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REVIEW BY SARAH GRIFFITHS
This new British Museum publication explores the lives of the ancient Egyptians through objects held in the museum’s extensive Egyptology collection. Having first explained the basics (geography, the dynasty system, historical evidence, and the role of the pharaoh), the book then has six themed sections, each with stand-alone, but related, ‘In Focus’ features, beginning with ‘Pharaohs and gods in myths’, followed by sections exploring the pharaoh’s role as high priest, the royal family, the ruling administration, ‘Egypt and the world’, and ‘An eternal life’.
In spite of the title, the ‘pharaoh’ is not the sole focus of the book: we are offered the perspectives too of ordinary Egyptians who, according to Margaret Maitland, ‘were not always reverential towards their ruler’ – for example, one Giza work gang called themselves the ‘Drunkards of Menkaura’. We meet administrators, priests, and the workers at Deir el-Medina (including bad boy Paneb), illustrated with the statue of Katep (director of the wab-priests) and his wife Hetepheres, an unusual vessel in the shape of a scribe seated at quite a jaunty angle, and ostraca.
A section on the symbols of power (by Marcel Marée) describes how the king was represented as an animal of great strength from earliest times, particularly in the form of a bull: the earliest kings are shown wearing a ceremonial bull’s tail, or in the form of a bull trampling their enemies, while many kings, including Roman emperors Caligula and Claudius included the phrase ‘victorious bull’ in their Horus names. Another chapter by the same author is dedicated to the museum’s wonderful collection of 39 Sekhmet statues, exploring their history as well as the attributes of the goddess herself.
Female pharaohs, queens, and princesses are included as well, although it is interesting that a statue from the Metropolitan Museum of Art is used to show Hatshepsut, while Nefertiti is represented by a fragmentary head from the National Gallery of Victoria (Melbourne): this perhaps reveals an important gap in the British Museum collection. There is, however, a photograph of the museum’s beautiful bust of Nefertari, which is, sadly, not on display.
Objects from the museum’s other ancient civilisation collections are featured in the section exploring Egypt’s relationships with Nubia, Cyprus, and the Levant, with some beautiful Egyptian or Egyptian-inspired objects that many people visiting the museum could easily miss. One highlight is the funerary stela of Qaha (a Nineteenth Dynasty foreman at Deir el- Medina), who chose to have the Levant goddess Qadesh and other foreign gods depicted on his funerary stela.
Pharaoh is a comprehensive but accessible introduction for anyone interested in the history of ancient Egypt, and offers a showcase of highlights from the British Museum’s world-class collection.
Pharaoh: art and power in ancient Egypt
ed. Marie Vandenbeusch
BRITISH MUSEUM PRESS, 2024
ISBN 978-0-7141-9131-7
Paperback, £30
You can win a copy of this book in our photo competition on here.
