Ancient Egyptian antiquities are dominated by art and artifacts depicting the Netherworld -- the alternate universe mummified bodies would enter at the end of their physical lives, where they would live on for eternity. In this dazzling book, photographs and exhaustive texts illustrate how the promise of a glorious rebirth pervaded the daily life of Egyptians, from commoners to the most powerful pharaohs.

The Quest for Immortality accompanies an exhibition of Egyptian funerary art by the same name, which dates from nearly two thousand years before the Christian era. Drawn from the collection of Cairo's Egyptian Museum, this major exhibition opens at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. in 2002 and travels throughout the United States over a five-year period before an extended tour in Europe. Objects such as coffins, tombs, masks, jewelry, papyri, sarcophagi, and monumental and small-scale sculpture reveal the reverence and awe with which this highly developed ancient culture considered the mystery of death. Fascinating essays explore Egyptian art history, customs, and worship, with specific focus on the Amduat, a book devoted to the pharaoh's twelve-hour journey to the afterlife. Additional writings detail the background of the collection and focus upon the role of art in ancient Egypt. Throughout, readers will experience the artistry of the ancient Egyptians as it comes to life in this magnificent book.

Mut was an important deity perhaps best known as the consort of Amun-Re and the mother of Khonsu, but her earlier and far more independent role was as the daughter of the sun god, much akin to Hathor. Like Nekhbet and Wadjet and the other lioness goddesses (referred to as Sekhmet) she was the 'Eye of Re', who could be both benign and dangerous. In human form, Mut protected the king and his office; as Sekhmet she could destroy Egypt if not pacified. The Mut precinct was a major religious center from the Eighteenth Dynasty to the Roman Period, but evidence suggests the existence of an even earlier temple. It expanded during the reign of the Kushite king, Taharqa and attained its present size during the fourth century BCE, sheltering three major temples, several small chapels, and eventually, a village within the protection of its massive enclosure walls. One of its most striking features is the hundreds of Sekhmet statues. In 1976, the Brooklyn Museum began the first systematic exploration of the precinct as a whole. Since 2001, Brooklyn has shared the site with an expedition from the Johns Hopkins University, both teams working cooperatively toward the same goal. This richly illustrated guide seeks to bring the goddess and her temple precinct the attention they deserve.

The tombs and mortuary temples of Thebes have proved an enduring topic of interest thanks to a quickly expanding corpus of field materials and a series of conferences devoted to the subject. This volume, the fourth in a series of occasional proceedings from the ongoing Theban Workshop, presents new research on wall decoration in the Theban necropolis. Its thirteen essays, by an international array of leading scholars, attest to the wide and varied scope of the theme.