A History of World Egyptology is a ground-breaking reference work that traces the study of ancient Egypt over the past 150 years. Global in purview, it enlarges our understanding of how and why people have looked, and continue to look, into humankind's distant past through the lens of the enduring allure of ancient Egypt. Written by an international team of scholars, the volume investigates how territories around the world have engaged with, and have been inspired by, ancient Egypt and its study, and how that engagement has evolved over time. Chapters present a specific territory from different perspectives, including institutional and national, while examining a range of transnational links as well. The volume thus touches on multiple strands of scholarship, embracing not only Egyptology, but also social history, the history of science and reception studies. It will appeal to amateurs and professionals with an interest in the histories of Egypt, archaeology and science.

In this book, Aaron A. Burke explores the evolution of Amorite identity in the Near East from ca. 2500-1500 BC. He sets the emergence of a collective identity for the Amorites, one of the most famous groups in Ancient Near Eastern history, against the backdrop of both Akkadian imperial intervention and declining environmental conditions during this period. Tracing the migration of Amorite refugees from agropastoral communities into nearby regions, he shows how mercenarism in both Mesopotamia and Egypt played a central role in the acquisition of economic and political power between 2100 and 1900 BC. Burke also examines how the establishment of Amorite kingdoms throughout the Near East relied on traditional means of legitimation, and how trade, warfare, and the exchange of personnel contributed to the establishment of an Amorite koine. Offering a fresh approach to identity at different levels of social hierarchy over time and space, this volume contributes to broader questions related to identity for other ancient societies.

Ethnic Identities in the Land of the Pharaohs deals with ancient Egyptian concept of collective identity, various groups which inhabited the Egyptian Nile Valley and different approaches to ethnic identity in the last two hundred years of Egyptology. The aim is to present the dynamic processes of ethnogenesis of the inhabitants of the land of the pharaohs, and to place various approaches to ethnic identity in their broader scholarly and historical context. The dominant approach to ethnic identity in ancient Egypt is still based on culture historical method. This and other theoretically better framed approaches (e.g. instrumentalist approach, habitus, postcolonial approach, ethnogenesis, intersectionality) are discussed using numerous case studies from the 3rd millennium to the 1st century BC. Finally, this Element deals with recent impact of third science revolution on archaeological research on ethnic identity in ancient Egypt.

In this book, Lisa Sabbahy presents a history of ancient Egyptian kingship in the Old Kingdom and its re-formation in the early Middle Kingdom. Beginning with an account of Egypt's history before the Old Kingdom, she examines the basis of kingship and its legitimacy. The heart of her study is an exploration of the king's constant emphasis on his relationship to his divine parents, the sun god Ra and his mother, the goddess Hathor, who were two of the most important deities backing the rule of a divine king. Sabbahy focuses on the cardinal importance of this relationship, which is reflected in the king's monuments, particularly his pyramid complexes, several of which are analysed in detail. Sabbahy also offers new insights into the role of queens in the early history of Egypt, notably sibling royal marriages, harem conspiracies, and the possible connotations of royal female titles.

The wadis which lie to the west of the main Theban mountain were last officially explored by Howard Carter in 1916 and 1917. He suggested in a subsequent article that these wadis might contain the burial ground of the XVIIIth dynasty royal family members whose burials were then missing. The granting of the concession to excavate the Valley of the Kings to the Earl of Carnarvon, and the subsequent discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun, meant that Carter never returned to the Western Wadis to test his theory. The burials of many members of the XVIIIth dynasty royal family remain missing to this day. Since Carter's exploration of this area the evidence in these wadis has been examined by many people, both officially and unofficially, but this report represents the results of the first Ministry of Antiquities-approved attempt to re-address Howard Carter's hypothesis.

This book gives a structured account of Egypt's transition from Ptolemaic to Roman rule by identifying key relationships between ecology, land tenure, taxation, administration and politics. It introduces theoretical perspectives from the social sciences and subjects them to empirical scrutiny using data from Greek and Demotic papyri as well as comparative evidence. Although building on recent scholarship, it offers some provocative arguments that challenge prevailing views. For example, patterns of land ownership are linked to population density and are seen as one aspect of continuity between the Ptolemaic and Roman period. Fiscal reform, by contrast, emerges as a significant mechanism of change not only in the agrarian economy but also in the administrative system and the whole social structure. Anyone seeking to understand the impact of Roman rule in the Hellenistic east must consider the well-attested processes in Egypt that this book seeks to explain.

The publication of the Eastern Desert Roads Surveys brings together the research of two survey projects, the Michigan-Assiut Koptos-Eastern Desert Project and the University of Delaware-Leiden University Eastern Desert Surveys. From 1987 to 2001 and intermittently thereafter until 2015, these two survey teams worked independently to explore and document the archaeological remains along the routes connecting the Nile Valley cities of Koptos (modern Qift) and Apollinopolis Magna (modern Edfu) to the Red Sea port city of Berenike in Egypt. The result of these surveys was the documentation of seventy discrete archaeological sites ranging in date from the late Dynastic to the Late Roman periods, with many sites demonstrating long-term, multi-period occupation. The survey also recorded road sections, route marking cairns and graves/cemeteries. This monograph brings together and integrates the discoveries of both teams, presenting a coherent analysis of the extensive surveys and the materials documented by each. Emphasis is placed on the physical setting of each site, its material remains--including preserved architecture, pottery and other surface finds--and relevant textual evidence, such as inscriptions, ostraka and related historical texts. A single chapter in gazetteer form is devoted to the sites themselves (excluding mines and quarries, which form a separate chapter), while other chapters present the geology of the region and ancient mines and quarries, which made use of the road network, the pottery evidence by phase, and specialist studies. An Introductory chapter offers historical and disciplinary context for the surveys and their subjects, tying the Berenike-Nile roads surveys into the corpus of archaeological surveys in Egypt and the wider Mediterranean world.

The 4th British Egyptology Congress (BEC 4) was held in September 2018 at the University of Manchester, allowing scholars from around the world to present their latest and ongoing research to their peers. Eighty-two papers were presented, including four keynote speeches, covering the full spectrum of Egyptology, archaeology, museology, and the history of travel along the Nile. The 13 papers included in this volume are representative of the wide variety of research discussed during BEC 4, reflecting the current studies of their authors. It is hoped that providing a publication platform through these Proceedings will stimulate further dialogue and investigation.

Egyptian coffins stand out in museums' collections for their lively and radiant appearance. As an involucre of the mummy, coffins played a key-role by protecting the body and at the same time, integrating the deceased in the afterlife. The paramount importance of these objects and their purpose is detected in the ways they changed through time. For more than three thousand years, coffins and tombs had been designed to assure in the most efficient way possible a successful outcome for the difficult transition to the afterlife. This book examines twelve non-royal tombs found relatively intact, from the plains of Saqqara to the sacred hills of Thebes. These almost undisturbed burial sites managed to escape ancient looters and became adventurous events of the Egyptian archaeology. These discoveries are described from the Mariette's exploration of the Mastaba of Ti in Saqqara to Schiaparelli's discovery of the Tomb of Kha and Merit in Deir el-Medina. Each one of these sites unveil before our eyes a time capsule, where coffins and tombs were designed together as part of a social, political, and religious order. From the Pre-dynastic times to the decline of the New Kingdom, this book explores each site revealing the interconnection between mummification practices, coffin decoration, burial equipment, tomb decoration and ritual landscapes. Through this analysis, the author aims to point out how the design of coffins changed through time in order to empower the deceased with different visions of immortality. By doing so, the study of coffins reveal a silent revolution which managed to open to the common men and women horizons of divinity previously reserved to the royal sphere. Coffins thus show us how identity was forged to create an immortal and divine self.

This book examines the interplay between astronomy and dynastic power in the course of ancient Egyptian history, focusing on the fundamental role of astronomy in the creation of the pyramids and the monumental temple and burial complexes. Bringing to bear the analytical tools of archaeoastronomy, a set of techniques and methods that enable modern scholars to better understand the thought, religion and science of early civilizations, Giulio Magli provides in-depth analyses of the pyramid complexes at Giza, Abusir, Saqqara and Dahshur, as well as of the Early Dynastic necropolis at Abydos and the magnificent new Kingdom Theban temples. Using a variety of data retrieved from study of the sky and measurements of the buildings, he reconstructs the visual, symbolic and spiritual world of the ancient Egyptians and thereby establishes an intimate relationship among celestial cycles, topography and architecture. He also shows how they were deployed in the ideology of the pharaoh's power in the course of Egyptian history.

Sacrifice is not simply an expression of religious beliefs. Its highly symbolic nature lends itself to various kinds of manipulation by those carrying it out, who may use the ritual in maintaining and negotiating power and identity in carefully staged 'performances'. This Element will examine some of the many different types of sacrifice and ritual killing of human beings through history, from Bronze Age China and the Near East to Mesoamerica to Northern Europe. The focus is on the archaeology of human sacrifice, but where available, textual and iconographic sources provide valuable complements to the interpretation of the material.

The Egyptologist Annie Quibell, nee Pirie (1862-1927), became a student of Sir Flinders Petrie, copying wall-paintings and inscriptions at his Saqqara excavations, where she met her husband, who was an inspector for the Egyptian Antiquities Service. Accompanying him and sharing in his work on site, she was keen to popularise the marvels of ancient Egyptian civilisation, writing several works for the lay reader. This 1923 book was a new edition of a work originally focusing on the Cairo Museum, but which was now intended as a historical guide to Egyptian collections in general. She advises that it should be skimmed through before any visit, 'sufficiently to get an impression of the great length of Egyptian history', but can also be used afterwards to follow up any particular interest. The very recent discovery of Tutankhamen's tomb, 'just as the book was going to press', enthuses Quibell with prospects for the future.

The American archaeologist James H. Breasted (1865-1935) is best remembered for his 1906 four-volume Records of Egypt, which contains fresh readings and translations of almost all of the ancient Egyptian historical inscriptions available at the time, and remains an important resource. In this 1912 work, originally delivered as lectures, Breasted discusses the significance of the 'Pyramid Texts', preserved on fifth- and sixth-dynasty pyramids at Saqqara, and recently published in full, to the understanding of ancient Egyptian religious thought. He argues that mortuary practice as revealed by archaeology gives indications of the beliefs of a pre-literate society, but that by the time of the earliest inscriptions the Egyptian belief system was well established. He is particularly interested in the development of a moral sense in the context of the traditional pantheon with its multiple aspects of human/animal divinities, and in the influence of the developing Egyptian empire on its religion.

In the second half of the nineteenth century, accounts of the journey down the Nile became increasingly common. This narrative by William John Loftie (1839-1911), who wrote prolifically on travel, art, architecture and history, was published in 1879. (His A Century of Bibles is also reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection.) Loftie spent in total about 15 months in the Nile valley over several seasons, and justifies his book by the rate of archaeological discoveries: 'books published even three years ago are already behind the times'. He gives details of his journeys to and from Egypt, and of visits to the famous sites, but, unusually, he takes notice of the current political and economic state of Egypt, and is trenchant in some of his criticisms. He also goes off the beaten tourist track, hiring donkeys to make excursions away from the river, rather than travelling only by boat.

'Stone Tools in the Ancient Near East and Egypt: Ground stone tools, rock-cut installations and stone vessels from Prehistory to Late Antiquity' is about groundstone tools, stone vessels, and devices carved into rock throughout the Near East and Egypt from Prehistory to the late periods. These categories of objects have too often been overlooked by archaeologists, despite their frequent occurrence in the archaeological record. Most importantly, a careful study of these tools reveals crucial insights into ancient societies. From the procuring of raw materials to patterns of use and discard, they provide us with a wealth of information about the activities they were involved in and how these activities were organised. These tools reveal patterns in the trade of both raw materials and finished products, inform us about economic aspects of food production and consumption, cast light on industrial activities, help establish intercultural connections, and offer hints about the relationship between sites and their environment. The aim of this book is to explore all aspects of these ubiquitous tools and to stimulate debate about the new methodologies needed to approach this material.

Darlene L. Brooks Hedstrom offers a new history of the field of Egyptian monastic archaeology. It is the first study in English to trace how scholars identified a space or site as monastic within the Egyptian landscape and how such identifications impacted perceptions of monasticism. Brooks Hedstrom then provides an ecohistory of Egypt's tripartite landscape to offer a reorientation of the perception of the physical landscape. She analyzes late-antique documentary evidence, early monastic literature, and ecclesiastical history before turning to the extensive archaeological evidence of Christian monastic settlements. In doing so, she illustrates the stark differences between idealized monastic landscape and the actual monastic landscape that was urbanized through monastic constructions. Drawing upon critical theories in landscape studies, materiality and phenomenology, Brooks Hedstrom looks at domestic settlements of non-monastic and monastic settlements to posit what features makes monastic settlements unique, thus offering a new history of monasticism in Egypt.

Sir John Soane's Greatest Treasure describes one of the most important antiquities ever found in Egypt - the beautiful calcite sarcophagus of the pharaoh Seti I. Re-discovered in 1817 in the tomb of Seti I in the Valley of the Kings by the flamboyant explorer Giovanni Belzoni, the sarcophagus now resides in Sir John Soane's Museum in London's Lincoln's Inn Fields. Leading Egyptologist John H. Taylor outlines the life of Seti I, the background to the creation of the sarcophagus, the excitement surrounding its re-discovery and the fascinating story of its journey to London and its acquisition by Sir John Soane. At the heart of the book is a fully illustrated interpretation of the complex imagery and hieroglyphic inscriptions which cover the delicately carved surfaces of the sarcophagus. The book also includes an essay by Helen Dorey on the celebrations held at the Museum to welcome the arrival of the sarcophagus of Seti I in 1825. Sir John Soane's Greatest Treasure is published to mark the 200th anniversary of the re-discovery of the sarcophagus in 1817, and to accompany a major exhibition at Sir John Soane's Museum, opening in October 2017.

The Egyptologist Annie Quibell, nee Pirie (1862-1927), originally trained as an artist, but became a student of Sir Flinders Petrie, copying wall-paintings and inscriptions at his Saqqara excavations, where she met her husband, who was an inspector for the Egyptian Antiquities Service. Accompanying him and sharing in his work on site, she was keen to popularise the marvels of ancient Egyptian civilisation, recreating life-sized Egyptian rooms for a display at the St Louis World's Fair in 1904, and writing several works for the lay reader. This book, published in 1925, is intended to 'point out to other sojourners and travellers some things about Egypt, which, after long residence there, seem to me important'. As well as discussing the famous archaeological sites, Quibell describes Port Said (the entrance to the Suez Canal), and the Nile delta, the Coptic church and its long history, and an expedition into the desert.

The concept of pharaonic Egypt as a unified, homogeneous, and isolated cultural entity is misleading. Ancient Egypt was a rich tapestry of social, religious, technological, and economic interconnections among numerous cultures from disparate lands. This volume uniquely examines Egypt's relationship with its wider world through fifteen chapters arranged in five thematic groups. The first three chapters detail the geographical contexts of interconnections through examination of ancient Egyptian exploration, maritime routes, and overland passages. The next three chapters address the human principals of association: peoples, with the attendant difficulties differentiating ethnic identities from the record; diplomatic actors, with their complex balances and presentations of power; and the military, with its evolving role in pharaonic expansion. Natural events, too, played significant roles in the pharaonic world: geological disasters, the effects of droughts and floods on the Nile, and illness and epidemics all delivered profound impacts, as is seen in the third section. Physical manifestations of interconnections between pharaonic Egypt and its neighbors in the form of objects are the focus of the fourth set: trade, art and architecture, and a specific case study of scarabs. The final section discusses in depth perhaps the most powerful means of interconnection: ideas. Whether through diffusion and borrowing of knowledge and technology, through the flow of words by script and literature, or through exchanges in the religious sphere, the pharaonic Egypt that we know today was constantly changing-and changing the cultures around it.

This book provides an introduction to one of the greatest civilizations of all time - ancient Egypt. Beginning with a geographical overview that explains the development of Egyptian belief systems as well as its subsequent political development, it examines methodology, the history of the discipline of Egyptology, religion, social organization, urban and rural life, and death. It also includes a section on how people of all ranks lived. Lavishly illustrated, with many unusual photographs of rarely seen sites that are seldom illustrated, this volume is suitable for use in introductory-level courses on ancient Egypt. It offers a variety of student-friendly features, including a glossary, a bibliography, and a list of sources for those who wish to further their interest in ancient Egypt.

The Italian son of a barber. A failed hydraulic engineer. A giant who performed feats of strength and agility in the circus. Giovanni Belzoni (1778-1824) was all of these before going on to become one of the most controversial figures in the history of Egyptian archaeology. A man of exceptional size with an ego of comparable proportions, he procured for the British Museum some of its largest and still awe-inspiring treasures. Today, however, the typical museum visitor knows nothing of Belzoni, and many modern archaeologists dismiss him as an ignorant vandal. In this captivating new biography, Ivor Noel Hume re-creates an early nineteenth century in which there was no established archaeological profession, only enormous opportunity. Belzoni landed in Egypt, where he was unsuccessful in selling a hydraulic machine of his own invention, and came under the patronage of diplomat Henry Salt, who convinced him to travel to Thebes in search of artifacts. Among the many treasures Belzoni would bring back was the seven-ton stone head of Ramesses II, the ""Young Memnon."" The book includes gripping accounts of Belzoni's wildly productive, and physically brutal, expeditions, as well as an unforgettable portrait of his wife, Sarah, who suffered the hardships of the Egyptian deserts and later bore the brunt of the disillusionment that came with the declining popular perception of her husband. Including numerous illustrations, many in color, this volume brings one of archaeology's most fascinating figures vividly to life.

The American archaeologist James H. Breasted (1865-1935) published this history in 1906. His intention was to create a one-volume work which would be suitable for the increasing number of tourists visiting the Nile valley, for those interested in the rise of Greek and Roman civilisation, and for students of the Old Testament. Drawing on Breasted's own four-volume Records of Egypt, which contains fresh readings and translations of almost all of the ancient Egyptian historical inscriptions available at the time, the book follows the conventional chronology from 'earliest Egypt' to the Old Kingdom and the Middle Kingdom, characterised as a 'feudal age', the intermediate period of the Hyksos, and the New Kingdom, described here as 'the Empire'. The account ends with 'the Decadence', invasions by Libyans and Nubians, and the Persian conquest after the battle of Pelusium in 525 BCE. The book contains nearly 200 photographs and drawings.

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1902 edition. Excerpt: ...is gaily dressed in yet another costume, his pleated tunic stiffened uncomfortably, and an elaborately-coloured ribbon, to which, perhaps, an amulet is suspended, hung round his neck. He is accompanied by his wife and hound, and by a son (Asa?) who brings a gift of birds and flowers. His titles seem written in disorderly columns, as before, The signs 4 must belong to the lost name of the herdsman. Surety they cannot form an attribute of Asa.: Not represented to Ecalc in the plate. but little save the repetition of the name, Rahenem, is preserved. In front, in the top register, two sons present offerings of birds and cruses of ointment. They are the "Sole Companion, Lector, and Great Chief of the Du-ef Nome "(Asa or Qehua?) and Qednes. Behind them is a barque, which contains a chest inscribed for "The Sole Companion, Chief Lector, Sempriest, and Great Chief of the Du-ef Nome, Rahenem." This coffin or ark is set on a bier under a light baldachin, and the two sacred eyes are represented above it. A man in attitude of adoration, and carrying the kherpsceptre, stands in the prow. This boat is followed by a ship under sail, which contains, besides the crew, the figure of Asa (?) seated in a chair. From the attitude of the female figure before him, whether she be his wife or a professional mourner, it would seem that the deceased prince is here represented. Two sacrificial oxen led by herdsmen follow this scene, one of which wears the gay collar which was put on valuable animals when presented for inspection. The dancing scene in the second register may be loosely connected with the funeral procession. Most of the dancers are dressed in the garb already familiar from previous examples, but one, who may be a singer, is in ordinary...

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1902 edition. Excerpt: ...is gaily dressed in yet another costume, his pleated tunic stiffened uncomfortably, and an elaborately-coloured ribbon, to which, perhaps, an amulet is suspended, hung round his neck. He is accompanied by his wife and hound, and by a son (Asa?) who brings a gift of birds and flowers. His titles seem written in disorderly columns, as before, The signs 4 must belong to the lost name of the herdsman. Surety they cannot form an attribute of Asa.: Not represented to Ecalc in the plate. but little save the repetition of the name, Rahenem, is preserved. In front, in the top register, two sons present offerings of birds and cruses of ointment. They are the "Sole Companion, Lector, and Great Chief of the Du-ef Nome "(Asa or Qehua?) and Qednes. Behind them is a barque, which contains a chest inscribed for "The Sole Companion, Chief Lector, Sempriest, and Great Chief of the Du-ef Nome, Rahenem." This coffin or ark is set on a bier under a light baldachin, and the two sacred eyes are represented above it. A man in attitude of adoration, and carrying the kherpsceptre, stands in the prow. This boat is followed by a ship under sail, which contains, besides the crew, the figure of Asa (?) seated in a chair. From the attitude of the female figure before him, whether she be his wife or a professional mourner, it would seem that the deceased prince is here represented. Two sacrificial oxen led by herdsmen follow this scene, one of which wears the gay collar which was put on valuable animals when presented for inspection. The dancing scene in the second register may be loosely connected with the funeral procession. Most of the dancers are dressed in the garb already familiar from previous examples, but one, who may be a singer, is in ordinary...

The career of Arthur Weigall (1880-1934) encompassed Egyptology but also stage design, film criticism and journalism, as well as fiction and books about ancient Egypt. After studying in Germany, he worked at Abydos with Flinders Petrie, but in 1905 he was unexpectedly promoted to Chief Inspector of Antiquities for Upper Egypt, when Howard Carter was forced to resign. His work in Egypt, especially in the area of Luxor, focused on the conservation of monuments and the prevention of the shipping of artefacts abroad, until 1911, when he returned to London. In the preface to this two-volume work, published in 1925, Weigall likens the writing of a history of Egypt to the piecing together of a jigsaw puzzle consisting of thousands of pieces, but presents a chronological narrative at a level to satisfy both the scholar and the interested amateur. Volume 2 covers the period from the twelfth to the mid-eighteenth dynasty.