I was surprised to find there were only 7 World Heritage Sites in Egypt, but then I discovered that’s because they’ve dumped them all under massive listings. Maybe I’ll finally be able to have more than a 50/50 shot at Memphis or Thebes…
Questions
Added to the World Heritage in Danger list in 2001 because of rising water tables, which archaeological site in Alexandria governorate that offers insight into early Christianity was an early entry on the Unesco list in 1979? Today you can mainly see foundations of this pilgrimage site with a two-word Arabic name.
ABU MENA
Included in the ‘Ancient Thebes with its Necropolis’ World Heritage Site is the Great Temple at Karnak that was dedicted to which Egyptian god? It is one of the largest religious buildings ever built.
AMUN
Making up part of the Theban Triad with his father Amun, a temple found within the Precinct of Amun-Re at Karnak is dedicated to which moon god? This deity gives rise to a Marvel character, whose avatar is Moon Knight.
KHONSU
Along with Amun and Khonsu, which wife of Amun makes up the third member of the Theban Triad? She has a precinct named for her at Karnak and the vulture is one of her symbols.
MUT
Easily confused with Horus, which falcon-headed god of war is particularly associated with Thebes, with a precinct at Karnak being dedictaed to him? There is an inverted roller coaster at Busch Gardens carrying his name, and he represents the vitality of the pharaoh.
MONTU
Also known as the Rams Road or The King’s Festivities Road, what is the most common name given to the avenue that connects the temple complex of Karnak with the Luxor Temple, being named for statues that lined its sides?
AVENUE OF SPHINXES
The ruins of which village near the Valley of the Kings has a name meaning ‘Monastery of the City’? It was home to artisans that worked on many of the valley’s tombs, with excavations led by French Egyptologist Bernard Bruyère beginning in the same year that Howard Carter discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun.
DEIR EL-MEDINA
Malkata was the site of a palace that was the residence of which father of Akhenaten, who moved the capital from Thebes to Amarna? Known as ‘the Great’ or ‘the Magnificent’, this pharaoh has the most statues still is existence of any pharaoh.
AMENHOTEP III
Having a mortuary tomb in Thebes like his son Ramesses the Great does with the Ramesseum, which pharaoh is associated with the life of Moses, having been portrated by Cedric Hardwicke in “The Ten Commandments”, John Turturro in “Exodus: Gods and Kings” and voiced by Patrick Stewart in “The Prince of Egypt”?
SETI I
The Mortuary Temple of Ramesses III is known for reliefs that describe his victory over which poorly understood people, with there being much scholarly debate as to their origin and theories about their migration?
SEA PEOPLES
So numerous are the tombs in the Valley of the Kings that they follow a numbering system established by John Gardner Wilkinson in 1821. Which two letters are used as a prefix by Egyptologists to distinguish them, with number 62 being that of Tutankhamun?
KV (King’s Valley)
The Valley of the Rope, Valley of the Three Pits and the Western Wadis are home to lots of tombs and are associated with which other main valley, with the tombs built there being mostly anonymous?
VALLEY OF THE QUEENS
Catalogued with the prefix TT, at which site near Luxor can the Tombs of the Nobles be found? Learning this list is probably to be avoided as we’re now up to over 400!
THEBAN NECROPOLIS
Although excavation only began in 2020, which ‘lost city’ in the Theban necropolis is particularly well preserved, leading to comparisons with Pompeii?
(RISE OF) ATEN / DAZZLING ATEN
Included in the ‘Historic Cairo’ World Heritage listing, under what name was the site of Muslim Egypt’s first capital known following the 641 conquest, later being absorbed by the current capital?
FUSTAT
Featuring in “The Spy Who Loved Me” and the video game “Serious Sam 3”, which largest mosque of Cairo is named for the founder of a dynasty who became Emir of Egypt and Syria during the 9th century?
IBN TULUN
Located on the Mokattam hills in central Cairo, what is the name of the fortification built by Saladin that saw significant modifications by Muhammad Ali Pasha in the 19th century? It’s now home to several museums, great if carriages are your thing!
THE CITADEL
Also known as the Cairo necropolis or Qarafa, by what four-word term is the Egyptian capital’s sprawling mass of funerary sites popularly known, even extending beyond its city walls?
CITY OF THE DEAD
Cairo is home to a mausoleum that houses the remains of the Sunni Imam who founded which Islamic school of jurisprudence, the other three founders being buried further east?
SHAFI’I
Found on the Egyptian one pound note, the mausoleum of which Mamluk sultan who died in 1496 is included in UNESCO’s ‘Historic Cairo’ listing? He is particularly known for his building projects, with a citadel named for him in Alexandria being built at the exact spot where the Pharos was previously found.
QAITBAY
The Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara is found in which World Heritage listed necropolis, being found today in Giza governorate?
MEMPHIS
Found at Dahshur in the Memphis necropolis, the pyramid dedicated to Fourth dynasty founder Sneferu is described as what shape in its common name?
BENT
A pyramid complex included under the umbrella of the Memphis necropolis with a name meaning ‘House of Osiris’, Abusir gives its name to some of the oldest what found to date, first being discovered in 1893?
PAPYRI
Credited as the start of the list learning paradise of UNESCO locations because of the success in relocating several significant sites, what precedes “Monuments from Abu Simbel to Philae” in the name of one of Egypt’s World Heritage Sites?
NUBIAN
The Philae temple complex is named for an island that is now submerged by the waters of Lake Nasser. To which nearby island was the monument moved, this place giving its name to the site on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko where the Philae lander ‘bounced’, before coming to rest a short distance away?
AGILKIA
An example of what kind of device are the 52 steps that lead down to the water at Elephantine Island? This was a particularly important example as Elephantine marked Egypt’s southernmost border, so was the first place where the start of the annual flood was detected.
NILOMETER
Saint Catherine’s monastery was built on the order of Emperor Justinian to enclose a chapel that surrounded a location thought to be the site of what Biblical event? The earlier chapel had been commissioned by Constantine the Great’s mother, Helena.
BURNING BUSH
Located in Faiyum governorate, Wadi al-Hitan is particularly noted for fossils that provide insight into the evolution of what type of animal, with examples of the relevant finds including the basilosaurus and dorudon?
WHALE
Whittipedia 