The discovery of ancient Egypt and the development of Egyptology are momentous events in intellectual and cultural history. The history of Egyptology is the story of the people, famous and obscure, who constructed the picture of ancient Egypt that we have today, recovered the Egyptian past while inventing it anew, and made a lost civilization comprehensible to generations of enchanted readers and viewers thousands of years later. This, the second of a three-volume survey of the history of Egyptology, explores the years 1881-1914, a period marked by the institutionalization of Egyptology amid an ever increasing pace of discovery and the opening of vast new vistas into the Egyptian past. Wonderful Things affirms that the history of ancient Egypt has proved continually fascinating, but it also demonstrates that the history of Egyptology is no less so. Only by understanding how Egyptology has developed can we truly understand ancient Egypt.

Purifying a House from Blood provides an updated philological edition of the Hittite ritual for the ancient gods (CTH 446) with transliteration, transcription, and English translation. In addition to the updated critical edition, which is complemented with philological notes and commentary, this work provides a comprehensive study of this important ritual text. The introduction to the text (part 1) presents a palaeographic analysis and a brief overview of the content and the main topics of interest for a reading. Part 2 offers a detailed philological commentary. Part 3 discusses in greater detail some distinctive aspects of this composition in the broader context of the Hittite ritual corpus.

Biblical Zoara is located in the Ghor as-Safi, precisely at the lowest place on earth. Its environmental and cultural history is therefore unique. During two decades, an archaeological project was conducted which discovered many significant finds of human occupations spanning some 12,000 years. These have been meticulously studied and the results are now presented here in Volume I. Volume II will follow and will complete and complement Volume I.

For those wishing to study the Roman city in Egypt, the archaeological record is poorer than that of many other provinces. Yet the large number of surviving texts allows us to reconstruct the social lives of Egyptians to an extent undreamt of elsewhere. We are not, therefore, limited to a history of the public faces of cities, their inscriptions, and the writings of their elites, but can begin to understand what the transformations of the city meant for ordinary people, and to uncover the forces that shaped the everyday lives of city dwellers. After Egypt became part of the Roman Empire in 30 BC, Classical and then Christian influences both made their mark on the urban environment. This book examines the impact of these new cultures at every level of Egyptian society. The result is a new and fascinating insight into the creation of a specific urban society in the Roman Empire, as well as a case study for the model of urban development in antiquity.

This comprehensive treatment of Cleopatra and the political and social world in which she lived will be an indispensable resource for anyone interested in Cleopatra or in ancient Egypt. Laying bare the "injustice, the adverse partiality, of the attitude assumed by classical authors," the author offers the reader a new, more balanced look at the life of one of history's most important women. The book is divided into sections on Cleopatra and Caesar and Cleopatra and Antony and is supplemented by a number of maps and illustrations.

Sir E. A. Wallis Budge (1857-1934) was Keeper of the British Museum's department of oriental antiquities from 1894 until his retirement in 1924. Carrying out many missions to Egypt in search of ancient objects, Budge was hugely successful in collecting papyri, statues and other artefacts for the trustees of the British Museum: numbering into the thousands and of great cultural and historical significance. Budge published well over 100 monographs, which shaped the development of future scholarship and are still of great academic value today, dealing with subjects such as Egyptian religion, history and literature. First published in 1908, this is the second of two volumes dealing with the kings of Egypt. Using a variety of material from the British Library's extensive collections, Budge meticulously collated the names of the Pharaohs and royal personages from the 20th to the 30th Dynasties of Egypt. With a detailed discussion concerning Egyptian chronology, this classic work will be of great interest and value to scholars and students of Ancient Egyptian history and archaeology.

When we consider the Cretans and Hittites, the powers of Babylonia and Assyria, and the internal conditions in Syria and Palestine, it can hardly be doubted that the reign of Akhetaten marks a turning point, notably in Egyptian history, but also in the wider history of the ancient world. Here the author vigorously reproduces this age, to show the intensely human interest that lies in the story of religion and art of decadence and reform.

Published in the year 2005, Everyday Life In Ancient Egypt is a valuable contribution to the field of Ancient Egyptian History.

The discovery of Tutankhamen's tomb in 1922 aroused unprecedented excitement in the field of Egyptology. In the tomb of a "colourless youth, who reigned for a few years only" were found unmatched riches, the study of which has led to numerous insights into ancient Egyptian civilization. The author of this fascinating text discusses the tomb's discovery, the significance of its discovery and contents, tomb-robbers, and the ethics of desecration.

First published in 2006. This delightful book written in 1892 by a founder of the National Trust is regarded as a classic of high Victorian travel writing. After three journeys to the East, Rawnsley decided that existing guide-books were not sufficiently explicit and set out to write this witty and informative account that reflects a highly likeable character to whom it is impossible not to warm. Beginning with observations such as 'everything can be got in Cairo except good English tea' and 'never expect your guide to know anything about Egyptian history or the monuments up the Nile', Rawnsley sets off to show us the best of Egypt during a golden age of exploration and touring, he visits the two egyptologists to whom he dedicates this book, joining Flinders Petrie at the Medum pyramid to observe the excavations, and talking to Emile Brugsch about the royal mummies which had been brought from their tombs to the Cairo Museum just a few years previously. In the ruins of Thebes and Luxor he is struck by what he calls 'the silence of the dead' which he contrasts with the obvious love of the ancient Egyptians for music, as shown in their art and in the many hymns preserved in papyri. Although the music itself has been lost, it seemed a pity to Rawnsley that the hymns, dirges, poems and wise sayings should remain unknown to the general reader because of their unmusical form. He presents a number of them here, translated and rendered into metre, a unique contribution that greatly enhances the enjoyment of Egypt at first hand or at a distance. The work concludes with what Rawnsley considers to be its most important part - the timeless wisdom embodied in the sayings of Ptah-hotep taken from the Prisse papyrus.

Published in the year 2006, Lost Pharaohs is a valuable contrubution to the field of History.

This book is an impressive collection of some of the earliest literature still extant from the great Ancient Egyptian civilization. Much of the material contained in this work -- poems, narratives, songs and prayers -- was translated here and made accessible to lovers of antiquity for the first time. Covering a range of topics including schools, religion and love, the collected works here provide the reader with a deeper understanding of ancient life along the Nile.

Although the literature of Ancient Egypt is comparatively poorly known compared to its art and architectural achievements, it has been the subject of intense study for almost 200 years, and constitutes one of the earliest literary traditions produced anywhere in the world. This book brings together work from many of the main researchers in the field of Ancient Egyptian literature, and reviews the numerous developments in the theoretical framework of interpretation more recently. The field of literary studies has witnessed a rapid development. The application of more theoretically informed approaches to the ancient literary corpus, and a more detailed analysis of context, form, and reception, have fundamentally challenged the interpretative paradigms that formerly held sway. These papers enable many of the foremost researchers in the field to examine the overall state of work on the subject. Beginning with contributions from scholars working in the literatures of other ancient cultures (Mesopotamian, Old Testament, Classical), the book covers a wide range of Ancient Egyptian uses of written culture, with contributions covering the Middle Egyptian, Late Egyptian, and Demotic language stages. There are also contributions touching on genre, performance, intertextuality, biography, monumental context, and reception. The papers demonstrate the broad range of approaches currently used in interpreting Ancient Egyptian texts, and attest to the ongoing vitality of this field of study.

First published in 2007. Reading like a detective thriller involving the highest of stakes, this is the story of a discovery that is still to be fully realised one that has split the scholarly community worldwide and which may yet transform our understanding of two of the world's religious faiths. The manuscripts known collectively as the Dead Sea Scrolls have been the subject of controversy ever since the discovery of the first texts in a cave in the Judean Desert at Khirbet Qumran in 197. The precise details of this find and the story of what happened to these manuscripts and many others found subsequently on other sites were shrouded in mystery, partly because some were uncovered during illegal explorations which destroyed important evidence of provenance and partly because it soon became apparent that the contents of the scrolls themselves were highly sensitive, consisting of religious texts, many previously unknown. Today there are several hundred documents and fragments that are considered Dead Sea Scrolls, Del Medico's classic work provides the best and clearest background to the continuing riddle of the scrolls.

Penned by a scholar who was personally involved in research into the enigmatic young pharaoh, this comprehensive and fully illustrated new study reviews the current state of our knowledge about the life, death, and burial of Tutankhamun in light of the latest investigations and newest technology. Zahi Hawass places the king in the broader context of Egyptian history, unraveling the intricate and much debated relationship between various members of the royal family, and the circumstances surrounding the turbulent Amarna period. He also succinctly explains the religious background and complex beliefs in the afterlife that defined and informed many features of Tutankhamun's tomb. The history of the exploration of the Valley of the Kings is discussed, as well as the background and mutual relationships of the main protagonists.
The tomb and the most important finds are described and illustrated, and the modern X-raying and CT-scanning of the king's mummy are presented in detail. The description of the latest DNA examination of the mummies of Tutankhamun and members of his family is one of the most absorbing parts of the book and demonstrates that scientific methods may produce results that cannot be paralleled by traditional Egyptology.

For millennia, people have universally engaged in ecstatic experience as an essential element in ritual practice, spiritual belief and cultural identification. This volume offers the first systematic investigation of its myriad roles and manifestations in the ancient Mediterranean and Near East. The twenty-nine contributors represent a broad range of scholarly disciplines, seeking answers to fundamental questions regarding the patterns and commonalities of this vital aspect of the past. How was the experience construed and by what means was it achieved? Who was involved? Where and when were rites carried out? How was it reflected in pictorial arts and written records? What was its relation to other components of the sociocultural compact? In proposing responses, the authors draw upon a wealth of original research in many fields, generating new perspectives and thought-provoking, often surprising, conclusions. With their abundant cross-cultural and cross-temporal references, the chapters mutually enrich each other and collectively deepen our understanding of ecstatic phenomena thousands of years ago. Another noteworthy feature of the book is its illustrative content, including commissioned reconstructions of ecstatic scenarios and pairings of works of Bronze Age and modern psychedelic art. Scholars, students and other readers interested in antiquity, comparative religion and the social and cognitive sciences will find much to explore in the fascinating realm of ecstatic experience in the ancient world.

The riveting story of a true-life female Indiana Jones: an archaeologist who survived the Nazis and then saved Egypt's ancient temples. In the 1960s, the world's attention was focused on a nail-biting race against time: fifty countries had contributed nearly a billion dollars to save a dozen ancient Egyptian temples from drowning in the floodwaters of the gigantic new Aswan High Dam. It was a project of unimaginable size and complexity that required the fragile sandstone temples to be dismantled, stone by stone, and rebuilt on higher ground. But the massive press coverage of this unprecedented rescue effort completely overlooked the gutsy French archaeologist who made it all happen. Without the intervention of Christiane Desroches-Noblecourt, the temples would now be at the bottom of a gigantic reservoir. Desroches-Noblecourt refused to be cowed by anyone or anything. As a brave member of the French Resistance in World War II, she had survived imprisonment by the Nazis. Now, in her fight to save the temples, she had to face down two of the most daunting leaders of the postwar world: Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser and French president Charles de Gaulle. After a century and a half of Western plunder of Egypt's ancient monuments, Desroches-Noblecourt helped preserve a crucial part of its cultural heritage, and, just as importantly, made sure it remained in its homeland.

The origins and development of the Church in Egypt remain one of the vexed problems of early Christian history. In his Schweich Lectures, delivered in 1977, Dr C. H. Roberts examines the evidence of the Christian papyri discovered in Egypt to see what light they cast on the problems and how far they support statements in our ancient authorities or the theories of modern scholars. Among matters discussed are the influence of Judaism and whether Gnosticism was really as powerful in the first three centuries in Egypt as is sometimes thought; particular attention is paid to the historical significance in these early manuscripts of the nomina sacra, the abbreviations of the divine names.

* Provides a short and simple, but entertaining, account of the prehistoric past from human origins to today from a global perspective in contrast to the current lengthy textbooks on the subject * Shows how such contemporary issues such as biological and cultural diversity, gender, and climate change have deep roots in the remote past and thus resonates with the concerns of readers * Short and low cost introductory text for students studying the subject for the first time from two experienced textbook writers

Eight years ago, Jean-Pierre Houdin, a successful French architect, became obsessed by the age-old mystery of how the Great Pyramid was built. He renounced his architectural practice, sold his Paris apartment, and for ten hours a day labored at his computer to create exquisitely detailed 3-D models of the interior of the Great Pyramid. After five years of effort, the images rotating on his computer screen provided irrefutable evidence of an astonishing secret. Corkscrewing up the inside of the Great Pyramid is a mile-long ramp, unseen for 4,500 years. The pyramid was built from the inside. The revelation casts a fresh light on the minds that founded earth's first civilization. The narration takes place in two time frames: ancient and modern. The ancient story explains how a nation of farmers that had only recently emerged from the Stone Age could construct one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. To execute something as complex and massive as the Great Pyramid, Egypt needed architects, mathematicians, boat builders, stone masons, metallurgists. It took twenty years to build the Great Pyramid. By the time its capstone was laid in 2560 BC, the innovations born of the building quest had transformed agrarian Egypt into the world's most modern, most powerful nation. As we follow the progress of Hemienu, the innovative architect who planned, organized and oversaw construction of the Great Pyramid, we also follow Houdin working to discover how and why the ancient architect designed the pyramid as he did. Houdin works as a 'forensic' architect, aiming to reconstruct the lessons Hemienu had learned from construction of three previous pyramids and to visualise his blueprint for the massive stone building.

This work examines Egyptian mummies as artifacts in pre - 1900 America - how they got here, what happened to them afterwards, and how they were perceived by the public and archaeologists. Collected newspaper accounts and other documents reveal the progression of American interest in mummies as curiosities, commodities, and cultural lessons. Numerous mummies which no longer exist are identified, and commentary on mummy coffins and discussion of methods of public exhibition are included.

Flint Trade in the Protohistoric Levant offers an in-depth case study of the production and exchange of tabular scrapers. Crossing cultural and ecological boundaries and traded from the desert to the settled zone, these tools encompassed both ritual and quotidian functions over the course of well over the two millennia of the existence of the exchange system. Analyses focus on the changing nature of the production systems, dynamics of value in changing contexts of production and use, ritual contexts and meaning. Extending throughout the Levant, the tabular scraper complex is compared and contrasted to other contemporary production and exchange systems (ceramics, chipped stone, ground stone, copper, beads), offering a rich picture of the complexities of late prehistoric trade, transcending linear evolutionary frameworks, and simple models. Adopting a chaine operatoire approach to the use-life of the artifacts, the artifacts can be seen to transform over time and place, made, used, recycled, and ultimately discarded, each stage in its own cultural contexts. The rise and decline of this exchange complex reflects both the geo-political history of the region and the general role of lithic industries in these societies. Focusing on late prehistoric times in the Near East, the discussions will of relevance to all researchers interested in the role of exchange in the evolution of complex economies. It offers an analysis of exchange systems based on a matrix of factors which should be of interest to all researchers interested in the evolution of trade.

The Paleolithic site of Barda Balka ("standing stone," "stone to lean upon" in local Kurdish) is situated about 3 kilometers northeast of Chemchemal in Kirkuk Province, Iraq. Until recent years, the site was marked by a natural monolith of limestone conglomerate 3.5 meters high on a rather barren slope partly littered with Acheulean-type bifaces, pebble tools, cores, and flake artifacts. The site was discovered in 1949 by members of the Directorate General of Antiquities of Iraq while on archaeological reconnaissance in the district. In 1951, during a field season of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago under the direction of Robert J. Braidwood (which not only conducted the excavations at nearby Jarmo and Karim Shahir but also carried out wider geological and prehistoric reconnaissance in the extended Chemchemal Valley area), Barda Balka was visited and further studied by Herbert E. Wright Jr. of the University of Minnesota Department of Geology and Bruce Howe, then of the Peabody Museum, Harvard University. Wright and Howe returned shortly thereafter to conduct a four-day sounding campaign of trenching and localized geological investigations. This volume is Howe's final report of these investigations at Barda Balka.

This Oriental Institute Museum exhibit catalog looks at how the living commemorated and cared for deceased ancestors in the ancient Middle East. The focus of the exhibit is the memorial monument (stele) of an official named Katumuwa (ca. 735 BC), discovered in 2008 by University of Chicago archaeologists at the site of Zincirli, Turkey. Part I of the catalog presents the most comprehensive collection of scholarship yet published on the interpretation of the Katumuwa Stele, an illuminating new document of ancestor cult and beliefs about the soul. In Part II, leading scholars describe the relationship between the living and the dead in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Anatolia, and the Levant (Syria-Palestine), providing a valuable introduction to the family and mortuary religion of the ancient Middle East. The fifty-seven objects cataloged highlight the role of food and drink offerings and stone effigies in maintaining a place for the dead in family life.