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The large-scale scientific investigation of Egyptian antiquities by Western scholars began as an unintended consequence of Napoleon's invasion of Egypt during which, in 1799, the Rosetta Stone was discovered. The military expedition was accompanied by French scholars, whose reports prompted a wave of enthusiasm that swept across Europe and North America resulting in the Egyptian Revival style in art and architecture. Increasing numbers of tourists visited Egypt, eager to see the marvels being revealed by archaeological excavation. Writers and booksellers responded to this growing interest with publications ranging from technical site reports to tourist guidebooks and from children's histories to theories identifying the pyramids as repositories of esoteric knowledge. This series reissues a wide selection of such books. They reveal the gradual change from the 'tomb-robbing' approach of early excavators to the highly organised and systematic approach of Flinders Petrie, the 'father of Egyptology', and include early accounts of the decipherment of the hieroglyphic script.

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79 results in Cambridge Library Collection - Egyptology

Page 1 of 4

Pyramids and Progress
  • Sketches from Egypt
  • John Ward
  • Introduction by Archibald Henry Sayce
  • Published online:
    05 June 2016
    Print publication:
    21 May 2015
    First published in:
    1900
  • This highly illustrated 1900 work on Egypt old and new by John Ward (1832–1912) seeks to guide the visitor to the ancient sites while also remarking on the radical changes to the economy and the development of the modern state since the intervention of the British government in 1883 and the appointment of Lord Cromer as consul-general and effective ruler. This blending of ancient and modern can be seen in discussions of Port Said ('not an Egyptian town at all') alongside the abandoned and silted-up delta ports of the Egyptians, Ptolemies and Ottomans. Thebes is discussed both as a city of the living and a city of the dead, and Ward notes approvingly the flattening of the ancient town of Assouan (Aswan), to form the foundations for new public buildings, on the orders of Lord Kitchener. Ward's subsequent book, Our Sudan (1905), is also reissued in this series.

The Rock Tombs of Deir el Gebrâwi
  • Volume 2, Tomb of Zau and Tombs of the Northern Group
  • Norman de Garis Davies
  • Published online:
    05 June 2016
    Print publication:
    05 February 2016
    First published in:
    1902
  • While working as a Congregational minister in England, Norman de Garis Davies (1865–1941) developed an interest in Egyptology. In 1897 he joined Flinders Petrie's excavations at Dendera as a copyist of inscriptions and sculptures. He did further work for the Egypt Exploration Fund, producing many volumes of archaeological surveys, which won him the Leibniz medal of the Prussian Academy of Sciences. From 1907 he worked for New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, together with his wife Nina. Highly illustrated, this two-volume 1902 publication covers the tombs of the important Old Kingdom necropolis at Deir el-Gabrawi, where many of the governors of the Upper Egyptian 12th nome were buried. Volume 2 covers the northern group of tombs, including that of the nomarch Zau. Davies reproduces the tomb art and hieroglyphic inscriptions, as well as providing archaeological plans. His Rock Tombs of Sheikh Saïd (1901) is also reissued in this series.

Thebes, its Tombs and their Tenants Ancient and Present
  • Including a Record of Excavations in the Necropolis
  • Alexander Henry Rhind
  • Published online:
    05 June 2016
    Print publication:
    25 September 2014
    First published in:
    1862
  • His independent means as the son of a wealthy banker enabled Alexander Henry Rhind (1833–63) to devote his short life to antiquarianism. While reading for the Scottish bar, he studied and investigated Pictish remains, and pressed for the inclusion of archaeological sites in Ordnance Survey maps. On developing tubercular symptoms, he gave up his legal studies and passed the winters from 1855 to 1857 in Egypt, where he made the important studies and excavations recorded in this 1862 book. He focuses on the necropolis of Thebes, and in particular on the unplundered tomb of an eighteenth-dynasty official. Putting his work into the wider context of the history of ancient Egypt and the importance of the city of Thebes, he also describes the reuse of the necropolis ruins as homes for modern Egyptian peasants and as the centre of a thriving trade in antiquities, both genuine and forged.

A History of Egypt
  • From the Earliest Times to the Persian Conquest
  • James Henry Breasted
  • Published online:
    05 June 2016
    Print publication:
    19 February 2016
    First published in:
    1906
  • The American archaeologist James H. Breasted (1865–1935) published this history in 1906. His intention was to create a one-volume work which would be suitable for the increasing number of tourists visiting the Nile valley, for those interested in the rise of Greek and Roman civilisation, and for students of the Old Testament. Drawing on Breasted's own four-volume Records of Egypt, which contains fresh readings and translations of almost all of the ancient Egyptian historical inscriptions available at the time, the book follows the conventional chronology from 'earliest Egypt' to the Old Kingdom and the Middle Kingdom, characterised as a 'feudal age', the intermediate period of the Hyksos, and the New Kingdom, described here as 'the Empire'. The account ends with 'the Decadence', invasions by Libyans and Nubians, and the Persian conquest after the battle of Pelusium in 525 BCE. The book contains nearly 200 photographs and drawings.

The Rock Tombs of Deir el Gebrâwi
  • Volume 1, Tomb of Aba and Smaller Tombs of the Southern Group
  • Norman de Garis Davies
  • Published online:
    05 June 2016
    Print publication:
    05 February 2016
    First published in:
    1902
  • While working as a Congregational minister in England, Norman de Garis Davies (1865–1941) developed an interest in Egyptology. In 1897 he joined Flinders Petrie's excavations at Dendera as a copyist of inscriptions and sculptures. He did further work for the Egypt Exploration Fund, producing many volumes of archaeological surveys, which won him the Leibniz medal of the Prussian Academy of Sciences. From 1907 he worked for New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, together with his wife Nina. Highly illustrated, this two-volume 1902 publication covers the tombs of the important Old Kingdom necropolis at Deir el-Gabrawi, where many of the governors of the Upper Egyptian 12th nome were buried. Volume 1 covers the southern group of tombs, including that of the nomarch Aba. Davies reproduces the tomb art and hieroglyphic inscriptions, as well as providing archaeological plans. His Rock Tombs of Sheikh Saïd (1901) is also reissued in this series.

A History of Egypt under the Pharaohs, Derived Entirely from the Monuments
  • To Which Is Added a Memoir on the Exodus of the Israelites and the Egyptian Monuments
  • Volume 2
  • Heinrich Karl Brugsch
  • Translated by Henry Danby Seymour
  • Edited and translated by Philip Smith
  • Published online:
    05 November 2015
    Print publication:
    21 May 2015
    First published in:
    1879
  • The most lasting achievement of the German Egyptologist Heinrich Karl Brugsch (1827–94) is perhaps his work on the Egyptian demotic script, which had been relatively neglected since Champollion's death. This two-volume illustrated history of Egypt, 'derived entirely from the monuments', was first published in an English translation (by H. D. Seymour, from the 1876 first German edition, and edited by Philip Smith) in 1879. Brugsch brings to bear his wide experience of the archaeological sites together with his linguistic expertise, and deliberately eschews later Greek and Roman accounts of Egypt. Volume 2 covers the period from the Nineteenth Dynasty, the time of the empire's widest extent under Seti I and Rameses II, through the later decline and disintegration, with ruling dynasties from Nubia and Assyria, to the Persian conquest in 525 BCE. An appendix discusses the biblical account of Exodus in the context of Egyptian material remains.

A History of Egypt under the Pharaohs, Derived Entirely from the Monuments
  • To Which Is Added a Memoir on the Exodus of the Israelites and the Egyptian Monuments
  • Volume 1
  • Heinrich Karl Brugsch
  • Translated by Henry Danby Seymour
  • Edited and translated by Philip Smith
  • Published online:
    05 November 2015
    Print publication:
    21 May 2015
    First published in:
    1879
  • The most lasting achievement of the German Egyptologist Heinrich Karl Brugsch (1827–94) is perhaps his work on the Egyptian demotic script, which had been relatively neglected since Champollion's death. This illustrated two-volume history of Egypt, 'derived entirely from the monuments', was first published in an English translation (by H. D. Seymour, from the 1876 first German edition, and edited by Philip Smith) in 1879. Brugsch brings to bear his wide experience of the archaeological sites together with his linguistic expertise, and deliberately eschews later Greek and Roman accounts of Egypt. Volume 1 gives a detailed survey of the physical environment of Egypt before considering the pre-dynastic period, and the emergence of Menes, the first known pharaoh. He then takes the narrative through the Old and Middle Kingdoms, and the intermediate period, to the emergence of the New Kingdom and the flowering and end of the Eighteenth Dynasty.

Ancient Gaza
  • Volume 1
  • William Matthew Flinders Petrie
  • Published online:
    05 November 2015
    Print publication:
    03 October 2013
  • A pioneering Egyptologist, Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie (1853–1942) excavated over fifty sites and trained a generation of archaeologists. Now reissued in two volumes are the four excavation reports, published between 1931 and 1934, covering his extensive dig at Tell el-Ajjul in Palestine. The reports scrupulously record the finds of artefacts dating from the Copper Age and extending to the Hyksos period. Descriptions of the working party's struggles against malaria and the elements highlight Petrie's devotion to his work. Volume 1 combines the first two reports, first published in 1931 and 1932, and includes descriptions of various cemeteries, tombs, palaces and horse burials. Each report features a section of photographs and sketches of tombs, pottery, weapons and jewellery. Petrie wrote prolifically throughout his long career, and a great many of his Egyptological publications - for both specialists and non-specialists - are also reissued in this series.

Ancient Gaza
  • Volume 2
  • William Matthew Flinders Petrie
  • Published online:
    05 November 2015
    Print publication:
    03 October 2013
  • A pioneering Egyptologist, Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie (1853–1942) excavated over fifty sites and trained a generation of archaeologists. Now reissued in two volumes are the four excavation reports, published between 1931 and 1934, covering his extensive dig at Tell el-Ajjul in Palestine. The reports scrupulously record the finds of artefacts dating from the Copper Age and extending to the Hyksos period. Descriptions of the working party's struggles against malaria and the elements highlight Petrie's devotion to his work. Volume 2 combines the final two excavation reports, first published in 1933 and 1934, and includes the significant discovery of the large tomb of the governor under Tutankhamun. Each report features a section of photographs and sketches of tombs, pottery, weapons and jewellery. Petrie wrote prolifically throughout his long career, and a great many of his Egyptological publications - for both specialists and non-specialists - are also reissued in this series.

The Revolutions of Civilisation
  • William Matthew Flinders Petrie
  • Published online:
    05 November 2015
    Print publication:
    05 September 2013
  • Among the leading Egyptologists of his day, Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie (1853–1942) excavated over fifty sites and trained a generation of archaeologists. This short yet well-illustrated work, first published in 1911, sketches humankind's achievements over 10,000 years, establishing patterns in the rise and fall of civilisations. Drawing on his extensive knowledge of ancient Egypt, and looking also at Greece, Rome and beyond, Petrie defines each civilisation as having a summer of growth and a winter of decline, revealing his controversial eugenic view that while migration can initially reinvigorate a society, the mixing of peoples over time leads ultimately to that society's deterioration. Correlating developments in the production of art and material culture in different places, Petrie argues that civilisation is not a continuous state, but intermittent and recurrent. Many of his other publications - for both Egyptologists and non-specialists - are also reissued in this series.

Les deux Champollions, leur vie et leurs oeuvres
  • Leur correspondance archéologique relative au Dauphiné et à l'Égypte
  • Aimé Champollion-Figeac
  • Published online:
    05 November 2015
    Print publication:
    10 November 2011
    First published in:
    1887
  • This biography of the Champollion brothers was published in Grenoble in 1887. Jean-François (1790–1832) was a child prodigy who had taught himself numerous ancient languages in his teenage years, despite not having received any formal education. Having become an assistant professor of history at Grenoble in his nineteenth year, Jean-François published a decipherment of the trilingual Rosetta Stone in 1824, thus offering the key to an understanding of Egyptian hieroglyphics and consequently of the civilisation of ancient Egypt. His older brother, Jacques-Joseph (1778–1867), although a less gifted scholar, supported Jean-François and kept his name and achievement before the public after his early death. Jacques-Joseph's son Aimé-Louis (1813–94), the author of this biographical account, followed in his father's footsteps, becoming the librarian of the Bibliothèque Royale and publishing works on palaeography. Based on original letters, this is the only near-contemporary biography of the pioneering Egyptologist.

Naukratis I and II, Hawara, Biahmu, and Arsinoe
  • William Matthew Flinders Petrie, Ernest A. Gardner
  • Published online:
    05 November 2015
    Print publication:
    19 September 2013
  • A pioneering Egyptologist, Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie (1853–1942) excavated over fifty sites and trained a generation of archaeologists. Ernest A. Gardner (1862–1939) was to become a leading classical archaeologist, but his first major project was carrying on the work of Petrie at Naukratis, the ancient Greek colony in the Nile Delta that Petrie had discovered in 1884. Reissued here together are Petrie's initial excavation report of 1886 and Gardner's 1888 continuation, each with many illustrations and material contributed by specialists on certain topics. Notably, the finds of inscribed pottery yielded significant insights into how the Greek alphabet developed. The final component included here is Petrie's 1889 report covering recent digs, particularly his discovery of a Roman necropolis and dozens of remarkable mummy portraits at Hawara. He wrote prolifically throughout his long career, and a great many of his other publications are also reissued in this series.

Tanis
  • William Matthew Flinders Petrie, Alexander Stuart Murray, Francis Llewellyn Griffith
  • Published online:
    05 November 2015
    Print publication:
    05 September 2013
  • Once the political centre of Lower Egypt, the city of Tanis was in ruins by the time pioneering archaeologist W. M. Flinders Petrie (1853–1942) arrived in the late nineteenth century. He recruited more than a hundred workers from nearby settlements to help with his excavations there. Now reissued together, these two reports of Petrie's discoveries were originally published separately in 1885 and 1888. His colleague Francis Llewellyn Griffith (1862–1934) contributes epigraphic analysis and translations. Each report contains much illustrative content, such as maps and photographs of the sites as well as drawings of the finds and hieroglyphic inscriptions. The 1888 publication also covers work carried out at Nebesheh and Defenneh, neither of which had been previously studied by archaeologists. Alexander Stuart Murray (1841–1904) discusses the important discoveries of painted vases at the latter site. Many of Petrie's other Egyptological publications are also reissued in this series.

The Cemeteries of Abydos
  • Édouard Naville, T. Eric Peet
  • Assisted by W. L. S. Loat
  • Published online:
    05 November 2015
    Print publication:
    02 January 2014
    First published in:
    1913
  • Originally published between 1913 and 1914 for the Egypt Exploration Fund, these three excavation reports relating to the necropolis at Abydos are now reissued together in one volume. Following the important work carried out by Flinders Petrie - his two reports on The Royal Tombs (1900–1) and the three-part Abydos (1902–4) are also reissued in this series - Édouard Naville (1844–1926) began further excavation and recording of the site's cemeteries with Thomas Eric Peet (1882–1934) and others. Each report contains a section of valuable illustrative material, such as photographs and drawings of the discovered artefacts. Part 1, covering the 1909–10 season, includes chapters on pottery and mummified dogs. Part 2, written up by Peet, covers all the tomb work carried out between 1909 and 1912. Part 3, co-authored with W. L. S. Loat, covers the 1912–13 season, notably the discovery of an ibis cemetery.

Six Temples at Thebes, Naqada and Ballas
  • William Matthew Flinders Petrie, J. E. Quibell
  • Published online:
    05 November 2015
    Print publication:
    19 September 2013
  • A pioneering Egyptologist, Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie (1853–1942) excavated over fifty sites and trained a generation of archaeologists. This single-volume reissue brings together two of his well-illustrated excavation reports. The first, originally published in 1897, describes work on six of the temples at Thebes, including the discovery of the famous Merneptah Stele, which contains the first non-biblical reference to Israel. A chapter on this inscription and others found in the temples is provided by the German scholar Wilhelm Spiegelberg (1870–1930). The second report, first published in 1896, discusses the archaeological work carried out at Naqada and Ballas by Petrie and James Edward Quibell (1867–1935), with a chapter by F. C. J. Spurrell (1842–1915) on the flint implements found at Naqada. Petrie wrote prolifically throughout his long career, and a great many of his other publications - for both specialists and non-specialists - are also reissued in this series.

Travels in Upper and Lower Egypt
  • In Company with Several Divisions of the French Army, during the Campaigns of General Bonaparte in that Country
  • Volume 3
  • Vivant Denon
  • Translated by Arthur Aikin
  • Published online:
    05 September 2015
    Print publication:
    02 April 2015
  • Napoleon's military expedition to Egypt in 1798 famously included various scientists and savants, among whom was the author of this three-volume work, published in French in 1802 and in English in 1803. Vivant Denon (1747–1825) was a diplomat under the Ancien Régime, but survived the Revolution thanks to the patronage of the painter David, and met Napoleon through the salon of Josephine de Beauharnais. He accompanied the army, excavating and sketching, sometimes even during battles. The publication of this lively, illustrated account is regarded as the chief stimulus for the so-called 'Egyptian Revival' style of architecture, interior design and even costume. In Volume 3, Denon continues his travels, taking opportunities to join with surveying parties, sketching, and purchasing antiquities, including mummies and papyrus manuscripts. The volume ends with Denon's return to France, and his regret at how little he had seen and done, compared with the immensity of Egypt.

Travels in Upper and Lower Egypt
  • In Company with Several Divisions of the French Army, during the Campaigns of General Bonaparte in that Country
  • Volume 2
  • Vivant Denon
  • Translated by Arthur Aikin
  • Published online:
    05 September 2015
    Print publication:
    02 April 2015
  • Napoleon's military expedition to Egypt in 1798 famously included various scientists and savants, among whom was the author of this three-volume work, published in French in 1802 and in English in 1803. Vivant Denon (1747–1825) was a diplomat under the Ancien Régime, but survived the Revolution thanks to the patronage of the painter David, and met Napoleon through the salon of Josephine de Beauharnais. He accompanied the army, excavating and sketching, sometimes even during battles. The publication of this lively, illustrated account is regarded as the chief stimulus for the so-called 'Egyptian Revival' style of architecture, interior design and even costume. Volume 2 finds Denon travelling down the Nile into Upper Egypt, and fretting because General Desaix, his mind focused on an approaching battle, would not give him an escort to visit Abydos. This disappointment was compensated for when the army arrived at the marvellous ruins of Thebes.

Travels in Upper and Lower Egypt
  • In Company with Several Divisions of the French Army, during the Campaigns of General Bonaparte in that Country
  • Volume 1
  • Vivant Denon
  • Translated by Arthur Aikin
  • Published online:
    05 September 2015
    Print publication:
    02 April 2015
  • Napoleon's military expedition to Egypt in 1798 famously included various scientists and savants, among whom was the author of this three-volume work, published in French in 1802 and in English in 1803. Vivant Denon (1747–1825) was a dilettante and diplomat under the Ancien Régime, but survived the Revolution thanks to the patronage of the painter David, and met Napoleon through the salon of Josephine de Beauharnais. He accompanied the army, excavating and sketching, sometimes even during battles. The publication of this lively, illustrated account is regarded as the chief stimulus for the so-called 'Egyptian Revival' style of architecture, interior design and even costume. Volume 1 describes the voyage to Egypt via Malta, the storming of Alexandria, exploration of the Delta, and travel down the Nile to Cairo and the Pyramids. The combination of archaeological observations, notes on the modern Egyptians, and descriptions of warfare makes for a fascinating read.

Operations Carried On at the Pyramids of Gizeh in 1837
  • With an Account of a Voyage into Upper Egypt, and an Appendix
  • Volume 2
  • Howard Vyse
  • Published online:
    05 June 2015
    Print publication:
    11 December 2014
    First published in:
    1840
  • An army officer and politician, Richard William Howard Vyse (1784–53) also made his mark as an Egyptologist. This three-volume work, published in 1840–2, has remained an instructive resource in Egyptology up to the present day. Adopting the style of a journal, with illustrations and diagrams throughout, it narrates in detail his excavations at Giza, surveying and measuring the pyramids. Following Vyse's return to England, the work was continued by the engineer and surveyor John Shae Perring (1813–69). Vyse gives observations of his travels, and of the landscape, people and architecture he encountered, as well as details of the important work he carried out. Most notable was his discovery, using gunpowder, of four new chambers in the Great Pyramid containing 'quarry marks' - graffiti by the pyramid builders. Volume 2 (1840) contains detailed descriptions of the excavation of several pyramids and their contents, and appendices with extensive measurements.

The Great Pyramid
  • Why Was It Built? And Who Built It?
  • John Taylor
  • Published online:
    05 June 2015
    Print publication:
    21 August 2014
    First published in:
    1859
  • The publisher and author John Taylor (1781–1864), who took an interest in various antiquarian matters, published this work in 1859. Using the measurements taken by the seventeenth-century archaeologist John Greaves and by the French savants who had examined the Great Pyramid at Giza during Napoleon's Egyptian expedition, he deduced the existence of a 'pyramid inch' (fractionally longer than the British inch), which was one twenty-fifth of the so-called 'sacred cubit' and was derived from ancient astronomical and time-measurement observations; and as a convinced Christian, he concluded that the British inch was therefore divinely inspired. His work was very influential and had a considerable following (the astronomer Charles Piazzi Smyth's 1864 book on Our Inheritance in the Great Pyramid is also reissued in this series), but was later debunked by the more accurate surveys and measurements of Flinders Petrie, whose interest in Egypt was partly aroused by reading this book.

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