Wonderful Things: A History of Egyptology, Volume 1: From Antiquity to 1881

by Jason Thompson

The discovery of ancient Egypt and the development of Egyptology are momentous events in intellectual and cultural history. The history of Egyptology is the story of the people, famous and obscure, who constructed the picture of ancient Egypt that we have today, recovered the Egyptian past while inventing it anew, and made a lost civilization comprehensible to generations of enchanted readers and viewers thousands of years later. This, the first of a three-volume survey of the history of Egyptology, follows the fascination with ancient Egypt from antiquity until 1881, tracing the recovery of ancient Egypt and its impact on the human imagination in a saga filled with intriguing mysteries, great discoveries, and scholarly creativity. Wonderful Things affirms that the history of ancient Egypt has proved continually fascinating, but it also demonstrates that the history of Egyptology is no less so. Only by understanding how Egyptology has developed can we truly understand the Egyptian past.

376 pages, Hardcover

First published January 15, 2015

Reviews

[Lucas · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book will always be a bit special for me since I bought my copy (at a really offensive markup, I later realized) in Aswan, Egypt. Thompson's book is wildly uneven -- some chapters are really quite riveting, considering he's essentially written a historiography -- while others meander or drag. He also takes this odd, encyclopaedic approach where he renders a lot of the minor characters in his story in a rather boring, formulaic way by listing each in a paragraph or two and then moving on to the next. This is doubly frustrating given how luminously he illustrates the 'stars' of early (Western) Egyptology -- Champollion, Young, Mariette, Wilkinson all come to life in his pages. And one more, *major* gripe: no pictures. Thompson states at the outset that he might publish a fourth volume of just plates, but the number of times I found myself going to Google to get a sense of what he was describing was frustrating.

[Peter Caldwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first of a three volume series of books describing in detail the history of Egyptology: These books are each fascinating reading for the reader addicted to Egyptian history. They belong in such a person's library as they provide many obscure facts while at the same time are written in an interesting and readable style. Personally I found the first and third the most enjoyable especially the discussions of the dawn of Egyptology and finally the most recent updates.

[Annarella · Rating 4 out of 5]

I been fascinated by Ancient Egypt and Egyptology since I was a child and was happy to read this well researched and well written book.
I liked the style of writing and the clarity of the explanations.
Informative and entertaining, highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Edelweiss for this ARC, all opinions are mine

[Mills College Library]

932 T4733 2015