The Search for Ancient Egypt

Synopsis and introduction

Chapters

Body text

• "Trailer" : a succession of full-page illustrations accompanied by texts, created by Dominique Thibault, after painted reliefs from ancient Egypt, such as the relief depicting Ramesses III in the tomb of his son Amun-her-khepeshef, among others.
• Chapter I: "The Disappearance of Pharaonic Egypt" evoking the deplorable events that were the destruction of the Library of Alexandria and the temple of Serapis in the same city, missing in any of the buildings those precious texts which could clarify the gaps that exist today about the history of Pharaonic Egypt. Fortunately other sources remained available, the Bible being one of them, as the author well mentioned.
• Chapter II: "Travelers in Ancient Times" recalls the journey and texts of Herodotus, "the traveller par excellence", followed later by Diodorus Siculus, Strabo and Plutarch. The Roman Emperors Hadrian and Septimius Severus are also included in the list of those illustrious travellers in the country of the Nile, preceded by the General Germanicus, member of the imperial family in the time of Tiberius.
• Chapter III: "Crusaders, Monks, and Sightseers on the Banks of the Nile" recalling a time when the doors of Muslim Egypt were virtually closed to the Christian West. It is true that in the time of the Crusades there were some texts emerged to lift the Islamic mantle that covered the historic region, but in any case travellers were scarce in south Cairo. Hence, "none of the accounts from the 1 to the 14 centuries can compare with those of the ancients."—at that time no one knew the hieroglyphic texts anymore. Up to the beginning of the 19 century, more or less illustrious visitors, with special emphasis on General Bonaparte leading his army and his sages.
• Chapter IV: "Treasure Hunters and Thieves" – Bonaparte's expedition resulted in the most fruitful publication of two notable works: Vivant Denon's Travels in Upper and Lower Egypt and Description de l'Égypte. "Between 1802 and 1830 a dozen travelers of note came from France, England, Germany, and Switzerland to see for themselves the wonders revealed by the Travels and the Description". It was then that Egypt became, it can be said, fashion. This led to the emergence of Egyptomania and, much more importantly, the birth of Egyptology. Then the author evokes the acts of European consuls and their active persons engaged in the procurement of antiquities, sometimes using processes closer to prey and looting than meticulous prospecting. It is natural that this should happen in those days when archaeological method was still in development.
• Chapter V: "The Era of the Scholars" – The beginning of this era, with the expected prominence given to Jean-François Champollion, who knew how to anticipate the efforts of several competitors. Big names in the post-Champollionic phase are those of Karl Richard Lepsius, founder of German Egyptology, John Gardner Wilkinson, the "Father of British Egyptology", and Émile Prisse d'Avennes, who sent a number of Egyptian antiquities to France.
• Chapter VI: "Archaeologists to the Rescue" – After several decades of unbridled looting, of destruction of monuments, of contempt for the meticulous recording of the finds, came the archaeologists to rescue Egypt. Among them are: Auguste Mariette, who would eventually die in Egypt occupying the high position of Director of Antiquities; Gaston Maspero, Mariette's successor and Heinrich Karl Brugsch, who was associated with Mariette in his excavations at Memphis.
• Chapter VII: "The Rediscovery of Ancient Egypt" – This chapter evokes the works of Howard Carter in the Valley of the Kings, and Pierre Montet's excavations at Tanis, it's already in the first half of 20 century. If the discoveries of the tombs of Tutankhamun and Psusennes had the international exposure, the truth is that almost every year new findings have been brought to light, many of which are only in the knowledge of the teams of work, of scholars and readers of specialised Egyptology journals. At a good pace, the discoveries continue today, methodically exploring the archaeological sites that exist not only in Egypt but also in Nubia; so "the philologists, epigraphers, and historians were all kept busy examining newly unearthed documentary material", and "Egyptology had left its infancy behind and was now maturing into adulthood".
• Gatefold following page, of panoramic view:
• * Philae, watercolour by Sir John Gardner Wilkinson
• * Map of Egypt by Dominique Thibault
• * Philae, watercolour by Sir John Gardner Wilkinson

Documents

• Documents and Appendices

Reception