Whose Pharaohs? Archaeology, Museums, and Egyptian National Identity from Napoleon to World War I.

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

By DONALD MALCOLM REID. Berkeley and Los Angeles: UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS, 2002. Pp. xvii + 409, illus. $35.

To quote the author, "The primary purpose of this book is to write modern Egyptians into the histories of ... four museums [Egyptian, Greco-Roman, Islamic and Coptic] and the institutions and disciplines associated with them--Egyptology, classical studies, Coptic studies and Islamic art and archaeology." The densely packed text needed to convey the multitude of ideas encompassed in this intention covers a great deal of modern history--from 1798 to the eve of the Great War, as the subtitle states. The author has set out to bring attention to the native Egyptian historians and archaeologists generally missing in Western studies of Egypt.

The popular view of the progress of the study of Egyptian antiquities begins with the invasion of Napoleon and includes familiar European names such as Belzoni (Italian/English), Champolleon (French), Lepsius (Prussian), Mariette and Maspero (French), Wilkinson and Petrie (English). There is little or no mention of the Egyptians who evinced an interest or attempted a study of their own heritage. In the normal course of Euro-centric study of modern Egyptology one rarely encounters the names of Rifa al-Tawaty, Ahmad Kamal, Yusuf Hekekyan, or Marcus Simaika. As early as 1835 al-Tawaty and Hekekyan led a movement to found an antiquities service and a national museum. Kamal must be credited as the first Egyptian professional Egyptologist active in museum work and education and as a respected colleague of Gaston Maspero. Simaika was the driving force behind collection of Coptic artifacts and works of art as well as the founding of the Coptic Museum in Cairo.

Observing that these personalities are little known to the West and that they have not received the credit due--virtually all general histories of the nineteenth century have overlooked them--the author has methodically detailed their accomplishments. This is done in a carefully researched work of two human dred pages of text, sixty pages of notes, and a twenty-page bibliography. This exhaustive wealth of material documents the author's efforts and resources. Such detail is necessary to explain the Egyptian contributions to the study of Egyptian history within the context of the social and political development of the country from the time of Mohammed Ali in the early nineteenth century to the British occupation. This historical background serves...