Overview

Full Product Details

9781845533007

Table of Contents

Reviews

One of the best aspects of this book [is] a stubborn focus not just on the evidence for elite experience in ancient Egypt, but on the human beings who lived this experience. If the point of archaeology is to move beyond the archaeological evidence toward an understanding of the people who produced this evidence, then this book is an admirable success. Ancient Near Eastern Studies In the Introduction this carefully produced book sets out the methodological approach and the obvious challenges in a context where those expressing experience were limited by rules set up to define what was appropriate for being displayed (decorum). But as this book deals with sociology rather than the consumption of aesthetics, its author also convincingly shows that the leisured classes were striving for enjoyment, celebration and appreciation of the finer things of life. Egyptian Archaeology Provides a gold mine of information of elite culture, that will in parts appeal to both the interested non-specialist and the scholar. It emphasizes once again how elite self-representation and location of the tomb owner with respect to other decorative elements underlined his (occasionally her) status. In a pleasantly illustrative way the book shows how, in spite of the formalized decorum, evidence for individual experience can be derived from the emphasis of certain themes or key events in both pictorial and written decoration; and opens many options for further discussion and research. Bibliotheca Orientalis

One of the best aspects of this book [is] a stubborn focus not just on the evidence for elite experience in ancient Egypt, but on the human beings who lived this experience. If the point of archaeology is to move beyond the archaeological evidence toward an understanding of the people who produced this evidence, then this book is an admirable success. - Ancient Near Eastern Studies In the Introduction this carefully produced book sets out the methodological approach and the obvious challenges in a context where those expressing experience were limited by rules set up to define what was appropriate for being displayed (decorum). But as this book deals with sociology rather than the consumption of aesthetics, its author also convincingly shows that the leisured classes were striving for enjoyment, celebration and appreciation of the finer things of life. - Egyptian Archaeology

Author Information

John Baines is Professor of Egyptology at the University of Oxford. His principal publications are on Egyptian art, literature, and religion. He has also studied the role of writing in Egyptian society and high-cultural legitimations and concerns of elites. His publications include Visual and Written Culture in Ancient Egypt (2007) and The Disappearance of Writing Systems (co-edited with John Bennet and Stephen Houston, Equinox, 2008).

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available