“A delightful romp through key formative events that shaped our popular passion for all things ancient Egyptian.” —Peter Der Manuelian, Professor of Egyptology, Harvard University When the Romans conquered Egypt, it was really Egypt that conquered the Romans. Cleopatra captivated both Caesar and Marc Antony and soon Roman ladies were worshipping Isis and wearing vials of Nile water around their necks. In this book, renowned Egyptologist Bob Brierexplores our three-thousand-year-old fascination with all things Egyptian—from ancient times to Napoleon’s Egypt Campaign, the discovery of Tutankhamen’s tomb, and beyond. In this original and groundbreaking book, Brier traces our fascination with mummies that seem to have cheated death and the iconic pyramids that have stood strong for millennia. He also includes twenty-four pages of color photos from his impressive collection of Egyptian memorabilia, which includes everything from Napoleon’s twenty volume Egypt encyclopedia to archeologist Howard Carter’s letters written as he was excavating the Valley of the Kings.

Egyptomania takes us on a historical journey to unearth the Egypt of the imagination, a land of strange gods, mysterious magic, secret knowledge, monumental pyramids, enigmatic sphinxes, and immense wealth. Egypt has always exerted a powerful attraction on the Western mind, and an array of figures have been drawn to the idea of Egypt. Even the practical-minded Napoleon dreamed of Egyptian glory and helped open the antique land to explorers. Ronald H. Fritze goes beyond art and architecture to reveal Egyptomania’s impact on religion, philosophy, historical study, literature, travel, science, and popular culture. All those who remain captivated by the ongoing phenomenon of Egyptomania will revel in the mysteries uncovered in this book.

The material and intellectual presence of Egypt is at the heart of Western culture, religion and art from Antiquity to the present. This volume aims to provide a long term and interdisciplinary perspective on Egypt and its mnemohistory, taking theories on objects and their agency as its main point of departure. The central questions the book addresses are why, from the first millennium BC onwards, things and concepts Egyptian are to be found in such a great variety of places throughout European history and how we can account for their enduring impact over time. By taking a radically object-oriented perspective on this question, this book is also a major contribution to current debates on the agency of artefacts across archaeology, anthropology and art history.

"Egyptomania," the West's obsession with the strange and magnificent world of Ancient Egypt, has for centuries been reflected in architecture, literature and the performing arts. But the discovery of Tutankhamen's tomb in 1922, by a sensation-hungry world newly united by mass media, created a wave of fascination unlike anything before. They called it "Tutmania" and its influence was felt everywhere from fashion to home decor to popular music--and notably in the new medium of film. This study traces the origins of 20th century cinema's obsession with Ancient Egypt through previous eras and relates its recurring themes and ideas to the historical reality of the land of the Pharaohs.

Looks at the influence of ancient Egypt on art, architecture and design in Europe from the time of the Roman Empire, through the Renaissance and up until the start of the twentieth century.

The sheer scale of the movement defies any attempt at inclusivity. Egyptomania, an exhibition jointly organized by the National Gallery of Canada and the Musee du Louvre, offers a representative selection of masterworks from around the world.

Accompanying an exhibition held at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, from September 2004 to May 2005, this volume contains more than one hundred objects which reflect the earliest episode of Egyptomania. Sally-Ann Ashton explores the Egyptian objects that were taken to and received in Italy and how this spawned a tradition of copying elements of this exotic and alien culture, as well as the development of existing cultural and artistic traditions in Egypt under Roman rule. Her discussion of these different forms of acculturation is set alongside beautifully photographed objects from the exhibition.

A collection of essays which grapple with the idea of what ancient history is, and in particular how the discipline can advance in a world that is no longer as tied to the exclusively literary methods of study epitomised by Classics .

Featuring 600 original articles written by leading experts, it goes far beyond the findings of archaeology to include social, political, religious, cultural and artistic information on the Nile Delta civilization.