Faience - A non-clay ceramic with soda-lime-silicate glaze on a crushed silica body; more correctly known as “Egyptian faience”. Was often

    blue-green.  Earliest appearance during Predynastic times

Faiyum - Site in Middle Egypt roughly centered around Lake Moeris, location of human occupation for at least eight thousand years.

False Door - Architectural element found in private tomb structures of the Old Kingdom:  a recessed niche either in the western wall of the

    offering chamber or in the eastern tomb façade.

Fate - Divine predetermination-found in the Story of Sinuhe; is mentioned first towards the end of the Old Kingdom and continues to be mentioned

    down to the Late Period, particularly in the Wisdom Texts.

Feline Deities- Oldest and best known is Bastet, known since the Old Kingdom; later, she became associated with Sekhmet (Middle Kingdom).

   Some other goddesses are sometimes partially or completely shown as felines-Mut, Hathor, Wadjit, Pakhet, and Tefnut. Mafdet is a lynx

    rather than a cat.

Felines - Egyptians were familiar with a number of felines; lions (Panthera leo), leopards (Panthera pardus), cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus), servals

    (Felis cerval), caracals, wild cats or jungle cats (Felis sylvestris, Felis chaus), and the domestic cat (Felis catus).  Egyptians had a long

    historical relationship with felines, and some of them, notably the lion and the household cat, considerably influenced pharaonic culture and life.

Festival Calendars - Found on temple walls or doorways, detailed accounts connected with the religious activity of the resident deity or deities.

   Most ancient is from Old Kingdom, in King Newoserre Any’s funerary sun temple.  Usually covers construction of or additions to the temple,

    donations made by the pharaoh, purpose of the offerings, usually dates, then details of the festival itself. Exact dates within the civil year are

    listed together with precisely described foods.  Lunar-based festivals include additional data. Sometimes the estates providing the offerings

    are listed.

Festivals - Cult celebrations throughout the year, mostly fixed within the civil calendar to take place on the same day or days each year.  There

   was a separate set of lunar festivals, fixed by the lunar calendar.  Occasionally, there were instances of secular festivals, but these were rare

    and usually related to an individual pharaoh.  One other festival was the heb-sed festival, the rejuvenation festival of the pharaoh celebrated

    after the first thirty years of his reign.

Fifteenth Dynasty (c.1664-1555 B.C.) - Called the “Hyksos Dynasty”, Second Intermediate Period.   According to Manetho,15 groups of kings

     that comprised six “Hyksos” who were foreign rulers from the Near East.  Sometimes translated “shepherd kings” or “captive shepherds”.

First Intermediate Period (c.2220-2040 B.C.) -  The period between the end of the Old Kingdom (according to the Turin Canon) and the beginning

    of the Twelfth Dynasty.  Called “a dark period” by early Egyptologists.

Fish - Evidence well into the Paleolithic (c.45,000 B.C.) of Nile residents relying on fish in their diet. In Dynastic times, fish popular, eaten

   frequently, images used in decorations and decorative objects.  Late period, association of certain fish with certain deities leads to local

    taboos on eating certain fish in certain areas, but none of these taboos were extensive.

Flowers- Important part of daily life as fresh floral decorations or as decorative elements incorporated into art and architecture. Until the

    beginning of the New Kingdom, were mainly water lily blossoms and papyrus heads, with occasional chrysanthemum or camomile flowers.

In the New Kingdom, new flowers were introduced, such as the poppy, cornflower, arum, iris, and dragonwort.

Foreigners- Attitude to foreigners varied-as ethnic groups, were seen as enemies of Ma’at, but as individuals could adopt a name and could act

    like an Egyptian, and thus be acceptable. Foreign captives were brought back as slaves, but could be freed and assimilate into Egyptian

    culture. Worked in almost all occupations.

Forts and Garrisons - Written references to these appear in texts dating to all periods of literate Ancient Egypt.  Existed on all frontiers,

    especially the southern and defending the route to the Near East.

Foundation Deposits -Votive offerings inserted in or beneath the foundation of a structure or in its immediate vicinity before the start of

    construction.  Typically found at the corners, beneath hypostyle halls, courts and pylons, along the walls and main axis of temples, at the

    corners of free-standing tombs, and in a “box-and-one” pattern of holes in front of rock-cut tombs. Objects inscribed with the name of pharaoh,

   or name of tomb owner and pharaoh.  Placed in the ground during a foundation ceremony consisting of ten ritual events.

Four Sons of Horus - The four funerary deities, or genii, named Imsety, Hapy, Duamutef, and Kebehsenuef, present from Old Kingdom through

   Graeco-Roman times. Appear in the Pyramid Texts and The Book of Gates.  Supposed to be sons of Horus, but exact relationship is not

    known.  Had no cults individually, only present in the context of funerary objects. Canopic jars were named for them and sometimes had their

    heads   Usual order was Imsety-Guardian of the liver, had human head; Hapy, Guardian of the lungs, had ape head; Duamutef-Guardian of the

    stomach, had jackal head; and Kebehsenuef-Guardian of the intestines, had falcon head.

Frogs - Abundant in Ancient Egypt, as today, as the Egyptian frog (Rana mascareniensis). The now rare tree frog (Hyla savignyi) extensively

    shown in art.  Also present were two toad species, Bufo regularisor Bufo viridis-hard to determine which is being depicted in art works. 

    Frogs were sacred to Heket, goddess of childbirth.

Funerary Cones - Cone-shaped objects of baked clay inserted as a frieze with the circular face exposed, usually found above the doors of Middle

    and New Kingdom tombs in the Theban Necropolis.  Visible face had a stamp with the tomb owner’s name and title(s), or a short text. Earliest

    date to the 11^th Dynasty.

Funerary Figurines - Also known as shabtis, shawabtis, and ushebtis, were small statuettes, either mummies or living persons dressed in fine

    garb. Served as proxies for the deceased by magically performing various agricultural tasks in the underworld.  Became the most numerous

    of all ancient Egyptian antiquities, one of the characteristic parts of a proper burial.  Earliest appear at Saqqara during the Herakleopolitan

    period and in the 11^th Dynasty mortuary complex  of Nebhepetre Montuhotep I and were made of wax.  Later ones were made of stone, then

    later of wood, faience, terra-cotta, metal, and glass.

Funerary Literature -  Various collections of texts associated with elite burials from almost all periods. Were copied on walls of tombs, and

    occasionally of temples, and on various objects placed in tombs.  Major ones includeBook of the Heavenly Cow, Birth of the Solar Disc,

    The Book of Gates, The Book of Caverns.

Funerary Ritual - Rituals performed by the living for the dead.  Of two types-“Funerary rituals” were performed only once, at the funeral, and

    included any ceremonies that required access to the sealed part of the tomb; “Mortuary cult rituals” were performed daily (ideally) by cult

    functionaries or by family members.  Other rituals performed more rarely, on special occasions like festivals.