EGYPT Splendors of an Ancient Civilization
Introduction:
Thames and Hudson’s new publication, Egypt: Splendors of an Ancient Civilization, is so beautiful it is difficult to open it without feeling both the guilt of the grave robber and the awe of the archaeologist. The book is a dozen art galleries sewn between two covers. Its ten-by-fourteen-inch pages throb with three hundred ,dazzling illustrations that show us a sculptured landscape in anexpanse of sand ,a tapestry in a field of drying dates ,the secrets of the universe in a pectoral of gold and blue faience.
In his preface, Siliotti claims to use the stunning photograph store create a journey down the Nile. His text he says,“ put the buildings and artifacts in their context and explains their significance.”
The first section:
“Kernet the Black Land,” explains much about the climate and topography of the country and gives us insights into how civilization developed along the Nile. Siliottities past to present by illustrating his discussion of ancient social organization with modern photographs of strikingly similar activities.
The second section :
.Several schemes appeared one of his devices is a two-page chart that breaks the dynasties into periods. This eye-pleasing chart may find favor with people who are already familiar With Egyptian history .The new student may feel that he needs a memory like flypaper to make any sense of it.
Siliotti also offers the reader a six-page ,fold-out hand-drawn map of the Nile from Abu Simbel to the Delta .The map is whimsical, rather than accurate; it is reminiscent of maps for children of their favorite
land of make-believe .The reader’s first disappointment with the book is that only half the places mentioned in the chart are represented on the map. The ensuing sixteen pages of text that retell the five thousand years of history, this time in straightforward prose, do not leave the new student of Egyptian history with a great sense of security. Obviously too much is left out. Centuries roll by in nanoseconds.
Splendors of Ancient Civilization :
It would be absurd to criticize a book like Egypt for its failure to teach history well expect for the fact that the next two sections of the book, that comprise its bulk , seem to be predicated on reader having this history down cold.
The next section:
Entitled “Voyages and voyagers: The Rediscovery of Egypt,” is another chronicle (starting in 450 BC and going to 1992AD) of all the explorers ,painters, Egyptologists ,and archaeologists and what they discovered .They are wonderful stories ,rich with incredibly beautiful illustrations. The only problem is that the explorers didn’t discover the temples and artifacts in the order in which these were created. They found them when they found them, and the poor reader is forced to follow this history, while the other system of names and dates and places and people he has just learned are jumbled together like dice in a canister. On page 106 of this section, by the way, there is a photograph that is identified as a crown. It’s no crown. It’s not even Egyptian. It’s Renaissance or Baroque.
The final and longest section of the book, Temples and Tombs in the Land of the Pharaohs:
Has a charming principle of organization .Siliotti takes us on a trip up the Nile (from north to south), stopping at each temple along the way. We start in Tanis in the Delta and go all the way to Abu Simbel. Silioti’s discourse on what we are seeing ,however ,takes us scooting back and forth, not just between centuries but between millenniums ,from one dynasty to another and from one archaeologist to another. Ramses II ,,who pops everywhere, seems ,indeed, to have been immortal. (The fold-out map is fairly helpful while reading this section ,even though-would you believe it- not all the places we visit are represented).
On the other hand, enough cannot be said to praise the photographs, to praise the selection of works of Egyptian art that are probably seldom seen, to praise the detailed diagrams of the tombs that almost make one feel one is following the very steps with a guide, not looking at a picture.
The jumble of sequence, and hence consequence, prevents Siliotti from fulfilling the promise of his preface to explain the significance of the artifacts .In spite of his painstaking explanations of the meaning of each symbol, too many why’ sand too many connections are missing.
The meaning of the whole remains elusive. The sphinx is still silent .All the same, Splendors of An Ancient Civilization inspires reverence. It would be a treasured possession of any master of Egyptian history to help him open the eyes of the uninitiated to the glories of ancient Egypt. It is also reasonably priced and would make a nice gift for people who have traveled or who plan to travel to Egypt.
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