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Questions for Thought and Discussion

• What does a phrase like ‘ancient Egypt’ or ‘Egyptian art’ bring to your mind?
• Where have you seen works of art from ancient Egypt, or else inspired by ancient Egypt?
• What makes ancient Egyptian art and architecture look ‘Egyptian’?
• Why have ancient Egyptian art and architecture been side-lined or overlooked in many histories of art?
• How did Egyptian antiquities, and even entire buildings or parts of buildings, come to populate the cities and museums of Europe and North America?
• How many languages are written on the Rosetta Stone - and why are all of them significant?
• What kinds of Egyptian antiquities can you see in a museum near you, or on a favourite museum website? Can you spot similarities in style, materials, or use?
• Does the religious function of many Egyptian antiquities (including mummies!) mean that they shouldn’t be considered as works of art?
• Why can we identify so few ancient Egyptian artists or architects by name?
• What raw materials were used to make ancient Egyptian objects and buildings?
• Why was the king (or pharaoh) so important in ancient Egyptian art and architecture?
• Does ancient Egyptian art tell us anything about ‘normal’ people, or only a small elite?
• In what ways does ancient Egyptian art deal with sex and fertility?
• Did art and architecture change when Egypt came under first Greek, then Roman rule?
• Over the past two centuries, what economic and political factors have influenced interest in ancient Egypt – from the Napoleonic expedition to the sculptures of Mahmoud Mukhtar?
• What do you think Fred Wilson’s Grey Area (see Fig. 22) is saying about debates surrounding the racial identity of the ancient Egyptians?

Other books by the Author

• Unwrapping Ancient Egypt (Bloomsbury, 2014)
• The Beautiful Burial in Roman Egypt: Art, Identity, Funerary Religion (Oxford University Press, 2005)

Further Reading

• Gay Robins, The Art of Ancient Egypt(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2008, revised edition)
• Geraldine Pinch, Egyptian Myth: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2004)
• Ian Shaw, Ancient Egypt: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2004)
• Penelope Wilson, Hieroglyphs: A Very Short Introduction(Oxford University Press, 2005)