
The Wisdom of Egypt
Changing Visions Through the Ages
UCL Press
Published on 9. September 2003
Book
Paperback/Softback
250 pages
978-1-84472-005-7 (ISBN)
Description
The discipline of Egyptology has been criticized for being too insular, with little awareness of the development of archaeologies elsewhere. It has remained theoretically underdeveloped. For example, the role of Ancient Egypt within Africa has rarely been considered jointly by Egyptologists and Africanists. Egypt's own view of itself has been neglected; views of it in the ancient past, in more recent times and today have remained underexposed.
Encounters with Ancient Egypt is a series of eight books which addresses these issues. The books interrelate, inform and illuminate one another and will appeal to a wide market including academics, students and the general public interested in archaeology, egyptology, anthropology, architecture, design and history.
The Wisdom of Egypt examines the sources of evidence about Ancient Egypt available to scholars, and the changing visions of Egypt and of Egypt's role in human history that they produced. Its scope extends from the Classical world, through Europe and the Arabic worlds in the Middle Ages, to writers of the Renaissance, to the work of scholars and scientists of Early Modern Europe.
Encounters with Ancient Egypt is a series of eight books which addresses these issues. The books interrelate, inform and illuminate one another and will appeal to a wide market including academics, students and the general public interested in archaeology, egyptology, anthropology, architecture, design and history.
The Wisdom of Egypt examines the sources of evidence about Ancient Egypt available to scholars, and the changing visions of Egypt and of Egypt's role in human history that they produced. Its scope extends from the Classical world, through Europe and the Arabic worlds in the Middle Ages, to writers of the Renaissance, to the work of scholars and scientists of Early Modern Europe.
Reviews / Votes
'Of the second group of volumes, The Wisdom of Ancient Egypt: Changing Visions through the Ages take us through a series of changing visions of ancient Egypt from Classical times to the 19th and 20th centuries. The coverage is well balanced and a coherent picture of the perception of Egypt is developed. A chapter on "Ancient Egypt in medieval Arabic writings" (by Okasha El Daly) was essentially here, and a further chapter on similar lines could comfortably have been included. All too few "histories of Egyptology" acknowledge that an awareness of Ancient Egypt existed in the Arab world before Napoleon brought it to western attention, not least because a few scholars are familiar with Arabic sources.' Times Higher Educational Supplment, 17 December 2004More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 156 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-84472-005-7 (9781844720057)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Peter Ucko is Director of the Institute of Archaeology, UCL. Timothy Champion is a Professor in the Department of Archaeology at the University of Southampton.
Content
Egypt as Wisdom: the classical view; Ancient Egypt in Medieval Arabic Writings; The Image of Egypt in the Middle Ages (until ca. 1400); The Renaissance Afterlife of Ancient Egypt; Ancient Egypt in 18th century English Science,Religion and 'Archaeology': an overview; Beyond Egyptology: Egypt in 19th and 20th century archaeology and anthropology.