Unwrapping Ancient Egypt: The Shroud, the Secret and the Sacred (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780857855398)

In ancient Egypt, wrapping sacred objects, including mummified bodies, in layers of cloth was a ritual that lay at the core of Egyptian society. Yet in the modern world, attention has focused instead on unwrapping all the careful arrangements of linen textiles the Egyptians had put in place.

This book breaks new ground by looking at the significance of textile wrappings in ancient Egypt, and at the way their unwrapping has shaped the way we think about the Egyptian past. Wrapping mummified bodies and divine statues in linen reflected the cultural values attached to this textile, with implications for understanding gender, materiality and hierarchy in Egyptian society. Unwrapping mummies and statues similarly reflects the values attached to Egyptian antiquities in the West, where the colonial legacies of archaeology, Egyptology and racial science still influence how Egypt appears in museums and the press.

From the tomb of Tutankhamun to the Arab Spring, Unwrapping Ancient Egypt raises critical questions about the deep-seated fascination with this culture - and what that fascination says about our own.

Author: Christina Riggs
ISBN-10: 0857855395
ISBN-13: 9780857855398
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
Language: English
Published: 06/05/2014
Pages: 336
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.70lbs
Size: 9.40h x 6.30w x 0.70d

Review Citation(s):
Choice 12/01/2014 pg. 600