William And The Ancient Egyptians

Mummy portraits, tomb sculptures, and jewellery representing ancient Egyptian gods and goddesses, powerful rulers, and ordinary labourers come alive in this illustrated book. Concise descriptions of each work of art give essential information on the land, the people, the religion, and the afterlife.

The Material World of Ancient Egypt examines the objects and artifacts, the representations in art, and the examples of documentation that together reveal the day-to-day physical substance of life in ancient Egypt. This book investigates how people dressed, what they ate, the houses they built, the games they played, and the tools they used, among many other aspects of daily life, paying great attention to the change and development of each area within the conservative Egyptian society. More than any other ancient civilization, the ancient Egyptians have left us with a wealth of evidence about their daily lives in the form of perishable objects, from leather sandals to feather fans, detailed depictions of trades and crafts on the walls of tombs, and a wide range of documentary evidence from temple inventories to personal laundry lists. Drawing on these diverse sources and richly illustrating his account with nearly one hundred images, William H. Peck illuminates the culture of the ancient Egyptians from the standpoint of the basic materials they employed to make life possible and perhaps even enjoyable.

Table of Contents: Preface; William A. Ward (1928-1996); Bibliography of William A. Ward; The Absolute Date of the Montet Jar Scarabs (Daphna Ben-Tor); A Funerary Address to the High-priest Harmakhis (J.F. Borghouts); A coffin from Farshût in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Edward Brovarski); The Hieroglyphic Representation of the Moon's Absence (Psdntyw) (Leo Depuydt); Hurrian Incursions and the End of the Middle Bronze Age in Syria-Palestine: A Rejoinder to Nadav Na'aman (William G. Dever); The Social Setting of the Peoples of the Ancient Near East: An Assessment of Johannes Pedersen (1883-1977) (Ernest S. Frerichs); The Near East Background of the Rigveda (Cyrus H. Gordon); Representations of the Elserly in Ancient Mesopotamian Literature (Rivkah Harris); An Attic Red Figure Chous with Heroes in the Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design (R. Ross Holloway); Re-Discovering Elephants at Petra! (Martha Sharp Joukowsky); Queen Khamerernebty II and Her Sculpture (Barbara S. Lesko); The Perception of Women in Pharaonic Egyptian Wisdom Literature (Leonard H. Lesko); A Much-Published Byblite Cylinder Seal (Geoffrey T. Martin); La Désignation juridique des femmes, d'après les documents contractuels et judiciaires de l'Égypte Ancienne (Bernadette Menu); The Levantine Branch of the von Heidenstam Family in the 19th Century A.D. (R.S. Merrillees); Phoenician Inscriptions from Beirut (Hélène Sader); William A. Ward and Beirut: Archaeological News from the Capital of his Choice (Helga Seeden); The Significance of Anointing in Ancient Egyptian Funerary Beliefs (Stephen F. Thompson); Bronzes in the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago (Rolf Winkes).

Talks about the land, people, government, cities and burial customs of ancient Egypt, and offers a detailed description of tombs, temples, monuments and ruins, along with practical travel information.

Presents annotated translations of papyrus writings and tomb inscriptions from the middle and late periods of ancient Egypt.