Ancient Egypt in 101 Questions and Answers.

AuthorAmbridge, Lindsay
PositionBook review

Ancient Egypt in 101 Questions and Answers. By THOMAS SCHNEIDER, translated by DAVID LORTON. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2013. Pp. xiv + 282, illus. $26.

Thomas Schneider tackles 101 questions about ancient Egypt, loosely organized into thematic categories including history, religion, society, and worldview. With a book of this nature, a series of issues comes to the fore: what drives the selection of questions? How well does it serve its intended audience, and how widely does it appeal ? Does it have uses for a specialist reader as a reference or as a teaching tool?

The intended audience and selection of questions are briefly addressed in the author's preface, in which Schneider states that the volume aims to "introduce readers to ancient Egypt and invite them to further study" (p. xiii). Questions were chosen for the frequency with which they are asked or their potential to provide intriguing and provocative insights into ancient Egypt (ibid.). The resulting mix is quite variable in scope, and the appeal of the question-and-answer format depends largely on each reader's purpose in approaching the book. Some of the 101 questions will resonate with faculty who have heard their own students, from across disciplines and backgrounds, ask variations of these queries: Is there anything left to discover in Egypt (questions 20 and 26)? Were Egyptians obsessed with death (question 22)? And where were Egypt's cities (question 58)? It can be useful for teachers to reflect anew on these topics and consider Schneider's answers as they formulate their own.

Others will sound familiar to any who have written (and subsequently graded) essay questions for introductory-level Egyptology exams. "Why is the Middle Kingdom considered to be the 'classical' period of ancient Egypt?" (question 31) and "What does the phrase 'grammar of the temple' mean?" (question 41) are queries that would likely not occur to a lay audience, though they do seem like a convenient reference for undergraduates cramming for their midterm examination. Scholars may well find themselves drawn in by some of the more unexpected topics, such as Egyptology's role in the Third Reich (question 9) and the effect of landscape and environment on culture change (question 19). At one to three pages each, the answers are too brief to be of substantial academic use, but they do serve the useful function of suggesting areas of inquiry and directing the reader onto a path to further investigation.

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