Egypt (Lost Civilizations)
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.97 (830 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 178023726X |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 208 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2017-06-07 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
. By the eighteenth century, secret societies like the Freemasons looked to ancient Egypt as a source of wisdom, but as modern Egypt became the focus of Western military strategy and economic exploitation in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, its ancient remains came to be seen as exotic, primitive, or even dangerous, tangled in the politics of racial science and archaeology. Today, ancient Egypt—whether through actual relics or through cultural homage—can be found from museum galleries to tattoo parlors. From Roman villas to Hollywood films, ancient Egypt has been a source of fascination and inspiration in many other cultures. In doing so, she shows how the ancient past has always been used to serve contemporary purposes. Riggs helps us understand why this “lost civilization” continues to be a touchpoint for defining—and debating—who we are today. But why, exactly, has this been the case? In this book, Christina Riggs examines the history, art, and religion of ancient Egypt to illuminate why it has been so influential throughout the centuries. Ancient Greek and Roman writers admired ancient Egyptian philosophy, and this admiration would influence ideas about Egypt in Renaissance Europe as well as the Arabic-speaking world. The curse of the pharaohs or the seductiveness of Cleopatra were myths that took on new meanings in the colonial era,
“This refreshingly different and beautifully written account of ancient Egypt goes beyond the ancient civilization itself to explore the ways in which it can be said to be ‘lost’ and rediscovered.’”