Views of Ancient Egypt since Napoleon Bonaparte

This book addresses some of the main themes of the study of Egypt during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In a combination of case studies and discursive chapters, the status of Egypt as an important example of traditional Asian scholarship, and as an ancient model of imperialism itself, is examined. Contributions range from studies of nineteenth century antiquarianism, and the collecting of Egyptian antiquities as an extension of the territorial ambitions and rivalries of the European powers, to explorations of how Egypt is understood and interpreted in contemporary societies. Views of Ancient Egypt also considers the way in which Ancient Egypt has been adopted by less privileged members of some societies as a cultural icon of past greatness. Series Editor’s Foreword, Contributors, List of Figures, 1. Introduction - Two Hundred Years of Ancient Egypt: Modern History and Ancient Archaeology, 2. Imperialist Appropriations of Egyptian Obelisks, 3. Art and Antiquities for Government's Sake, 4. Purveyor-General to the Hieroglyphics - Sir William Gell and the Development of Egyptology, 5. Some Egyptological Sidelights on the Egyptian War of 1882, 6. Forgers, Scholars and International Prestige: Ancient Egypt and Spain, 7. 'Trans-Atlantic Pyramidology', Orientalism and Empire: Ancient Egypt and the 19th Century Archaeological Experience of Mesoamerica, 8. Egypt and the Diffusion of Culture, 9. Approaching the Peasantry of Greco-Roman Egypt: from Rostovtzeff to Rhetoric, 10. The British and the Copts, 11. Ancient Egypt and the Archaeology of the Disenfranchised, 12. Forgetting the Ancien Regime: Republican Values and the Study of the Ancient Orient, References, Index