How the Rosetta Stone Works

Hieroglyphics used to be a language that no one -- Egyptian or otherwise -- could decipher. With the help of the Rosetta Stone, that all changed.

Was there really a curse on King Tut's tomb?

Did King Tut put a hex on a group of archaeologists and dignitaries? Or is a mosquito to blame for mysterious their mysterious deaths?

Ancient Egypt

Egypt, Ancient. More than 3,000 years before the Christian Era, a highly developed civilization existed in Egypt.

Valley of the Kings

Valley of the Kings, a low-lying area on the west bank of the Nile River, in Egypt.

Akhnaton

Akhnaton, or Ikhnaton, a pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty of Egypt, reigning from about 1379 to 1362 B.C.

Alexandrian School

Alexandrian School, a name given to various groups of persons engaged in artistic and intellectual activities in Alexandria, Egypt, during the Hellenistic and Roman eras.

Ammon

Ammon, the Greek and Roman name for the ancient Egyptian god Amen, ä'měn. The name is also written Amon and Amun.

Book of the Dead

Book of the Dead, an ancient Egyptian religious work. It was a collection of magic spells, prayers, and hymns intended for use by the soul in its journey beyond the grave into the underworld.

Cleopatra

Cleopatra (in full: Cleopatra VII Phil-opator), a queen of Egypt of the Ptolemaic dynasty.

Cleopatra's Needles

Cleopatra's Needles , two ancient Egyptian obelisks—tall, slender monuments—of rose-red granite.

Exodus

Exodus, the second book of the Old Testament. The name means “going out.” The subject is the departure of the Israelites from Egypt.

Hatshepsut

Hatshepsut, (1560?–1482 B.C.), an Egyptian ruler, the first woman to become a pharaoh.

Heliopolis

Heliopolis, the center of sun worship in ancient Egypt, called On in the Bible. Heliopolis, a Greek word, means “city of the sun.” (The Greeks applied this name also to Baalbek in Syria.) Heliopolis was near the site of modern Cairo.

Hyksos

Hyksosa foreign people who ruled in ancient Egypt. Their name means “rulers of foreign lands.” Late in the 18th century B.C.

Imhotep

Imhotep, an Egyptian statesman, architect, and physician. He lived about 2650 B.C.Imhotep was counselor to Pharaoh Djoser during the Third Dynasty of the Old Kingdom.