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Treasured
A surprising new history of Tutankhamun published to coincide with the centenary of his tomb's discovery.
When it was found in 1922, the 3,300-year old tomb of Tutankhamun sent shockwaves around the world, turning the boy-king into a household name overnight and kickstarting an international media obsession that endures to this day.
From pop culture and politics to tourism and heritage, and from the Jazz Age to the climate crisis, it's impossible to imagine the twentieth century without the discovery of Tutankhamun - yet so much of the story remains untold. Here, for the first time, Christina Riggs weaves compelling historical analysis with tales of lives touched by an encounter with Tutankhamun, including her own. Treasured offers a bold new history of the young pharaoh who has as much to tell us about our world as his own.
“This utterly original work by Christina Riggs tells the remarkable story of how the discovery of Tutankhamun changed not only her own life, but that of the century following its discovery. This is no dry tome, but a tale of personal obsessions -- her own, and that of many others, who were affected by this most sensational discovery.” PAUL STRATHERN
When it was found in 1922, the 3,300-year old tomb of Tutankhamun sent shockwaves around the world, turning the boy-king into a household name overnight and kickstarting an international media obsession that endures to this day.
From pop culture and politics to tourism and heritage, and from the Jazz Age to the climate crisis, it's impossible to imagine the twentieth century without the discovery of Tutankhamun - yet so much of the story remains untold. Here, for the first time, Christina Riggs weaves compelling historical analysis with tales of lives touched by an encounter with Tutankhamun, including her own. Treasured offers a bold new history of the young pharaoh who has as much to tell us about our world as his own.
“This utterly original work by Christina Riggs tells the remarkable story of how the discovery of Tutankhamun changed not only her own life, but that of the century following its discovery. This is no dry tome, but a tale of personal obsessions -- her own, and that of many others, who were affected by this most sensational discovery.” PAUL STRATHERN
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Published February 17, 2022
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About the author
Christina Riggs
11 books54 followersChristina Riggs is Professor of the History of Visual Culture at Durham University in the northeast of England. Her most recent book is Treasured: How Tutankhamun Shaped a Century (2021), an 'utterly original' account which Kirkus Reviews has described as 'an imaginative weaving of the personal and political into a fresh narrative of an archaeological icon.'
Riggs is a former museum curator who studied art history, archaeology, and Egyptology in her native United States before moving to the UK to complete her doctorate at Oxford University. She has held a number of prestigious fellowships, and her writing has appeared in Apollo, History Today, the Times Literary Supplement, the London Review of Books, and Italia magazine, the last reflecting her love of all things Italian. She lives between the north of England and the north of Italy – and wherever she is, she writes first thing in the morning, with a strong cup of coffee.
Riggs is a former museum curator who studied art history, archaeology, and Egyptology in her native United States before moving to the UK to complete her doctorate at Oxford University. She has held a number of prestigious fellowships, and her writing has appeared in Apollo, History Today, the Times Literary Supplement, the London Review of Books, and Italia magazine, the last reflecting her love of all things Italian. She lives between the north of England and the north of Italy – and wherever she is, she writes first thing in the morning, with a strong cup of coffee.
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