The modern Egyptologist is drawn to the study of ancient Egypt by a variety of motives: a scientific interest, the intriguing nature of the subject, the glamour and spectacular nature of surviving remains, or the sheer pleasure of exploring a distant and very strange civilisation. When the subject was developing in the 19th century, further major motivations were a desire to confirm the traditions of the biblical narrative, or the accounts of Classical writers who formed the foundation of most higher-level education in the humanities. Not surprisingly, the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans also explored Egypt and its past with great industry and enthusiasm. However, the question inevitably arises as to whether their motives were the same as ours, or whether there were significant, even surprising, differences. It is the purpose of this article to establish, as far as possible, whether their motives could be described as anticipating those of the modern Egyptologist, by examining the activities of four ancient scholars to whom that term has sometimes been applied.
Khaemwaset
Without doubt, the best known ancient Egyptian ‘Egyptologist’ is Khaemwaset, the fourth son of Ramesses II. He enjoyed a brilliant career across the entire spectrum of activities expected of a royal prince, but is particularly renowned for his religious and architectural activities. We are fortunate in having a number of inscriptions that give an insight into his motivation for working on ancient monuments, and of these texts I want to examine two: the inscription on the Mastabat Fara‘un constructed for the Fourth Dynasty king Shepseskaf (c.2503-2498 BC) at Saqqara South, and the text recording Khaemwaset’s work on the statue of Kawab, eldest son of Khufu, now in the Cairo Museum.
The main text on the Mastabat Fara‘un is preceded and headed by two sets of royal names: those of Shepseskaf himself on the left, facing right; and the cartouches of Ramesses II on the right, looking left towards the name of Shepseskaf.
Excavating the CA archive