Why are we so obsessed with Ancient Egypt? All children study it, museum galleries displaying Egyptian objects are always full, documentaries always do really well, and we’ve had a couple of waves of Egyptomania – in the 1800s and following the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun. We talked a lot in this episode about the historical background to the development of Egyptology, in particular colonialism and the rivalry between Britain and France. Also about how the aesthetic of Egyptian art and architecture is very distinctive and striking and so many other aspects of Egyptian culture are so intriguing including: mummies and mummification, animal-headed gods, the lure of the desert, and the idea that treasure is buried and awaiting discovery - ‘revealing’ things that are ‘hidden’…

Links:

Extra content: https://www.patreon.com/talklikeanegyptian

Thompson, Wonderful Things: A History of Egyptology (three vols.)

And for a more concise, illustrated account we couldn’t not mention – sorry! – Chris’ book, Egyptologists’ Notebooks.

On ‘Egyptomania’, see Brier, Egyptomania: Our Three Thousand Year Obsession with the Land of the Pharaohs

Chris’s book for kids that gets mentioned this episode King Tutankhamun Tells All!

https://chrisnaunton.com/king-tutankhamun-tells-all/

Iszi’s book for kids which didn’t get mentioned this episode The Cursed Tomb: https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/cursed-tomb-9781801996020/

The pyramids, particularly those at Giza, are pretty famous right? In this episode we ask: What were they? Where were they? When were they? Were the all the same? (No). How did they differ, how did they develop? What was inside? Are you sure they’re tombs? Not power stations or spacecraft? When weren’t they? Why did the Egyptians stop building them? What’s the significance of the shape? They had them in Mexico and elsewhere. They must have been connected right, come on…

Links:

Extra content: https://www.patreon.com/talklikeanegyptian

The best concise overview of every aspect of the pyramids – in Egypt and Sudan, their design, meaning etc is Lehner, The Complete Pyramids.

The author has spent an entire career working at Giza and he, along with the world’s other leading expert on the site, has now published the last word on the pyramids there, also the sphinx and thousands of other monuments at the site: Lehner and Hawass, Giza and the Pyramids. This is a bog book and it’s not cheap but it is indispensable for research on the site.

It's not the only reason why Chris became an Egyptologist but as a young Dr Who nut he liked nothing more than watching old serials on VHS, and The Pyramids of Mars from 1975 might just have helped nudge him in the right direction: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p00vf241/doctor-who-19631996-season-13-pyramids-of-mars-part-1

Iszi’s book (she’s so needy) The Cursed Tomb where you go into The Pyramid of Unas: https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/cursed-tomb-9781801996020/

The Nile

In this episode we’re trying to explain how fundamentally important the river Nile was to the presence of human beings in what we now call Egypt, and how this allowed civilisation to flourish there at such an early moment in human history, and to endure for such a long time. We talked about people settling along the banks of the Nile where the water and silts allowed plants and animals to thrive, how irrigation and agriculture allowed for these natural resources to be harnessed, and how this in turn freed people from spending all their time trying to find food to survive to do other things. We also talked about how the Nile was so important that the Egyptians imagined it being embodied by a god, Hapy, and how important the emergence of the land from the flood waters, and life springing forth from it, was to the Egyptians’ myths about the creation of the world. Also, in more practical terms, how they were dependent on the annul flood (‘inundation;’), on it not being too high or too low, and they built basins, channels and dams to manage the water, and grain silos to guard against the food running out of the flood wasn’t right for a good harvest. The Nile was also the Egyptians primary means of transport and communication and this explains why boats are central to many Egyptian myths including how you get to the afterlife – by boat of course.

Links:

Extra content: https://www.patreon.com/talklikeanegyptian

For the geology and geography of Egypt and the Egyptians’ response to the river environment – the annual flood, irrigation channels, dams etc – try Reader, A Gift of Geology: Ancient Egyptian Landscapes and Monuments

For the idea that before the creation of the world there was nothing but watery chaos, and that from this an island emerged on which life would grow, see the creation myths as covered in:

Wilkinson, The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt

Shaw, The Egyptian Myths: A Guide to the Ancient Gods and Legends

Iszi’s book (she’s so needy) The Cursed Tomb where ythe hero gets dropped into the nile: https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/cursed-tomb-9781801996020/