A pioneer of British Egyptology, Sir John Gardner Wilkinson (1797-1875) first travelled to Egypt in 1821, the year before Champollion published his breakthrough work on the Rosetta Stone. As public interest in Egypt grew, Wilkinson studied and sketched the country's major archaeological sites, most notably the tombs of Thebes. When published in 1835, the present work was the first major book in English on the subject and the most substantial since the French Description de l'Egypte. The text and plates present a detailed picture of contemporary Egypt in relation to its ancient heritage. Wilkinson remodelled and expanded the work as Modern Egypt and Thebes (1843), and his chapter here on daily life in the days of the pharaohs formed the basis of his celebrated Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians (1837). Both titles are also reissued in this series.

A pioneering Egyptologist, Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie (1853-1942) excavated over fifty sites and trained a generation of archaeologists. In this short but classic work of 1904, he explains his vision for the young science of archaeology. Petrie outlines his processes and goals for an excavation, offering advice on how to manage workers drawn from the local population as well as guidance on creating a thorough record of a dig, the importance of which had not been fully appreciated by many contemporary archaeologists. His methods were highly influential in their more systematic and scientific approach to archaeology at a time when many of its practitioners were more focused on acquiring attractive artefacts than advancing knowledge. The text is accompanied by 66 illustrations. Petrie wrote prolifically throughout his long career, and a great many of his other publications - for both specialists and non-specialists - are also reissued in this series.

A pioneering Egyptologist, Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie (1853-1942) excavated over fifty sites and trained a generation of archaeologists. The two excavation reports now reissued here together were written in collaboration with other experts. The first, published in 1907, describes digs at Giza and Rifeh, including the discovery of the Tomb of the Two Brothers, a well-preserved Middle Kingdom burial. The second report, co-authored with Ernest Mackay (1880-1943) and published in 1915, covers work at Heliopolis, Kafr Ammar and Shurafa. Petrie and his collaborators describe how they came to make their discoveries, shedding light on developing archaeological practices used in the early twentieth century. Each report includes a section of valuable illustrative material, such as photographs and drawings of artefacts. Petrie wrote prolifically throughout his long career, and a great many of his other publications - for both specialists and non-specialists - are also reissued in this series.

The Material World of Ancient Egypt examines the objects and artifacts, the representations in art, and the examples of documentation that together reveal the day-to-day physical substance of life in ancient Egypt. This book investigates how people dressed, what they ate, the houses they built, the games they played, and the tools they used, among many other aspects of daily life, paying great attention to the change and development of each area within the conservative Egyptian society. More than any other ancient civilization, the ancient Egyptians have left us with a wealth of evidence about their daily lives in the form of perishable objects, from leather sandals to feather fans, detailed depictions of trades and crafts on the walls of tombs, and a wide range of documentary evidence from temple inventories to personal laundry lists. Drawing on these diverse sources and richly illustrating his account with nearly one hundred images, William H. Peck illuminates the culture of the ancient Egyptians from the standpoint of the basic materials they employed to make life possible and perhaps even enjoyable.

Admired long after his death by the likes of Lord Rayleigh and Einstein, Thomas Young (1773-1829) was the definition of a polymath. By the age of fourteen he was proficient in thirteen languages, including Greek, Hebrew and Persian. After studies in Edinburgh, London, Goettingen and Cambridge he established himself as a physician in London, and over the course of his life made contributions to science, linguistics and music. He was the first to prove that light is a wave rather than molecular, his three-colour theory of vision was confirmed in the twentieth century, and his work in deciphering the Rosetta Stone laid the foundations for its eventual translation. Published in 1855, this engaging biography drew on letters, journals and private papers, taking the mathematician George Peacock (1791-1858) twenty years to complete. It stands as a valuable and affectionate portrait of 'the last man who knew everything'.

Egyptologists, art historians, philologists, and anthropological archaeologists have long worked side by side in Egypt, but they often fail to understand one another's approaches. This book aims to introduce students to the archaeological side of the study of ancient Egypt and to bridge the gap between disciplines by explaining how archaeologists tackle a variety of problems. Douglas J. Brewer introduces the theoretical reasoning for each approach, as well as the methods and techniques applied to support it. This book is essential reading for any student considering further study of ancient Egypt.

This book follows the life story of Amenhotep III, one of the most important rulers of ancient Egypt, from his birth and into the afterlife. Amenhotep III ruled for thirty-eight years, from c.1391-1353 BC, during the apex of Egypt's international and artistic power. Arielle P. Kozloff situates Amenhotep in his time, chronicling not only his life but also the key political and military events that occurred during his lifetime and reign, as well as the evolution of religious rituals and the cult of the pharaoh. She further examines the art and culture of the court, including its palaces, villas, furnishings and fashions. Through the exploration of abundant evidence from the period, in the form of both textual and material culture, Kozloff richly re-creates all aspects of Egyptian civilization at the height of the Mediterranean Bronze Age.

'If modern Egypt is so far away that it takes three weeks to get there, ancient Egypt is infinitely more distant.' So wrote novelist, journalist, traveller and Egyptologist Amelia Edwards (1831-92) in this, the last published work of her career. Having first travelled to Egypt in 1873, in 1889-90 Edwards was invited to lecture in the United States, campaigning for the Egypt Exploration Fund, of which she was joint honorary secretary. In five months she addressed 100,000 people at over 110 meetings in sixteen states. First published in 1892, a month before her death, this book is a collection of her lectures, containing substantial illustrations, additions, notes, and references. Exhibiting both Edwards' ability to make abstruse subjects come alive without losing factual correctness, and the humour and enthusiasm with which she recounted her experiences, this book marks the culmination of twenty years' research and exploration.

This book is a vivid reconstruction of the practical aspects of ancient Egyptian religion. Through an examination of artefacts and inscriptions, the text explores a variety of issues. For example, who was allowed to enter the temples, and what rituals were performed therein? Who served as priests? How were they organized and trained, and what did they do? What was the Egyptians' attitude toward death, and what happened at funerals? How did the living and dead communicate? In what ways could people communicate with the gods? What impact did religion have on the economy and longevity of the society? This book demystifies Egyptian religion, exploring what it meant to the people and society. The text is richly illustrated with images of rituals and religious objects.

Egyptian mummies have always aroused popular and scientific interest; however, most modern studies, although significantly increased in number and range, have been published in specialist journals. Now, this unique book, written by a long-established team of scientists based at the University of Manchester (England), brings this exciting, cross-disciplinary area of research to a wider readership. Its main aim is to show how this team's multidisciplinary, investigative methods and the unique resource of the Egyptian Mummy Tissue Bank are being used for the new major international investigations of disease evolution and ancient Egyptian pharmacy and pharmacology. It also assesses the current status of palaeopathology and ancient DNA research, and treatments available for conserving mummified remains. Descriptions of the historical development of Egyptian mummifications and medicine and detailed references to previous scientific investigations provide the context for firsthand accounts of cutting-edge research by prominent specialists in this field, demonstrating how these techniques can contribute to a new perspective on Egyptology.

Ancient Egypt, with its spectacular temples and tombs, its history, gods, and legends, has enticed the human imagination for centuries. This fascination--and the irresistible drive to unearth the buried secrets of a lost civilization--have been the life work of archaeologist Donald P. Ryan. "Beneath the Sands of Egypt" is the gripping first-person account of a real-life "Indiana Jones" as he recalls a career spent delving into the remains of Egypt's past--including his headline-making rediscovery of a lost tomb in the Valley of the Kings containing the mummy of the famous female pharaoh Hatshepsut.

Infused with the irrepressible curiosity and the incomparable wonder of discovery that have fueled Ryan's lifelong journey, "Beneath the Sands of Egypt" is the extraordinary story of a man who has always embraced adventure whenever--and wherever--he finds it.

Amelia Edwards' English translation of the Manual of Egyptian Archaeology by the renowned French Egyptologist Gaston Camille Charles Maspero (1846 1916) was originally published in 1887. The fifth edition reissued here appeared in 1902, ten years after Edwards' death, under the auspices of Maspero. Edwards' translation was important for generating public interest in Egyptology in Britain. It is a classic work of popular Egyptology that has served for years as an indispensable guide for students, amateur enthusiasts and professionals, and was long relied upon by British tourists visiting Egypt's ancient sites. The book contains chapters on civil and military architecture, religious architecture, ancient tombs, Egyptian painting and sculpture, and industrial art. There are detailed sections on the various materials used including stone, clay, glass, wood, ivory, leather, textile fabrics, iron, lead, and bronze. The volume is beautifully illustrated with over 300 engravings.

Howard Carter (1874 1939) was an English archaeologist and Egyptologist, now renowned for discovering the tomb of the pharaoh Tutankhamun. Published between 1923 and 1933, this three-volume study contains Carter's detailed account of the sensational discovery, excavation and clearance of Tutankhamun's tomb and its treasures. The tomb was almost fully intact when discovered and remains the most complete burial discovered in the Valley of the Kings. Each volume of Carter's book is richly illustrated with over 100 photographs of the tomb and objects found in it, showing their original state and how they appeared after reconstruction. Carter's meticulous recording and conservation techniques are faithfully documented in his account, providing a vivid and engaging description of the work which occurred during the excavation and clearance of this famous site. Volume 1 describes in detail Carter's discovery of the tomb, its opening and the recording and clearance of the Antechamber.

Howard Carter (1874 1939) was an English archaeologist and Egyptologist, now renowned for discovering the tomb of the pharaoh Tutankhamun. Published between 1923 and 1933, this three-volume study contains Carter's detailed account of the sensational discovery, excavation and clearance of Tutankhamun's tomb and its treasures. The tomb was almost fully intact when discovered and remains the most complete burial discovered in the Valley of the Kings. Each volume of Carter's book is richly illustrated with over 100 photographs of the tomb and objects found in it, showing their original state and how they appeared after reconstruction. Carter's meticulous recording and conservation techniques are faithfully documented in his account, providing a vivid and engaging description of the work which occurred during the excavation of this famous site. Volume 3 describes the recording and conservation of objects in the Treasury and Annexe rooms and puts forward Carter's interpretation of their use.

Amelia Edwards (1831 1892) was an English novelist, journalist and travel writer. In the winter of 1873 1874 she and her companion visited Egypt, travelling up the Nile from Cairo to Abu Simbel and back. Edwards became fascinated with ancient Egypt as a result of this visit, founding the Egypt Exploration Fund in 1882 and devoting the rest of her life to Egyptology and the protection of Egypt's ancient monuments. This volume, first published in 1876, contains Edwards' engaging description of her life-changing visit to Egypt. She vividly describes ancient sites and monuments which have since been damaged or destroyed, and provides sharp observations and descriptions of contemporary Egyptian society and culture. Her animated and witty stories of her experiences, combined with over sixty illustrations created during her journey, ensured the immense popularity of this volume, which remains a charming and fascinating description of nineteenth-century Egypt.

Thomas Young (1773-1829) was an English physician who was one of the first modern scholars to attempt to decipher ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, and made significant contributions to a variety of other academic disciplines. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1794 and in 1803 published an article establishing the wave theory of light. Young became interested in hieroglyphs in 1814, when he was sent a fragment of papyrus from Egypt. After acquiring a copy of the Rosetta Stone inscriptions Young made rapid progress, publishing his results in 1816 and 1819. When Champollion published his groundbreaking work on hieroglyphs in 1822 Young believed that Champollion had based that work on his earlier translations without acknowledgement, which Champollion denied. This book was published in 1823 in an attempt by Young to lay 'public claim to whatever credit be my due', and provides a summary of his hieroglyphic research.

Carl Richard Lepsius (1810-1884) was a pioneering Prussian Egyptologist considered one of the founders of modern Egyptology. He was commissioned to lead an archaeological expedition to Egypt by the Prussian King Frederick Wilhelm IV in 1842. This 1858 English translation presents an 1856 publication that contained one of the first detailed discussions of the obscure 22nd Dynasty of ancient Egyptian kings. The 22nd Dynasty were descendants of Libyan settlers who ruled between c.943 and 716 BCE in the Third Intermediate Period of Egyptian history, a period characterised by episodes of political instability. Lepsius discusses the chronology of succession in the 22nd Dynasty with reference to texts uncovered by himself and the French archaeologist Auguste Mariette. Although some of Lepsius' assertions regarding the origin of the 22nd Dynasty are now known to be incorrect, his book is still a valuable account of the early historiography of the 22nd Dynasty.

The Italian adventurer Giovanni Belzoni (1778 1823) is one of the most colourful and notorious figures in Egyptology. After the Napoleonic invasion of Egypt, European interest in the country, and especially in its antiquities, led to a demand for artifacts, the larger the better. Belzoni happened to be pursuing his two careers, as circus strong-man and hydraulic engineer, in Egypt in 1815, when he was asked to organise the transport of a 7-ton statue of Ramesses II from Thebes to the British Museum. After the success of this enterprise, he turned his attention to the discovery of other antiquities, though using destructive techniques which were deplored by serious contemporary scholars. His narrative of his adventures was enormously popular at the time, and remains readable and entertaining today. This reissue omits the plates from the original edition, which are too large to be reproduced satisfactorily in this format.

Sir Ernest Alfred Thompson Wallis Budge (1857 1934) was a prominent English Egyptologist who was Keeper of the Department of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities in the British Museum between 1893 and 1924. He was knighted in 1920 for his contributions to Egyptology. First published in 1893, this book contains a detailed discussion of the funerary rituals and objects which were used in Egyptian religion to allow the deceased to live again in the Duat (the afterlife). Budge provides detailed descriptions of common religious texts, religious rites and the major deities involved in these. He also includes interpretations for other artefacts which commonly accompanied a burial, including shabiti statues and amulets. His comprehensive study represents the state of Egyptian funerary archaeology before major archaeological finds of the twentieth century challenged its interpretations. The text reissued here is taken from the expanded and revised second edition, published in 1925.

Berenice II (c. 264-221 BCE), daughter of King Magas of Cyrene and wife of Ptolemy III Euergetes, came to embody all the key religious, political, and artistic ideals of Ptolemaic Alexandria. Though she arrived there nearly friendless, with the taint of murder around her, she became one of the most accomplished and powerful of the Macedonian queens descended from the successors of Alexander the Great. She was at the center of a group of important poets and intellectuals associated with the Museum and Library, not the least of which was Callimachus, the most important poet of the age. These men wrote poems not just for her, but about her, and their eloquent voices projected her charisma widely across the Greek-speaking world. Though the range of Berenice's interests was impressive and the quantity and quality of the poetry she inspired unparalleled, today she is all but known. Assimilating the scant and scattered evidence of her life, Dee L. Clayman presents a woman who was more powerful and fascinating than we had previously imagined. Berenice II and the Golden Age of Ptolemaic Egypt offers a portrait of a woman who had access to the cultural riches of both Greece and Egypt and who navigated her way carefully through the opportunities and dangers they presented, ultimately using them to accrue unprecedented honors that were all but equal to those of the king.

The life of Arsinoe II (c. 316-c.270 BCE), daughter of Ptolemy Soter, the founder of the Ptolemaic dynasty, is characterized by dynastic intrigue. Her marriage to her full brother Ptolemy II, king of Egypt, was the first of the sibling marriages that became the "dynastic signature" of the Ptolemies. With Ptolemy II, she ended her days in great wealth and security and was ultimately deified. However, in order to reach that point she was forced to endure two tumultuous marriages, both of which led her to flee for her life, leaving war, murder, and bloodshed in her wake. Throughout much of her life, Arsinoe controlled great wealth and exercised political influence, but domestic stability characterized only her last few years. Arsinoe was the model for the powerful role Ptolemaic women gradually acquired as co-rulers of their empire. Her image continued to play a role in dynastic loyalty and solidarity for centuries to come. Despite the fact that Arsinoe was the pivotal figure in the eventual evolution of regnal power for Ptolemaic women, and despite a considerable body of recent scholarship across many fields relevant to her life, there is no up-to-date biography in English on the life of this queen. Elizabeth Carney, in sifting through the available archaeological and literary evidence, creates an accessible and reasoned picture of this royal woman. In describing Arsinoe's significant role in the courts of Thrace and Alexandria, Carney dicusses the role of earlier Macedonian royal women in monarchy, the institution of sibling marriage, and the reasons for its longstanding success in Hellenistic Egypt. Ultimately, this book provides a broader view of an integral player in the Hellenistic world.

Over recent years, a number of scholars have argued that the human mind underwent a cognitive revolution in the Neolithic. This volume seeks to test these claims at the Neolithic site of Catalhoeyuk in Turkey and in other Neolithic contexts in the Middle East. It brings together cognitive scientists who have developed theoretical frameworks for the study of cognitive change, archaeologists who have conducted research into cognitive change in the Neolithic of the Middle East, and the excavators of the Neolithic site of Catalhoeyuk who have over recent years been exploring changes in consciousness, creativity and self in the context of the rich data from the site. Collectively, the authors argue that when detailed data are examined, theoretical evolutionary expectations are not found for these three characteristics. The Neolithic was a time of long, slow and diverse change in which there is little evidence for an internal cognitive revolution.

Egyptology Today examines how modern scholars examine all aspects of ancient Egypt, one of the greatest of all ancient civilizations. In essays by a team of archaeologists, curators, scholars, and conservators who are actively involved in research or applied aspects of Egyptology, this book looks at the techniques and methods that are used to increase our understanding of a distant culture that was as old to the Greeks and Romans as these cultures are to us. Topics range from how tombs and other monuments are discovered, excavated, recorded and preserved, to the study of Egyptian history, art, artifacts, and texts. Each chapter shows how modern Egyptology approaches, learns about, and strives to preserve the ancient remains of one of the most fascinating cultures in human history.

In this fascinating study, architect and Egyptologist Corinna Rossi analyses the relationship between mathematics and architecture in ancient Egypt by exploring the use of numbers and geometrical figures in ancient architectural projects and buildings. While previous architectural studies have searched for abstract 'universal rules' to explain the history of Egyptian architecture, Rossi attempts to reconcile the different approaches of archaeologists, architects and historians of mathematics into a single coherent picture. Using a study of a specific group of monuments, the pyramids, and placing them in the context of their cultural and historical background, Rossi argues that theory and practice of construction must be considered as a continuum, not as two separated fields, in order to allow the original planning process of a building to re-emerge. Highly illustrated with plans, diagrams and figures, this book is essential reading for all scholars of Ancient Egypt and the architecture of ancient cultures.

The excavations of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology on Bates's Island at Marsa Matruh, on the seacoast at the north of Egypt's western desert, uncovered a small site with a metalworking workshop and nearby houses. The pottery indicates that this small Late Bronze Age settlement had links to several cultures: Cyprus, the Aegean, Egypt, the coast of western Asia, and the local Marmarican people. The volumes publish the architecture, the local and imported pottery, the crucibles and other evidence for metalworking, the ostrich egg shells and other faunal remains, and the other discoveries made at the site.