Many readers know Barbara Mertz as Elizabeth Peters, author of 28 mystery-suspense novels set in Egypt and the Middle East, including 17 in the popular Amelia Peabody series. Peabody is an amateur detective with a decidedly modern outlook who specializes in Egyptian archaeology as practiced in the early 20th Century. These novels conjure and capture the ambience of a hot, dusty Egypt as it was sifted, sorted, and pilfered by an assortment of gentleman diggers in wool suits and high celluloid collars. She has written another 28 or so novels as Barbara Michaels, including her first novel, The Master of Blacktower. It is this sense of the novel that imbues this scholarly investigation of Egyptian history with life.
A short time ago I read Peters' The Golden Tomb, which centers on the discovery of King Tutankhamon's tomb by Howard Carter in 1922. A couple of days after finishing the novel, I read that Tut's mummy would go on display for the first time, and just a couple of days later, I left on a cruise around the Mediterranean that included a stop in Cairo to see the pyramids and the Great Sphinx, and Sakkara, where we saw an exquisite tomb in which wall paintings still gleamed brightly after 3,000 years. As Mertz says, "The interior (of the tomb of Ti) has some stunning bas-reliefs….Birds and animals are depicted with particular elegance; there is a scene of hippopotami wallowing around in the marsh, which is my special favorite."
A short time ago I read Peters' The Golden Tomb, which centers on the discovery of King Tutankhamon's tomb by Howard Carter in 1922. A couple of days after finishing the novel, I read that Tut's mummy would go on display for the first time, and just a couple of days later, I left on a cruise around the Mediterranean that included a stop in Cairo to see the pyramids and the Great Sphinx, and Sakkara, where we saw an exquisite tomb in which wall paintings still gleamed brightly after 3,000 years. As Mertz says, "The interior (of the tomb of Ti) has some stunning bas-reliefs….Birds and animals are depicted with particular elegance; there is a scene of hippopotami wallowing around in the marsh, which is my special favorite."
Now after 43 years comes the revised second edition of her popular history of Egypt, what she calls "an informal study of…all things Egyptian." Her focus is on the people, kings and commoners, whose names and deeds have come down to us. In this way, she says, it is an "old fashioned" history because it does not focus on social change. Because there are "red herrings, the usual suspects, and detectival historians," there is opportunity to learn the most valuable lesson of history. That is, to "question and analyze so-called facts" in order to learn and separate the wheat from the chaff, a most important analogy given the Egyptians' dependence on the production of wheat. Despite all her current success as a novelist, Temples, Tombs, and Hieroglyphs was actually her first published book.
Mertz writes with a self-deprecating sense of humor in what could otherwise be a very dry book (It is set on the edge of the Sahara Desert after all!). She notes the names of the first three kings of the Second Dynasty. Then, she says it's not necessary to remember their names; "they will not turn up again in these pages. I just put them in to show how thorough I am."
Mertz writes with a self-deprecating sense of humor in what could otherwise be a very dry book (It is set on the edge of the Sahara Desert after all!). She notes the names of the first three kings of the Second Dynasty. Then, she says it's not necessary to remember their names; "they will not turn up again in these pages. I just put them in to show how thorough I am."
Her sense of humor enlivens the pages and brings the characters to life, a difficult task given the little we know about the pharaohs. She notes that much of what is written about the Old Kingdom is about the pyramids and other monuments they built simply because there is so little concrete information about them personally. We know more about later pharaohs. Thutmose III (stepson/nephew of Hatshepsut and ancestor of the famous Tutankhamon in the period 1570-1070 B.C.) was a warrior king who spent 6 months of every year in the field successfully extending the boundaries of Egypt and unsuccessfully erasing the memory of Hatshepsut. Of course, Tutankhamon and Ramses II receive a great deal of attention. Mertz admits spending "an inordinate amount of time" on this period because it interests her and "it interests a lot of other people."
I am left to wonder, however, as to why the pharaohs continued to build elaborate tombs, whether in the form of pyramid complexes or underground in the Valley of the Kings, when they knew from experience that nearly every tomb was inevitably robbed. Even Tutankhamon stole some of the burial furniture and the second coffin of Smenkhkare. What in their world view kept them building in the face of certain desecration of their tombs? Scholars speak about the Pharaohs' quest for eternity, but neither Mertz nor other Egyptologists answers this question adequately.
I am left to wonder, however, as to why the pharaohs continued to build elaborate tombs, whether in the form of pyramid complexes or underground in the Valley of the Kings, when they knew from experience that nearly every tomb was inevitably robbed. Even Tutankhamon stole some of the burial furniture and the second coffin of Smenkhkare. What in their world view kept them building in the face of certain desecration of their tombs? Scholars speak about the Pharaohs' quest for eternity, but neither Mertz nor other Egyptologists answers this question adequately.
Mertz admits that she has learned and modified her thinking since the first publication of this brilliant account. There is a beautiful statute of Tetisheri, mother of Pharaoh Ahmose, in the British Museum. Mertz writes, "I love that little statute. The evidence is incontrovertible," however. The statute is a fake. At best, it is a copy of an earlier work of art. But, this is the way of scholarship. New facts are always coming to light and legitimate revisionism is the norm."
Temples, Tombs, and Hieroglyphs provides a lively yet scholarly introduction to the wealth and breadth of information about Egypt. The subtitle is precise: "A Popular History of Ancient Egypt." This volume will be useful to the advanced middle school child and the adult with a life-long interest in Egypt. There is something about Egypt that piques the modern imagination and fascinates us. Mertz has contributed eloquently to our knowledge, although, as she states late in the book, "Candor compels me to admit that practically every statement I have made is open to debate." That uncertainty, perhaps, is the one thing which continually brings us back to an examination of things Egyptian. What, we wonder, is waiting to be found? After all, Tutankhamon's simple tomb was covered by the debris from the excavation for the tomb of Ramses VI for 3,000 years.
Temples, Tombs, and Hieroglyphs provides a lively yet scholarly introduction to the wealth and breadth of information about Egypt. The subtitle is precise: "A Popular History of Ancient Egypt." This volume will be useful to the advanced middle school child and the adult with a life-long interest in Egypt. There is something about Egypt that piques the modern imagination and fascinates us. Mertz has contributed eloquently to our knowledge, although, as she states late in the book, "Candor compels me to admit that practically every statement I have made is open to debate." That uncertainty, perhaps, is the one thing which continually brings us back to an examination of things Egyptian. What, we wonder, is waiting to be found? After all, Tutankhamon's simple tomb was covered by the debris from the excavation for the tomb of Ramses VI for 3,000 years.
