Anubis: jackal headed god of funerary preparations
Ba, or Ba-Bird: aspect of human beings that
resembles our concept of "personality", comprising the non-physical attributes that made each person unique; it was often depicted
as a bird with a human head and arms, and was also used to refer to the physical manifestations of certain types of gods.
Book
of the Dead: funerary text known to the Egyptians as the "spell for coming forth by day", which was introduced at the end of
the Second Intermediate Period and consisted of about 200 spells or chapters, over half of which were derived directly from the earlier
Pyramid Texts and Coffin texts; the text was usually written on papyrus and placed in the coffin, alongside the body of the
deceased.
Canopic jars: four stone or ceramic vessels used for the burial of the viscera (liver, lungs, stomach, and intestines)
removed during mummification; specific elements of the viscera were placed under the protection of four anthropomorphic gods known
as the Sons of Horus.
Cartonnage: material consisting of layers of linen or papyrus stiffened with plaster and often decorated
with paint or gilding; it was most commonly used for making mummy masks, mummy cases, anthropoid coffins, and other funerary
items.
Coffin Texts: A group of over 1,000 spell, selections from which were inscribed on coffins during the Middle Kingdom
Ka: the creative life force of any individual, whether human or divine, represented by a hieroglyph consisting of a pair of arms, it was
considered to be the essential ingredient that differentiated a living person from a dead one.
Natron: White powdered substance
found commonly in North-Western Egypt in dried lake beds. Composed of baking soda and salt (composed most of sodium carbonate
and sodium bicarbonate, with a lesser amount of sodium chloride). Chiefly found at El Kab, a city in Upper Egypt, and Wadi Natrun,
just outside Cairo. Used for drying the corpse in the first stage of mummification, usually taking forty days.
Necropolis:
a large area devoted to tombs and the shrines and chapels for the dead.
Sarcophagus: "flesh-eater" in Greek. Limestone
cases actually do this. Most in Egypt made of other stones.
Ushabti: Small figures buried with the dead who were charged
with the duty to perform any work asked of the deceased in the afterlife.