Customer Reviews

Death and Burial in Ancient Egypt

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If you are interested in mummification, this is definitely the book to have. Salima Ikram writes well, and the stories she has to tell are just amazing. The discussion of making mummies includes not just the way humans are treated, but also animals, something that until the work of Dr. Ikram has been really difficult to find out about. She has photographs of things you won't find elsewhere (without a lot of looking through much more difficult to find sources), and a useful appendix and excellent index. My one regret is that the photographs are all in black and white (and for a few of them the lack of contrast indicates that they were transferred from colour images). I would love to have the beautiful colour photos I am sure she has access to. But that would make this a much more expensive volume. The quality of the information, the images that she does use, and the lively writing all added together make this a must for someone with great curiosity about ancient Egypt.

Salima Ikram is an experienced Egyptologist whom has written many excellent books and is a constant contributing author for KMT magazine Kmt. This book is basically a shortened version of her earlier, much larger, and more scholarly work "The Mummy in Ancient Egypt" Mummy in Ancient Egypt: Equipping the Dead for Eternity co-authored with Aidian Dodson, another prolific writer of Egyptian works. For beginners "Death and Burial" is a good start into the subject. However, there is much material at hand that covers Egyptian mummification and burial practices just as well, if not better.

Bob Brier's book "Egyptian Mummies" Egyptian Mummies: Unraveling the Secrets of an Ancient Art. contains essentially the same information on the embalming process with some major exceptions, he actually mummified a modern human in the manner of the ancient Egyptians. His mummy research is still the cornerstone for Egyptian methodology and his modern mummy is still being studied today. As one of the world's top experts in the field, Brier's style brings a vein of humor to the subject that most readers will find as a fresh relief from the "stiff" writing styles of most Egyptologists. He even has a short chapter "The Mummy in Film" which ends his volume well.

All three books are good. Ikram's masterwork is definitely her earlier "Mummy" which stands as a premier for burial practices and an excellent reference that I'm sure most Egyptologists have at hand. If I had to choose a starter book, Brier would win with a close second by Ikram.

One drawback for some is that all of these books have no color photography. This does not detract from their content but it would have made them even more appealing to a wider audience. If you enjoy Ikram's "Death & Burial" you'll want to see her earlier work and read Brier's book as well.