ancient Egypt

The recovery and study of ancient Egypt

European interest in ancient Egypt was strong in Roman times and revived in the Renaissance, when the wealth of Egyptian remains in the city of Rome was supplemented by information provided by visitors to Egypt itself. Views of Egypt were dominated by the classical tradition that it was the land of ancient wisdom; this wisdom was thought to inhere in the hieroglyphic script, which was believed to impart profound symbolic ideas, not—as it in fact does—the sounds and words of texts. Between the 15th and 18th centuries, Egypt had a minor but significant position in general views of antiquity, and its monuments gradually became better known through the work of scholars in Europe and travelers in the country itself; the finest publications of the latter were by Richard Pococke, Frederik Ludwig Norden, and Carsten Niebuhr, all of whose works in the 18th century helped to stimulate an Egyptian revival in European art and architecture. Coptic, the Christian successor of the ancient Egyptian language, was studied from the 17th century, notably by Athanasius Kircher, for its potential to provide the key to Egyptian.

Napoleon I’s expedition to and short-lived ... (200 of 38,470 words)