Customer Reviews

An Ancient Egyptian Herbal

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is one of my all-time favorite research books on ancient Egypt. For anyone interested in the use of plants, perfumes, cosmetics, and/or medicines in ancient Egypt, this book is a must! Dr. Manniche talks about every plant used in ancient Egypt that has been identified, and also talks about the gardens so beloved by the ancient Egyptian people. I developed a talk on Egyptian cosmetics for use as a museum docent, and much of it is heavily based on Dr. Manniche's book.

I was first drawn to this by the title and the wonderful line drawing reproductions throughout. The photos and text are incredibly interesting. I especially liked the 'recipes' for perfumes, hair restorers...lots of things. My son did a project for his Humanities class based on the book. He followed the instructions for making a necklace of persea leaves and lotus flowers like found on King Tut. Only he used laurel leaves and petunias. He also made up one of the perfume recipes (although substituting slightly) and the deodorant cakes made of carob and clay. He got an 'A' on the project and the teacher said 'good research'. I really liked the listing at the end, for herbals and foods.

An ancient egyptian herbal by Dr. Lise Manniche, is a delightfull piece of litterature for both everyday people and egyptologist. It has a nice introduction concerning various aspects of plant usage in different areas of the egyptian society. The herbal itself is a goldmine for any egyptologi reader, and every plant type is supplied with name/names in english, latin, Modern arabic and where the names are reasoneble recogniced also in ancient egyptien, coptic and greek.

Overall, I think this book is just terrific! It is very well researched and documented, as you'd expect from a true scientist. Dr. Manniche covers a wide range of herbal evidence available in ancient text and hieroglyphic iconography, compiling all this treasured info in a beautifully concise way. She also uses her extensive knowledge to extrapolate some possible herbal usages, which really makes this book a step above the normal dry text it might have been without it. But she doesn't overstep her scientific bounds.

There are plenty of black and white illustrations, but I would have loved to have seen some color plates in this book, as there must be a plethora of examples in Egyptian imagery to enhance her in-depth treatise. It really left me craving MORE!! This is a splendid book for anyone interested in the ancient roots of our medical history, and I hope that as new evidence reveals itself, that she will update this book in coming years. This has a special niche on my bookshelf!

It really takes a lot for me to leave a five star rating, but this book really deserves it. I don't really read a lot of books on Egyptology but this one caught my eye while browsing for incense making books. It certainly changed my thinking on several fronts about the ancient world (not just Egypt). May have to try a few of the food recipes too. Really easy reading too, not dry at all.

Kind of a dry book. However, this subject is very speculative and I applaud the author for making an attempt! It seemed to focus more on the cosmetic and aromatherapeutic aspects of herbalism, but over all it's an interesting book. I wish there was more literature on this subject. What is presented to us in this era (and in this book) seems so confused and watered down that there is little to no way to define a practice out of it.