Encounters with Ancient Egypt

How has ancient Egypt's rich legacy been perceived by different generations of outsiders, in different places? How has Egypt's influence evolved in response to changing contexts? Why does Egypt's past continue to capture our imagination? Conversely, how did the ancient Egyptians view their own past, and how did they view foreign lands? These are some of the issues addressed in Encounters with Ancient Egypt, an ambitious series of eight books that covers the way different aspects of Egypt have been reconfigured over time, from antiquity to the present.

The Encounters with Ancient Egypt series had its genesis in an international conference held at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London, in December 2000. Although the books also include papers commissioned separately, the fact that eight books came out of a single conference is testament to lively scholarly interest at the moment not only in the announced subject, but also, more broadly, in the shifting nature of history. The authors come from a variety of disciplines, offering multifaceted analysis and plentiful new information. An enormous undertaking, the project was worth the effort; the resulting books make an important contribution to the study of ancient Egypt and of its enduring role in the world.

Two of the books in the series are reviewed below. The authors and titles of all eight volumes are as follows:

Jean-Marcel Humbert and Clifford Price, eds. Imhotep Today: Egyptianizing Architecture (reviewed below).
David O'Connor and Andrew Reid, eds. Ancient Egypt in Africa (reviewed below).
John Tait, ed. 'Never Had the Like Occurred': Egypt's View of its Past
David Jeffreys, ed. Views of Ancient Egypt since Napoleon Bonaparte: Imperialism, Colonialism and Modern Appropriations.
Roger Matthews and Cornelia Roemer, eds. Ancient Perspectives on Egypt.
Sally McDonald and Michael Rice, eds. Consuming Ancient Egypt.
David O'Connor and Stephen Quirke, eds. Mysterious Lands.
Peter Ucko and Timothy Champion, eds. The Wisdom of Egypt: Changing Visions Through the Ages.