Egyptomania - Egypt in the popular western culture
To the western imagination, ancient Egypt is often seen as an out of this world civilization. For centuries, the notion that religion, science, arts, agriculture and architecture developed in Africa long before Europe, has conjured up ideas of alien travelers from outer space or even a highly advanced civilization from this planet landing in Egypt during prehistory to reveal the secrets of the Pyramids and the Sphinx to backward African people. To the Greeks of the Hellenistic era, Egypt was already an old culture whose origins were unknown and imbued in legend.
After the Arab conquest, Middle Age Europe lost contact with Egypt, its only source of information being the biblical accounts. In the Bible, Egypt is depicted as a land of idolaters and enslavers, with the Pharaoh portrayed as a tyrannical oppressor of the Jews.
By the time of the Renaissance, the desire for knowledge, hindered by lack of facts, created a wave of speculation that pictured Ancient Egyptian civilization as a source of western mysticism and occult wisdom, which could be somehow interpreted by the readings of the Tarot. Attempts were made to decipher and interpret Egyptian hieroglyphs as hidden sacred messages taken from the Bible. A perception that Egyptian monuments could somehow embody the coded secrets of long forgotten ancient knowledge increased during the Age of Enlightenment in the 18th Century with the Freemasons.
When Napoleon set up to conquer Egypt in 1797, a sudden burst of popular interest in all things Egyptian spread across Europe, and the term Egyptomania was coined. The Age of Romanticism embraced the distant, both in space and time. Egypt became the perfect scenario for artistic imagery, a remote vast desert land scarcely populated by exotic people amidst monumental ruins half covered in the sand of times at the banks of a mystical river whose unexplored source was deep in the heart of a primitive continent. Egypt suddenly had an aesthetic impact on literature, art, music and architecture.
The Art Deco movement of the early 20th Century relies on many decorative elements derived from ancient Egyptian architecture. It was precisely at this time that two iconic Egyptian figures emerged. Nefertiti became an ideal of feminine beauty after her painted limestone bust was unearthed at Amarna in 1912. This amazing discovery was followed ten years later by an even greater discovery, the unspoiled tomb of Tutankhamen, filled with spectacular treasures of gold and jewelry.
The event was hyped by the media with the infamous “Curse of the Mummy”, which has been effectively exploited by Hollywood, from “The Mummy” starring Boris Karloff to today’s “special effects” versions, all featuring them as fearful reanimated monsters playing on the American fascination for the living dead and on their anxieties about revenge by those they have dominated. The movie Stargate and recent versions of The Mummy continue to influence people’s fanciful perception of ancient Egypt as an alien powerful force that needs to be tamed by western technological superiority.
Egypt has been branded to American and western culture in advertising, cartoons, products and games. Today, the fascination for Egypt and all things Egyptian still exists. The Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas is a contemporary example of the enduring impact of Egyptian imagery. So is the pyramid of glass and steel in front of the Louvre. And many different exhibitions in museums all over the world demonstrate people’s continued interest in ancient Egypt.
http://www.all-about-egypt.com/egyptomania.html
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