Temples and Tombs

The British Museum possesses one of the world's foremost collections of Egyptian antiquities. In "Temples and Tombs", readers are presented with a rare opportunity to glimpse the collection's renowned masterpieces and treasures little known outside the museum walls. The eighty-five objects featured within these pages span a full range of pharaonic history - from shortly before the First Dynasty, about 3100 B.C., to the Roman occupation of the fourth century A.D. - and cover each of the four periods into which ancient Egyptian history is divided: Old Kingdom, Middle Kingdom, New Kingdom, and the Late Period. Presented here are a wide variety of objects - sculpture, relief, papyri, ostraca, jewelry, cosmetic objects, and funerary items - in a variety of media, including stone, wood, terra cotta, ivory, gold, glass, and papyrus, each categorized according to its use in ancient culture. From objects belonging to the king and housed in the temple to the tools of daily life used by artists and nobles to ritual objects concerning death and the afterlife, the treasures collected here are a testament to the rich, vibrant, and captivating culture of the ancient Egyptians.
This fully illustrated book accompanies a major traveling exhibition organized by the American Federation of Arts and the British Museum.