Customer Reviews

An Egyptian Bestiary

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

 

 

This beautiful book has a large format: 13 x 10 inches, with 224 pages. Of equal importance are the essays about the various animals, fish and birds known to the ancient Egyptians, and the photographs of wall paintings, statues, reliefs, and objects of everyday use representing the life forms. Every page has at least one photograph. Many are full page, with a few being double page ones. All are in color. Each illustration is briefly described, the original site of the object or its current location (usually a museum or private collection) is given, and sometimes the scientific name of the life form represented. The illustrations are in support of the essays: Forward, Introduction, The Secular world-- Animals as human resources, Animals as companions, Animals in competition with man, Animals in writing. The Sacred World--The pantheon, Sacred animals, The funerary, magic, and mythical world, Animals and humour. The appendices are: Principal gods and their animal representations, Outline chronology, Select bibliography, Index of sites and collections, and Illustration credits. If you have a modestly large collection of books about Ancient Egypt, you may find that quite a few of the photographs are of objects familiar to you. However, the photos are very well done, and in many cases are detailed close ups of portions of the objects so that they are, in this way, new material. Other photos are of objects rarely or never before presented in books. When I first received this book, I was somewhat disappointed, as I expected a marriage of illustrations of Egyptian art together with photographs and perhaps short essays about the those animals now still extant, their life habits, and how Egyptians related to them. Now I realize how hard this would have been to carry out, and such a book must await a collaboration of Egyptologists with wildlife experts. As it is, this book presents original and interesting insights into the ancient Egyptian's world viewpoint and daily and intellectual life as revealed by their writings and the artwork they produced.

arrived promptly and in excellent condition.