News — Egyptian History

Luxor is located about 450 miles south of Cairo on the east bank of the Nile River, and is home to some of the most spectacular temples and tombs in all of Egypt.  Karnak Temple and the Temple of Luxor are two amazing structures of pillars and facades that still stand after thousands of years.   During the reign of Queen Hatshepsut (3500 years ago!) construction began on a 1.5 mile road lined with sphinxes to connect the two temples The path was used once a year during the Opet festival. During this parade, Egyptians carried statues of Amun and Mut to...

Canopic jars were used by the ancient Egyptians during the mummification process. They were containers that held the internal organs of the deceased before mummification. The jars had lids or stoppers that were shaped as the head of one of the minor funerary deities known as the Four Sons of Horus. It was the job of these four deities to protect the internal organs of the deceased. The ancient Egyptians firmly believed that the deceased required his or her organs in order to be reborn in the Afterlife. The jars have lids in the shape of the four Sons of...

Ancient Egyptians believed that there were eight spirit forms that comprised the 'soul' of the deceased, and moved on to the next life. The Ba, usually depicted as a human head with the body and outstretched wings of a falcon (often with human hands down the sides), was the embodiment of the unique characteristics (personality) of the deceased.  The Egyptians thought birds were able to fly between the world of the living and the world of the afterlife. The Ba would fly by day and unite with the other important spirit forms of the deceased in the afterlife, and then return...

At Discoveries Egyptian Imports we have created several coloring book pages, educational booklets and fun activity sheets. We have made it easy to discover new facts about ancient Egypt and to teach children Egyptology in an interesting way. The hieroglyphic language contains more than two thousand symbols, some representing words, others representing full ideas, and others representing sounds (phonetic). Depending on how the symbols are used, the same symbol might represent an idea in one hieroglyphic sentence or a sound in a different sentence! For the alphabet, there are multiple symbols that represent the same sounds. We have adopted a generally accepted alphabet/symbol translation...

Sekhmet (Sakhmet) is an Egyptian goddess depicted with the body of a woman with a lion head wearing a sun disk. She is one of the oldest known Egyptian deities. Her name means: “She who is powerful” and she was the goddess of the desert sun, plague, chaos, war, and healing. For her friends she could avert plague and cure disease. In order to stay on her good side they offered her food and drink and played music for her. As a result, this often ferocious deity was called the “lady of terror” and also the “lady of life”.  ...