Annotierte Bibliographie zum Sport im Alten Agypten II: 1978-2000.

• Author: Houlihan, Patrick F.
• Position: Book Review

Annotierte Bibliographie zum Sport im Alten Agypten II: 1978-2000. By WOLFGANG DECKER and FRANK FORSTER. Nikephoros Beihefte, vol. 8. Hildesheim: WEIDMANN, 2002. Pp. 307. [euro]50. [Distrib. by Georg Olms Verlag, Hildesheim.]

This admirable work is the second volume of a comprehensive, annotated bibliography on sport in ancient Egypt. The first part was launched by Professor Decker back in 1978 (Sankt Augustin: Verlag Hans Richarz). It comprised all known references on the subject up to that point. As in that publication, the term "sport" here applies to an extensive range of leisurely activities pursued in pharaonic times, and includes all sorts of games. This is mindful of the fact that "sport" has become too narrowly viewed in the West in recent centuries. The respective roles of these various activities in both the secular and sacred lives of the ancient Egyptians are covered in the book.

The present compilation is not strictly confined to the years 1978-2000, since the authors have seized the opportunity to include material which had previously escaped notice or appeared too late for inclusion. It is striking that the bibliography contains nearly double the number of pages of its predecessor. The authors have clearly trawled through a...