Encounters with Ancient Egypt.

• Author: Peck, William H.
• Position: Book review

Encounters with Ancient Egypt. A series of eight collections of essays, under the general editorship of PETER UCKO. London: UCL PRESS, 2003. [Distributed in the U.S.A. by International Specialized Book Services, Portland, Oregon] $47.50 each (paper).

Ancient Egypt in Africa. Edited by DAVID O'CONNOR and ANDREW REID. Pp. xiii + 225, illus.

Ancient Perspectives on Egypt. Edited by ROGER MATTHEWS and CORNELIA ROEMER. Pp. xiii + 253, illus.

Consuming Ancient Egypt. Edited by SALLY MACDONALD and MICHAEL RICE. Pp. xvi + 239, illus.

Imhotep Today: Egyptianizing Architecture. Edited by JEAN-MARCEL HUMBERT and CLIFFORD PRICE. Pp. xvi + 223, illus.

Mysterious Lands. Edited by DAVID O'CONNOR and STEPHEN QUIRK. Pp. viii + 245, illus.

"Never Had the Like Occurred": Egypt's View of its Past. Edited by JOHN TAIT. Pp. xvi + 260, illus.

Views of Ancient Egypt since Napoleon Bonaparte: Imperialism, Colonialism and Modern Appropriations. Edited by DAVID JEFFREYS. Pp. xvi + 223, illus.

The Wisdom of Egypt: Changing Visions through the Ages. Edited by PETER UCKO and TIMOTHY CHAMPION. Pp. xiii + 225, illus.

This review was begun as an examination of two of the collections of essays under consideration, but it soon became obvious that the series should be discussed as a whole. These eight books are indirectly the product of a conference held at the Institute of Archaeology, University College, London, in December 2000. The general editor of the series explains in his foreword that new chapters have been added and the original papers have been revised and rewritten. As a result, these volumes are more than just collections of papers delivered at a conference. The individual papers in each are the work of specialists in a wide variety of fields, with the general theme of attempting to break the long-held assumption in the academic world that Egyptologists, as is the case with the practitioners of many other specializations, maintain an insular approach to their subject. Thus the series title, "Encounters with Ancient Egypt."

Views of Ancient Egypt since Napoleon Bonaparte is, in fact, a good introduction to the entire series. It is something of a melange, as are almost all of the volumes in the series. It represents the special interests of the various authors but its overall emphasis is the changing attitude toward and interpretation of Egyptian history in the last two hundred years. It is brought together by a masterful introduction written by D. Jeffreys, the editor, in which he surveys the period of exploration and exploitation of the country since Bonaparte and the various approaches toward the study of Egyptian antiquity over the subsequent two centuries. The aims of the topics addressed are exemplified by the first essay...