Ancient Egypt eBooks’ Blog

  It’s likely that most Egyptophiles know, if they’re at all interested in the lovely Edwardian soap-opera, Downton Abbey, that the series is shot in part at Highclere Castle. Highclere is the hereditary estate of the Earl of Carnarvon. In the period covered by Downton Abbey, Highclere was home to the Fifth Earl of Carnarvon, George Edward Stanhope Molyneux Herbert. He was famously the Earl whom work

It’s a religion or a cult. I can no longer count the number of bibliophiles whom I’ve heard rapturously proclaim their love of physical books. To proclaim otherwise is a proclamation of support for the demise of all that is sacred and dear. I used to be one of them. I quoted the standard from scripture: “I just love the feel of a real book. I like how it feels in my hands.” Really? Not any mor

Any period of ancient life provides ripe pickings for fiction. Since fiction revolves around the creation of worlds that usually little resemble actuality, history is a great trough of the unformed from which a writer may ladle out anything his or her imagination is willing to spill on the page. The genre of historical fiction is very popular. Some of it is very good and based on meticulous research. Some of it is ju

One of the great fascinations about the Victorian age is how un-Victorian most people really were. This is readily apparent in some of the writing by Victorian women who traveled in Egypt. Among these are Harriet Martineau, Lady Lucie Duff Gordon, Florence Nightingale, Amelia B. Edwards, and Ellen Chennells. Lucie Duff Gordon, having lived among the poor Egyptians of Upper Egypt, learned Arabic, and lived her last ye

Far be it from me to judge anyone for that into which they place their mortal remains. I personally can’t get my head around spending very much time choosing such things. Now, were I an ancient Egyptian, yes, I’d be all about the funerary goods and the Mansion of Millions of Years and all. But what thought did this dude or dudette have when planning their lovely mausoleum? “Gee, I didn’t recei

Here is a preview into the third volume of Howard Carter’s classic The Tomb of Tut.Ankh.Amen with a remarkable story that shows Carter’s broad knowledge and dogged determination to understand various aspects of the famous tomb he’d found. It took Carter and his team ten years to clear the tomb. Why? Because so many of the objects were in extremely fragile condition and required treatment before remo