Egyptology

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Egyptology (Arabic: علم المصريات) is a major field of archaeology, the study of Ancient Egyptian history, language, literature, religion, and art from the 5th millennium BC until the end of its native religious practices in the AD 4th century. A practitioner of the discipline is an Egyptologist.

Contents 1 Development of the field 1.1 The first Egyptologists 1.2 Greek and Roman era 1.3 Muslim Egyptologists 1.4 European explorers 2 Modern Egyptology 3 Problems and mysteries 3.1 Origins and chronology 3.2 Temples and pyramids 3.3 Burial and tombs 4 See also 5 References 6 External links and articles 6.1 Publications 6.2 External Links

[edit] Development of the field

[edit] The first Egyptologists

The first Egyptologists were the ancient Egyptians themselves. Thutmosis IV, when only Prince Thutmosis, restored the Sphinx and had the dream that inspired his restoration carved on the famous Dream Stela. Less than two centuries later, Prince Khaemweset, fourth son of Ramesses II, is famed for identifying and restoring historic buildings, tombs and temples including the pyramid of Unas at Saqqara.

[edit] Greek and Roman era

Some of the first historical accounts of Egypt were given by Herodotus, Strabo, Diodorus Siculus and the largely lost work of Manetho, an Egyptian priest, during the reign of Ptolemy I and Ptolemy II in the 3rd century BC.

[edit] Muslim Egyptologists

Progress was made by Muslim historians in Egypt and elsewhere from the 9th century AD. The first known attempts at deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphs were made by Dhul-Nun al-Misri and Ibn Wahshiyya in the 9th century, who were able to at least partly understand what was written in the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, by relating them to the contemporary Coptic language used by Coptic priests in their time. Abdul Latif al-Baghdadi, a teacher at Cairo's Al-Azhar University in the 13th century, wrote detailed descriptions on ancient Egyptian monuments.^[1] Similarly, the 15th-century Egyptian historian al-Maqrizi wrote detailed accounts of Egyptian antiquities.

[edit] European explorers

European exploration and travel writings of ancient Egypt commenced from the 13th century onward, with only occasional detours into a more scientific approach, notably by John Greaves, Claude Sicard, Benoît de Maillet, Frederic Louis Norden and Richard Pococke. In the early 16th century, the Jesuit scientist-priest Athanasius Kircher was the first to identify the phonetic importance of Egyptian hieroglyphs, and he demonstrated Coptic as a vestige of early Egyptian, for which he is considered the "founder" of Egyptology.^[2] In the late 18th century, with Napoleon's scholars' recording of Egyptian flora, fauna and history (published as Description de l'Egypte), the study of many aspects of ancient Egypt became more scientifically oriented. The British captured Egypt from the French and gained the Rosetta Stone. Modern Egyptology is generally perceived as beginning about 1822.

[edit] Modern Egyptology

Jean François Champollion and Ippolito Rosellini were some of the first Egyptologists of wide acclaim. The German Karl Richard Lepsius was an early participant in the investigations of Egypt; mapping, excavating, and recording several sites. Champollion announced his general decipherment of the system of Egyptian hieroglyphics for the first time, employing the Rosetta Stone as his primary aid. The Stone's decipherment was a very important development of Egyptology. With subsequently ever-increasing knowledge of Egyptian writing and language, the study of Ancient Egyptian civilisation was able to proceed with greater academic rigour and with all the added impetus that comprehension of the written sources was able to engender. Egyptology became more professional via work of William Matthew Flinders Petrie, among others. Petrie introduced techniques of field preservation, recording, and excavating. Howard Carter expedition brought much acclaim to the field of Egyptology.

Around 1830, Rifa'a el-Tahtawi was one of the first main scholars of Egyptian Egyptology. He was inspired by the work of Muslim Egyptologists in medieval Egypt, though modern Egyptian Egyptology developed slowly compared to its Western scholars, primarily because of Islamic identity. Islamic and modern Egyptian civilization has been influenced by the pre-Islamic Egyptian culture with which Egyptology is concerned.

In the Modern era, the Supreme Council for Antiquities control excavation permits for Egyptologists to conduct their work. The field can now use geophysical methods and other applications of modern sensing techniques to further Egyptology. The Egyptian languages (such as Hieratics and Coptic) and the Egyptian writing systems are still of importance in Egyptology.

Egyptology has attracted various pseudoscientific theories of which most are widely discounted by many Egyptologists. This includes esoteric, or extraterrestrial, subjects which are considered pseudohistorical overall; few in Egyptology entertain views of the "New Age", ufology, occultism, "secret societies", or Atlantis ideas.

[edit] Problems and mysteries

There are many open problems concerning Ancient Egypt, and some of them may never be solved. Egyptian archaeology is in a state of constant transition, with much of the terminology and chronology in dispute. All archaeological record are incomplete, with countless relics and artifacts missing or destroyed. New archaeological discoveries can call into question previous conclusions about Ancient Egypt. Furthermore, there are internal problems of overall cohesion of various dynasties and there are problems reconciling the Egyptian civilization with other concurrent civilizations.

[edit] Origins and chronology

Main articles: Egyptian chronology and Conventional Egyptian chronology

pharaoh "pr-`3" in hieroglyphs

Ancient Egypt appeared as a unified state no earlier than 3300 BC. It survived as an independent state until about 300 BC. Archaeological evidence suggests that a developed Egyptian society may have existed for much longer. The creation of a reliable Chronology of Ancient Egypt is a task fraught with problems. There is a "Conventional Egyptian chronology" that has a general consensus. While the overwhelming majority of Egyptologists agree on the outline and many of the details of a common chronology, disagreements either individually or in groups have resulted in a variety of dates offered for rulers and events. This variation begins with only a few years in the Late Period, gradually growing to a decade at the beginning of the New Kingdom, and eventually to as much as a century by the start of the Old Kingdom. The reader is advised to include this factor of uncertainty with any date offered either in Wikipedia or any history of Ancient Egypt.

[edit] Temples and pyramids

Main articles: Egyptian pyramids and Egyptian pyramid construction techniques

Many Egyptian temples are still standing today. Some are in ruin from wear and tear, while others have been lost entirely. The Egyptian structures are among the largest man-made constructions ever conceived. They constitute one of the most potent and enduring symbols of Ancient Egyptian civilization.

[edit] Burial and tombs

Mummification of the dead was not always practised in Egypt. Once the practice began, an individual was placed at his or her final resting place through a set of rituals and protocol. The Egyptian funeral was a complex ceremony including various monuments, prayers, and rituals undertaken in the deads' honor. The poor, who could not afford expensive tombs, were buried in shallow graves in the sand; because of the arid environment they were often naturally mummified.

[edit] See also

• Assyriology
• Iranology
• List of Egyptologists

• Categories

  Austrian Egyptologists, English Egyptologists, Canadian Egyptologists, American Egyptologists, Australian Egyptologists, Dutch Egyptologists, British Egyptologists, Belgian Egyptologists, Prussian Egyptologists, Scottish Egyptologists

• Contributing studies

  Archaeology, Anthropology, Chronology, Philology, Language studies, Epigraphy, Social history, Ethnoarchaeology, Art history, Archaeoastronomy, Architecture, Oriental studies, Biblical studies

• Other

  Egyptomania, Excavation, Artefacts

[edit] References

[edit] External links and articles

[edit] Publications