Book Reviews: The Secret Lore of Egypt: Its Impact on the West
The author of four previous Cornell University Press volumes on Egyptology, Hornung (emeritus, Univ. of Basel) here focuses on “Egyptosophy.” This concept is defined as “the study of an imaginary Egypt viewed as the profound source of all esoteric lore. This Egypt is a timeless idea bearing only a loose relationship to the historical reality.” Hornung traces the influences of this imaginary Egypt on Western culture from the classical world, through the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, to the present day. He argues that the god Thoth and various Egyptian sages known to the ancient Greeks coalesced into the legendary Hermes Trismegistus, the creator of the art of writing and civilization. Hornung views these mystical and magical “Egyptian” elements as a basis for Gnosticism as well as other secret and metaphysical societies, among them the Rosicrucians, the Freemasons, and the Theosophists. The text presumes extensive knowledge of Western philosophy, art history, and religion; references are made to “the Madonna Platytera” and the “Gnostic Pistis Sophia,” for example, without any footnotes or explanations. Recommended for academic libraries and specialized collections.
KMT Magazine Fall 2008
At the moment of this posting, the KMT journal site has not been updated
KMT A Modern Journal of Ancient Egypt (Volumen 19 Number 3 Fall 2008) features:
King Tut returns…again!
Tutankhamun: The Golden King and the Great Pharaohs - Peter Lacovara
Why Nefertiti went to Berlin - Rolf Krauss
Egypt on the Tiber - Lucy Gordan-Rastelli
Never Before Exhibited Coffins
Amenhotep I Bestiary: Photo Essay - Dennis Forbes
The Fury of Amen - Dylan Bickerstaffe
In why Nefertiti went to Berlin, Rolf Krauss tells us how a combination of greed and neglicence resulted in the Germans getting this beloved masterpiece of ancient Egyptian art. As we reach a century of its amazing discovery, the controversy as to its rightful ownership not only continues, but seems to be steaming now that Egypt is achieving a better capacity to reclaim and care for its heritage.
The two principal actors of this story of deceit are Ludwig Borchardt, the founding director of the Imperial German Institute of Egyptology in Cairo, who supervised the Amarna expedition that took place between 1911 and 1914, and Gustave Lefébvre, then inspector of the Antiquities Inspectorate in Asyut, Middle Egypt, where Amarna is located.
Lefébvre was responsible for the divisions of the finds and, not trained as Egyptologist, settled for a simple 50/50 division where objects made of plaster would go to the Germans. It seems that Borchardt, already aware of the value of the limestone bust of Queen Nefertiti, rushed the division negotiation, listed the figure as “bust of painted plaster of a princess of the royal family” (italics ours), and presented severely cropped photographs of the object to Lefébvre, who let the precious artifact go.
Exhibition offers a virtual tour of ancient Egypt
With an overall investment of more than two million pesos and more than 10 years of technological and scientific research, the interactive kiosk “Eternal Egypt” opened at the National Museum of Cultures in Mexico City.
“Eternal Egypt” is a combined effort by the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) and the Arab Republic of Egypt, through its embassy in Mexico, with support from IBM to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two nations.
The ambassador of Egypt in Mexico, Aly Houssam El-Din El Hefny, mentioned that the installation of kiosks on Egyptian culture in various countries of the world is very important, “but in the case of Mexico is of the utmost importance, since both countries have common cultural expressions. ” He stressed that visiting the tomb of Tutankhamun, touring the Temple of Luxor, the pyramids of Giza and the Great Sphinx is not easy for millions of people in the world and “today, access to this World Heritage, is a reality for Mexicans.”
The virtual trip represents a fusion of cultural information and state-of-the-arts technology. Multimedia animations, 360-degree panoramic views of prominent sites, virtual environments, three-dimensional images, webcam photos in real time and millions of images of high resolution bring historical data about Egyptian culture to all audiences. The curatorship is designed to emphasize the historical and social context of ancient Egypt, to provide a clear idea of content and allow a dynamic and reflective visit experience.There is also a website that displays a map, accompanied by a time line, to guide visitors. Also, the viewer may admire the works of art and explore places of Egypt representing its culture.
“A major goal is to offer a clear, summarized vision of the characteristic features of Pharaonic Egypt,” added the diplomat. “These interactive kiosks are aimed at all audiences, mainly children and young people, so that in future they will be responsible for giving continuity to these projects and lead the preservation of cultural heritage in the world,” said El Hefny.
Egypt holds nearly 33 percent of the total cultural heritage of mankind. Networks of cooperation between his government and private enterprises, in addition to conducting exchanges with other nations, has been a constant focus on the use and application of new technologies.
“Eternal Egypt”, opens in conjunction with the temporary exhibition “The role of the divine. The use of papyrus in ancient Egypt.”. The exhibition features a collection of papyrus items arranged in four thematic clusters, which portray the anthropological and historical aspects of that culture. The most prominent subjects are everyday life, scenes and religious rituals, agricultural activities and important historical moments, among others.
Translated from Notimex
New Egyptian Gallery at the British Museum to Open in Winter
This winter the British Museum will open a new Ancient Egyptian gallery centered round the spectacular painted tomb-chapel of Nebamun. The paintings are some of the most famous images of Egyptian art, and come from the now lost tomb-chapel of Nebamun, an accountant in the Temple of Amun at Karnak who died c. 1350 BC, a generation or so before Tutankhamun. They show him at work and at leisure - surveying his estates and hunting in the marshes. An extensive conservation project – the largest in the Museum’s history – has been undertaken on the eleven large fragments which will go on public display for the first time in nearly ten years.
The tomb-paintings were acquired by the Museum in the 1820s and were constantly on display until the late 1990s. Since then, the fragile wall-paintings have been meticulously conserved, securing them for at least the next fifty years. The project has provided numerous new insights into the superb technique of the painters called by one art-historian ‘antiquity’s equivalent to Michelangelo’ - with their exuberant compositions, astonishing depictions of animal life and unparalleled handling of textures. New research and scholarship have enabled new joins to be made between the fragments, allowing a better understanding of their original locations in the tomb. They will now be re-displayed together for the first time in a setting designed to recreate their original aesthetic impact and to evoke their original position in a small intimate chapel. The gallery will include another fragment for the same tomb-chapel on loan from the Egyptian Museum, Berlin. Drawing on the latest research and fieldwork at Luxor, a computer ‘walk-through’ of the reconstructed tomb-chapel will be available in gallery with an interactive version online.
New website showcases Egypt’s heritage from various eras
IBM and the Egyptian Center for Documentation of Cultural and Natural Heritage (CULTNAT) of Bibliotheca Alexandrina at the Smart Village announced the launching of www.egyptmemory.com.
The website gives users around the world the opportunity to purchase pictures relating to Egyptian history and society in different eras: Pharaonic, Roman, Coptic and Islamic. Egypt Memory also provides publications, namely books and CDs, such as the “Atlas of Archeological Sites,” “Guide to the Plants of Ancient Egypt,” “Encyclopedia of Great Arab Music Figures” and “Thesaurus of Egyptian Folklore.”
Content from the website is available in Arabic, English and French.
Egypt tourism continues on the rise
The number of people visiting Egypt increased more than 25 percent in the financial year 2007/8, compared with the previous year. The country has not yet seen any slowdown in tourism because of slower growth in the European or U.S. economies, according to Tourism Minister Zoheir Garrana.
The consumer price index rose 22 percent in the year to June and the Egyptian pound has appreciated about 3 percent against the dollar since the start of the year. Garrana said that for the sake of tourism he would like to see the pound-dollar exchange rate at seven or eight pounds to the dollar, compared with about 5.3 pounds now.
Tourism accounted for 6.5 percent of Egypt’s gross domestic product in 2007, World Bank figures show. It employs directly or indirectly about 13 percent of the workforce. The government estimates that every extra million tourists create 200,000 new jobs.
One of the biggest growth areas has been tourism from Russia, which now accounts for more tourists to Egypt than any other country. Russian tourists numbered 1.5 million in calendar 2007, overtaking Britain, and Garrana said he expected that to rise to 2 million in calendar 2008.
By the end of 2008 the number of hotel rooms in Egypt will increase to 240,000 from 203,000 now.
OK to get highly spirited again at the Cairo Hyatt but only at the top
Alcohol is once again being served at Cairo’s five-star Grand Hyatt hotel, but only at the hotel’s 41st floor rotating restaurant.
Back in May, US chain owner Abdel Aziz Ibrahim, a member of the Saudi royal family, poured about 2,500 bottles of alcohol worth $US300,000 down the drain after unilaterally deciding to ban spirits in the establishment. Egypt authorities, highly protective of the tourism industry, then threatened to downgrade the Grand Hyatt’s rating to two stars in line with national tourism guidelines.
Both parties agreed to a compromise whereby alcohol is served at the hotel’s top floor. It remains banned at the hotel’s other 11 restaurants as well as in the 716 minibars in rooms and suites, although it can be ordered via room service.
Book Review: The Secret of the Great Pyramid
The Secret of the Great Pyramid: How One Man’s Obsession Led to the Solution of Ancient Egypt’s Greatest Mystery Bob Brier and Jean-Pierre Houdin. Collins/Smithsonian (240p) ISBN 978-0-06-165552-4
Since its construction 4,500 years ago for Pharaoh Khufu, the Great Pyramid of Giza has remained an engineering mystery. According to Egyptologist Brier (The Murder of Tutankhamen) and architect Houdin, the monument was designed by Khufu’s brother Hemienu, an architectural genius, and built in two decades by 25,000 paid Egyptian construction workers. Having studied the structure minutely and using computer graphics to visualize every aspect of the pyramid and its construction, Houdin offers a radical proposal of how the huge limestone and granite blocks were raised: the pyramid was built from the inside out around a mile-long ramp corkscrewed up to the top, which remains in the pyramid’s walls. The authors’ prose is lucid, aided by drawings and photos, and the theories are intriguing but inconclusive until permission can be obtained from Egyptian authorities to thermally photograph the pyramid and determine its internal structure. The highly technical nature of some of the architectural and engineering material makes this book more suitable for experts in archeology and architecture than for buffs.
EGYPT Film: Sex and jealousy
Aiten Amin’s first short movie, “Her Man,” has gained wide acclaim among movie fans and several critics in Egypt. The rising director surprised many Muslim viewers with an unflinching glimpse into the sexual and moral codes of Egypt’s urban poor.
Given her economic dependency on her husband, Zeina, the movie’s leading character, was forced to submit to the latter’s decision to take a younger bride for his second wife and move her into the same house. Yet Zeina’s submission was not complete. Here lies the most incendiary component of the story: To oust her adversary, she slept with her, leaving a mark on her breast to make their common husband, Sobhi, think that his new wife was cheating on him.
The movie is based on a short story by the renowned London-based Egyptian novelist Ahdaf Soueif. It shows how women in a particular social stratum are obsessed with sexuality. This point was well conveyed through the portrayal of the husband. Viewers never see Sobhi’s face, only his hands, lips and hairy chest. By focusing on his flesh, the director showed that the sexual component was a crucial element for the jealous wife.
Since it came out it in January 2007, “Her Man” was screened in many places around the world, including the U.S., France and Italy. It was awarded two prizes at home, including a best-movie prize at a newly launched film festival last week.
Belly dancing HIS way
Meet Tito Seif, who shakes his hips for a living and has become the world’s most famous male belly dancer in the world.
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By N2H
