Annotated Bibliography

Andreu, Guillemette, Marie-Hélène Rutschowscaya, and Christine Ziegler. Ancient Egypt At the Louvre. Paris: Hachette Littératures, 1997.

This expensive volume is a beautiful, full-color sampling of the Louvre Museum's ancient Egypt collection—a satisfying "visit" if a one cannot fly to Paris in person. Lively, informative text accompanies each artifact.

Arnold, Dorothea. When the Pyramids Were Built: Egyptian Art of the Old Kingdom. New York: Rizzoli International Publications, Inc., 1999.

Published in conjunction with an exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, this visually stunning book is a must for anyone interested in Egyptian art. It includes photographs of artifacts from museums around the world. Every full-color picture is so clear that it has a nearly three-dimensional quality. Kudos to photographer Bruce White. Accompanying text is sparse but well written. The introduction is especially good reading for a general audience unfamiliar with the components that comprise art from this period.

Budge, Sir E. A. Wallis. An Egyptian Hieroglyphic Dictionary: With an Index of English Words, King List, and Geographical List with Indexes, List of Hieroglyphic Characters, Coptic and Semitic Alphabets. 2 vols. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1978.

This two-volume dictionary, once you get the hang of it, is easy to use and a helpful place to find answers about hieroglyphs.

Please note that it is currently vogue in the world of Egyptology to trash the work of Budge. In Stargate, for example, Dr. Daniel Jackson [James Spader's character] looks at a badly translated hieroglyphic passage from the Stargate device and mutters, "Must have used Budge. I don't know why they keep reprinting his books." A recent issue of KMT, A Modern Journal of Ancient Egypt warns budding Egyptologists that works by Budge are "sadly out of date."

Bashing Budge wins zero points with me, however. Anyone who consults a work of his for information on mythology or language will see that this scholar's explanations, analyses, and insights mirror works by later, more fashionable authors. If you have a genuine interest in ancient Egypt, Budge isn't dry or overly academic. He wrote with a real intuition about the artifacts he studied. His long presence in the country and at the monuments, together with his exposure to so many items of antiquity, entitles him to draw conclusions that might be just ticklings of his unconscious mind while it processes the huge amount of data he saw firsthand.

Let's face it: Much of what happened in ancient Egypt will be forever lost to us, and the currently popular theories of today will be completely shot down in another fifty years. Budge's critics never explain what exactly about his works makes him outdated, leaving me to conclude that some of the criticism aimed his way is professional jealousy produced by folks who do not have the same access that he enjoyed to monuments and artifacts and who do not have the discipline to commit as many of their own ideas to paper.

Budge, Sir E. A. Wallis. From Fetish to God in Ancient Egypt. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1988.

This well-documented work explains the development of ancient Egyptian religion, explaining what symbols [or fetishes] identify which gods. The 240 line illustrations and accompanying text are especially helpful for general readers who want to know what exactly they are looking at when they study Egyptian artifacts. The different crowns, costumes, accessories, and "creature features" that appear in Egyptian art all have a specific message, and this book will help one learn how to "read" them.

Budge, Sir E. A. Wallis. Legends of the Egyptian Gods: Hieroglyphic Texts and Translations. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1994.

This small work provides complete hieroglyphic coffin and pyramid texts and their English translations. Not only is it a good introduction to Egyptian mythology, but it also illustrates how difficult Egyptian literature is to read and explores the difficulty of translating hieroglyphic works.

Desroches-Noblecourt, Christiane. Tutankhamen: Life and Death of a Pharaoh. London: George Rainbird Limited, 1963.

Howard Carter's discovery, ancient Egyptian customs and history, and analysis of the artifacts in King Tutankhamen's tomb combine in this general reference book. Several beautiful color plates are the highlight of the work.

Germond, Philippe. An Egyptian Bestiary. London: Thames and Hudson Inc., 2001.

This book contains 280 gorgeous color illustrations with engaging, though simplistic, text. Although visually appealing, it doesn't cover subjects as well as Houlihan's The Animal World of the Pharaohs.

Hawass, Zahi. The Treasures of the Pyramids. New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 2003.

Zahi Hawass is the Director of the Giza Pyramids Excavations, and this book demonstrates the total access that such a position entails. The book, a Barnes & Noble exclusive, focuses on Old Kingdom and Middle Kingdom pyramids and the great necropolises of Memphis. Interior walls of mastabas get considerable emphasis. The photographs are stunning.

Houlihan, Patrick. The Animal World of the Pharaohs. New York: Thames and Hudson Inc., 1996.

Currently out of print [although a used copy is easy to find at Amazon], this superb and thorough book offers commentary on every type of animal known to the ancient Egyptians, from wild to domestic, frogs to horses.

Janssen, Rosalind and Jack. Egyptian Household Animals (Shire Egyptology). Aylesbury, UK: Shire Publications Ltd., 1989.

This little work [a mere 62 pages] provides an introduction to the animals that the ancient Egyptians raised or kept, from typical farmyard livestock and pets to the less conventional species, like monkeys and lions. Although the book is heavily illustrated with both photographs and line drawings, all pictures are in black and white. The book also contains mistakes. Like Strouhal's Life of the Ancient Egyptians, the Janssens mistake a puppy for a piglet in the mastaba reliefs of Kagemni, and although this might seem a slight mistake, one error might mean there are more.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Egyptian Art in the Age of the Pyramids. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1999.

Five hundred and thirty-six pages of excellent photos and commentary comprise this book. If you want the unabridged version of Dorothea Arnold's When the Pyramids Were Built: Egyptian Art of the Old Kingdom [see above], this is the book for you.

Quirke, Stephen, and Jeffrey Spencer, eds. The British Museum Book of Ancient Egypt. New York: Thames and Hudson Inc., 1996.

The British Museum has one of the largest collections of Egyptian artifacts. This book shows off some of the highlights, providing detailed analysis and historical perspective. Included are both color and black and white pictures.

Robins, Gay. The Art of Ancient Egypt. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1997.

Full of black and white photographs, line drawings, and beautiful color prints, this work provides an excellent introduction to ancient Egyptian art. In a highly readable fashion, it explains how the many components of a piece [size, position and arrangement of hieroglyphs, subject matter, etc.] contribute to its overall message and purpose.

Rossini, Stéphane. Egyptian Hieroglyphics: How to Read and Write Them. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1989.

This work will not have you fluently reading and writing the ancient Egyptian languages by the end of its mere 96 pages. It will, however, nicely explain how Egyptian words are put together—much like a children's book on English ABCs. Beautiful black and white line drawings help readers familiarize themselves with the basic "letters" of this long dead language.

Schulz, Regine and Matthias Seidel, eds. Egypt, The World of the Pharaohs. Könemann, 1998.

Lavishly illustrated and well written, this coffee table book is an excellent introduction to all things Egyptian, and, in comparison to other books its size, a real bargain.

Shaw, Ian and Paul Nicholson. The Dictionary of Ancient Egypt. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers, 1995.

Organized like a typical dictionary, this reference is a good place to find information about important people and places in ancient Egypt. My one complaint is that if the ancient Egyptian was not a pharaoh or close relative, no entry exists. Ptahhotep, for example, has one of the most beautifully preserved Old Kingdom tombs at Saqqara and authored an important piece of wisdom literature, but those accomplishments do not rate him his own entry.

Shaw, Ian, ed. The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt (Oxford Illustrated Histories). Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.

This compilation of essays by various Egyptologists traces the history of Egypt from Paleolithic culture through the Roman Period. Egypt's ancient history is full of debate, which this work addresses. However, in an attempt to deflect any criticism about its scholarship, the chapters tend to explore too much dusty detail without painting a real sense of the various phases in Egyptian history. For example, an author will emphasize a piece of pottery about which he has certain indisputable facts, but no where can a reader find the name of the first pharaoh. The color plates are beautiful but scarce; the majority of the illustrations are clear, though black and white photographs or line drawings. This work provides no quick answers to any question a person might have about ancient Egypt.

Siliotti, Alberto. Guide to the Pyramids of Egypt. New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997.

A general reference guide, this work gives basic information on the pyramids, tombs, and mastabas of ancient Egypt. Although the entire volume is in full color, most of the photographs are so tiny that detailed analysis of the architecture or the artifacts is impossible. [Now out of print, although I easily found a copy at eBay]

Simpson, William Kelly, ed. The Literature of Ancient Egypt: An Anthology of Stories, Instructions, and Poetry, New Edition. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1972.

Egyptian literature is often difficult to read. Translations frequently have big chunks missing or end prematurely because the one surviving original was damaged. Furthermore, scholars frequently comment on the unclear meanings of various key words in the pieces they have translated. This anthology samples a variety of forms, providing a small amount of commentary for each piece. It is a nice introduction to an extremely frustrating form of literature.

Strouhal, Eugen. Life of the Ancient Egyptians. Trans. Deryck Viney. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1992.

Rather than focusing on royalty, this work details the life of the "regular Joe" in ancient Egypt, covering everything from marriage to diet to religion. The book contains 289 illustrations, some of which are difficult to find anywhere else in color. In the chapter "Stockbreeding and the Hunt," Strouhal mistakes a puppy for a piglet, demonstrating a rote knowledge of ancient Egyptian art and making suspect his other interpretations and insights in the book.

Tiradritti, Francesco, ed. Egyptian Treasures from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Vercelli, Italy: White Star Publishers, 1998.

An oversized coffee table book, Egyptian Treasures from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo is lavishly illustrated with 664 full-color photographs. A fascinating history of excavations in Egypt begins the work. What follows are beautifully photographed artifacts. Unfortunately, the book does not include every piece from the museum. The detailed background information and art analysis that accompanies each piece does, however, make it an enjoyable read.

Watterson, Barbara. Gods of Ancient Egypt. Gloucestershire, England: Sutton Publishing Limited, 1996.

In terms of quality writing, this book is the best introduction to Egyptian religion. Each chapter explains a different god or goddess, drawing on a variety of different sources. The writing is clear and insightful, academic but not specialized to the point that the reader needs an Egyptology degree to understand it. Color and black and white photos are sprinkled throughout, although these are not the best feature of the book.