The Art of Death in Graeco-Roman Egypt

Judith A. Corbelli £6.99

978 0 7478 0647 9 (Shire Egyptology 28) 80 pp, 53 colour and 26 b/w ills.

Some of the most spectacular discoveries made in Egypt during the twentieth century were in the field of Graeco-Roman funerary archaeology – the poignant mummy portraits and grave stelae, the extensive cemeteries of Alexandria and Marina el-Alamein, the magnificent Golden Mummies of Bahariya – and this work brings together in one volume an introduction to all the categories of funerary art of the period. A wide range of material is presented – tomb decoration, stelae, sarcophagi, coffins, mummy cases, funerary masks, portraits and cinerary urns – in order to give the reader an overview of the various categories and their inter-relationship. A fine example of the impact made when three great artistic traditions collide and intermingle, the material plays an important role in the history of ancient art.

Judith Corbelli holds the degrees of BA (Hons) and MPhil of the University of Liverpool, where she read Ancient History, Classical and Egyptian Archaeology. She specialises in Graeco-Roman Egypt.

Egyptian Boats and Ships

Steve Vinson £4.99

978 0 7478 0222 8 (Shire Egyptology 20) 56 pp, 36 ills.

This comprehensive survey of Egyptian nautical archaeology and history from the Predynastic period to the end of the Ptolemaic period is based on the latest findings in nautical archaeology and research. In particular, the book takes advantage of the study of possible or certain Early Dynastic boat remains from Tarkhan and Abydos, the discovery of large Middle Kingdom ship timbers from Lisht and the find of a Persian-period boat near Heliopolis. Beginning with an examination of the physical environment of the Nile Valley, which has important implications for the development of nautical technology in Egypt, the author surveys the principal chronological divisions of Egyptian history, concentrating as much as possible on the actual remains of boats but also using artistic representations and historical sources. A final chapter surveys the place of boats in Egyptian religious beliefs and practices.

Steve Vinson is Assistant Professor of Ancient History at the State University of New York at New Paltz. He earned a master's degree in nautical archaeology at Texas A&M University in 1987.

Egyptian Food and Drink

Hilary Wilson £4.99

978 0 85263 972 6 (Shire Egyptology 9) 64 pp, 66 ills.

The two staples of ancient Egyptian life were bread and beer, both products of the abundant grain harvest of the fertile Nile valley. This book surveys the constituents of the ancient Egyptian diet, with chapters on cereals and their uses, fruit and vegetables, meat, fish and foul, and condiments. Ways in which food and drink were produced and prepared are explored with reference to funerary remains and the reliefs and paintings of such activities from tombs and temples.

Hilary Wilson has taught Egyptology to Adult Education classes for twenty years and as Setkemet, ‘the Egyptian Lady’, she visits primary schools to givetalks and demonstrations, including such activities as an Egyptian party day and the reenactment of an Egyptian funeral.

Egyptian Games and Sports

Joyce Tyldesley £5.99

*New title - now available

978 0 7478 0661 5 (Shire Egyptology 29) 64 pp

The Ancient Egyptians enjoyed a wide range of sports and games – young men chased lions and ostriches across the desert, while dignified married couples relaxed over a game of ‘senet’. Children played with balls and dolls. Even the Egyptian kings took their own sporting prowess very seriously – as living demi-gods they were expected to dominate the sports field just as they dominated every other sphere of Egyptian life.

Dr Tyldesley is a well-known broadcaster and the author of many books, both scholarly and more popular, on Ancient Egypt.

Egyptian Gods and Myths

Angela P. Thomas £4.99

978 0 85263 788 3 (Shire Egyptology 2) 64 pp, 48 ills.

This book describes the complex and often confusing relationship between the ancient Egyptian and his many gods and goddesses. Myths and legends about the creation of the world, about the sun god Re and about Osiris, the ruler of the dead, and his son Horus are related and explained. There is also a glossary of the major gods and goddesses, many of whom are illustrated.

Angela P. Thomas is Senior Keeper of Human History at Bolton Museum and Art Gallery and is also a part-time tutor in Egyptology for the WEA and has taught a number of courses on Egyptian archaeology, history and religion. Other titles for Shire by this author are:

Egyptian Medicine

Carole Reeves £4.99

978 0 7478 0127 6 (Shire Egyptology 15) 72 pp, 63 ills.

This book offers a concies history of the development and practice of Egyptian medicine and its related subjects. The doctor’s role as a physical and spiritual healer is outlined along with an overview of the medical profession, public health, hygiene and occupational medicine. A brief overview of the medical papyri and medical inscriptions is included.

Carole Reeves trained as a medical illustrator and as a Fellow of both the Institute of Medical Illustrators and the British Institute of Photography, she has travelled extensively in Egypt and around the world collecting Egyptian medical images. She has a dual career as a medical historian and writer/director of medical and science documentaries.

Egyptian Models and Scenes

Angela M. J. Tooley £4.99

978 0 7478 0285 3 (Shire Egyptology 22) 72 pp, 67 ills.

Egyptian models and scenes are frequently mistaken by the public for children's toys, particularly the model boats. But these often crude and charmingly naive figures have a much more serious purpose, namely to provide the staple diet of bread and beer for the tomb owner in the afterlife. This book follows the development of models from their origins in human servant burials at Abydos during the First Dynasty and in Old Kingdom tomb decoration, through the stone figures from Old Kingdom mastabas and wooden models of the Eleventh and early Twelfth Dynasties, to their final demise in favour of shabtis in the New Kingdom. It discusses where models are found, who owned them, what purpose they served, whereabouts in the tomb they were placed and how they relate to tomb scenes.

Angela Tooley has a BA Hons in the Archaeology of the Eastern Mediterranean, specialising in Egyptology, from Liverpool University. She was awarded a PhD on the subject of Middle Kingdom wooden models in 1990.

Egyptian Mummies

Barbara Adams £4.99

978 0 85263 944 3 (Shire Egyptology 1)

This book provides a concise history of the development of the process of mummification in ancient Egypt. There is a section on the practice of animal mummification in the later periods with a chapter which summarises the modern research into the subject from Greek times up to the present day with an accompanying bibliography for each entry.

The late Barbara Adams was Curator of the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology at University College London and former editor of the Shire Egyptology series. Other titles for Shire by this author are:

Egyptian Pottery

Colin Hope £4.99

978 0 7478 0494 9 (Shire Egyptology 5)

Clay was used for a myriad of functions in ancient Egypt, of which one of the most important was the production of pottery vessels. The manufacture of pottery has a history of over five thousand years in ancient Egypt and this book concentrates on that from the time of the first pharaohs to the conquest of Alexander the Great in 332 BC. Using information drawn from such diverse sources as tomb reliefs and inscriptions, as well as the large amount of pottery from pharaonic Egypt that survives today, this book examines the technique of pottery maunfacture, types of decoration and the function of pottery in that society.

Colin Hope graduated from the University of Liverpool in 1973 with a BA in Egyptology with Coptic, and was awarded a PhD by the University of London for his study ‘The Blue-Painted Pottery of the Eighteenth Dynasty’. He is Research Fellow in the Department of Ancient History, Macquarie University, Australia, and a member of the International Group for the Study of Ancient Egyptian Pottery.

Egyptian Rock-cut Tombs

Aidan Dodson £4.99

978 0 7478 0128 3 (Shire Egyptology 14) 64 pp, 62 ills.

The rock-cut tomb was the most ubiquitous of Egyptian funerary monuments, existing in many types and locations: this book surveys many of these varieties and traces their development. The New Kingdom royal tombs at Thebes and Amarna are described and chapters are devoted to the groups of private tombs that date from the Old Kingdom onwards; the distinction is drawn between the tomb-chapels, decorated with the so-called 'scenes of daily life', and the associated burial chambers, in some cases cut a considerable distance away. There is a brief look at the construction of rock-cut tombs, particularly in the context of the workmen's village of Deir el-medina, and their uncertain future.

Aidan Dodson studied Egyptian archaeology at Collingwood College, Durham, Liverpool University and Christ's College, Cambridge. He received his BA in 1985 and an MPhil in 1986. He regularly lectures on Nile cruises and is an extra-mural tutor for the University of London.

Egyptian Shabtis

Harry M. Stewart £4.99

978 0 7478 0301 0 (Shire Egyptology 23) 64 pp, 52 ills.

The ancient Egyptians believed that the statutory agricultural labour imposed on them in order to utilise the Nile floods would continue in the afterlife. To avoid this irksome duty they devised the shabti, a figurine which they hoped would deputise for them on being activated by the appropriate magic spell. If the idea smacks of 'draft-dodging', the figures are nevertheless of considerable artistic interest, and provide information about Egyptian religion, society, personal names, titles, etc. The iconography, inscriptions, materials and manufacture are described with criteria for identifying and dating the various types. A concise up-to-date treatment in English has long been lacking, and this account will be useful to students, art historians, collectors and others.

Harry M. Stewart studied Ancient History and Egyptology at the University of London. He was appointed an Honorary Research Fellow in the Department of Egyptology at University Co

Egyptian Statues

Gay Robins £4.99

978 0 7478 0520 5 (Shire Egyptology 26)

For over three thousand years, ancient Egyptian sculptors created statues of deities, kings and elite officials and their families. These were set up mainly in temples or tombs and played a vital role in temple and funerary ritual, being places where non-physical entities – deities, the royal ka-spirit and the ka-spirits of the dead – could manifest themselves in this world. The book begins by examining the materials and techniques employed by sculptors and the various statue types and poses that occur. Next it explores the function of statues and the different contexts for which they were made. This is followed by a chapter explaining the notion of the ideal image: statues were not intended to be exact likenesses but rather ideal images reflecting the identity, role and status of the subject. The individual identity of a statue was usually provided by inscriptions, and the various texts found on statues are discussed together with the different types of relief decoration that occur on statue surfaces. A final chapter considers what was constant and what changed over time and looks at the influence that Egyptian statues had on the origins of monumental Greek sculpture.

Dr Gay Robins studied Egyptology at the University of Durham as an undergraduate and then went to Oxford to undertake research on queens of the Eighteenth Dynasty, obtaining a DPhil in 1981. She has published numerous articles relating to ancient Egyptian art, women and gender issues, and the living stature and physical proportions of the ancient Egyptians.

Egyptian Textiles

Rosalind Hall £4.99

978 0 85263 800 2 (Shire Egyptology 4) 72 pp, 52 ills.

‘She who was rich in fine linen, who loved clothes, lies in the cast-off garment of yesterday.’ So ends an ancient Egyptian funeral lament, and indeed these textiles have frequently become the neglected cast-off rags of today, lying undiscovered in museum basements. This book attempts to rectify the situation by assessing the archaeological importance of textiles, describing and illustrating recently ‘rediscovered’ garments , and translating little known related texts. A survey of the nature and quality of woven fabrics and dyeing processes is followed by a technical description of spinning and weaving. Representations of costume on reliefs and statuary are viewed chronologically, and the often divergent extant garments are then described. A complete chapter is devoted to the wardrobes of Tutankhamun and other Pharoahs. The Egyptian laundry service is discussed: methods of washing and pleating, laundry lists and marks, and the washermen’s complaints. Sewing and darning equipment and methods, with an inventory of embroidery stitches and dressmaking techniques, are described for the first time. A conclusion is reached on dress as a status symbol in ancient Egypt by a survey of garment prices and of all types of specific dress, or undress, from that of vizier to prostitute.

Rosalind Hall holds the post of Lecturer in Egyptology at the Institute of Archaeology.

Egyptian Towns and Cities

Eric P. Uphill £4.99

978 0 85263 939 9 (Shire Egyptology 8) 72 pp, 36 ills.

This book surveys the main kinds of urban settlement and town planning that existed in ancient Egypt before the Hellenistic period. The evolution and growth of Predynastic villages is traced as an essential prelude to the much greater achievements of the Pharoahs in establishing first towns and then cities. The range of size and material is tremendous, covering small closely knit communities of a few hundred people, towns with several thousand inhabitants and vast cities, as large as any in the ancient world, with tens of thousands of citizens.

Eric Uphill was a lecturer in Egyptology and Archaeology for the Faculty of Continuing Education, Birbeck College, and is an Honorary Research Fellow of the Department of Egyptology of University College London. He has also visited Egypt nearly forty times as a lecturer for student groups and cruise parties.

Egyptian Woodworking and Furniture

Geoffrey Killen £4.99

978 0 7478 0239 6 (Shire Egyptology 21) 64 pp, 65 ills.

This book gives a comprehensive description of Egyptian woodworking from the earliest times to the Late Period. It examines the sources of wood and other materials used by Egyptian carpenters. The techniques used to embellish timber and the complex joints employed in carcase construction are also explained and woodworking tools and processes throughout the dynastic Period are described. Some of the important sources which illustrate the development of furniture styles and the use of tools come from wall paintings and reliefs in tombs. The story of furniture is traced through an examination of surviving pieces that are now preserved in museums, including First Dynasty bedframes from Tarkhan and the furniture of the Fourth Dynasty queen Hetepheres, as well as the highly developed cabinet making and turned stool legs of the Late and Graeco-Roman Periods.

Geoffrey Killen studied Design and Technology at Shoreditch College, University of London, where he specialised in researching ancient woodworking techniques and furniture. He has established a position as a leading furniture historian, the results of his research having been widely published. Mr Killen is Head of Faculty of a large college Design and Technology Department in Bedford.

Graeco-Roman Egypt

Simon P. Ellis £4.99

978 0 7478 0158 0 (Shire Egyptology 17) 56 pp, 40 ills.

More is known about everyday life in Graeco-Roman Egypt than in any other Greek or Roman territory, largely owing to the thousands of papyri discovered in the rubbish tips of ancient towns at the beginning of the twentieth century. The papyri, which include accounts, personal letters, complaints and legal documents, enable the archaeologist to see the artefacts and monuments in their full social context, in a way that is impossible when examining any other ancient civilisation. From the papyri we can tell how everyday objects, which were exceptionally well preserved in the dry sands of Egypt, were used. This book portrays Egyptian society in Greek and Roman times (332 BC to AD 395), with its concerns about finance, family and friends, to which the modern reader can easily relate. It covers settlements from the great cosmopolitan, if unruly, city of Alexandria, to small villages, while considering social problems such as burglary and technological advances like the development of glassworking.

Simon Ellis obtained a doctorate from Lincoln College, Oxford, for research on late Roman and Byzantine houses. From 1976 to 1988 he worked on excavations at Carthage, first with the University of Michigan, and later as director of the British project.

The Hyksos Period in Egypt

Charlotte Booth £5.99

978 0 7478 0638 7 (Shire Egyptology 27) 56 pp, 19 colour and 14 b/w ills.

The Hyksos were a foreign dynasty which dominated Egypt from its capital in the Nile delta during the politically unstable Second Intermediate Period (1782–1570 BC). Portrayed by Egyptian propaganda as atheist barbarians, they were in fact a valuable part of Egyptian civilisation, with a pantheon just as rich as that of the Egyptians themselves. It is clear from the archaeological examination of the remains of their capital that their kings maintained relations with many foreign nations and constructed monumental buildings, using a combination of Egyptian and Canaanite styles. Although the remains have been badly damaged by the marshy environment and by constant rebuilding and agriculture on the site, archaeology has shown that this city was once occupied by a rich society with a large sacred precinct and unusual burial practices. This book explores the religion, politics and customs of the Hyksos, showing that they were opportunists rather than ‘barbaric invaders’, and it provides a clear and concise overview of this short but controversial period of Egyptian history.

Charlotte Booth graduated with a BA with Honours and an MA in Egyptian Archaeology from University College London.

Protodynastic Egypt

Barbara Adams and Krzysztof Cialowicz £4.99

978 07478 0357 7 (Shire Egyptology 25) 64 pp, 46 ills.

Fascination with ancient Egypt has often been cyclic in nature like the seasons of the Nile. Whilst the great temples and tombs of the pharaohs are a perpetual lure, interest in the beginning of the country's civilisation has been revitalised by excavations since the 1970s, not only in the Predynastic desert cemeteries of traditional exploration in Upper Egypt, but also in their associated settlements and in hitherto unexplored parts of the alluvial Nile delta. This book is a synthesis of interpretations of the ceremonial treasures relating to the Protodynastic/Early Dynastic transition and the information derived from new and old fieldwork set in a chronological framework. The authors blend their complementary interests into a reappraisal of this exciting, remote and unresolved period of Egypt's unification and the activities of the early kings of the First Dynasty.

The late Barbara Adams was Curator of the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology at University College London and former editor of the Shire Egyptology series. Other titles for Shire by this author are:

Krzysztof M. Cialowicz is an Associate Professor in the Archaeological Institute of the Jagiellorian University, Krakow, Poland.

Tutankhamun’s Egypt

Frances Welsh £6.99

978 0 7478 0665 3 (Shire Egyptology 19) 80 pp, colour and b/w ills.

The discovery in 1922 of Tutankhamun’s tomb captured the imagination of the public. An Egyptian pharaoh surrounded by his golden funerary equipment and luxurious palace furnishings had remained hidden from sight for three thousand years, and the beauty of his gold mask and coffins and other treasures was unsurpassed. Egyptologists were equally excited about the information contained in this sealed group of objects. Meticulous excavation led by Howard Carter ensured the preservation of all the evidence, and careful study of the objects, together with contemporary material from more recent excavations, throws fresh light on the events of Tutankhamun’s short reign and its historical importance. This was a time of transition: the unconventional religious and political concepts of the Amarna period were discarded in favour of the orthodox concepts of Egyptian culture. Tutankhamun moved the court from Amarna, where the monotheistic worship of the Aten with its new style of art and architecture was established, and he reinstated the Theban god Amun-re as state god. This book discusses the historical, archaeological and artistic aspects of this transition and interprets the objects in Tutankhamun’s tomb, the paintings on its walls and its location, to reveal its full significance.

Frances Welsh has made extensive study tours in Egypt since 1961 and has excellent knowledge of sites and material relating to Tutankhamun and the Amarna period.