Egyptian Mummies: Revised Edition (British Museum Paperbacks) - Softcover

Andrews, Carol

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0674013913 ISBN 13: 9780674013919

Publisher: Harvard University Press, 2004

Synopsis

Why did the Egyptians try to preserve their dead for eternity? How did they succeed? Carol Andrews answers these questions in a fully illustrated survey of the techniques of mummification, the religious beliefs that lay behind the practice, the ornate coffins and elaborate tombs that housed the bodies, and the grave goods that accompanied them. She explains how animals also came to be embalmed and relates the curious role assumed by Egyptian mummies in European culture and mythology. This book has long proved fascinating reading; it is now available in an updated format.

About this title

About the Author:

Carol Andrews has long been a member of the Department of Egyptian Antiquities at the British Museum. She is author of The Rosetta Stone and Catalogue of Egyptian Jewellery in the British Museum.

Review:

When Ira Gershwin wrote the lyrics to "A Foggy Day," he expressed the ne plus ultra of London unhappiness with the words, 'The British Museum has lost its charm.' As a new series of paperbacks from Harvard University Press...demonstrates, such an unthinkable state must needs constitute the very slough of despond. The institution's vast range of artistic treasures is suggested by the titles in the series: The Elgin Marbles, Assyrian Sculpture, Clocks and Watches, Egyptian Sculpture, Roman Britain, and Egyptian Mummies. Each has numerous illustrations, [and] literate texts by Museum staff members. (Boston Sunday Globe)

About this edition

• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0674013913
• ISBN 13: 9780674013919
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 96