Ma'at

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Ma'at in ancient Egyptian religion was the personification of truth, justice, and the cosmic order. Her name means 'That which is straight,' and her role in the pantheon was to bring order, justice, and harmony into the world. According to their mythology, Ma'at was born of the sun god Ra at the beginning of creation. The power of Heka (the goddess who was magic personified) brought her to life.

Ma'at is usually portrayed as a woman with wings, mostly in profile, with an ostrich feather on her head, but a simple white ostrich feather also symbolizes her. In its abstract sense, Ma'at was the divine order established at creation and reaffirmed at the accession of each new king of Egypt. 

Her feather was an integral part of the journey the deceased person's soul had to go through to achieve eternity in the afterlife. The judgment of the dead was believed to focus upon the 'Weighing of the Heart' ceremony, where the heart of the dead person's soul was weighed on the scales of justice against Ma'at's white feather. It was a test for the deceased's soul to ensure he had followed proper values during his life.

Ma'at's pure spirit is the essence of all creation, whereas humans were to respect and live by her rules. If one refused to live according to the principles of Ma'at, then one's deeds would have brought upon one's self consequences.

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Mafkat

Sinai Peninsula

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Mafkat meaning 'The land of Turquoise', was the ancient Egyptian name for the triangle-shaped Sinai Peninsula in Egypt. It is an area of about 60,000 square kilometers between the Mediterranean Sea (north) and the Red Sea (south), with land borders of the Suez Canal (west) and the Israeli-Egyptian border (northeast).

The earliest recognizable habitation of the Sinai was by the Monitu, and already during the first dynasty of the pharaohs, the profitable trade of copper and turquoise mining had begun. The mines were worked on a seasonal basis for thousands of years.

Numerous caves and caverns are in the High Mountain Region (home to the Jabaleya Bedouin tribe). This region lies about 1600 meters from sea level, and many of the surrounding mountains are above 2000 meters, with Mt. Katherine being the tallest at 2642 meters. The high ranges continue towards the coast in the west and south, with some of the most impressive mountains.

Because of its elevation, the area receives more precipitation than the rest of the Sinai Peninsula and is still relatively wet – it is a desert ecosystem, but there are hundreds of Bedouin orchards and several natural water–pools. The area is mainly granite with characteristic smooth red domes and hidden basins.

 

Magi

 

Magi (singular magus, derived from the Latin word: magus) were priests in Zoroastrianism in western Iran. Zoroastrianism, or Mazdayasna, is one of the world's oldest continuously practiced religions.

The 'magi' is the oldest word for a practitioner of magic. It includes astronomy/astrology, alchemy and other forms of esoteric knowledge. The word's origin (meaning 'Member of the Tribe') developed in the unique sense of 'Member of the (priestly) Tribe', in other words, a priest.

The earliest known use of the word magi is in the trilingual inscription by Darius the Great, in the Behistun Inscription. After that, they appear in the Gathic and Avestan languages and later in the Old Persian scripts predating the Hellenistic period. The Greeks believed that Zoroaster was the Chaldean founder of the Magi's order and the inventor of astrology and magic. The word still survives today as the root of the terms' magic' and 'magician'.

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Malkata Palace

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The Malkata (Malqata) Palace was the city-sized home palace of Amenhotep III. (Amenhotep, The Magnificent), near Thebes (today Luxor). He ruled as a god-king from his extensive palace over Egypt for almost 40 years. Never before had Egypt seen such wealth, power, or ostentation as during his reign.

Today Malkata lies in ruins, but it's one of the few places able to hint at the splendor of the pharaohs' lives, still marking the pinnacle of Amenhotep's 3,000-year-old empire.

Courtyards, audience chambers, harems, and a gigantic ceremonial lake have been discovered at the palace's site. Researchers have found that the walls were covered with bright, delicate paintings, some of which are still faintly visible. Animals, flowers, and the reed beds along the Nile were all depicted on the walls of the Pharaoh's grand estate. Malkata was a home on the scale of a city, except built for a single ruler. Amenhotep's wife had her own wing of the vast estate, and the artificial lake was built strictly so the ruler and family could sail on it. The site was so large that there was even a set of apartments known as the 'West Villas' that would have housed the various workers and staff on site. 

 

Manapa

 

Manapa was the military advisor of Emperor Tudhaliya as the head of the Hittite army. As the Hittites were a warrior nation, he led countless rallies and wars to conquer land from the neighbouring countries. 

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Marduk

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Marduk was the king of the gods in Babylon, who ruled over justice, compassion, healing, regeneration, magic, and fairness. However, he is sometimes mentioned as a storm god and agricultural deity. Herodotus described his temple, the famous ziggurat, which today is considered the model for the biblical Tower of Babel. 

He is depicted as a man in royal robes, with a snake dragon and a spade in his hands. He was the son of the Enki (god of wisdom associated with fresh, life-giving water). 

Marduk's importance for the city of Babylon grew along the ancient Babylonian history (and later the Assyrian and Neo-Assyrian Empire), and he became the most important and powerful god of the Mesopotamian pantheon. He was believed to be the creator of the heavens and earth and the co-creator with Enki of human beings. He conquered the Tiamat's (goddess of chaos) forces of chaos and invented the divine order. Once he ruled over the universe, he bestowed upon the other gods their duties and organized the world and the netherworld. The Babylonian people's unfaltering worship of Marduk bordered on monotheism.

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Menetptah

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Menetptah was the Egyptian ambassador of Amenhotep III. to King Kadashman Enlil III. in Babylon.

 

Men-Nefer

(See: Memphis)

 

Memphis

 

Memphis was the Greek name of Men-Nefer, the capital and an important religious cult center of ancient Egypt. It was also the principal city of Lower Egypt's first nome (mhw - 'north').

Its ruins are located 20 km (12 mi) south of Giza (Cairo) on the west bank of the Nile. The city's original name was Hiku-Ptah ('Mansion of the Soul of Ptah'), later known as Inbu-Hedj ('White Walls'), because the city's mud-brick buildings were painted white. (See Hiku-Ptah and Inbu-Hedj)

At the beginning of the New Kingdom (c. 1550 BC), the city became known as mn-nfr, pronounced as Men-Nefer, ('enduring and beautiful'). The name 'Memphis' was the Greek version of the Bohairic Coptic word 'Memfi' and was given to the pyramid of Pepi I. (located west of the city).

 

Merutef

 

Merutef was the high priest of the god Thoth during the reign of Amenhotep III. His full name was Nebmerutef, an important figure beside the Pharaoh. The statue that identifies him is in the Louvre in Paris today. It is a small group that shows a high-ranking scribe at work reading an unrolled papyrus. He is protected by the god Thoth, patron of the scribes, represented in his animal form as a baboon. The inscriptions identify him as Nebmerutef, a high priest of Thoth at the time of Amenhotep III.

He is also depicted on a wall of the temple of Amenhotep III. at Soleb. Close to the king, he is shown participating in the jubilee celebrations alongside the most significant figures of the realm. Nebmerutef was portrayed in a second sculpture, similar in composition, carved in costly white alabaster. Today these stand side by side in the same display case in the Louvre in Paris.

 

Meryra

 

Meryra was an ancient Egyptian official during the reign of Amenhotep III. in the 18th dynasty around 1375 BC. His main title was ‘Royal Treasurer’. He was one of the most important officials in the royal court, looking after the king’s belongings and the palace’s goods.

Meryra is only attested in his tomb at Saqqara, discovered in the 1980s in the temple area known as the Bubasteum. (TA 4) The tomb is beautifully decorated with reliefs, even though some were cut from the walls and sold on the art markets. Two of these reliefs are now in Vienna (Kunsthistorisches Museum).

Mina / Mutnofret

Mina was the leader of Sekhmet dancers and musicians of the Sekhmet temple in Men-Nefer during the reign of Amenhotep III. (18th dynasty).

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Mirgall

 

Mirgall was the name of Nanshaya’s gigantic female lion, a devoted animal companion of the young oracle all her life.

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Mittani

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The Kingdom of Mittani was considered a great nation, stretching from present-day northern Iraq through Syria to Turkey. Few records of the people themselves exist today, but archaeologists have found correspondences between the Mitanni kings to both Assyria and Egypt. During the excavations of the Hittite archives of Hattusa (near present-day Boğazkale, in Turkey), the archaeologists found the oldest surviving horse-training manual in the world. It was written in 1345 BCE on four tablets and contains 1080 lines by a Mitanni horse trainer.

The Mitanni dynasties ruled between c. 1475 BC and c. 1275 BC. In 1350 BC, Mitanni was so strong that it equalled in power with Egypt, the Kingdom of the Hatti (Hittites), Babylonia and Assyria.

The excellent relationship between Egypt and Mittani was sealed by marriage between the daughter of Shuttarna II, king of Mitanni, Gilukhepa and Amenhotep III. Gilukhepa was the sister of Tushratta (later King of Mitanni). (See Gilukhepa)

When Tushratta ascended the throne of Mittani, he gave his daughter, princess Tadukhepa, to marry pharaoh Amenhotep III. It was part of a treaty to balance power even more between the two nations.

According to the ancient scripts, the Mittani people were innovators who developed the light war chariot with wheels that used spokes rather than solid wood wheels.

At its height, the Mitanni Dynasty controlled trade routes down the Habur to Mari and from Carchemish up the Euphrates. They also controlled the upper Tigris and its headwaters at Nineveh.

 

Mi-Wer

 

Mi-Wer (or Mer-Wer) was located in the Fayoum oasis near the city of Eland. It was the city of the harem of the Pharaohs. The remains of the palaces and the necropolis were found near the town of Gurob at the entrance to the Fayoum.

The ancient Egyptian name for the harem is ‘kheneret’, related to the words ‘restrain’, ‘confine’ and ‘prison’.

The harem was a luxurious work of art. It was a villa complex for queens, consorts, princesses and female chattel acquired through conquests, marriages and other means. Some women in the harem were from noble Egyptian families - daughters of courtiers and bore the title of ‘Royal Ornament’. By tending to the king and the court, these girls were educated in proper manners and customs, making them attractive for marriage candidates for favourite courtiers if not retained for the king himself. They were called ‘Neferut’ (beauties). The best weavers and jewellers were working there, and the finest products coming from Mi–Wer were highly priced and appreciated.

Today the central area of settlement remains at the site can be clearly identified as the remains of an independent establishment relating to royal women (a ‘harem-palace’), founded in the reign of Thutmose III (1479-1425 BC) and occupied throughout the rest of the 18th dynasty and presumably also for at least part of the Ramesside period. The inscriptions on stelae, papyri and various other inscribed artefacts from the main buildings at the site repeatedly include the titles of officials connected with the royal harem of Mi-Wer. The capital must have had a similar establishment, but that site has not survived.

 

Mumbu

 

Blind musician appointed to queen Tiye and her court. He was born without vision, but the surgeons of the Sekhmet temple operated on him and gave back his sight.

 

Mut

 

Mut, in ancient Egyptian religion, was the goddess of the sky and the great divine mother. The name ‘Mut’ means ‘mother’, and her role was that of an older woman among the gods. Her sacred animals were the lionesses, and her sign was the’ Uraeus’ (rearing cobra) on the royal crowns.

 The earliest records about Mut show her origins in the Nile River delta. Mut’s importance as a goddess flourished during the 18th dynasty (1539–1292 BC.). Mut was celebrated as Amun’s consort at Thebes, where she had a temple on the east bank on the southern side of the great Amon–Ra temple at Karnak. She formed the Theban triad with Amun and her son, the youthful god Khons.

Mut was usually depicted as a woman with the double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt on her head. This headdress was typically worn by the king and creator god Atum.

Occasionally she was portrayed with the head of a lioness, especially when identified with other goddesses, mostly Bastet and Sekhmet. (She also bore the title and qualities of the ‘Eye of Ra’. (See Eye of Ra)

She was worshipped in Upper Egypt as ‘The Great Lady of Isheru’, the ‘Lady of Heaven’, and the ‘Queen of the Gods’.

Her temples were centres of religious education. For example, a prominent school for princes and well-born young men was dedicated to her in Karnak. Amenhotep III. studied there as a prince before becoming a pharaoh.

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Mutemwiya

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She was a minor wife of Thutmose IV. and mother of Amenhotep III. as shown in the divine scenes of her son in the Luxor temple. Archaeologists found one of her statues that probably came from the pharaoh’s mortuary temple and another figure of her in a boat adjacent to the granite sanctuary of the Karnak Temple (today in the British Museum). She also appears next to her son on the colossi of Memnon and in the tomb of Heqareshu (‘Royal Tutor’ of Amenhotep III.).

Although she was only a minor wife of Thutmose IV., she gained importance as the great queen mother at the time of her son, Amenhotep III’s, accession to the throne. She bore the titles (among many others) of the ‘Lady of The Two Lands’, ‘Great King’s Wife’, ‘Sweet of Love’,’ Mistress of Upper and Lower Egypt’, ‘God’s Mother’.

We have no records of Mutemwiya’s death, but she is believed to have survived long into her son’s reign. The evidence for that is her presence among the sculptures of the Colossi of Memnon, which was built well into his reign, and a mention of her estate on a wine-jar label found in Amenhotep III.’s Malkata Palace in Thebes.