Echoes of Egypt Conjuring The Land of TH

Conjuring the Land of the Pharaohs
Yale Colleen Manassa

I
echoes of egypt
II
“Campfire by
the River:
Kiosk of Trajan
at Philae”
Hermann David
Salomon Corrodi
(1844–1905)
Italian
n.d.
Oil on canvas
83.8 × 64.8 cm
The Dahesh
Museum of Art
1995.20
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III
echoes of egypt
conjuring the land of the pharaohs
edited by colleen manassa
An Exhibition at the
Peabody Museum of Natural History
April 13, 2013 through January 4, 2014
yale university • new haven
Y
IV
Echoes of Egypt:
Conjuring the Land of the Pharaohs
An Exhibition at the Peabody Museum of Natural History

Yale University
April 13, 2013 through January 4, 2014
http://echoesofegypt.peabody.yale.edu
Published by the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, with funding from the William
K. and Marilyn M. Simpson Egyptology Endowment at Yale University.
Peabody Museum of Natural History

Yale University
P. O. Box 208118
New Haven CT 06520-8118 USA
peabody.yale.edu
Copyright © 2013 Colleen Manassa. All rights reserved.

Copyright on Photos
ISBN 978-1-933789-00-2
CIP data to come (Lbrary of congress info)
Printed in the U.S.A.
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contents
Preface vii
Acknowledgements ix
Contributors xi
Chapter 1 — Looking through the Pylon: 1

An Overview of Echoes of Egypt
A Pylon in an American Landscape 4
The Grove Street Cemetery Gate 4
The Winged Sun Disk 5
Ancient Egyptian Temples and the Cosmos 7
Imagining the Ancient Nile Valley 9
Ancient Echoes of Egypt: Greece, Rome, and Meroe 12
Egyptianizing Meroitic Objects 13
Egyptianizing Graeco-Roman Objects 15
Egyptian Revivals from Late Antiquity to the Enlightenment: Christians, Muslims, Scholars 17
Giovanni Battista Piranesi: Ancient Artifacts, Modern Design 20
From Napoleon’s Expedition to the Present: Egyptology and Egyptomania 22
Fifty Years Later: The Pennsylvania–Yale Expedition to Nubia 29
Chapter 2 — Mysterious Hieroglyphs 33

Origins of Egyptian Writing 37
Artful Hieroglyphs and Everyday Writing 38
From Hieroglyphs to the Alphabet 43
The Last Datable Hieroglyphic Inscription 45
Coptic: The Final Stage of the Egyptian Language 47
Egyptomania in Medieval Arab Culture: The Case of Ibn Wahshiyya 49
�
From the Renaissance to British Satire 51
Jean-François Champollion and Decipherment 53
A Text of Greeting 54
Chapter 3 — Mummy-Mania 57
The Coffin of Paib and Its Mummy 59
“One God, One Pot:” Animal Mummies 61
George Gliddon and Nineteenth-century Mummy Unwrappings 63
“It Comes to Life:” Mummies in Popular Culture 65
Chapter 4 — Egyptosophy: Magic, Alchemy, and Hermeticism 69

The Uroboros: A Magical Symbol of the Cosmos 71
Magical Gems 74
Alchemy and Its Egyptian Origins 76
Alchemy in Egyptian Mining Practice 79
Visit
Hermeticism 80
http://echoesofegypt.
From Athanasius Kircher to Sor Juana Inéz de la Cruz 83
peabody.yale.edu
Natacha Rambova: A Connecticut Egyptosophist 85
for additional exhibition
Further Reading 86 content.
VI
FOREWORD
Ancient Egypt has exercised a powerful unwrapping. Finally we explore the symbols
influence over both Western and Arab- associated with the supposed origins of magic
Islamic culture for 2000 years. Its designs and and alchemy in the ancient Nile Valley. This
motifs permeate architecture, literature, art unique exhibition highlights the breadth of Yale’s
and fashion in a wide variety of ways. The remarkable collections – not just those of the
extraordinary exhibition “Echoes of Egypt: Peabody, but also paintings, books and objects
Conjuring the Land of the Pharaohs,” created from elsewhere on campus. I am very grateful
by Professor Colleen Manassa and the staff of to everyone, not least our sponsors and other
the Peabody Museum is captured in these pages institutions who have loaned objects, for making
through illustrations of many of the almost 100 this spectacular endeavor possible.
objects included. The entrance through New
Haven’s Grove Street cemetery sets the scene Derek E.G. Briggs
for a celebration of Egyptian-inspired designs
through the ages. We discover how hieroglyphs G. Evelyn Hutchinson Professor
were decoded and relive the mid-nineteenth of Geology and Geophysics
century fascination with Egyptian mummies Director,Yale Peabody Museum
represented by the recreation of a mummy of Natural History
Detail of
“Philae, Egypt”
Edward Lear (1812–1888)
1863
British
Oil on canvas, 27.5 × 53.3 cm
Yale Center for British Art
Paul Mellon Collection, B1974.3.12
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VII
preface
During the last two decades, the of Egypt will help to fill those inevitable gaps
study of Egyptian revival in Western in the current format—and as Egyptomania
art and architecture has flourished. exhibits continue to take place, and as our
Extensive museum exhibits have understanding of ancient Egypt itself affects
catalogued and displayed the physical our reception of antiquity, the website
expressions of “Egyptomania”—objects, will provide a protean platform for a two-
buildings, costumes, and jewelry, to name a thousand-year-old phenomenon, and one Fragment of an
few—and dozens of books have explored the various that shows no sign of abating in its third illustrated papyrus
facets of ancient Egyptian art and design that have millennium.
Early Third
inspired aspects of European visual culture since the
Intermediate Period,
eighteenth century. While monographs have been Dates are given as bce (before the Common 1069–715 bce
written on the influence of Egypt in the West and Era) and ce (Common Era). Luxor, Egypt (?)
the “missing millennium” of Egyptology in the Islamic Papyrus with
world, no single museum exhibition has combined The lotus design, created by Sally Pallatto, polychrome
these different threads into a single work. This catalog was inspired by the Egyptianizing decoration 22.3 × 22 cm
for Echoes of Egypt: Conjuring the Land of the Pharaohs, on the elevator doors of the Chrysler Yale University
highlighting objects assembled for an exhibition at the Building in New York City. Art Gallery
Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, seeks to Gift of the Estate of
Nathan A. Baldwin,
provide a succinct overview of the long intellectual 1906.2
tradition behind “Egyptomania.”
Throughout each section of the exhibition, works of

“Egyptomania” are juxtaposed with ancient Egyptian
artifacts. The exhibition, and thus the catalog, is built
around the rich holdings of several museums and
libraries at Yale University, with additional material
graciously loaned by institutions around the world.
By blending art historical, architectural, and design
trends with a deeper examination of “Egyptosophical”
traditions such as Hermeticism and alchemy, Echoes
of Egypt seeks to intertwine new perspectives in the
study of the reception of ancient Egypt and attempts
to suggest why, not merely how, “Egypt” became
“Egyptomania.”
Echoes of Egypt: Conjuring the Land of the Pharaohs

presents diverse Egyptian revival traditions and
influences from a broad temporal and geographical
range. The print catalog is a selection of highlights
from the exhibition. Longer essays and catalog entries
can be found online at echoesofegypt.peabody.yale.
edu. We hope that the virtual component of Echoes
VIII
Stela of a sistrum player (detail)
Ptolemaic Period, 323–30 bce
Akhmim, Egypt (?)
Limestone, 64.3 × 37.2 cm
Yale University Art Gallery
Anonymous Gift, 1937.127
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IX
acknowledgements
It is no understatement that benefited from discussions with several other
without the assistance and faculty in the Department of Near Eastern
support of dozens of people Languages and Civilizations at Yale University,
around the world, this exhibition including professors Benjamin Foster, Eckart
would not have been possible. Frahm, Beatrice Gruendler, Dimitri Gutas, and
To begin here in New Haven, I Bentley Layton. During my research at the New
would like to offer my deepest thanks to Haven Historical Society library on the Grove
the assistant curator, Alicia Cunningham- Street Cemetery Gate, I was greatly assisted
Bryant, who was essential to all aspects of by James W. Campbell and his wife, Bonnie
the exhibition—her endless enthusiasm, Campbell. Prof. Ronald Leprohon kindly read
organizational talents, and perseverance kept a draft of the present manuscript and offered
this project on track. several helpful comments.
At the Peabody Museum of Natural History, I The objects in the exhibition are drawn not
am indebted to many people. Throughout the only from the collections of the Yale Peabody
planning stages of the exhibition, I enjoyed the Museum of Natural History, but are the
constant support of Director Derek Briggs result of generous loans from several other
and Deputy Director Jane Pickering. I would institutions at Yale University and around the
like to thank exhibit designer Laura Friedman world. Lauren B. Hewes and S. J. Wolfe were
for her incredible vision and talent, and Sally enthusiastic about the loans of the mummy
Pallatto for the beautiful design work. Rosemary unwrapping documents from the American
Volpe kindly proofread the manuscript and was Antiquarian Society. At the Yale Babylonian
instrumental in the production process. Senior Collection, I am indebted to Curator and
collection manager Roger Colten and Maureen Professor Benjamin Foster, Associate Curator
DaRos and Rebekah DeAngelo provided Ulla Kasten, and Elizabeth Payne. The Peabody’s
continuous assistance with the anthropology Stefan Nicolescu kindly identified the stones of
collection at the Yale Peabody Museum. Michael the magical gems. I would like to thank Director
Anderson, Walter Brenckle, Maishe Dickman, Kathleen Mahar and Adrienne E. Saint Pierre
Rob Charlesworth, and John Ferro created at the Barnum Museum. Ronald Beckett and
the wonderful half-scale replica of the Grove Gerald Conlogue of Quinnipiac University
Street Cemetery for the exhibition, as well as provided information about the mummy in the
the often complex object mounts. I would like coffin of Paib as well as the animal mummies in
to thank Jerry Domian for the photography the Peabody collections. I thank the staff of the
of the Yale Peabody and Barnum Musuem Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris for the gracious
objects. Annette Van Aken, Sharon Rodriguez, loan of the Ibn Wahshiyya volume.
and Bonnie Mahmoud were all instrumental
in organizing the exhibition. I would like to At the Yale Center for British Art, I would
thank Eliza Cleveland, Linda Warner, Sung Yun, like to thank Director Amy Meyers, Timothy
Susan Castaldi and Melanie Brigockas for their Goodhue, Scott Wilcox, Elisabeth Fairman, Sarah
enthusiasm in promoting our mission. Welcome, and Maria Singer. I am incredibly
appreciative of all the help provided by Director
I also appreciate the contributions of Professor Edwin Schroeder, Kathryn James, Paula Zyats,
John Coleman Darnell; the exhibition also Christine McCarthy, Raymond Clemens, and
X
acknowledgements
Moira Fitzgerald at the Beinecke Rare Book and Peter Kenny. I would like to thank Director
and Manuscripts Library. Director Scott Shields, James Steward, Michael Padgett, and James
William Breaszeale, and Andrew Blicharz Kopp at the Princeton University Art Museum,
kindly assisted with the loan from the Crocker and Director Timothy Rub and Nancy Leeman
Art Museum. I would like to thank Director at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. At the Yale
David Farmer and Arik Bartelmus for their University Art Gallery, I am grateful to Director
wonderful cooperation in loaning paintings Jock Reynolds, Susan Matheson, Megan Doyon,
from the collections of the Dahesh Museum Patricia Kane, William Metcalf, L. Lynne Addison,
of Art, New York. At the Henry Art Gallery, Pamela Franks, Laurence Kanter, Elizabeth
Curator Judy Sourakli, Rachael Faust, and Nancy Aldred, and Meghan Maher.
Hoskins coordinated the loan of the two unique
textile volumes. At the Lewis Walpole Library, Echoes of Egypt would not have been possible
I was assisted by Margaret K. Powell, Cynthia without generous donations from several
E. Roman, and Susan Odell Walker. At the institutions, corporations, and private individuals.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, our loans were The Yale Peabody Museum is grateful to our
made possible by the generosity of Director Presenting Sponsor, Connecticut Humanities.
Thomas Campbell, Emily Foss, Denny Stone, We also wish to thank the 2011–2012 and
the 2012-2013 O. C. Marsh Fellows, the AT&T
Foundation, Jenefer and Frank Berall, Alison and
John Flynn, Mr. and Mrs. Shafik Gabr, Jean and
William Graustein, Renee and Robert Leary,
and Webster Bank. Funding was also provided
in part by a U.S. Department of Education Title
VI National Resource Center grant to the
Council on Middle East Studies at the MacMillan
Center. The production and publication for
this book were made possible through funding
kindly provided by the William K. and Marilyn
M. Simpson Egyptology Endowment at Yale
University.
– cm
“Joseph, Overseer of Pharaoh’s Granaries”

(detail)
Lawrence Alma Tadema (1836–1912)
1874
British
Oil on panel, 35 × 46 cm
The Dahesh Museum of Art
2002.38
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contributors
ACB Administration. Marina has a background in
alicia cunningham-bryant is an assistant Egyptology (M.Phil, Yale University, 2011), as well as
professor in the Intellectual Heritage in anthropology, archaeology, Arabic, and Egyptology
Program at Temple University. She (B.A. , University of Toronto, 2006).
received her Ph.D. in Egyptology from Yale
University, where she is the assistant curator for the JCD
exhibition Echoes of Egypt: Conjuring the Land of the john coleman darnell is Professor of
Pharaohs. Her dissertation focused on the Meroitic Egyptology at Yale University and director
kingdom (ca. 400 bce–400 ce), located in what is of the Yale Egyptological Institute in Egypt.
now Sudan, and specifically on cultural influence in The author or co-author of nine books
funerary and religious practices in early East Africa. and author of dozens of scholarly articles, he has
Her role as head archivist for the Yale Peabody published widely on Egyptian religion and history,
Museum Wiliam K. Simpson archive led to her current and on the development of Egyptian scripts. He is
project on Yale, UNESCO, and American foreign director of the Theban Desert Road Survey and
policy from 1958 to 1976. Toshka Desert Road Survey, expeditions that have
made several spectacular discoveries in the last two
CEB decades.
caitlín e. barrett is Assistant Professor
of Classics at Cornell University. Her MG
research focuses on cult and society in maria gutierrez is a Ph.D. candidate
Greco-Roman Egypt, interactions between in Egyptology at Yale University. Her
Egypt and the rest of the eastern Mediterranean, research interests include ancient
and the archaeology of religion and ritual. She has Egyptian religious practices, Egyptian art
excavated and surveyed at a range of Bronze Age and architecture, and Egyptian history in general. She
through early modern sites in Egypt, Greece, and the is currently working on her dissertation, a study of
United States. Egyptian oracular practices from the New Kingdom
to the Graeco-Roman period.
TDB
tasha dobbin-bennett is a Ph.D. DK
candidate in Egyptology at Yale University. david klotz is a postdoctoral research
Her dissertation examines ancient associate at Yale University. He has
Egyptian religious and medical texts, published widely on temples and private
specializing in merging philology with biomedical statues from Graeco-Roman Egypt, and
theory. Her current research on Thomas Pettigrew he directs the Yale University Nadura Temple Project
and George Gliddon grew out of her interest in the in Kharga Oasis.
influence nineteenth-century anatomical discussions
have had on public perception of ancient Egyptian CM
mummification. colleen manassa, curator of Echoes of
Egypt: Conjuring the Land of the Pharaohs,
MB is the William K. and Marilyn M. Simpson
marina brown is a 6th year Ph.D. Associate Professor of Egyptology at Yale
candidate in Egyptology at Yale University, University. She is the author or co-author of five
currently completing her dissertation, books on topics including military history, Egyptian
entitled “Keeping Enemeis Closer: the religion, and literature of the New Kingdom, and
Role of the Foreigner in Ancient Egyptian Foreign author of numerous articles on art history, philology,
Policy.” Her research focuses on rock inscriptions, and sensory experience in ancient Egypt. She is also
Egypto-Nubian foreign relations, and the Viceregal director of the Moalla Survey Project.
XII
contributors
ITN SJW
isabel toral-niehoff studied History s. j. wolfe is senior cataloguer and serials
and Arabic Studies in Tübingen (PhD specialist at the American Antiquarian
1997), Habilitation 2008 (FU Berlin). Society. She has had a lifetime interest
Her main publishing and research fields in ancient Egypt and has lectured widely
are: Arabia and the Near East in Late Antiquity; on the topic, particularly on the subject of the
cultural identity; cultural transfer processes; manufacture of paper from the wrappings of mummies.
Arabic Occult Sciences; Literature in translation; She is the author of Mummies in Nineteenth Century
Al-Andalus. Since 2012 Marie-Curie Fellow at the America: Ancient Egyptians as Artifacts (McFarland, 2009)
Institute for the Study of Muslim Cultures at the and is currently working on a web version of EMINA,
Aga Khan University in London. her extensive database of Egyptian mummies and
mummy parts in North America.
CS
christina smylitopoulos is a
specialist in art and visual culture of
the eighteenth century. She received
her Ph.D. from McGill University
and, before joining the art history faculty at the
University of Guelph, was a Postdoctoral Research
Associate at the Yale Center for British Art. Her
current research traces the significance of Regency
illustrated books, which occupy an unclear position
in the trajectory from stand-alone Georgian graphic
satire to the Victorian comic illustrated book.
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Present day Egypt and Sudan

with the location of sites
discussed in the text. The
map of the world shows the
origins of the objects in the
exhibition Echoes of Egypt:
Conjuring the Land of the
Pharaohs.
2
Detail from “Entrance to the New Haven Cemetery”
Henry Austin (1804–1891)
1839–1848
American
Engraving and watercolor on paper
Manuscripts and Archives,Yale University Library
Henry Austin Papers, mssa.ms.1034
1
1
Chapter 1
looking through
the pylon
An Overview of Echoes of Egypt
“ Dignified and beautifully proportioned, it [the gateway] is symbolic of an attitude toward

the dead and their part in the hereafter, expressive, but respectful and reverential, which arose
in the valley of the Nile centuries before Christianity and is consequently so detached from
modern creeds, prejudices or sentiments that it can appeal to any belief. ”
— Denison Olmstead, Professor of Astronomy and Natural Philosophy at Yale University,
July 18, 1845, at the laying of the cornerstone of the New Haven City Burial Ground
(Grove Street Cemetery) gateway
2
looking through
the pylon
The land of ancient Egypt—the Nile River valley the adaptation of its concepts and imagery
and delta with the surrounding deserts—was are not confined to the forms and contents
the birthplace of a civilization that flourished of the pyramids, temples, and tombs that
for over three millennia. A long prehistory have so awed tourists since classical times,
with interactions among groups from far- but exist within the history of ideas. Over
flung territories to the west and south, and the last two millennia, in European traditions
later with the northeast, forged the rich as well as in those of the Islamic world, the
cultural traditions of pharaonic Egypt. The awesome physical presence of ancient Egyptian
monumental achievements of pharaonic culture monuments was an expression of the equally
inspired not only the later ancient Egyptians potent wisdom they seemingly both preserved
themselves, but have resonated throughout and at the same time guarded and concealed.
subsequent civilizations. The engagement—and
occasional obsession—with ancient Egypt and The legacy of ancient Egypt now extends
throughout every inhabited continent and
can be traced from antiquity to the modern
day, spreading from Africa through the
The Grove Street Cemetery Gateway, New Haven, Mediterranean world, the Middle East, Europe,
Connecticut. Photograph by Colleen Manassa. and eventually the Americas.
The study of the reception of
ancient Egypt in these different
cultures and places is a field of
scholarship in its own right, but
our portal to this world will
be a literal gateway: a pylon.
Typically a pair of towers at the

entrance to a temple, and first
appearing in fully developed
form just before 2000 bce, the
pylon (ancient Egyptian bekhenet)
symbolized the mountains of the
horizon (ancient Egyptian akhet,
hieroglyphic ) and became the
physical model for them. Through
these architectural horizons, images
of the deities of the temple might
also go and come, or “rise” and
“set,” as the Egyptians described
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in cosmic terms the ritual procession of a Within its ancient Egyptian setting, a pylon
divine image. The physical mass of the pylon embodied the desert cliffs that framed the
visually anchoring the monument to the earth eastern and western edges of the valley
is balanced by the sloping sides that draw the through which the river flowed, at the same
viewer’s gaze upwards. Architectural details, time representing the twin hills of the horizon
such as the curving top element (cavetto through which the solar disk might rise and
cornice) and projecting rounded corners set. The shape of the pylon and its significance
(torus molding), and monumental low-relief developed over centuries to become a standard
decoration prevented monotony in the element of temple decoration. One key to
otherwise flat planes of the pylon surface. understanding the many echoes of Egypt in
The immediate recognizability of the pylon other lands and cultures is to explore how an
shape as a uniquely Egyptian form and its architectural image and other iconographic
adaptability in scale, proportion, and ornament aspects of a culture can be transferred
made it ideal for Egyptianizing monuments. from one time and place to another.
– cm
“Perspective
View of the
Temple of
Esna North”
Description
de l’Égypte,
vol. 1, pl. 88
Paris, 1809
Engraving
Private
Collection
4
a pylon in an american landscape
the grove street cemetery gate
How did a pylon become the gateway to a Yet the New Haven cemetery pylon is not an isolated phenomenon—
nineteenth-century cemetery in New Haven, Egyptianizing gateways were constructed for cemeteries elsewhere
Connecticut? Architect Henry Austin in 1839 in the United States in the first half of the nineteenth century. The
proposed the design for the New Haven creation of cemeteries that also served as recreational areas where
Cemetery gateway nearly two thousand years visitors could stroll down shady lanes was then a new phenomenon
and more than an ocean away from the last of urban planning. The demand for new designs led architects to reach
Egyptian temple built in the Nile Valley. far into the past, using ancient Egyptian architectural forms and motifs
for the entrances of the new park-like cemeteries and other, newly
invented, types of construction: train stations, suspension bridges,
modern prisons, and later, movie theaters. Egyptian designs brought
Announcement of plans for the Egyptian Style
gateway to the New Haven City Burial Ground. stability, immortality, and even the sublime to a world in flux, while
avoiding many of the more specific and both culturally and politically
“The Burial Ground” more immediate associations of designs based on classical antiquity.
Columbian Register, New Haven, September 21, 1839
Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library,Yale University For Henry Austin, the Egyptian pylon linked the newly constructed
New Haven cemetery to an ancient past and a culture that had
succeeded in achieving a type of immortality for its dead. As
Professor Olmstead observed, Egyptian designs were so remote
in their antiquity that they could “appeal to any belief.”
– cm
The Grove Street Cemetery Gateway, New Haven,

Connecticut. Photograph by Colleen Manassa.
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the winged sun disk
The winged sun disk at the center of the cornice of the

Grove Street Cemetery gate marks the monument as
ancient Egyptian, just as its biblical quote advertises its
predominately Christian funerary function. In ancient
Egyptian temple architecture, the winged disk was similarly
placed at the center of a doorway’s lintel or cornice.
The wings of the sun disk embody the ability of the solar
deity to propel himself across the heavens, like the later
Greek myth of Helios riding in his solar chariot. Flanking
the disk are two rearing cobras, or uraei (plural of uraeus,
from the ancient Egyptian iareret). These serpents may
represent the light of the sun and its fiery power—the
cobra’s venom burns like the sun’s rays. On stelae, the
winged sun disk often hovers
over the text and image,
protecting the deceased’s
hopes for a blessed Stela of a musician
afterlife. And on mummy Ptolemaic Period, 304–30 bce
decoration, the winged sun Akhmim, Egypt (?)
disk protects the body of Limestone with some
red polychrome remaining
the deceased, spreading its
64.3 × 37.2 × 38.56 cm
wings across the chest.
– cm Anonymous Gift, 1937.127
The winged
sun disk on the
Grove Street
Cemetery gate.
Photograph
by Colleen
Manassa.
6
Cartonnage piece with winged sun disk
and broad collar
Abydos, Egypt
Linen, plaster, paint, and gilding
Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History
Gift of the Egypt Exploration Fund, ANT
006835
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Ancient egyptian
temples and the
cosmos
The ancient Egyptian cosmos comprised all

the possible balanced pairs of creation: light
and dark, male and female, order and chaos,
all that is and all that could be imagined—“all
that is and all that is not (yet)” as the Egyptians
expressed it. Because Egypt is essentially a
desert region, with water and life concentrating
primarily in the Nile Valley and the oasis
depressions of the Western Desert, they also
saw their world as divided between the red
land of the desert (desheret) and the dark
soil of the Nile Valley cultivation (kemet).
Fed by rains in the area of the central African

lakes and in the highlands of Ethiopia, the
Nile—before completion of the High Dam at
Aswan and the last flood in 1964 ce—would
begin to rise each year, around the time of the
longest day. The flooding river would reach the
desert edges to east and west, depositing rich
soil over the inundated fields. Gradually the
waters would recede during the fall, with towns
on their mounds slowly emerging like islands
from the river. For the ancient Egyptians, the
annual Nile cycle became a way of imagining
the creation of the world—all that exists
emerges as a differentiation into balanced
pairs of all potentiality latent in a primordial
oneness, a watery flood-like abyss called Nun.
“The Temple of Karnak, The Great Hypostyle Hall”

Ernst Karl Eugen Koerner (1846–1927)
1890
German
1995.114
8
ancient egyptian temples and the cosmos
To enter an Egyptian temple is to enter a model of out into the large columned halls—like the pronaos
the world and travel back in time; to leave it is to of Esna—the space of creation expands, heaven and
experience the creation of the world. The innermost earth begin to separate, and life appears. The plant life
rooms of the temple symbolize the time of creation, that grows in the form of columns is that of swamps,
when the inhabitable space of order was small within the papyrus and lotus predominating. Eventually, an
the surrounding, chaotic oneness (Nun). Moving open court brings us close to the world of today.
Finally the entrance gate—the pylon—symbolizes
the horizon, the boundary between this world and
that of the gods and the blessed dead. The
exterior of an Egyptian temple often bore
military scenes and texts—within is
Egypt and order, outside are foreign
lands and chaos, and Egypt and the
pharaoh must always fight against
the encroachment of foreigners
and expand the boundaries of
Egypt and the ordered cosmos.
– jcd
Fragmentary map of the cosmos

ca. 664–332 bce
Egypt
Limestone, 57 × 43 cm
The Map Collection,
Yale University Library
*61
1
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imagining the ancient nile valley
An Egyptian pylon opened onto a watery
world, because the undifferentiated realm
beyond the ordered world was interpreted
as a watery abyss. In the map of the
cosmos on the preceding page, the
ancient Egyptians have imagined their
world as a series of rings or spheres
representing the realms of the gods, Egyptians,
and foreigners, all surrounded by the outer
waters (compare the complete example
from the Wereshnefer sarcophagus).
Egyptian religion and its temples
had at their core the purpose of
maintaining this ordered world.
At the center of the map are the tips

of the wings of the solar disk. The
next sphere contains the districts of
Egypt (called nomes by the Greeks),
located in the northwest corner of
the Nile Valley. The map is oriented
with south at the top, the standard
orientation for the ancient Egyptian
because the Nile River flowed from
south to north—so the words for “left”
and “east” are synonymous. Beyond
Egypt, in the outer ring of the world of
humans, are Libyan tribesmen, overseen
by the god Ha of the Western Desert.
Finally, the label “cool waters of Horus”
in the lower right indicates that the
outer reaches of the cosmos are watery
expanses. In this rare cosmic map, the
Nile is not labeled, although the river
would be significant in Greco-Roman
and later imaginings of ancient Egypt.
– cm
Map of the cosmos from the sarcophagus

lid of Wereshnefer (ca. 380–300 bce; The
Metropolitan Museum of Art 14.7.1b).
Drawing by Alberto Urcia.
10
The annual Nile flood brought a return to the like those in the “Campana” terracotta relief
chaotic waters and rebirth to the Nile Valley. (see page 15). The male personification of the Nile leans
The Egyptians deified not the Nile River, but on a sphinx wearing a nemes (headdress). Along with
its inundation, to which this Roman sculpture the crocodile at his feet and the mongoose in front of
also alludes. This finely detailed sculpture is an his left knee, these creatures associate the sculpture
eighteenth-century Italian copy of an ancient Roman specifically with the Egyptian landscape. Since its
sculptural group dating to the second century ce. rediscovery in 1513 beneath the church of Santa Maria
sopra Minerva, the Roman sculpture on which this
The Roman statue of the Nile shows the reclining porcelain is based was on view in Rome. Egyptianizing
personification of the river surrounded by sixteen Roman sculptures and those with Egyptian themes,
children, representing the measurement of an ideal such as the statue of the Nile, were as influential
annual flood. The children may derive ultimately from the to pre-Napoleonic Egyptian revival productions as
small, pygmy-like figures in Greco-Roman Nilotic scenes, authentic artifacts from the pharaonic periods.
– cm
“Personification of the River Nile”

Giovanni Volpato (1732–1803)
ca. 1785–1795
Rome, Italy
Hard-paste biscuit porcelain
30.2 × 58.7 × 29.5 cm
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Purchase, The Isak and Rose Weinman
Foundation, Inc. Gift, 2001, 2001.456
1
11
Imagining the ancient Nile Valley was inextricable correctly concluded (using the fifth-century
from recording its surviving monuments. From Greek historian Herodotus) that the Great
antiquity to the Renaissance, and even today, Pyramid was the tomb of the pharaoh Khufu
the sheer size of the Great Pyramid of Giza (now known to have ruled ca. 2589–2566 bce).
fosters speculation about its purpose. In 1646, – cm
John Greaves, a professor of astronomy at
Oxford University, transformed earlier fanciful
images into the first accurate elevation section Pyramidographia, or, A description of the pyramids in Ægypt
of the Great Pyramid. Within Pyramidographia, John Greaves (1602–1652)
Greaves uses all of the classical sources at London, Printed for George Bagder, 1646
his disposal, as well as Arabic writings. He
Yale Center for British Art; DT63 G73 1646
12
ancient echoes of egypt:
Greec, rome, and meroe
Each cycle of of Persia, Greece, Rome, and Meroe. Ancient Egyptian monuments from
Egyptian revival in art, This first stage in which we find the first millennium bce can reveal an
architecture, literature, echoes of Egypt is a continuation of Egyptian obsession with their own
and other modes of the ancient Egyptians’ own interest past, in both historical and aesthetic
cultural expression has in their past, and to some extent terms. This relief from the tomb
had various inspirations reflects a broadening of the recurring of Montuemhat, mayor of Thebes
and motivations. While cycles of “revival” of earlier styles during the middle of the seventh
we cannot isolate a single cause for and idioms within Egyptian art and century bce, echoes a painting
Egyptian revivals over time, phases inscriptions. During this first wave executed eight hundred years
of “Egyptomania” of the past two of Egyptian revival, Egyptian motifs earlier, part of the decoration of the
millennia have occurred in three and concepts may appear both tomb of the vizier of Thutmosis III,
distinct periods. The first, ancient phase as untutored borrowings and as Rekhmire, ca. 1450 bce. Rather than
is the adoption of pharaonic Egyptian direct and learned reflections of the slavishly copying an earlier work of
art, iconography, and religion in the original meanings behind the artistic, art, the Montuemhat relief embraces
Near East, eastern Mediterranean, and architectural, and textual imagery. eclecticism, infusing the scene with
Africa, predominately in the civilizations – cm a unique combination of earlier
iconography and artistic styles.
– cm
Offering bearers
from the Tomb
of Montuemhat
ca. 680–640 bce
Luxor, Egypt
Limestone with
significant traces
of red pigment
49.5 × 74.9 cm
Yale University
Art Gallery
Gift of Prof.
William Kelly Simpson
(B.A. 1947, M.A. 1948,
Ph.D. 1954), in memory
of his father Hon.
Kenneth F. Simpson
(B.A. 1917) and
grandfather Nathan
Todd Porter (B.A. 1890),
2003.28.1
1
13
ancient echoes of egypt: greece, rome, and meroe
egyptianizing meroitic objects
South of Egypt lay the land of Nubia

(now southern Egypt and northern
Sudan). Long an Egyptian colony, Nubia
established its independence during
the first millennium bce and—as the
Twenty-Fifth Dynasty—ruled Egypt
from 747 to 656 bce. Between 300 bce
and 350 ce, a strong kingdom centered Meroitic stela offering table
at Meroe (approximately 120 miles, 75–350 ce
or about 190 kilometers, northeast of Arminna West, Egypt
Khartoum) used Egyptianizing motifs Sandstone
mixed with native Nubian iconography. 72.4 × 58.4 × 6.3 cm
Meroitic priests continued to worship Yale Peabody Museum
a version of the Egyptian pantheon of Natural History
ANT 222268
after the old religion had passed away
in Egypt; they were the last people
whose version of Egyptian religion
and religious imagery was based on
a direct line of intellectual descent
from ancient Egypt. After the fall of
Meroe, Egyptian religion survived only
in Egyptosophical movements until the
decipherment of hieroglyphs in 1822.
The offering table bears lines of cursive
Meroitic writing. The Meroitic script, Meroitic inlays
derived from the late Egyptian script 75–350 ce
called demotic, can be transcribed, Arminna West, Egypt
but the language has not yet been Ivory
fully deciphered. The small ivory inlays, Yale Peabody Museum
which probably once decorated an of Natural History
item of furniture, represent winged ANT 222270, 222271,
Egyptian sphinxes—each with a 222269
uraeus—and the deity Harpocrates
(Horus-the-child), a popular child god
in the Greco-Roman world. The statue
depicts a human figure with wings, an
image of the Egyptian concept of the
ba-soul, a human-headed bird that
represented the ability of the soul to
travel between this world and the next.
– acb/cm
14
Meroitic Ba statue
75–350 ce
Arminna West, Egypt
Sandstone, 46.5 cm
ANT 228857
Head of a Meroitic Ba statue

75–350 ce
Arminna West, Egypt
Sandstone, 13.5 cm
ANT 265682
15
egyptianizing graeco-roman objects

Ancient Egyptian religion was the object of the far south, where the waters of the annual
fascination throughout the Greco-Roman flood originated. The pygmies within the boat
world, and the iconography this fascination may—as elsewhere in Nilotic scenes—provide
created often displays an understanding of an element of humor, but also allude, with
Egyptian religion, rather than its use purely as an the hippopotamus and crocodile, to both the
“exotic” element. Egyptian priests and religious south and the flooding river (see page10).
practitioners traveled throughout the Roman The reed-based structures are reminiscent of
Empire, people from the Greek and later Roman those erected by the Egyptians for the riverine
world visited the land of the Nile, and informed festivals and processions that celebrated the
use of Egyptian imagery appears in many of the longest day and the rising waters of the Nile.
Egyptianizing objects and images produced in
the Greco-Roman world.
In the terracotta relief,

the columns and archways
suggest that the viewer
looks out from an
interior space onto an
Egyptian landscape. Nilotic
landscapes were popular
in the Roman world from
the late Republican period
through Late Antiquity.
These landscapes—
often within domestic
settings—specifically
evoke the flooding Nile,
the festivals associated
with the inundation, and
the people and animals of
“Campana” relief
with Nilotic landscape
First century ce
Terracotta
48.3 × 51.3 × 4.1 cm
Princeton University
Art Museum
Gift of Edward Sampson,
Class of 1914, for the Alden
Sampson Collection, y1962-143
16
The small terracotta standing statue and the terracotta including the placement of his finger at his mouth, signaled
plaque depict the god Harpocrates—Horus, the god the child-like nature of the god, but would be reinterpreted
of kingship and son of Isis and Osiris, as a child. Such later as a representation of silence (even used by the Mexican
terracotta objects were ubiquitous not only in Ptolemaic poetess Sor Juana Inéz de la Cruz to compare the Egyptian
Egypt (ca. 332–30 bce), but also in other parts of the god’s silence with the god Neptune; see page 84).
Mediterranean world. The iconography of Harpocrates, – ceb/cm
Figurine of standing Harpocrates Plaque of Harpocrates with cornucopia

with round pot and amphora 332 bce–150 ce
332 bce–150 ce Provenance Unknown
Ehnasya, Egypt Terracotta, 12.7 × 10.8 cm
Terracotta, 16.5 cm Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History
Yale Peabody Museum ANT 243113
of Natural History
ANT 243108
1
17
egyptian revivals from late antiquity
to the enlightenment
christians, muslims, scholars
The second period of Egyptian Between late antiquity and the early
revival began when direct Renaissance, medieval Europe preserves few
knowledge of Egypt was lost, works that indicate ancient Egyptian influence.
coinciding with the death of Little or no contemporary descriptions exist
the last individuals who could for Egyptianizing art and architecture created
read and write any of the ancient before the fifteenth century and, in most cases,
Egyptian scripts, and with the demise the artist or architect may have intended to re-
of the last practitioners of the ancient religion. create antiquity in general rather than a specific
From approximately 400/500 ce until 1822 ce, all Egyptian style. Among the most prominent
forms of Egyptian revival are based on indirect medieval examples of Egyptian revival is a group
experience of pharaonic Egypt: now-silent surviving of sphinx sculptures produced by the Cosmati
monuments (since their hieroglyphic inscriptions artists of Rome—the nemes-headdresses of
could no longer be read), written sources about the medieval sphinxes confirm their Egyptian
ancient Egypt from the classical world, and templates (see below, page 19). The Cosmati
surviving examples of Greco-Roman Egyptianizing work belongs to an Italian expression of
creations, and finally sacred texts, including several “proto-Renaissances” of the thirteenth
biblical and related sources and the Koranic century, in which artist and architects sought
tradition. This long second period of Egyptomania inspiration from ancient monuments.
produced stunningly creative interpretations of
ancient Egyptian art and architecture, and through
the conceptual legacy of ancient Egypt, some
authentic pharaonic concepts made their way Detail of
into otherwise fantastic and imaginary creations. the head of
the sphinx
of Paschalis
The Egyptosophical and hieroglyphic traditions Romanus
of the Renaissance had roots in actual Egyptian (Museo Civico
imagery and ideology, but the practitioners thereof di Viterbo, Italy;
could no longer judge the accuracy of the pedigree, inv. 117).
and the practices took on a self-referential and Photograph by
self-defining character that has persisted into the Alberto Urcia
present. Direct experience of the monuments
of the Nile Valley, from the pyramids of Giza to
the tombs in the Valley of the Kings, remained
a possibility to Arab scholars throughout the
medieval period, but did not become feasible for
more than occasional and particularly adventurous
Western travelers until the eighteenth century.
18
egyptian revivals from late antiquity to the enlightenment
Although often ignored in traditional

histories of Egyptian revival and
Egyptomania, the legacy of ancient
Egypt within the art and literature of
the Islamic world is every bit as varied
and nuanced as the Egyptian revivals
in Europe. For the period from the tenth
through the sixteenth centuries, the study of ancient
Egypt by scholars of the Arab world presages the
types of research that only became popular in Europe
after the sixteenth century. For example, an Egyptian
scholar from the first half of the tenth century,
Muhammad Ibn Umayl, visited ancient temples in the
Nile Valley, observed the hieroglyphic inscriptions that
decorated the walls, and incorporated his pseudo-
archaeological investigations into alchemical treatises.
Precise measurements of pharaonic Egyptian

monuments and an admiration for the aesthetic
qualities of ancient art appear in the extensive
works of the twelfth century scholar ‘Abd al-Latif
al-Baghdadi. Ibn Umayl and al-Baghdadi are only a
selection of the rich Arab-Islamic “Egyptomania,”
which even includes attempts to translate the
hieroglyphic script (see pages 49-50). Alongside
the traditional narrative of Egyptian revival, which
stresses the continuity between classical authors
and Renaissance and later authors and artists in the
Western world, medieval Arab scholarship deserves
an equally honored status. The Baroque Egyptophile
par excellence, Athanasius Kircher, credited some of
these medieval Arabic sources in his writings, and to
ignore these fascinating works is to overlook a key
aspect of ancient Egypt’s legacy outside Europe.
– cm
Kitab Shauq Al-Mustaham fi Ma‘irfat Rumuz Al-Aqlam

(Book of the Long-desired Fulfilled Knowledge
of Occult Alphabets)
Ibn Wahshiyah (ca. 860–935 ce)
1751 (copy of an original ca. 900–1000 ce)
Bibliothèque Nationale de France
MS Arabe 6805
1
19
egyptian revivals from late antiquity to the enlightenment
A Latin inscription on the plinth

of the sphinx states that Paschalis
Romanus completed this sculpture
in 1286. With its muscular leonine
body and inscrutable expression,
Romanus’ sphinx overlays medieval
details onto an ancient Egyptian form.
Romanus was a member of the school of

“Cosmati” artists who sculpted and created
elaborate inlaid stone work (often termed
Cosmatesque work) during the late twelfth
through late thirteenth centuries ce. They sought
inspiration in Rome’s antiquities, which were
excavated in the search for ancient stones as raw
material for their own productions. In addition
to Paschalis Romanus’ statue, other thirteenth-
century sphinxes show the indebtedness of
the Cosmati to ancient Egyptian models (see
the Cosmati sphinx with nemes-headdress). Sphinx
Paschalis Romanus
Unlike other ancient sphinxes on view in Rome 1286 ce Cosmati sphinx from the
since the Renaissance and possibly before, Italian basilica of San Giovanni
Marble in Laterano, Rome, with
the Viterbo sphinx wears a fillet tied over his
nemes-headdress.
otherwise human hair, perhaps derived from Museo Civico di Viterbo
the headband visible across the brow and inv. 117
in front of the ears of most human-headed Photographs by Alberto Urcia.
Egyptian sphinxes. The “ponytail” that extends
down the back of the sphinx may be an
interpretation of the tail of the nemes-headdress.
Romanus has blended the static and frontal
pose of the Egyptian sphinx with a slightly
turned head and naturalistic elements, such
as the fur on the front legs and a tufted tail.
No records indicate why the Cosmati

artists would reproduce a sphinx, and
most likely the sculptors were attempting
to resurrect an ancient form, without
necessarily recognizing the Egyptian nature
of the sphinx. Even so, their lively sphinx
sculptures provide some of the only echoes
of Egypt during the European Middle Ages.
– cm
20
giovanni batTista piranesi
ancient artifacts, modern design
“The great and serious study, I have made upon Piranesi included designs for the Caffè degli
all the happy remains of ancient monuments, has Inglesi (English Café) in Rome. The objects
enabled me to execute this useful, and if I may illustrated here include types of ancient
be allowed to say it, even necessary project.” objects that would have been in collections
in Rome during Piranesi’s lifetime and
The “necessary project” founded in inspired his elaborate Egyptianizing interior.
archaeological research is Giovanni Battista
Piranesi’s Diverse maniere d’adornare i cammini Beginning at the top, at the center are two
(Various Manners of Ornamenting Fireplaces). sphinxes flanking an image of the god Osiris,
In addition to projects for fantastical fireplaces, like the ancient bronze statue of Osiris (see
next page). In the upper
left and right corners of
the café design are haloed
creatures—a phoenix and
a lion-headed serpent,
images taken from small
“magical gems” (for more
on these types
of objects, see pages 74-
75). Below the lunette
is an imagined structure,
adorned with hieroglyphs,
relief decoration, and
statues, with three
“windows” looking
out onto an imaginary
Egyptian landscape.
Diverse maniere
d'adornare i cammini
Giovanni Battista Piranesi
(1720–1778)
Rome, 1769
Yale Center for British Art,
Rare Books and Manuscripts
Collection
L 46.7 (Folio A)
1
21
giovanni battista piranesi
Magical gem with Phoenix

The main architectural feature of the
Greco-Roman Period,
central window consists of kneeling 332 bce–250 ce
figures, like the squatting image of Egypt
Bastet, the feline-headed goddess, Hematite, 2 × 4.4 cm
on the relief from Samannûd. At the Yale Babylonian Collection
bottom of the plate are small images Gift of James H. Schwartz,
of “Canopus,” a human-headed 2481
water jar sacred to Osiris, the
same type of figure shown between
the serpent forms of Serapis
Magical gem with Khnoubis
and Isis on Greco-Roman reliefs.
Curiously, the slanting doorways Greco-Roman Period,
in the decoration, to the lower left 332 bce–250 ce
Egyptian
and right, mimic the silhouettes of
Quartz, 1.5 × 1.7 cm
the towers of an Egyptian pylon.
Yale Babylonian Collection
– cm 2460
Figure of Osiris
Relief fragment with Bastet and Maat
Third Intermediate Period,
Early Ptolemaic Period 1070–664 bce
Relief with Isis, Serapis, and Canopus
Thirtieth Dynasty, 360 – 246 bce Egyptian
Greco-Roman Period, 332 bce–250 ce Samannûd, Egypt Bronze, 12 × 3.5 × 2.5 cm
Egypt Red granite, 69.9 × 64.8 cm Yale University Art Gallery
Limestone, 43.2 × 38.1 × 6.4 cm
Yale University Art Gallery Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Fred
Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, ANT 006285 Gift of Fred Olsen, 1954.52.1 Olsen, 1956.33.80
22
from napoleon’s expedition
to the present
egyptology and egyptomania
The classical and biblical references to Egypt, While Egyptian revival would remain an
and the selective accounts of early travelogues, active inspiration for design motifs in Europe
were superseded by the first large-scale and America, alongside these artistic trends
Western expedition to Egypt: Napoleon would exist a new scholarly field: Egyptology.
Bonaparte’s military invasion in 1798, whose The quest of earlier artists to capture the
members included scientific, as well as martial, essence of Egypt in design and ornament
personnel. The Napoleonic expedition and would henceforth have the opportunity to
subsequent British victory in Egypt created a interact with the work of scholars who could
new wave of Egyptian revival, often described translate the inscriptions, interpret scenes, and
as “Egyptomania.” Despite the passionate and describe the function of architectural elements.
irrational implications of this term, it describes
a tradition that results directly from the The publications that resulted from
Napoleonic expedition, when for the first time Napoleon’s brief campaign ushered in the
large numbers of ancient Egyptian third, and still ongoing, phase of Egyptomania.
monuments were recorded in The comparatively careful copies of Egyptian
accurate detail. The publication of monuments and texts in the Napoleonic
these records enabled the formal publications, and those of later European
study of Egyptian art, architecture, expeditions during the early and mid-
and ultimately language. The nineteenth century, reintroduced a direct
discovery of the Rosetta Stone knowledge of ancient Egypt and culminated
with its bilingual text (Egyptian in the decipherment of hieroglyphs by Jean-
and Greek) written in three François Champollion (based on preliminary
scripts (hieroglyphs, demotic, and work of other scholars) in 1822. Since the
Greek) provided the final key early nineteenth century, Egyptian revival
necessary for the decipherment productions have continued to incorporate
of the hieroglyphic script. modes of the second phase of Egyptomania,
but the archaeological precision and direct
knowledge of Egyptian texts that came
with the ability to read the ancient scripts
changed Egyptomania forever. The third phase,
Medal commemorating nevertheless, exists alongside the remnants of
the conquest of Upper Egypt,
the Egyptosophical traditions that flourished
1798–1799
during the second phase. Discoveries like
1804 the tomb of Tutankhamun and traveling
France museum exhibits have perpetuated a passion
Copper, 3.45 cm
for all things Egyptian down to this day.
Gift of Reverend William H. Owen
– cm
(B.A. 1897), 2001.87.2699
1
23
from napoleon’s expedition to the present
This plate derives from the fourth volume troops into Upper Egypt. His drawings of the magnificent
of the Description de l’Égypte (Description ruins of temples, such as Dendera, Thebes, Esna, and
of Egypt), the scientific publication of Edfu, were the first accurate European records of those
the Napoleonic expedition to Egypt. monuments. Denon’s rich portfolio inspired additional French
Magnificent drawings, such as this view of archaeological and artistic missions up the Nile during the
Dendera Temple, dedicated to the goddess brief Napoleonic occupation of Egypt, resulting in the ten
Hathor, were tremendously influential in fostering folios and two text volumes of the Description de l’Égypte.
the obsession with Egypt—“Egyptomania”—of the – cm
nineteenth century in Europe and America. Temples
like Dendera were also among the inspirations for
Henry Austin’s Grove Street Cemetery gateway. “Temple of Dendera”
From December 1798 until February 1799, Baron Dominique Description de l’Égypte, Antiquités, Volume IV, pl. 29
Vivant Denon was the sole artist accompanying the French Paris, L’Imprimérie Impériale, 1817
Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library,Yale University, 1971 Folio 601
24
On August 22, 1798, Napoleon Bonaparte are a parody of the goals of the Institute. Another
founded in Cairo the “Institute of Egypt,” caricature, “Modern Antiques,” depicts an
whose scientific members were charged antiquarian surrounded by the “Egyptomania”
with studying ancient and modern Egypt that swept Britain after the British victory over
through different fields. Initial projects Napoleon’s forces in Egypt. Obsessed with an
included the purification of Nile water, ancient object, the old man does not notice the
the explanation of desert mirages, and the romance taking place in the Egyptian coffin.
study of ibis mummies. British illustrator – cs/cm
James Gillray satirizes Napoleon’s Institute
of Egypt in the etching entitled “The
Rebellion of the Institute of Reptiles,”
in which a crocodile attacks a French
scholar whose portfolio has spilled onto “Modern Antiques”
the ground. The sheets with a man riding Thomas Rowlandson (1756–1827)
a crocodile or the reptile pulling a chariot ca. 1811
Hand-colored etching
36.6 × 24.6 cm
Lewis Walpole Library,Yale University
811.0.17
“L’Insurrection de l’Institut Amphibie”
James Gillray (1756–1815)
The Pursuit of Knowledge
London, H. Humphrey, 1799
Hand-colored etching
26 × 36 cm
Lewis Walpole Library,Yale University
1
25
Designed to fit beneath a larger buffet in a well-

appointed dining room, this cellarette contains
six compartments for storing alcoholic beverages.
The caped female sphinxes with ruffled collars
and stylish coiffures differ radically from ancient
Egyptian prototypes. Sphinxes of royal women
appear in pharaonic Egypt (see the illustration
below right) and the Greco-Roman world
showed a marked preference for the combination
of lion bodies with female attributes, heavily
influenced by the tale of Oedipus and the sphinx.
This cellarette borrows an early eighteenth
century design for a French garden sphinx (see
the illustration below), showing that fanciful
Egyptian designs continued to be used even after
the more accurate and detailed publications of
the Napoleonic expedition became available.
– cm
Cellarette with sphinxes

ca. 1810–1820
New York, United States
Rosewood veneer, mahogany veneer, eastern white pine, soft maple, brass
and a black dense hardwood, probably ebony, alder, 76.6 × 87.5 × 54.5 cm
Mabel Brady Garvan Collection, by exchange, 1966.126
Queen Tiye (ca. 1360

bce) as female sphinx
trampling her enemies
(from the tomb of
Kheruef).
“Dessin de sphinx posé sur son socle After The Epigraphic
pour la decoration des terasses” Survey, The Tomb of
De la distribution des Maisons de Plaisance et de la Kheruef, pl. 49
décoration des édifices en général, Volume 2, pl. 23 Chicago, Oriental
Jacques-François Blondel (1705–1774) Institute of the
Paris, C. A. Jombert, 1738 University of Chicago,
Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library,Yale University
1980.
Jt23 04 Inking by Julia Hsieh.
26
“[E]very flower or other

object is portrayed not
as a reality, but as an ideal
representation. It is at the
same time the record of
a fact and an architectural
decoration….”
Thus British architect and designer

Owen Jones summarizes the
“grammar” of ancient Egyptian art.
Jones created his highly influential
colored re-creations of designs
shown here by combining his
architectural training and his interest
in antiquity with new techniques
in chromolithography. In Jones’
detailed representations of Egyptian
columns, he shows how the color
and stylized elements of organic
forms—including the closed papyrus
capital in the lower left—create
an ideal harmony of design.
– cm
The Grammar of Ornament

Owen Jones (1809–1874)
London, Day and Son, Ltd., 1865
2nd edition
Yale Center for British Art
Rare Books and Manuscripts Collection,
NK 1510 J7 1865+
1
27
Edwin Long here captures ancient Egyptian life in

a dramatic, yet intimate, fashion. The objects in the
foreground and background, as well as the decoration of
the rear wall, are the result of thorough research and all Ebony stool
find parallels in authentic Egyptian monuments and artifacts. with ivory inlay
For example, the stool on which the central female figure Eighteenth Dynasty,
sits is a faithful copy of an Eighteenth Dynasty (ca. 1400– 1400–1350 bce
1350 bce) stool in the British Museum. In contrast to the Thebes(?)
cellarette on page 25 created only seventy-five years earlier, 37.5 × 43.8 cm
Love’s Labour Lost is filled with archaeological details from Trustees of the
ancient Egypt, rather than later imaginings of antiquity. British Museum
BM EA 2472
– cm
“Love’s Labour Lost”

Edwin Long (1829–1891)
1885
British
Oil on canvas, 127 × 191.1 cm
1995.10
28
This Egyptian revival mantleclock and pair of “Egyptomania.” Curiously, though later in
obelisks combine the majesty of the Egyptian date than the Grove Street Cemetery gate,
sphinx with depictions of mummies and the ensemble reveals a less sensitive, busier,
decorative hieroglyphs. The central clock has and more inaccurate application of Egyptian
sloping sides, like those of a pylon gateway, motifs (for example, the vulture should
and the base contains additional sphinxes be at the top of images and objects).
and a vulture with outstretched wings (a – cm
similar motif can be seen in the drawing
from the tomb of Seti I on page 53). The
use of two obelisks provides symmetry and
mimics the placement of pairs of obelisks in
front of the pylons of Egyptian temples. Mantleclock with sphinx and obelisks
Tiffany & Co. (1837–present)
Although the hieroglyphs do not reproduce ca. 1885
actual ancient Egyptian texts, the ensemble France and United States
is a perfect example of the diverse and Marble, bronze, 46 × 51.1 × 19.7 cm
detailed motifs of nineteenth-century The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Purchase, The Edgar J. Kaufmann Foundation Gift, 1968,
68.97.4-6
1
29
fifty years later
the pennsylvania–yale expedition to nubia
Napoleon’s “Egyptological” invasion was not the last archaeological salvage campaign in history. In 1960 Yale
campaign of an army of scholars in Egypt. In 1960,Yale University, together with the University of Pennsylvania,
University became part of the Nubian Salvage Campaign, began work as part of the salvage expedition, and in the
an effort to save the ancient sites that would be flooded first season found the tomb of a Nubian chief and Egyptian
by the building of the Aswan High Dam. In 1954, Egypt governor named Hekanefer. During later seasons the
resolved to build the Aswan High Dam in order to expedition identified and excavated a Meroitic cemetery
regulate Nile floods, generate hydroelectric power, and and Christian church. As part of the UNESCO agreement
increase agricultural land. The resulting lake threatened participating universities received half of the excavated
archaeological sites across 1,550 square miles (more than finds, giving Yale a tremendous collection of artifacts,
4,000 square kilometers). Egypt joined with the United among them a wealth of Meroitic objects (see pages 13-
Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization 14), including a shawabti from the tomb of Hekanefer.
(UNESCO) in order to begin the largest international – acb
William K. Simpson
and team excavating at
Arminna West In Egypt,
1961.
Yale Peabody Museum of
Natural History, William
Kelly Simpson Archive.
30
fifty years later
Article from the

New Haven Register
Sunday, February 11, 1962
Yale Peabody Museum
of Natural History
31
fifty years later
The hieroglyphs
on this small
mummiform figure,
from Chapter 6
of the Book of the
Dead, state that the
statuette will come to
life to perform work on
behalf of the deceased in
the afterlife. This shawabti,
from the ancient Egyptian word
“to answer,” did not belong to an
Egyptian, but rather a Nubian prince
named Hekanefer. A contemporary
of the pharaoh Tutankhamun,
Hekanefer had an important role
in the Egyptian administration of
Nubia (northern Sudan). In 1961,
Yale Egyptologist William Kelly
Simpson and his team discovered
Hekanefer’s tomb at Toshka, saving
the record of this amazing ancient
monument and the memory of
its owner from the rising waters
of the Aswan High Dam.
– cm/mb
Shawabti inscribed for

the chief of Miam, Hekanefer
New Kingdom,
Eighteenth Dynasty
ca. 1330 bce
Toshka, Nubia
Serpentine, 19.1 cm
Yale Peabody Museum
of Natural History
ANT 222265
32
Detail of coffin panel of the

official Djehutynakht
ca. 1956–1877 bce
Deir el-Bersha, Egypt
Lebanese cedar, 30.5 × 8.3 × 96.5 cm
Anonymous Gift, 1937.5903g
1
33
Chapter 2
mysterious
hieroglyphs
“called
We see engraved everywhere [in Egypt] innumerable shapes and forms
hieroglyphs, expressing the ancient records of primordial wisdom.
Carving many kinds of birds and beasts of a strange world, so that the
memory of tradition may be published to succeeding ages, they herald the
wishes of kings, fulfilled or simply promised. For not as nowadays did the
ancient Egyptian write a set and easily learned number of letters to ex-
press whatever the human mind might conceive, but one character stood
for a single name or word, and sometimes signified an entire thought. ”
— Ammianus Marcellinus XVII, iv, 8–11
(translation of Boas, The Hieroglyphics of Horapollo, p. 103)
34
mysterious
Hieroglyphs
If the half-buried monumental temples of Egypt writing system retarded decipherment of the
were sufficient to incite the interests of tourists script for a millennium and a half, but early,
from antiquity to the present, the elaborate failed attempts to translate Egyptian hieroglyphs
carvings that adorn nearly every surface of those reveal much about the intellectual heritage
temples inspired yet more wonder. For the ancient of ancient Egypt throughout the world.
Egyptians, these hieroglyphic signs and their cursive
equivalents wrote the sounds and concepts of Before embarking on a journey through the
their language, and while only a small percentage fifteen-hundred years during which hieroglyphs
of the population was literate, the ability to record could not be properly read, we may pause
everything from complex theological treatises to for a moment to understand how the ancient
mundane economic transactions provides priceless Egyptians themselves viewed hieroglyphs. The
evidence for this ancient civilization. After more word “hieroglyph,” a Greek term meaning
than three millennia of continuous use of the “sacred inscribed sign,” is a striking parallel to
hieroglyphic script and its cursive derivations, the the ancient Egyptians’ own designation for their
simple connection between a spoken language writing system: medu-netcher, “words of the
and hieroglyphs was forgotten by the end of the gods.” According to one account of creation,
fifth century ce, at which point the mystical and the Memphite god Ptah created the world
symbolic nature of the script became its chief through thoughts and their expression as words.
characteristics in later tradition. The commonly In the Egyptian texts, each of Ptah’s utterances
accepted identification of hieroglyphs as an was a “word of the god,” a hieroglyph, which
exclusively “conceptual” rather than phonetic was itself composed of discrete objects. For
example, when the Egyptian creator deity
brought light into existence—“let there be
light!”—the three hieroglyphs contained
not only the phonetic signs spelling the
word meaning “light, luminous space,” but
an extra sign (called a determinative) that
represented light itself, a shining sun disk.
Royal “bookplate”
Eighteenth Dynasty, reign of Amunhotep III
(1390–1352 bce)
ca. 1360 bce
Egypt
Faience, 1.9 × 4 × 0.3 cm
Gift of Ludlow S. Bull (B.A. 1907), 1936.100
1
35
From its origins in the late fourth millennium Shenoute (ca. 348–465 ce), this short text
bce, the hieroglyphic writing system was a vividly describes the ancient hieroglyphs:
mixture of phonetic and ideographic (indicating “it is prescriptions for murdering man’s soul
concepts rather than phonemes) signs, with that are therein, written with blood and not
most signs belonging to the former category. with ink alone—there is nothing else portrayed
The hieroglyphic writing system, although for them except the likeness of the snakes and
conservative, was never monolithic, and new scorpions, the dogs and cats, the crocodiles
signs and new uses of earlier signs appear and frogs, the foxes, the other reptiles, the
particularly in the New Kingdom and later. beasts and birds, the cattle, etc.; furthermore,
Technological change could also lead to the likeness of the sun and the moon and
the creation of new hieroglyphic signs. For all the rest, all their things being nonsense
example, the introduction of the chariot and humbug.” (translated by D. W.Young)
into Egypt around 1600 bce spurred the – cm
appearance of a chariot hieroglyph ( ).
Monumental hieroglyphs are often very detailed,
incorporating several different colors and Codex page from the invective of the Coptic saint
Shenoute against hieroglyphs. (Courtesy of Special
patterns within a single sign (see pages 38);
Collections Library, University of Michigan, US-MU
such elaborate carved, and often painted, 158.13a/b, White Monastery Codex TY 3/4.)
hieroglyphs become miniature works of art,
while retaining their primarily pragmatic and
phonetic qualities. Even when used phonetically,
however, hieroglyphs never fully lost their
potential symbolic value and the Egyptians’
unique writing enabled them to create visual
as well as phonetic puns in their texts.
After the decline of pharaonic civilization

and the death of the old writing systems,
“hieroglyphic” images were seen as an entirely
symbolic language that held within it all of
the mysteries of the cosmos. But even when
the ancient Egyptian scripts ceased to be
written, the Egyptian language itself survived
in Coptic, written with the Greek alphabet
and five additional letters that represent
phonemes not present in Greek. Coptic
became the language of Christian Egypt and
the literature of the Coptic Period preserves
genres including biblical texts, monastic rules
and sermons, narrative tales, and magical texts
(see pages 46-47). Among this literature are
some allusions to earlier pharaonic religious
practices, including an “invective” against
hieroglyphs. Authored by the famous monk
36
Vessel with nautical

and faunal motifs
ca. 3500–3300 bce
Upper Egypt
Ceramic, 22.3 × 22 × 13 cm
1
37
origins of egyptian writing
More than a thousand years before the of images developed a specific meaning.
invention of the hieroglyphic script (ca. 3250 For example, a stork with a rearing serpent
bce), Predynastic cultures in Upper Egypt represents the concept of “victory” and can
created symbolic representations of their label other images (see below left). Although
understanding of the cosmos. On the surfaces this syntax of images conveying concepts is not
of their pottery they painted scenes, and along true writing, because it conveys no phonetic
the rocky cliffs of the Western and Eastern information and is limited in application, the
Deserts they carved thousands of rock art recognition of the ability of groups of images
depictions and tableaux. These images are not to convey information across time and space
literal depictions of daily life along the Nile provides the protohistory of writing in Egypt.
Valley, or simple images of what they saw in the
-JCD
surrounding deserts, but religious, political, and
cultural symbols. Often, the painted pottery and
rock inscriptions juxtapose Nilotic images— Vessel with floral and avian motifs
plants, hippopotami, crocodiles, and boats—with ca. 3500–3300 bce
icons of the desert—ostriches, desert game, Upper Egypt
and desert hunters. These combinations of Ceramic, 22.2 × 16.2 × 10.2 cm
images represent a graphic means of linking and Yale University Art Gallery
reconciling the paired worlds of desert and Nile. Anonymous Gift, 1937.158
Over time some individual images or groups
Protodynastic historical tableau of Horus Scorpion.

A stork with serpent in front of its beak labels as
“victorious” the apparent image of a ruler in the following
depiction of a mace-wielding figure with a bound captive.
(Drawing courtesy of the Theban Desert Road Survey.)
38
artful hieroglyphs
and everyday writing
Originally placed over a doorway, the traces of color enable a complete reconstruction.
hieroglyphs on this stone lintel communicate Each hieroglyph is a work of art in itself, from
the name and two titles of the tomb’s the detailed blue and yellow chisel to the
owner: “Unique cortier, director of the striations of the green reed leaves. In nearly
palace, Niuty.” The large-scale and detailed every case, however, the signs serve solely to
signs were once brightly painted and the write the sounds of the ancient Egyptian words.
Drum lintel of Niuty

Fifth and Sixth Dynasties,
ca. 2494–2181 bce
Giza, Egypt
Limestone, 23.5 × 64.2 cm
Color reconstruction, by
Richard Lepsius, of the
hieroglyphs on the drum
lintel of Niuty. Courtesy
of Peter Der Manuelian,
www.gizapyramids.org.
1
39
artful hieroglyphs and everyday writing
To read a hieroglyphic inscription, first Semitic languages, like Hebrew and Arabic,
determine the direction in which to read the the written ancient Egyptian language did not
signs. Hieroglyphic texts can be read from include vowels. Often, the signs writing a word
right to left or from left to right, and written are followed by an additional sign, known as
in rows or columns. Typically, one reads toward a determinative, which indicates the class to
the faces or front of the signs (for example, which a word belongs, but is not a phonetic
the harpoon is facing right, so the inscription value. For example, verbs of motion (like “to go
on the drum lintel of Niuty is read right to forth” in the box labeled “9” in Champollion’s
left). Most signs represent one, two, or three book; see page 54) are followed by a hiero-
consonants. The red folded cloth is an s-sound, glyph of walking legs as a determinative.
while the blue and yellow chisel is mr, together – cm
creating the word smr, “courtier.” As in other
The thick cedar panel from the single horizontal line. The text reads, right
foot end of a rectangular coffin to left: “The vindicated one, royal sealbearer,
belonged to a Twelfth Dynasty Djehutynakht, possessor of vindication.” Coffin panel of
official named Djehutynakht Djehutynakht’s name means “Thoth is the official Djehutynakht
buried at Deir el-Bersha in victorious,” proclaiming the might of the divine ca. 1956–1877 bce
Middle Egypt. Each sign is read patron of scribes and god of hieroglyphs, Deir el-Bersha, Egypt
phonetically or ideographically, but the same god who would become the sage Lebanese cedar
simultaneously is a miniature work of art, and Hermes Trismegistus, or Thoth “Three-Times 30.5 × 8.3 × 96.5 cm
the hieroglyphs are carefully scaled to create Great,” during the Graeco-Roman Period. Yale University Art Gallery
an aesthetically pleasing arrangement in the – cm Anonymous Gift, 1937.5903g
40
This small jar probably

once held a type
of unguent, oil, or
other precious
liquid. The unusual
feature of this jar is its
multiple inscriptions, with
two texts in three distinct scripts,
representing four different languages.
The most prominent inscription is the

vertical column of hieroglyphs that
begins with the cartouche of the Persian
king Xerxes I, followed by the epithet
“the great Pharaoh.” The hieroglyphs
that write “pharaoh” literally read
“the great house,” per-aa, the origin
of the Greek word pharaos, itself the
source of our own term. Above the
hieroglyphic inscription, the same name
and epithet of Xerxes is written with
three horizontal lines of cuneiform signs
representing three different languages:
Old Persian, Elamite, and Akkadian.
The short, horizontal text to the left
of the hieroglyphic column is a label
in the demotic script of Egypt, giving
the volume of the jar—12 kepedj units,
approximately 41 ounces (1.2 liters).
– cm
Inscribed jar with hieroglyphs,

demotic, and cuneiform
Persian Period, Twenty-Seventh Dynasty,
reign of Xerxes I, 486–465 bce
Egypt
Calcite (Egyptian alabaster), 22 × 13 cm
2123
1
41
These two papyrus documents show the cursive this copy include the ritual for “opening the
script, hieratic, that was suited to more rapid mouth” of the mummy—transforming the
writing than fully-formed hieroglyphic signs. corpse into a receptacle for the spirit of
The letter is from a woman named Hotep, the deceased able to eat, drink, and interact
who is paying off a debt to a man named with the living. This ritual could also allow
Penre, and most of the content of the front a statue to function in the same way.
page (recto) is a list of bread and meat that – cm/tdb
Hotep is giving to Penre. The other side of
the papyrus (verso) curses anyone who would
interfere with the transaction: “No male robber
(of the necropolis) shall violate it; no female
robbers of the necropolis shall violate it.”
The illustrated copy of a funerary composition Letter written in

known as the Book of the Dead is hieratic script
accompanied by hieratic texts. The spells in
Egypt
ca. 1400 bce
Papyrus with ink
Egyptian Book of the Dead 11.8 × 15.9 cm
Third Intermediate Period, 1069–656 bce Beinecke Rare Book
Papyrus with ink, 25.5 × 59.5 cm and Manuscript Library
Yale University
Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library,Yale University P. CtYBR inv. 1732
P.CtYBR inv. 2755 fol
42
The two Wadi el-Hol Early

Alphabetic inscriptions.
(Drawings and photographs
courtesy of the Theban
Desert Road Survey and
Bruce Zuckerman and
Marilyn Lundberg, West
Semitic Research Project)
1
43
from hieroglyphs
to the alphabet
For writing with ink on papyrus, the ancient sign was given a name in the language of
Egyptians used a cursive script. We call this the foreign associates of the Egyptians,
script “hieratic” (from the Greek word and the first letter of that name was
meaning “priestly”), because by the time of then used for the phonetic value of the
the early Greek visitors to Egypt this earlier sign. For example, the house sign (in
cursive script was known only by educated ancient Egyptian pr) was known in Semitic
priests. Scribes in ancient Egypt first learned as bet (“house”) and became a “b.”
hieratic, and more advanced students
went on to study the formal hieroglyphic The earliest datable alphabetic inscriptions
script. Some private monuments, such as were found by a Yale University expedition
small stelae (see page 44), have a mixture in 1995. These short texts, along with many
of hieratic and hieroglyphic signs. inscriptions from the Sinai peninsula in the
alphabetic script known as “proto-Sinaitic,”
At some point between 2000 and 1800 provide the ultimate origins of our own
bce, Egyptian military scribes interacting alphabet. Strictly speaking, an alphabet
with Semitic-speaking auxiliaries in the should include both vowels and consonants;
Egyptian army developed an alphabetic the pre-Greek script of uniliteral signs was
writing system. Each hieroglyphic or hieratic an “abgad,” writing only consonantal signs.
– jcd
44
from hieroglyphs to the alphabet
The six lines of cursive hieroglyphic text—a hybrid of and unpretentious object to be a monument in
hieroglyphic and hieratic forms—on this small stone spite of its diminutive size. Writing—from detailed
contain the name of Hornakht and the members of his hieroglyphs to modest ink signs—transformed
immediate family. Despite its unimpressive scale and a simple piece of stone into a commemorative
simple decoration, the ink text preserved the name and object. Although these names could appear in a
memory of its owner and his relatives as effectively as text as mundane as a contract, the style of the signs
larger, more formal monuments. The outline around —cursive hieroglyphs and not pure cursive script—
the text is that of a formal, round-topped stela (see and the outline have a magical, transformative power.
page 5), showing that its maker considered this small
Translation:
1
Hornakht, 2born of Tetu.
3
His wife, Renesankh, 4born of Nebetiunet.
5
His son, Hornakht.
6
His brother, Dedu.
– cm/jcd
Small stela of Hornakht

with titles and names
ca. 1900–1700 bce
Abydos, Egypt
Limestone with ink
9.9 × 8.8 × 3.3 cm
ANT 261382
1
45
The Last Datable
Hieroglyphic
Inscription
The last datable Egyptian hieroglyphic

inscription is preserved on a wall of the
portico of Hadrian behind the west tower
of the temple of Isis at Philae, near the First
Cataract just south of Aswan. The brief
text, written on the 24th of August 394 ce
by a member of a family of Nubian priests
well attested in graffiti on Philae, reads:
Before the god Mandulis, the son of Horus,

on the part of Nesmet-Akhom,
son of Nesmet, second prophet
of Isis, forever and ever.
Words spoken by Mandulis, lord
of the Abaton, the great god.
The date is given in the demotic (late

cursive Egyptian) text accompanying the
scene and hieroglyphic label, beneath the
outstretched arm of the deity. Nesmet-
Akhom was one of the last priests
literate in the old scripts. In less than two
centuries, both the last demotic text was
written and the last worshippers of the
ancient religion, the X-Group culture in
Nubia, had converted to Christianity. All
subsequent appearances of “Egyptian”
religion are re-creations based either
on some quasi-mystical evocation—
Egyptosophy—or on the rediscovery of the
ancient language and scripts—Egyptology.
– jcd
Last datable hieroglyphic inscription,

from the Philae temple. Photograph
by Colleen Manassa.
46
Coptic magical papyrus

ca. 500–700 ce
Egypt
Papyrus, 37.3 × 24.5 cm
Beinecke Rare Book
and Manuscript Library
Yale University
P.CtYBR inv. 1791
1
47
Coptic: The Final Stage
of the Egyptian Language
The papyrus and parchment

leaf here illustrate the final Parchment leaf from the library
grammatical and written stage of Shenoute’s White Monastery
of the Egyptian language, Coptic. 600–900 ce
By the fourth century ce, the Sohag, Egypt
earlier scripts had been almost Parchment, 18.5 × 20 cm
entirely abandoned and Coptic Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library,Yale University
was written using the Greek MSS Coptic 2, folio 2
alphabet, with the addition of a
few letters derived from demotic
signs (for sounds that did not
exist in Greek). After the Arab
conquest of Egypt in 641 ce,
the Arabic language gradually
supplanted Coptic. Today Coptic
survives as a liturgical language.
Coptic was closely tied to

the practice of Christianity
of Egypt, and the parchment
leaf contains a sermon by the
greatest Coptic author, the monk
Shenoute (347–465 ce), including
a biblical quote (see right). The
Coptic magical text blends
earlier polytheistic Egyptian
religion with Christian imagery
to create a love charm (see
page 46). The wealth of Coptic
literature and documentary
texts are a fascinating aspect
of the long afterlife of ancient
Egyptian civilization, and
knowledge of Coptic was key
to Jean-François Champollion’s
decipherment of the hieroglyphic
script (see pages 54).
– cm
48
coptic: the final stage of the egyptian language
Alexander Rowan, a little-known

“Hermit of the Thebaid” painter of the mid-nineteenth
Alexander Rowan century British Academic
1853(?) movement, has here imagined
British a meeting between Egypt’s
Oil on panel, 47.5 × 39.5 cm pharaonic and Christian past. A
Private Collection monk, wearing a rough woolen
cloak sits atop an ancient
Egyptian chest decorated with
uraei and uses a black stone
sarcophagus (based on an object
in the British Museum) as a
table. The monk is translating
the Greek New Testament
(specifically, the beginning of
the Gospel of John) into the
northern Coptic dialect and
script known as Bohairic.
The Greek text is on a scroll,
while the monk writes on a
“codex”—a book with closing
covers and individual pages, a
format familiar to us, but new
in the fourth century ce.
While the British painter has

imagined the Egyptian spirits as
curious onlookers, the ancient
Coptic author Shenoute could
uncomprehendingly speak of
hieroglyphs as “prescriptions for
murdering man’s soul” written in
blood and containing nonsensical
depictions of creatures. Rowan’s
“Egyptological” gaze rehabilitates
the Egyptian spirits and
transforms them from the evil
pagan souls of Coptic literature
into worshippers of an earlier
religion that is seen more as
a forebearer of later beliefs.
– jcd
1
49
egyptomania
in medieval
arab culture
the case of ibn wahshiyya

�
For obvious reasons, the native Egyptians and the many
Islamic pilgrims and traders who traveled throughout
Egypt in the pre-modern period were more familiar with
the formidable visible material remains of ancient Egyptian
culture than were most Europeans before Napoleon’s
(in)famous expedition in the year 1798. The prominence
of pyramids and temples, along with the lure of caves filled
with marvelous treasures, fired the imagination of many
scholars in the Arab world and fostered the creation
of all sorts of more or less fanciful interpretations.
Therefore, in medieval Islamic culture, Egypt became
the epitome of miracles, superstition, and mirabilia par
excellence. The resulting Arab–Islamic Egyptomania
produced a large number of texts dealing with aegyptiaca.
The Iraqi scholar Ibn Wah�shiyya (Abu Bakr Ahmad

Ibn ‘Ali Ibn Qays Al-Kasdani), who lived during the
tenth century ce, wrote several works on antiquity
and ancient civilizations. In The Long-Desired Fulfilled
Knowledge of Occult Alphabets (also known as The Treatise
of the Ninety-Three Alphabets), Ibn Wah� shiyya attempts
to translate several occult and alchemical alphabets,
including hieroglyphs. An early English translation of Ibn
Wah� shiyya’s treatise on alphabets was published in 1806.
Kitab Shauq Al-Mustaham fi Ma‘irfat Rumuz Al-Aqlam

(Book of the Long-Desired Fulfilled Knowledge
of Occult Alphabets)
Ibn Wah�shiyya (ca. 860–935 ce)
1751 ce
9.5 × 16.0 cm
Bibliothèque Nationale de France
MS Arabe 6805
50
egyptomania in medieval arab culture
In several pages, Ibn Wah�shiyya has reproduced achieved in this Iraqi work more than eight
actual ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs (a script hundred years before the work of European
that he calls the shimshim alphabet), giving scholars! Ibn Wah� shiyya overemphasized
them phonetic values in the Arabic script. the phonetic, and specifically alphabetic,
Nevertheless, Ibn Wah�shiyya’s alphabets contain aspects of hieroglyphs. Western scholars, on
several inventions and misunderstandings. While the other hand, emphasized the symbolic
his values for Egyptian hieroglyphs are not aspect of the script. Both erred in assuming
correct, the attempt to assign sounds rather an overarching arcane and esoteric aspect of
than symbolic meanings to hieroglyphs was the texts written in the hieroglyphic script.
– itn/cm
Ancient Alphabets and Hieroglyphic

Characters Explained
Ibn Wah�shiyya (ca. 860–935 ce)
Translated by Joseph Hammer
London, W. Bulmer and Co., 1806
Private Collection
1
51
From the renaissance
to British Satire
During the Middle Ages, Western scholars engaged

in a scholastic dialogue that attempted to reconcile
Christian theology and the teachings of the
Greek philosopher Aristotle (Aristotelianism),
based on readings and subsequent discussions
(disputationes). During the fourteenth century, Italian
scholars in particular popularized the search for the
most ancient versions of known texts, and looked for copies
of others lost and neglected as insignificant for scholasticism.
They abandoned the art, architecture, and scripts of the
Middle Ages and introduced what we call the Renaissance.
Renaissance scholars not only studied ancient monuments—they

also invented new symbols that they deemed “hieroglyphs.” One
example appears in Colonna’s Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, “The Strife
of Love in a Dream.” The main character Poliphilo awakens in a
dream world filled with ancient ruins, including Egyptian-inspired
monuments such as this obelisk atop an elephant. The obelisk is
inscribed with “Egyptian characters beautifully drawn.” This design
later inspired the Italian artist Bernini to create a statue ensemble
in which the elephant and obelisk together symbolized (as the Latin
inscription on its base states): “You, whoever you are, who see
that the figures of wise Egypt engraved on the obelisk are borne
by the elephant, strongest of beasts, understand it as proof that to
uphold sound wisdom is the part of the sturdy mind.” (Translation
by Tyler Landsford.)
Hieroglyphs were
believed to write
profound concepts, Hypnerotomachia Poliphili
so even illegible neo- (The Strife of Love in a Dream)
hieroglyphs could
Francesco Colonna (d. 1527)
embody the concept
Venice, Aldus Manutius, 1499
of “sound wisdom.”
Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript
– jcd/cm Library,Yale University
Zi +5574
Obelisk atop an elephant, designed by

Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Ercole Ferrata, 1667,
Piazza della Minerva, Rome.
Photograph by Colleen Manassa.
52
from the renaissance to british satire
This satirical letter exploits

the mysterious, yet playful,
properties of the ancient
Egyptian script before its
decipherment. The devil
(Beezlebub) writes to Lord
Bute to protest a cider tax
using a combination of English
words and “hieroglyphs.”
The term “hieroglyphical” is
applied to engage the reader,
but the hieroglyphs are
actually pictures of common
objects that are to be read as
rebus-writings of words. For
example, a drawing of a human
eye is used for the pronoun
“I” or a toe as the preposition
“to.” This rebus principle
may lie behind the original
phonetic values of hieroglyphs,
and may even have played a
role in the invention of our
own alphabet (see page 43).
– cm
“Excise, A Comical Hieroglyphical

Epistle from [Beelzebub]
to [Lord Bute]”
1763
British
Etching and drypoint on sheet
34 × 24 cm
Lewis Walpole Library
Yale University
763.04.01.01
1
53
Jean-Francois Champollion
and Decipherment
A giant of a man and possessing many

talents—from circus performer to
hydraulic engineer—Giovanni Battista
Belzoni worked at many sites in
Egypt between 1816 and 1819. While
his archaeological methods fell far
below modern standards, he managed
to discover and record several
important monuments, including
the tomb of the pharaoh Seti I (ca.
1294–1279 bce) in the Valley of the
Kings. The beautifully colored plate
contains the royal names of Seti I,
who is designated justified before the
god of the dead, Osiris. The first and
fourth cartouches (royal name rings)
in the center of the image contain a
detailed representation of a board
game ( ) that phonetically writes
mn (“to endure”) in the name Men-
maat-re (“may the cosmic order of
Re endure”), Seti’s throne name.
The combination of Jean-François

Champollion’s decipherment and
the increasing number of epigraphic
and archaeological missions to
Egypt during the nineteenth century
would create the foundation for Decoration from
the modern field of Egyptology. the tomb of Seti I
– cm Game board and Plates illustrative of the
Stained ivory pegs research and operations
New Kingdom, 20th of G. Belzoni in Egypt
Dynasty and Nubia
Yale Peabody Museum Giovanni Battista
of Natural History Belzoni (1778–1823)
ANT 006540 London, 1820
Limestone board
42 x 17.5 x 5 cm Yale Center
for British Art
Yale University Art Gallery Rare Books and
Anonymous Gift, 1937.161 Manuscripts Collection,
T268 Folio B
54
jean-françois champollion and decipherment
After knowledge of Egyptian hieroglyphs had great breakthrough, Champollion’s intuition and
been lost for nearly fifteen centuries, Jean- scholarship cracked the code and gave birth to
François Champollion deciphered the ancient the modern study of ancient Egyptian texts.
script. Champollion’s decipherment, as laid
out in Summary of the Hieroglyphic System of
the Ancient Egyptians, was due in large part to a text of greeting
the Rosetta Stone, a fragment of a stela found
by the Napoleonic expedition in 1799 and The plate of Summary of the Hieroglyphic System
seized by the British in 1801. Its three scripts contains seven copies of the same hieroglyphic
and two languages—hieroglyphic and demotic text, which Champollion translates as “Support
Egyptian, and Greek—record a priestly decree of Egypt, the god, son of a god, the support of
from 196 bce recognizing the generosity of Egypt, Horus, who comes forth from Osiris,
the pharaoh Ptolemy V toward the temples engendered by Isis, the goddess.” The words
of Egypt. Champollion correctly postulated that Champollion here rendered “support of
that hieroglyphs were a mixture of phonetic Egypt” actually translate “greetings to you!,”
and ideographic signs and that the signs wrote but all of the other words are translated
the same language as Coptic (see pages 46- correctly. Champollion’s posthumous Egyptian
47). While the work of Athanasius Kircher on Grammar (Grammaire égyptienne), published in
Coptic and Thomas Young’s identification of 1836, would pave the way for future scholars to
the phonetic values of signs within cartouches, study Egyptian hieroglyphic and hieratic texts.
to name a few, influenced the French scholar’s – cm
Hieroglyphic chart
of seven parallel texts
Précis du système
hiéroglyphique des
anciens Égyptiens
Jean-François
Champollion
(1790–1832)
1824
Paris, Treuttel et Würtz
Beinecke Rare Book
and Manuscript Library
Yale University
2005 895
1
55
jean-françois champollion and decipherment
Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema achieved life-long as a three-dimensional statue (in the

success as a painter whose canvases frequently niche above him). The scene on the
re-created historical scenes. The vibrant details wall behind Joseph, showing a scribe
and subtle gilding of this canvas draws the before offerings (including flocks of
Joseph, Overseer of
viewer into a room dominated by the biblical geese), is a copy of an Eighteenth Pharaoh’s Granaries
Joseph. In Alma-Tadema’s imagining of Joseph’s Dynasty tomb painting in the British
Egypt, scribes, their divine patron, and writing Museum (EA 37978). Alma-Tadema, Lawrence Alma Tadema
(1836–1912)
are all prominent. A scribe on the right records in an age of Egyptological knowledge,
1874
small piles of grain on a papyrus (compare has replaced the more purely religious British
an actual ancient hieratic letter on page 41). source of Joseph’s influence in the Oil on panel
The divine patron of scribes, Thoth, is shown biblical story with depictions of the 35 × 46 cm
within the scene both as a two-dimensional power of writing and the Egyptian The Dahesh Museum of Art
depiction (on the stool before the scribe) and administration as sources of authority. 2002.38
56
Detail of gilded mummy mask

Abydos, Egypt
Linen, plaster, paint and gilding
Gift of the Egyptian Exploration Fund,
ANT 029702
1
57
Chapter 3
Mummy-Mania
“astonishment — an
The mummy — there is a strange feeling of admiration and
undefinable compound of pleasure and
pain — that pervades [the] breast, on beholding this relic of
by-gone ages. It seems as if a new perception were imparted to
the mind — new emotions arise — and thoughts, which never
filled the sensorium before, come thronging upon us. It is as if a
strange key were given us by some shadowy being, and we were
permitted to open one of the secret apartments of nature, that
had been kept locked for centuries, and to view dark and awful,
and shuddering contents.
”
— Lynn Mirror, June 7, 1828
(quoted by S. J.Wolfe, Mummies in Nineteenth Century America, p. 60)
58
Mummy-Mania
Mummification was practiced in ancient Egypt
“Ibis Mummies” for nearly four thousand years, surviving even among
Voyage dans la Basse et la Haute the early Christian population. The treatment and
Égypte pendant l'expédition du wrapping of the corpse was intended to control
Général Bonaparte,Vol. 2 the process of decomposition, at the same time
Dominique Vivant Denon (1747–1825) preserving the body for eternity. In spite of many
Paris, De l'imprimerie de Pierre Didot vicissitudes, numerous mummies—human and
L'aîné, 1801 animal—have survived intact until the present day.
Yale Center for British Art For the ancient Egyptians, the natural process of
Rare Books and Manuscripts decomposition was not entirely negative—the
Collection, Folio A D19
fluids that came forth from the corpse of the god
Osiris, ruler of the Underworld and prototype for
all mummies, could be identified with the flooding
waters of the Nile River. Like the architecture of
their temples, even the dried corpses of the ancient
Egyptians alluded to the re-creative power of the
inundation. The mummy was also more than a
preserved body—during the course of funerary
rituals, the mummy became a receptacle for the
deceased’s soul as it traveled between this world and
the next. When the Predynastic Egyptians buried their
dead directly in the desert, corpses dried naturally.
The introduction of coffins and sarcophagi led to
the need for an artificial process to preserve the
body—mummification—involving removal of the
internal organs and extraction of fluids using natron
(a Greek term derived from the Egyptian word
netjeryt), a naturally occurring sodium compound.
Human and animal mummies have been studied
intensively since Napoleon’s expedition to Egypt
in 1798. Public unwrappings in mid-nineteenth
century Britain and America sought to answer
scientific questions about the ancient remains, as
well as satisfy the curiosity of paying onlookers.
Mummies now yield their secrets in less invasive
ways, informing Egyptologists about diseases,
life span, and ancient nutrition. As one of the
ultimate symbols of ancient Egypt, the mummy
continues to inhabit our own culture through
many media—especially motion pictures.
– cm
1
59
the coffin of pa _ ib and t

i s mummy
In 1894, Nancy Fish Barnum, widow of The coffin once belonged to a man
the famous circus owner, acquired this named Pa-ib, whereas the mummy is that
mummy in Egypt and presented it with of a woman who died at approximately
the coffin to the Bridgeport Scientific thirty years of age. The mummy was
Society and Fairfield County Historical unwrapped in August 1894, during which
Society. The mummy and the coffin were the audience remarked on the “thousands
not originally a “set,” but rather had been of yards of linen bandages” that were
put together for sale in modern times. unwrapped from a body that had a
“peculiar and slightly disagreeable odor.”
– cm/sjw
Detail of unwrapped Egyptian mummy

ca. 2000–1000 bce
Skull, body, linen wrapping fragments
Collection of The Barnum Museum
Gift of Nancy Fish Barnum, 1894.1.1 A-C
60
mummy-mania: the coffin of pa-ib and its mummy
This brightly painted coffin belonged In the next register is the solar god
to Pa-ib, a priest of the deity Min (a Re-Horakhty, sun of the eastern
god of fertility and creation). The front horizon, and to the right a scene
of the coffin is divided into a series of of the weighing of the heart of the
registers that contain scenes related deceased. The lowest scenes show the
to the theology of Osiris, whose mummy of Pa-ib, lying on a funerary
death and resurrection provided the bed, attended by the falcon-headed
template for an individual’s afterlife. At god Horus, and the god Osiris
top is the sacred image of Osiris at standing between two trees. The sun
Abydos, with a human-headed bird, traveled into the underworld at night,
the ba-soul of Pa-ib, to either side. The to combine with Osiris, god of the
enthroned Osiris below is flanked by dead, in a union of opposites that led
his sister-wife Isis (to the right) and to regeneration of each. By pairing
sister Nephthys (to the left). All have the morning sun with the scene of
green skin, symbolic of regeneration) weighing the heart, the decorative
. program foreshadows the re-creation
of the day and the vindication of Pa-ib.
Coffin of Pa-ib
Twenty-fifth Dynasty (747–656 bce)
Akhmim, Egypt (?)
Plaster and painted wood
Coffin of Pa-ib, detail of second register,
Collection of The Barnum Museum showing Osiris with his sister-wife Isis (to the
Gift of Nancy Fish Barnum, 1894.1.2 AB
right) and sister Nephthys (to the left).
1
61
“One God, One Pot:” Animal Mummies
The practice of burying animal mummies in for Thoth. Granting that animal a proper
large numbers—literally in the millions— burial and well-equipped afterlife enabled
was popular during the later phases of the worshipper to interact with the world
Egyptian history, from about 300 bce until of the divine, in a way similar to how he
200 ce. A combination of royal patronage, or she would oversee the proper burial
priests’ associations, and visitors funded of a human family member or associate.
the temple economies and their large However, demand for animal mummies
animal populations that were sacred to a was so high that ancient texts record
deity, such as the cat for Bastet or the ibis evidence of corruption—some priests
wrapped parts of animals as if they were
whole animals. One priestly commission
investigating such a scandal enforced a
new rule: “one god, one pot,” meaning
each animal should be sold separately!
– cm
Cat mummy
ca. 100–200 ce
34.1 cm
ANT 256937
62
The renowned Scottish painter David Roberts the world. The temple of Abu Simbel itself
reached the rock-cut temple of Abu Simbel was moved during the 1960s to rescue the “The Hypostyle Hall
in November 1838. Constructed during the monument from the rising waters behind of the Great Temple
reign of Ramesses II (ca. 1279–1213 bce), the the Aswan High Dam. Today reproductions at Abu Simbel, Egypt”
interior of the temple is dominated by colossi of David Roberts’ watercolors of Egyptian David Roberts
of the king wearing the crowns of Upper and monuments are some of the most (1796–1864)
Lower Egypt. In the lower left corner of the widely available views of the ancient 1849
painting, overshadowed by the monumental Nile Valley, sold widely in a continuation Oil on panel
36.8 × 54.6 cm
temple, Roberts has captured the “portable” of nineteenth-century Egyptomania.
part of ancient Egypt: mummy cases, like - CM Yale Center for British Art
Paul Mellon Collection,
those that would travel to every corner of B1981.25.534
1
63
George Gliddon
and Nineteenth Century
Mummy Unwrappings
The first public mummy unwrapping in the
United States took place in New York City in Broadsheet announcement for a mummy unwrapping
1824. By 1850, an Englishman named George United States
Gliddon was touring cities in the northeastern 1850
United States, displaying Egyptian antiquities, Paper, printed in black ink, 27 × 21 cm
a picture panorama, and holding mummy American Antiquarian Society
unwrapping events that attracted hundreds BDSDS 1850 (Record ID 210780)
of audience members, including men, women,
and children. Hardened by the bitumen used
in the mummification process, the wrappings
often had to be cut off. Doctors and surgeons
attending the event would then examine
the exposed body, in one case leading to
surprising results. On June 3, 1850, George
Gliddon began the examination of what he
announced was the mummy of a Theban
priestess. After two more lectures, further
unwrapping, and the exposure of the mummy,
the body was revealed to be that of a man!
The larger broadsheet (at the right) depicts
two sets of coffins acquired by George
Gliddon. On the sheet Gliddon details the
difficulties of attaining them from Egypt and
announces his intention to “open one in
Boston, and the other in Philadelphia.” The
smaller handbill (see page 64) advertises
Gliddon’s display — in Philadelphia on January
17, 1851 — the “Panorama of the Nile,” a
translucent painted series of images that
were lit from behind and showed scenes
from the Nile Valley and ancient Egyptian
monuments — similar to an early silent film.
The same night Gliddon unwrapped
the mummy of “Got-Mut-As-Anch,”
and the linen fragment found wrapped
within the advertisement is labeled
as a souvenir of that event.
– cm/sjw
64
george gliddon and ninetheenth century mummy unwrappings
Handbill of Gliddon’s “Panorama of the Nile”

George R. Gliddon (1809–1857)
American
1851
Paper, printed in red ink, 18 × 18 cm
American Antiquarian Society Reverse of Gliddon’s handbill, with a handwritten note about the
Gift of Andrew and Caroline Graham in memory
linen fragment from the mummy of “Got-Mut-As-Anch.”
of Margaret Perry, 2012, BDSDS 1850 American Antiquarian Society, Gift of Andrew and Caroline Graham in
(Record ID 467227) memory of Margaret Perry, 2012, BDSDS 1850 (Record ID 467227).
1
65
“It Comes to Life”:
Mummies in Popular Culture
Among the many reactions to mummies in Egyptian human and animal mummies. To the
the nineteenth century were serious scientific right, the famous illustrator Thomas Nast
study on the one hand, and comic effect uses mummy cases and Egyptianizing imagery
on the other. The detailed rendering of the to satirize the political aspirations of the
mummy’s head on the left appeared in Thomas Democratic presidential ticket in 1876.
Pettigrew’s A History of Egyptian Mummies. The – cm
predecessor in England to George Gliddon’s
American unwrappings, Pettigrew made use
of his medical training to carry out one of
the first modern scientific studies of ancient
A History of Egyptian Mummies, and an account “Embalmed—That They May Keep

of the worship and embalming of the sacred animals Until 1880 or Longer”
by the Egyptians
Thomas Nast (1840–1902)
Thomas J. Pettigrew (1791–1865) American
London, Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Engraving
Green, and Longman, 1834 Harper’s Weekly, July 7, 1877
Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library,Yale University, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library,Yale University,
1978 +264 Folio S21
66
“it comes to life:” mummies in popular culture
The unique volume (at left) is a collection of ancient

textiles and objects from excavations at Antinoöpolis, and
illustrates a type of mummy-mania that seized Paris at the
turn of the last century. At the ruined Middle Egyptian city
of Antinoöpolis, founded by the Roman emperor Hadrian,
French archaeologist Albert Gayet unearthed thousands of
bodies from the Late Roman Period (ca. 400 ce). Although
not artificially mummified, the bodies and their clothing
were remarkably well preserved. Items from several of the
burials were collected in an album of ancient textiles (see
left), while two of Gayet’s books were bound with other
ancient textiles. One of these books includes the burial, of
a woman named Thais, which Gayet discovered in 1901.
The Textile Album

Albert Gayet (1856–1916)
300–700 ce /1913 ce
Egyptian/French
Henry Art Gallery Collections, University of Washington, Seattle
TC 83.7-9 to 73
Photograph by Richard Nicol
Recreation of the clothing of Thais

Antinoé et les Sépultures de Thais et Sérapion
Albert Gayet (1856–1916)
Paris, Société française d'éditions d'art, 1902
1
67
“it comes to life:” mummies in popular culture
A legendary saint, Thais was a fourth-century courtesan Theatrical release poster for The Mummy
who converted to Christianity. She was the main Universal Pictures
character of a highly popular French novel by Anatole 1932 (Reprint 2013), 68.6 × 104 cm
France published in 1890, and of an 1894 opera (also United States
called Thais) by Jules Massenet. While the Thais whom Private Collection
Gayet found was probably not the body of the actual
courtesan-turned-saint, he publicly identified the
two, and the Parisian exhibitions of material from his
excavations attracted thousands of visitors. Gayet
would exhibit re-creations of the mummies’ clothing,
worn by Parisian dancers in “Byzantine fashion
shows,” and he even consulted psychics in attempts to
understand the lives of the people whose bodies he
excavated. Gayet’s work shows how closely archaeology
and mysticism can mingle, and though later than that
of the mid-nineteenth century mummy unwrappings,
trades a scientific approach for theatricality.
– jcd
Inspired by the “mummy-mania” that

followed Howard Carter’s discovery
of the tomb of Tutankhamun in 1922,
the motion picture The Mummy
(1932) appropriately begins with an
excavation in 1921. Surrounded by a
room full of artifacts to be recorded, the
head Egyptologist, Sir Joseph Whemple (Arthur Bryon)
lectures his impulsive assistant Ralph Norton (Bramwell
Fletcher) not to open the box containing the “scroll of
Thoth” (for a portion of an actual “Book of Thoth” in
demotic Egyptian, see page 81). Left alone in the room
and inevitably ignoring the warning, Norton reads from
the scroll and awakens the mummy of Imhotep. The
poster shows Boris Karloff as Imhotep at his moment
of revivification. The wrappings are an accurate re-
creation of a New Kingdom royal mummy. In the lower
right is the half-Egyptian Helen Grosvenor (Zita Johann),
the reincarnation of Imhotep’s love Ankhesenamun.
The Mummy was part of a three-decade-old tradition
of mummy movies and fueled more “mummy-mania”
in twentieth- and twenty-first-century film.
– mb
68
Detail of magical gem with Abrasax
with white band in stone
mimicking an uroboros
Agate, 20 mm diameter
Gift of James H. Schwartz, 2456
1
69
Chapter 4
egyptosophy
Magic, Alchemy, and Hermeticism
“theTheoriginal
now mythologized doctrines of Egypt, seem to have been
source of others more ennobling and hieroglyphic
discoveries have traced, and are tracing them far beyond the
era of the pyramids, to an unknown limit, but to a pure, sacred,
and divine source…. When the art of writing was unknown, the
primeval Egyptians resorted to symbols and emblems to express
their faith; and these, as correctly interpreted, certainly present
many sublime ideas in connection with those great truths which
in an after age constituted the doctrines of ‘Christianity.’ ”
— C.W.Walter describing the Mount Auburn Egyptianizing Cemetery Gate
(quoted in Carrott, Egyptian Revival, pp. 84–85)
70
egyptosophy
The Greek word for wisdom, “sophia,” the epithet “three-times great,” originates in
combines with “Egypt” to capture in a single the Egyptian deity Thoth, god of writing and
term—Egyptosophy—the belief that the the lord of hieroglyphs. The belief in Egyptian
ancient Nile Valley was the origin of cosmic wisdom was particularly influential in the
knowledge, magic, and alchemy. The knowledge writings of the German scholar Athanasius
and hidden wisdom of the ancient Egyptians Kircher (1602–1680), and appears in places as
were believed to give power over nature and diverse as the writings of Sor Juana Inés de la
humans (magic) and the ability to transform Cruz, a seventeenth-century Mexican nun, and
base metals into gold (alchemy). Egyptosophy Natacha Rambova, a twentieth-century resident
transcends divisions between East and West, of Connecticut. Some Egyptian symbols, such
since its central figure, Hermes Trismegistus, as the uroboros (a snake biting its own tail),
appears in medieval Arabic writings as well as show the persistence of the meaning of a single
in texts from Renaissance Europe. Hermes image through the millennia, the endurance
Trismegistus, the Greek god Hermes with of Egyptosophy across time and space.
“The Snake Charmer”

Karl Wilhelm Gentz
(1822–1890)
1872
German
Oil on canvas
59.7 × 92.7 cm
The Dahesh
Museum of Art
1995.54
1
71
the uroboros
a magical symbol of the cosmos
The uroboros, a snake devouring its own tail, is one of the

few images from pharaonic Egypt that has survived into the
modern period with its symbolic significance largely unaltered.
A powerful magical symbol, a prototype of the true uroboros
appears in Egypt in the late fourth millennium bce. However,it
is during the reign of Tutankhamun (ca. 1330 bce) that true
uroboros (sd-m-r3, “tail in mouth” in Egyptian) first appears
(see left). For the Egyptians, the serpent with tail in mouth is
an image of eternal recreation. At the same time, it depicts
the two basic Egyptian concepts of time—linear time (djet)
bent back on itself as repetitive, cyclical time (neheh).
Uroboros from the second shrine

of Tutankhamun. Drawing by
Alberto Urcia.
Aramaic incantation bowl

600–800 ce
Nippur, Iraq
Terracotta, 3.9 × 12.5 cm
2359
72
the uroboros: a magical symbol of the cosmos
The uroboros then entered into the magical

symbolic vocabulary of the late antique world.
Numerous magical gems of the first centuries ce
(see pages 73-74) employ the snake biting its tail
on their edges to express the eternal and cosmic
power of the magical figures and texts on the
gems. Between 600 and 800 ce, incantation bowls
with magical spells written in Aramaic, a Semitic
language closely related to Hebrew, could also
use the uroboros. The circle on the outside of
the bowls (see page 71) is a simplified form of
the uroboros serpent (more identifiable images
of snakes appear on other bowls), again showing
the power of the ancient Egyptian symbol.
The uroboros reemerged in western iconography

with the discovery of a late antique treatise,
Horapollon’s Hieroglyphica. After a Greek
manuscript of Horapollon’s text was discovered on
the island of Andros in 1419 and then translated
into other languages during the sixteenth century
(such as the French edition shown to the left),
the symbols within the text became popular in
art and literature throughout western Europe,
such as in Cagnacci’s painting “The Allegory of
Life.” The second entry of the book describes
the uroboros as a symbol of “the universe:”
“When they wish to depict the Universe, they
draw a serpent devouring its own tail, marked with
variegated scales. By the scales they suggest the
stars in the heavens.” (Transalation of G. Boas)
– cm/jcd
Hieroglyphica
Horapollon
Paris, Jacques Keruer, 1543
Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library,Yale University
Gfh93 Bh543
1
73
In Allegory of Life, Guido

Cagnacci depicts a semi-
nude woman surrounded
by images of mortality:
a rose, a skull, and an
hourglass. Her gaze is lifted
up to an unusual image in
the upper left corner of
the canvas—an uroboros,
a serpent biting its own
tail. Using the uroboros
enabled Cagnacci to express
mankind’s desire for the
infinite and the immortal
with a single simple image.
The snake biting its tail
represents the eternity
denied us in this life and the
full potential of the limitless
cosmos of the divine. The
uroboros in Allegory of
Life was almost certainly
based on the description
of the “hieroglyph” of
the snake biting its tail in
Horapollon’s Hieroglyphica.
Cagnacci probably used the
popular Italian translation
published in Venice in 1547
by Gabriel Giolito de Ferrari.
– cm
“Allegory of Life”
Guido Cagnacci(?) (1601–1681)
n.d.
Italian
Crocker Museum of Art
E. B. Crocker Collections, 1872.133
74
magical gems
Earlier Egyptian amuletic Byzantine Period. The most common materials

traditions reach a for the gems are jasper, hematite, chalcedony,
culmination in the Greco- lapis lazuli, rock crystal, carnelian, agate, obsidian,
Egyptian magical amulets, and steatite; precious gems and metals are rare.
in which image, text, and Persian and Babylonian influences are present,
object interact more intensely and Jewish influence in some of the names
than ever before. These “gems” of power. Divine names of the Greco-Roman
reflect a synthesis of elements from the world are present as well. Nothing, however,
religions of Egypt, the Greco-Roman world, dominates like the Egyptian imagery, centered
and the Judeo-Christian tradition. often on a great pantheistic deity, a god
Most specimens date to the incorporating the attributes of
second through third several individual deities
centuries ce, with to create a magical
some motifs “superdeity.”
continuing
into the
Magical gem with Isis,

Anubis, Khnoubis, uterine
element and uroboros
First to third centuries ce
Hematite, 1.4 × 1.5 cm
Gift of James H. Schwartz, 2464
1
75
The magical gems were

not static objects, but
physical “gears” in the
vocal machinery of
elaborate magical rituals
and incantations. They were
also worn as jewelry—
the Roman scholar Pliny
the Elder writes (Natural
History 33, 41): “Now,
indeed, men also are
beginning to wear on their
fingers Harpocrates and
figures of Egyptian deities.”
Magical papyri describe
Magical gem with “characters” (magical letters) and uroboros Magical gem with Anubis and uroboros tying them with string, or
placing them in a pouch
First to third centuries ce First to third centuries ce
Hematite Green jasper, 1.5 × 2 cm
worn around the neck.
Yale Babylonian Collection Yale Babylonian Collection
– jcd
Gift of James H. Schwartz, 2583 Gift of James H. Schwartz, 2461
Magical gem with Abrasax, Magical gem with enthroned Serapis Magical gem with Khnoubis, Bes,
with white band in stone mimicking uroboros and uroboros uterine element, and uroboros
First to third centuries ce First to third centuries ce First to third centuries ce
Agate, 2 cm in diameter Heliotrope, 3.1 × 4.2 cm Hematite, 1.6 × 1.6 cm
Yale Babylonian Collection Yale Babylonian Collection Yale Babylonian Collection
Gift of James H. Schwartz, 2456 Gift of James H. Schwartz, 2492 Gift of James H. Schwartz, 2459
76
alchemy and t
i s egyptian origins
Alchemy, originally an empirical “proto- Maria Prophetissa (second century ce) describe
chemistry,” developed into several different alchemical equipment evoking the bubbling
strands during the European Middle Ages and ambix (still) of a mad scientist’s laboratory.
Renaissance. The earliest clear alchemical The alchemical tradition extends through
texts were written by Egyptian practitioners Stephanus of Alexandria in the seventh
during the Greco-Roman Period, at least century ce, into the Middle Ages—in both the
one of whom—Zosimos of Panopolis (ca. Western and Islamic worlds—on through
300 ce), the most influential for medieval the chemical experimentation of mystical
alchemists—assigned the origins of alchemy scientists such as Paracelsus (Philippus von
to the rulers and priests of pharaonic Egypt. Hohenheim, 1493–1541 ce), who worked
The works of the female Egyptian alchemist at the dawn of the modern world.
The term “alchemy” may derive from the

Egyptian name for the alluvial soil of the Nile
Valley (Kemet, “Blackland,” Coptic khme), and
the practice may originate in religious aspects
of ancient Egyptian mining and metallurgical
activities. The earliest surviving alchemical
treatises are more concerned with the apparent
transmutation of base to noble through coloring
and imitation, but already in the writings of
Zosimos such a process assumed symbolic
meaning, in which transmutation of base metals
into noble ones corresponds to a spiritual
and psychic development of the alchemist.
The ancient alchemist sought to ennoble base

materials by mixing substances, or by adding
that most legendary alchemical creation,
the Philosopher’s Stone. The alchemist
attempted to create this substance, the lapis
philosophorum, through a process of reducing
matter to prima materia, a primordial state,
and through a chemical process compared to
decomposition, recovery of spiritual power.
A base material would be heated (calcinated)

dissolved through a mercurial additive, and
Alchemical image from Zozimos

of Panopolis (after Salwa Fuad and
Theodor Abt, The Book of Pictures by
Zosimos of Panopolis, Zurich: Living
1 Humagn Heritage Publications, 2011)
77
alchemy and its egyptian origins
heated to produce a black liquid (nigredo). elements produced the red (rubedo) stage.
Following the initial stages—a deconstruction With coagulation and perhaps fermentation,
and return to chaos—the substance is the Philosopher’s Stone is prepared and
“resurrected” in a process of purification— prima materia, “first matter,” transforms into
order out of chaos—resulting in a white stage ultima materia, “the ultimate matter.” As with
(albedo). Subsequent reduction would recover mummification, mirroring the development and
spiritual elements released at the beginning of renewal of the cosmos, materials are dissolved
the process, producing the yellow (citrinitas) and deconstructed into a primordial state,
stage. Finally, a violent combination of all out of which a new creation may emerge.
– jcd
This mummy mask highlights the continuity

of the earlier pharaonic culture under the
Ptolemaic rulers, successors of Alexander the
Great. The gilding on the face and the dark
blue hair imitate the golden skin and lapis lazuli
hair of the solar deity, as described in pharaonic
texts, including the “Destruction of Mankind.” Book
of the Dead chapter 151 associates specific portions of the
human head with deities. In an alchemical process, the blue
color and the gold leaf turn the mask into a golden face with
lapis hair, thereby magically transforming the visage of the
deceased from mortal to divine, allowing the recipient to
associate with the regenerative processes of the solar cycle.
As the god Anubis mummified the god of decay and rebirth,
Osiris, so too did priests of Anubis mummify the deceased.
On the sides of the mask mirrored representations of the
priest of Anubis, wearing the jackal headdress and attending
a mummy, allude to the secret nature of the mummification
procedure. Earlier Egyptian texts refer to the secrecy of
mummification. Before the writings of the Greek historian
Herodotus (ca. 440 bce), little was recorded about the process.
– tdb
Gilded mummy mask

Abydos, Egypt
Linen, plaster, paint, and gilding
Gift of the Egyptian Exploration Fund, ANT 029702
78
alchemy and its egyptian origins
Ernst Koemer has captured

the Temple of Karnak in all
of its majesty, here painting
the massive columns of the
hypostyle hall. The colossal
columns, constructed around
1250 bce, are a representation of
a primordial marsh and functioned as a
shrine for the sacred portable boat of the
god Amun as it passed in and out of Karnak
Temple. Early medieval alchemists in Egypt
referred to alchemy as the “science of the
temples.” Two early Arabic alchemical treatises
claim to have been found within Egyptian ruins
and the tenth-century ce alchemist Ibn Usmail
compared the alchemical laboratory’s oven
to an ancient Egyptian temple (translation
by H. E. Stapleton and M. Hidayat Husain):
“ In Egypt are structures called birabӏ

(temples) made of enormous—not to
say gigantic—stones. A birba‘ (temple)
contains rooms of different shapes
in which are places for Admixture,
Pounding, Solution, Coagulation,
and Distillation, which indicates
that each of them was built for the
Art of Alchemy. In these temples
are drawings and inscriptions in the
Chaldean and Koptic languages, but
it is not known what they are.
”
– cm
“The Temple of Karnak, The Great Hypostyle Hall”

Ernst Karl Eugen Koerner (1846–1927)
1890
German
Dahesh Museum of Art
1 1995.114
79
alchemy in egyptian mining practice
In making a cult
statue, Egyptian
artists transformed
raw elements—gold,
gemstones, and other
precious metals—into images
of the gods who had created
those elements and placed them in the
world. The god Ptah, patron of artists,
could bear the epithets “Perfect of face,
who created crafts.” Metallurgy could be
considered a sacred activity. The Egyptian
metal worker Ankhy (ca. 2300 bce), in
his tomb at Saqqara, refers to himself as
the “interpreter of the eye of Horus.”
The term “interpreter” referred to a
speaker of a foreign language. Ankhy,
as metalworker, therefore translates
raw materials into images of what they
symbolically represent, helping those who
do not speak the language of the stones
and metals understand the inner workings
of the cosmos through what he makes.
The stela shows the treasury official
Sobekhotep, who erected this monument
within the sanctuary of the goddess
Hathor at Serabit el-Khadim, a turquoise
mining region in the Sinai Peninsula. The
hieroglyphic text describes Sobekhotep’s
fourth mining expedition to seek out
turquoise. Sobekhotep also tells us
that he enjoyed an excellent reputation
in the palace, as he faithfully served
king Ramesses IV (1153–1147 bce).
– jcd
Stela of Sobekhotep
Serabit el-Khadim, Egypt
ca. 1153–1147 bce
Sandstone, 70 × 51 × 12 cm
Gift of the Egypt Exploration Fund, ANT 266737
80
hermeticism
Greco-Roman religion equated the Egyptian god originating in Egyptian epithets—Thoth–Hermes
Thoth, patron of scribes and writing, with the becomes Hermes Trismegistos. Hermeticism
Greek deity Hermes, messenger of the gods and stressed the copying of ancient and “revealed”
guide of souls. As “thrice great”—a description knowledge, related to Thoth–Hermes and
Imhotep–Asclepius, primarily in a series of
books known as the Corpus Hermeticum. Texts
Amulet of Thoth as baboon holding udjat-eye such as Kore Kosmou (“Pupil of the World”) and
the Poimandres reveal Egyptian views of the
Egypt
ca. 664–332 bce creation of the world. In the Middle Ages and
Glazed faience, 5.8 cm
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Fred Olsen, 1956.33.4
Amulet of Thoth as ibis-headed man
Egypt
ca. 664–525 bce
Pale blue glazed faience, 3.1 × 1 × 1.3 cm
Gift of Mrs. Henry B. Loomis in memory of her
husband Henry B. Loomis (B.A. 1875), 1941.808.60
1
81
hermeticism
the early Renaissance Hermes Trismegistos was believed to The demotic script on this papyrus is
have been a human lawgiver, a pagan counterpart to Moses. an abbreviated version of the earlier
In keeping with an Egyptian origin, a basic tenet of cursive hieratic script. The fragments
Hermeticism is that the mortal is mirror of the immortal, belong to a lengthier composition
and the human being is a miniature of the cosmos. As known as the Book of Thoth, containing
a summary of the Hermetica put it: “what is above is a dialogue between Thoth, the teacher
as what is below.” This summary, the “Emerald Tablet” (most commonly referred to by his epithets
(Tabula Smaragdina), was said to have been found in the “He of Hesert” or “He who praises knowledge”),
tomb of Hermes Trismegistos, but was probably written and a disciple called “he who loves learning.” The
by an Arab alchemist. It later received a commentary dialogue format and discussion of scribal knowledge
by alchemist and physicist Isaac Newton. The fragment within the text parallel some aspects of the Greek
of a copy of the recently identified demotic Egyptian Hermetic texts that had such an influence in medieval
“Book of Thoth” may relate to the Hermetic corpus. Arabic thought and the western Renaissance. The
– jcd papyrus fragments shown here include a dialogue
between Thoth and his disciple, which involves
bulls, cows, agricultural tasks, and a mention of the
Fragments of the Book of Thoth “writings of the House of Darkness,” probably a
First century ce reference to texts discussing the Netherworld.
Fayum, Egypt – cm
Papyrus, 40.6 × 50.8 cm
Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library,
Yale University
CtYBR Inv. 323
82
hermeticism
A book illustrator and muralist, American

artist Violet Oakley captures the
“Egyptianness” of Moses with this sketch
for an altarpiece in the sanctuary of the
Samuel S. Fleisher Art Memorial (originally
the Graphic Sketch Club) in Philadelphia.
Equal focus is given to Moses and the
unnamed Egyptian princess who rescued
him from the waters; the hieroglyphic text
below the princess’ feet reads: “the daughter
of the king, may all protection and life be
around him [sic] like Re.” Surrounding
the central mother and child are images
from Moses’ life, all executed in Egyptian
style and based on ancient prototypes.
In the Book of Exodus, Moses and Aaron

defeated the magicians of Pharaoh, turning
a staff into a serpent that devoured those
conjured by the Egyptian magicians (Exodus
7:8–12). Later Christian tradition saw Moses
as one educated in the wisdom of Egypt
(Acts 7:22). During the Middle Ages and
the Renaissance, Moses and the Greek god
Hermes Trismegistus were associated, even
as contemporaries. Moses also could be
seen as reconciling a higher monotheism
of elite Egyptian religion—otherwise
polytheistic—with a revealed monotheism.
– jcd/cm
Sketch for “The Life of Moses”

Violet Oakley (1874–1961)
American
1927–1929
Oil on canvas, 171.8 × 86 cm
The Philadelphia Museum of Art
Gift of the Violet Oakley Memorial Foundation,
1984, 1984-67-1
1
83
from athanasius kircher
to Sor juana ines de la cruz
Athanasius Kircher (1602–1680) was a prolific but

academically uneven Jesuit scholar whose work Sphinx Mystagoga
combines an astonishing blend of fact, fantasy, Athanasius Kircher (1602–1680)
and chicanery. He was a polymath who studied 1673
phenomena as disparate as the subterranean Rome, Italy
world, music, and the magic lantern (an early Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library,
image projector). Kircher was the editor of Yale University, Bg4 +679k
the first Coptic grammar and dictionary widely
available in the Western world and a self-professed
“translator” of Egyptian hieroglyphs. His writings
blend neo-Egyptosophical activities with genuine
early Egyptological work. He correctly proposed
that the Coptic language—the study of which he
placed on a modern linguistic footing—represented
essentially the spoken language of pharaonic Egypt.
Kircher incorrectly believed that hieroglyphs were
symbolic, writing a “Hermetic” vocabulary of
divine knowledge (see page 30-39 for how ancient
Egyptian hieroglyphs actually function phonetically).
As in several of his books devoted to ancient Egypt,

Kircher includes attempts to copy and translate
hieroglyphic inscriptions in Sphinx Mystagoga.
Kircher translates the text (shown at right) as:
“After Typhon (Seth) has been conquered, the
matter of life will be preserved through the
moistness of nature during the vigil for Osiris.
Through the aid of sacrifices conducted under
the leadership of Anubis (Mercury), life and virtue
will be increased within the Nilotic vases.” The
actual translation is “Words spoken by the Osiris,
Djedher (the name of the deceased).” While
we now know that in Egyptian the hieroglyphs
represent a mixture of phonetic and ideographic
signs, Kircher’s translation was based on purely
symbolic readings of each hieroglyph, and assumed
that most, if not all, hieroglyphic texts would
reveal secret knowledge about the cosmos.
– jcd/dk
84
from athanasius kirchner to sor juana inés de la cruz
Inés Ramírez de Asbaje, better known as

Portrait of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (1648–1651 to
Attributed to Nicolás Enríquez de Vargas 1695), was one of the most celebrated
(active ca. 1722–died after 1787) Novo-Hispanic writers of the seventeenth
Mexican century. Called the “Phoenix of Mexico”
Eighteenth century and “Tenth Muse,” she is highly celebrated
in Spanish literary circles for her dedication
The Philadelphia Museum of Art to poetry, philosophical musings, and
The Dr. Robert H. Lamborn Collection, 1903 (1903–918)
religious devotion. Sor Juana’s works,
stellar examples of Baroque literature in
the Americas, are influenced by Hermetic
philosophical currents of the seventeenth
century. Her Primero Sueño (ca. 1685) and
Neptulo Alegórico (ca. 1680) were inspired
by the writings of Athanasius Kircher (see
previous page ). In one of her Romances,
she coins a verb based on Kircher’s name,
“to Kircherize,” referring to the act of
playfully tapping into the inner workings
of the cosmos by means of scientific and
philosophical inquiries. The quintessential
poetisa, Sor Juana’s passion for ancient Egypt
appears at several points in her work. She
was one of the first female, American-born
writers to celebrate Egypt’s reputation as
a land of wisdom and arcane knowledge.
This posthumous portrait depicts Sor

Juana standing and looking intently at the
viewer. She wears a traditional religious
habit of her time, consisting of a white
coif and black veil over her head, an ample
and cream-colored habit covering her
body, a black scapular on top of her tunic,
a rosary hanging over her left shoulder,
and a medallion (escudo) showing the
Annunciation pinned to her habit at chest
level. Such medallions would often depict
religious imagery and passages of the Bible
and were a common part of religious attire
of Hieronimite nuns during the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries in Latin America.
– mg
1
85
Natacha Rambova:
A Connecticut Egyptosophist
Born Winifred Kimball Shaughnessy on January

19, 1897, Natacha Rambova pursued several
different careers, achieving considerable
success in each. She adopted her Russian
name while a ballet dancer, and later became a
costume and set designer in 1920s Hollywood, Amulet in the form
where she helped to create the screen of a bull’s head
persona of the famous silent movie actor Predynastic Period,
Ruldolph Valentino, whom she also married. ca. 4000–3200 bce
Throughout her life Rambova had an interest in Calcite, 3.4 × 2.7 × 1.5 cm
ancient Egypt and began writing and researching Yale University Art Gallery
Egyptian religious iconography in 1946, with Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. (B.A.
1913) Fund, 2007.207.2
the support of the Bollingen Foundation; she
also collected Egyptian antiquities, such as
a predynastic bull’s head amulet now in the
Yale University Art Gallery (see upper right).
She contributed to the field of Egyptology by
helping to publish several books documenting
Egyptian monuments, such as the tomb of
Ramesses VI (see lower right) and wrote
an important introduction to the Egyptian
Mythological Papyri. Rambova believed that
Egypt was the root of all wisdom and secret
knowledge, going so far as to associate Egypt
with mythical Atlantis. She spent the final
years of her life in Connecticut, where she
worked on two unpublished manuscripts that
sought to collect religious iconography from
around the world, searching for archetypal
symbolism with roots in ancient Egypt.
– cm
Watercolor of painted relief

from the tomb of Ramesses VI
Mai-mai Sze
American
Natacha Rambova Archive,Yale University
Gift of Prof. Edward Ochsenschlager
in memory of Prof. Donald P. Hansen
86
further reading
Visit Erik Hornung, The Secret Lore of Egypt: Its
http://echoesofegypt.peabody.yale.edu Impact on the West, trans. David Lorton
for additional exhibition content. (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2001).
Sally-Ann Ashton, Roman Egyptomania (London: Jean-Marcel Humbert, Michael Pantazzi,

Golden House Publications, 2004). and Christiane Ziegler, Egyptomania:
Egypt in Western Art 1730–1930 (Ottawa:
George Boas, The Hieroglyphics of Horapollo National Gallery of Canada, 1994).
(Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993).
Erik Iversen, The Myth of Egypt and Its
Richard G. Carrott, The Egyptian Revival: Its Hieroglyphs in European Tradition (Princeton:
Sources, Monuments, and Meaning, 1808–1858 Princeton University Press, 1993).
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1978).
Richard Parkinson, Cracking Codes:The
James Stevens Curl, The Egyptian Revival: Ancient Rosetta Stone and Decipherment (London:
Egypt as the Inspiration for Design Motifs in the British Museum Press, 1999).
West, 3rd ed. (London: Routledge, 2005).
Andrew Robinson, Cracking the Egyptian Code:
Brian Curran, The Egyptian Renaissance:The The Revolutionary Life of Jean-François Champollion
Afterlife of Ancient Egypt in Early Modern Italy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011).
(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007).
Peter Ucko, ed., Encounters with Ancient Egypt, 8
Okasha el-Daly, Egyptology:The Missing vols. (London: University College London, 2003).
Millennium (London: UCL Press, 2005).
S. J. Wolfe, with Robert Singerman, Mummies
Florian Ebeling, The Secret History of Hermes Trismegistus: in Nineteenth Century America (Jefferson,
Hermeticism from Ancient to Modern Times, trans. David NC: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2009).
Lorton (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2007).
Dwight W.Young, “A Monastic Invective
Joscelyn Godwin, Athanasius Kircher’s Against Egyptian Hieroglyphs,” in Dwight W.
Theatre of the World:The Life and Work of the Young, ed., Studies Presented to Hans Jakob
Last Man to Search for Universal Knowledge Polotsky (Beacon Hill: Pirtle & Polson, 1981).
(Rochester,VT: Inner Traditions, 2009).

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Conjuring the Land of the Pharaohs

Yale Colleen Manassa

edited by colleen manassa

An Exhibition at the Peabody Museum of Natural History

Peabody Museum of Natural History

Copyright © 2013 Colleen Manassa. All rights reserved.

CIP data to come (Lbrary of congress info)

Printed in the U.S.A.

Chapter 1 — Looking through the Pylon: 1

Chapter 2 — Mysterious Hieroglyphs 33

Chapter 4 — Egyptosophy: Magic, Alchemy, and Hermeticism 69

Throughout each section of the exhibition, works of

Echoes of Egypt: Conjuring the Land of the Pharaohs

“Joseph, Overseer of Pharaoh’s Granaries”

Present day Egypt and Sudan

“ Dignified and beautifully proportioned, it [the gateway] is symbolic of an attitude toward

Typically a pair of towers at the

The Grove Street Cemetery Gateway, New Haven,

the winged sun disk

The winged sun disk at the center of the cornice of the

The ancient Egyptian cosmos comprised all

Fed by rains in the area of the central African

“The Temple of Karnak, The Great Hypostyle Hall”

Fragmentary map of the cosmos

At the center of the map are the tips

Map of the cosmos from the sarcophagus

“Personification of the River Nile”

egyptianizing meroitic objects

South of Egypt lay the land of Nubia

Head of a Meroitic Ba statue

egyptianizing graeco-roman objects

In the terracotta relief,

Figurine of standing Harpocrates Plaque of Harpocrates with cornucopia

christians, muslims, scholars

Although often ignored in traditional

Precise measurements of pharaonic Egyptian

Kitab Shauq Al-Mustaham fi Ma‘irfat Rumuz Al-Aqlam

A Latin inscription on the plinth

Romanus was a member of the school of

No records indicate why the Cosmati

Magical gem with Phoenix

egyptology and egyptomania

Designed to fit beneath a larger buffet in a well-

Cellarette with sphinxes

Queen Tiye (ca. 1360

“[E]very flower or other

Thus British architect and designer

The Grammar of Ornament

Edwin Long here captures ancient Egyptian life in

“Love’s Labour Lost”

Article from the

Shawabti inscribed for

Detail of coffin panel of the

After the decline of pharaonic civilization

Vessel with nautical

Protodynastic historical tableau of Horus Scorpion.

Drum lintel of Niuty

This small jar probably

The most prominent inscription is the