Vocabulary (pt.cmlxiv)
Words taken from The Singer from Memphis (2016), the Athenian Mysteries, Gary Corby:
ammonium (n.) the monovalent ion NH4+, formed from ammonia.
gastraphetes (n.) a hand-held crossbow used by the Ancient Greeks. It was described in the 1st century AD by the Greek author Heron of Alexandria in his work Belopoeica, which draws on an earlier account of the famous Greek engineer Ctesibius (fl. 285–222 BC). Heron identifies the gastraphetes as the forerunner of the later catapult, which places its invention some unknown time prior to c. 420 BC. [x]
Memphis an ancient city of Egypt, whose ruins are situated on the Nile about 15 km south of Cairo. It is thought to have been founded as the capital of the Old Kingdom of Egypt c.3100 BC. It is the site of the pyramids of Saqqara and Giza and the Sphinx.
nauarch (n.) in ancient Greece, an admiral or supreme commander of the navy, used as an official title primarily in Sparta in the late 5th and early 4th centuries BC. [x]
Naukratis a city of ancient Egypt, on the Canopic branch of the Nile river, and 72 km southeast of the open sea and Alexandria. It was the first and, for much of its early history, the only permanent Greek colony in Egypt; it was a symbiotic nexus for the interchange of Greek and Egyptian art and culture. [x]
Ptah Egyptian mythology. an ancient deity of Memphis, creator of the universe and god of artisans, who became one of the chief deities of Egypt; he was identified by the Greeks with Hephaestus.
Saqqara an Egyptian village in Giza Governorate known for its vast, ancient burial ground of Egyptian kings and royals, serving as the necropolis for the ancient Egyptian capital Memphis. Saqqara contains numerous pyramids, including the world-famous Step pyramid of Djoser, sometimes referred to as the Step Tomb, and a number of mastaba tombs. [x]
Siwa Oasis an urban oasis in Egypt between the Qattara Depression and the Great Sand Sea in the Western Desert, 50 km east of the Libyan border and 560 km from Cairo. About 80 km in length and 20 km wide, Siwa Oasis is one of Egypt’s most isolated settlements with about 33,000 people, mostly Berbers, who developed a unique and isolated desert culture and a language called Siwi; they are also fluent in the Egyptian dialect of Arabic, which is called “Masry,” meaning Egyptian. Its fame derives primarily from its ancient role as the home to an oracle of Ammon, the ruins of which are a popular tourist attraction, which gave the oasis its ancient name Oasis of Amun Ra. [x]
trierarch (n.) the commander of a trireme. [x]
trireme (n.) historical. a galley with three banks of oars.
