviv.
Afwan
‘You’re welcome’.
Agatharchides
Ancient Greek historian and geographer. Lived in the second century
BC
, although almost nothing is known about his life.
Ahhotep jewellery
Fabulous collection of gold funerary equipment belonging to Eighteenth-Dynasty Queen Ahhotep (
c
.
1550BC
). Discovered in 1859 at Dra Abu el-Naga.
Ahl el-kitab
iterally, ‘People of the Book’. Muslim term for Jews and Christians, whose scriptures were incorporated into Islam.
Aish baladi
itta-type bread made from wholemeal flour.
Akhenaten
Eighteenth-Dynasty pharaoh. Ruled
c
.1353–
1335BC
. Father of Tutankhamun.
Al-Gama’a al-Islamiyya
Literally, ‘the Islamic Group’. A militant Egyptian Islamic movement.
Aliya
iterally, ‘Going up’. Emigration to the land of Israel.
Allah-u-Akhbar
iterally, ‘God is greater’ or ‘God is greatest’.
Al-Masry al-Youm
gyptian daily newspaper.
Al-Quds
Arabic name for Jerusalem.
Amenemhat III
Middle Kingdom pharaoh (Twelfth Dynasty). Ruled
c
.1844–
1797BC
. The mortuary temple attached to his pyramid at Hawwara in the Fayoum was so complex that ancient writers referred to it as a labyrinth.
Amenhotep I
Eighteenth-Dynasty pharaoh. Ruled
c
.1525–
1504BC
.
Amenhotep III
Eighteenth-Dynasty pharaoh. Ruled
c
.1391–
1353BC
. Father of Akhenaten, grandfather of Tutankhamun.
Amenhotep Colossi
Also known as the Colossi of Memnon: two giant seated statues that once stood in the mortuary complex of the pharaoh
Amenhotep III (
c
.1391–1353) on the West Bank of the Nile at Luxor.
Amr Diab
Hugely popular Egyptian musician.
Amrekanee
(f.
Amrekanaya
)
American.
Amun
Ancient Egyptian god, often depicted with the head of a ram. The patron deity of ancient Waset (modern Luxor). In the New Kingdom he was merged with Ra to form the composite deity Amun-Ra. His name means ‘the hidden one’.
Ardon, Mordechai
One of Israel’s greatest artists. Created the stained-glass windows for the National Library of Israel in Jerusalem. Lived 1896–1992.
Ay
Eighteenth-Dynasty pharaoh. Ruled
c
.1323–
1319BC
. Succeeded Tutankhamun.
Baba ghanoush
iddle Eastern dish made from tahini and mashed aubergine.
Balash
#x2018;Detective’.
Banana Island
A Luxor beauty spot.
Bar Refaeli
Israeli supermodel.
Basboussa
gyptian sweet pastry made with semolina, nuts and honey.
Bassatine Cemetery
A Jewish cemetery in Cairo.
Begin, Menachem
Israeli politician. Served as Prime Minister 1977–1983. Signed the Camp David Peace Treaty with Egypt in 1979. As leader of the Irgun (
qv
), he ordered the 1946 bombing of Jerusalem’s King David Hotel in which ninety-one people were killed. Lived 1913–1992.
Ben Ali, Zine el Abidine
Former President of Tunisia, ousted by the Jasmine Revolution of December 2010/January 2011. Currently in exile in Saudi Arabia.
Ben-Gurion, David
Founding father of the State of Israel. Served as Prime Minister 1948–1954 and 1955–1963. Lived 1886–1973.
Bersiim
type of clover used as cattle feed in Egypt.
Bezeq
Israel’s national telecommunications company.
BFST
‘Brigade des Forces Spéciales Terre’: the French equivalent of the SAS.
Bhopal
Indian town, capital of the state of Madya Pradesh. On 3 December 1984, a toxic leak at a pesticide plant owned by Union Carbide India Limited killed thousands and injured tens of thousands.
Blintzes
sraeli dish: thin pancakes, similar to crepes.
Bris
iddish rendering of
Brit Milah
, the Jewish ceremony of circumcision.
Bruyère, Bernard
French archaeologist. Excavated the ancient workers’ village of Deir el-Medina on the West Bank of the Nile at Luxor. Lived 1879–1971.
Bulti
rabic name for the Nile tilapia fish.
Bureka
sraeli dish: a triangle of puff pastry stuffed with cheese, spinach or potatoes.
Burton, Henry (Harry)
English Egyptologist and archaeologist. Served as photographer on the Tutankhamun excavation. Lived 1879–1940.
Cachette Court
A courtyard in the great temple complex at Karnak, so called because a huge cache of buried statues was discovered there in the early twentieth century.
Callender, Arthur R.
English architect and engineer. A close friend of Howard Carter, who worked with him on the Tutankhamun excavation. Nicknamed ‘Pecky’. Died 1936.
Carter, Howard
English archaeologist, discoverer, in 1922, of the tomb of Tutankhamun. Lived 1874–1939.
Cartouche
An oval loop with a horizontal line at the bottom within which a pharaoh’s name was written in hieroglyphs.
Černý, Jaroslav
Czech Egyptologist. Lived 1898–1970.
Challah
plaited loaf eaten by Jews on the Sabbath.
Chevrier, Henri
French Egyptologist and archaeologist, best known for his work at Karnak in the 1920s.
Cholent
traditional Jewish slow-cooked stew, usually eaten on the Sabbath.
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.
Daedalus
A figure from Greek mythology. The creator of the labyrinth for King Minos.
Dafook
ebrew for ‘moron’.
Dana International
Transsexual Israeli pop singer.
Danishaway
illage in the Delta region of northern Egypt. Scene of an infamous incident in 1906 in which four innocent Egyptians were executed after an altercation with a group of British soldiers.
Deir el-Bahri
Site of the mortuary temple of Queen Hatshepsut (ruled
c
.1473–
1458BC
). On the West Bank of the Nile at Luxor.
Deir el-Medina
Ancient village on the West Bank of the Nile at Luxor, home to the workers who dug and decorated the tombs of the Valley of the Kings.
Deir el-Muharrib monastery
The ‘Monastery of the Warrior’. A small Coptic monastery at the base of the Theban massif, near the ancient site of Malqata.
Diodorus Siculus
Greek historian who lived in the first century
BC
. His
Bibliotheca Historica
provides one of the earliest accounts of gold-mining in Nubia and eastern Egypt.
Djehuty burial
Collection of gold funerary objects from the tomb of Eighteenth-Dynasty general Djehuty. Discovered at Saqqara in 1824.
Djellaba
raditional robe worn by Egyptian men and women.
Djellaba suda
black robe worn by Egyptian peasant women.
Dra Abu el-Naga
Village (and ancient burial ground) on the West Bank of the Nile at Luxor.
Dr Ragab’s Pharaonic Village
A Cairo theme park based around life in ancient Egypt. Founded in 1974 by Dr Hassan Ragab.
Druze
A monotheistic religious sect incorporating elements of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. They are found mainly in Syria, Lebanon, Israel and Jordan.
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.
Egged
Israeli intercity bus company.
Eighteenth Dynasty
Ancient Egyptian history is divided into Kingdoms (Old, Middle and New), which are in turn subdivided into Dynasties. The Eighteenth Dynasty comprised fourteen rulers and covered the period
c.
1550–
1307BC
. It was the first of the three Dynasties of the New Kingdom (
c
.1550–
1070BC
).
Ein Karem
A village near Jerusalem. Has a large artistic community.
El-Awamaia
District of Luxor, at the south end of the town.
Elohim adirim
#x2018;God Almighty!’
Elwat el-Diban
Literally ‘Mound of the Flies’. Small hill beside the road to the Valley of the Kings, site of Howard Carter’s dig house. Now a museum.
Eretz Nehederet
iterally ‘Wonderful Country’. Popular Israeli satirical TV show.
Etti Ankri
Popular Israeli singer/songwriter.
Fayoum
A large oasis in Egypt’s Western Desert, about 130km south-west of Cairo.
Fellaha
(pl.
fellaheen
)
‘Peasant’.
Frumm/frummer
n extremely devout Jew.
Gadaffi, Muammar
Former Libyan leader and dictator, killed in 2011 by revolutionary fighters. Born 1942.
Gatro, Yahonathan
Openly gay Israeli musician and actor.
Gebel
#x2018;Mountain’.
Gehinnom
valley outside the Old City of Jerusalem. According to Rabbinic literature it is the place where the wicked are punished and is thus synonymous with hell.
Gezira
A district of central Cairo occupying the southern part of Gezira Island in the Nile.
Goldstar
A make of Israeli beer.
Goldstein, Baruch
Jewish extremist. Shot dead twenty-nine Muslim worshippers in Hebron in 1994 before he himself was beaten to death. Regarded as a hero by right-wing Jewish settlers.
Goneim, Muhammed Zakaria
Pioneering Egyptian archaeologist. Lived 1905–1959.
Goy
(pl.
Goyim
)
Derogatory Yiddish term for a non-Jew.
Graeco-Roman
The final period of ancient Egyptian history, inaugurated with Alexander the Great’s conquest of the country in
332BC
, and lasting until
AD395
.
Gush Shalom
Literally, the ‘Peace Bloc’: Israeli peace group.
Gut Shabbas
raditional Yiddish Sabbath greeting.
Ha’aretz
sraeli daily newspaper.
Hadash
Left-wing Israeli political party.
Hajj
Pilgrimage to Mecca, one of the five ‘pillars’ of the Muslim faith.
Halva
opular Israeli/Middle Eastern confectionery made from sesame paste and sugar.
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’.
Ha-matzav
ebrew for ‘the situation’. Generally used by Israelis to refer to the conflict with the Palestinians.
Hamdulillah
iterally, ‘Praise be to Allah’.
Hapo-el Tel-Aviv
Israeli football club based in Tel-Aviv.
Haram Al-Sharif
Literally, ‘the Noble Sanctuary’. The enclosure in
Old Jerusalem containing the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock, the third holiest site in the Islamic world. Overlies the remains of the ancient Jewish temple.
Haredi
(pl.
Haredim
)
Ultra-Orthodox Jew.
Hasfari, Shmuel
Israeli playwright. Born 1954.
Ha-Shem
Hebrew for ‘the Name’: God.
Hatshepsut
Eighteenth-Dynasty (New Kingdom) queen, who ruled Egypt
c
.1473–
1458BC
as joint pharaoh with her stepson Tuthmosis lll. Her mortuary temple at Luxor is one of the most spectacular monuments in Egypt.
Hauser, Walter
American architect, draughtsman and archaeologist. Worked with Howard Carter on the clearance of Tutankhamun’s tomb.
‘Hava Nagila’
Traditional Hebrew folk song.
Hawass, Zahi
Egypt’s best-known archaeologist. Former Minister of State for Antiquities, and head of the Supreme Council of Antiquities 2002–2011.