Customer Reviews

Ancient Egypt: Treasures from the Collection of the Oriental Institute (Oriental Institute Museum Publications)

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This is a wonderful book. But don't look for a lot of spectacular images of Pharaohs. You'll only find one , a monumental statue of Tutankamun with much of the color still intact. What you will find is a confectioner, singers, dancers, a brewer, harpists, potters, priests, a manicurist, hairdresser, royal herald, seal bearer, baker, butcher, tax assessor, scribes, an astrologer, and doorkeeper , as well as gods and godesses and objects from every day life including two games and a razor. The photos are beautiful, most of them in color.

This book is subtitled " Treasures from the Collection of the Oriental Institute , University of Chicago".And that's what it is , serving up interesting objects , well illustrated and clearly explained from 3000 BC to 800 AD. Most of the objects have either never been published or never published in a book for the general reader, so , unless you are an Egyptologist you probably have never seen most of them.

My only complaint is that there are too few pieces from the early history of Egypt. No predynastic pieces and only one from the Archaic period (Dynasties 1&2). But the pieces that are in the book are uniformly interesting, well illustrated and understandably explained.

If you are interested in Ancient Egypt , buy this book.