books 2007: The Rape of the Nile, by Brian Fagan

[supercheesegirl]

Full title: The Rape of the Nile: Tomb Robbers, Tourists, and Archaeologists in Egypt. This book was AWESOME. Really really great and fun and exciting! And, I mean, sad too, because it talks about how for centuries people have been swiping chunks of ancient Egypt, and the Egyptians have been participating in it because they didn't understand their history. It's really only been in the past 100-125 years that Egypt has started really taking control of their antiquities and not letting foreigners steal their past. But it's sad how so much has been lost because of tourists being stupid, and Egyptians letting them be stupid (or getting pissed off about all the stupid tourists and destroying or selling the local attraction to get rid of the tourists), and how much was lost because early archaeologists wanted to save the objects from tomb robbers so they trashed their way through the tombs to get everything out as fast as possible.

It's a great book, really. It covers the business of antiquities, and the history of archaeology, and the development of archaeology into the science it is today. It also covers the development of Egyptology, and how the decipherment of hieroglyphs made a gigantic difference in how antiquities were treated. It's all just fascinating to me. I had a very vague idea that Napoleon was into Egypt, but I had no clue how influential his expedition was. And I had no idea that a circus strongman was a huge player in the Egyptology scene of the early 1800s. It's all incredibly interesting--the history of Egyptology is an adventure! AND this book had a lot of notes and recommended reading, much of which is going to show up on my amazon wishlist. :)

Comments

[sarahpender.livejournal.com]

That sounds very interesting. I saw a documentary recently on Budge, showing just how he traded on the black market and the sorts of people he was dealing with, and the ethics he used. A thief who convinced himself he was righteous.

[supercheesegirl.livejournal.com]

That's pretty much how Fagan described him, too. It's interesting how he acquired a ton of material for the British Museum, so in some ways he's deserving of applause, but he did all that by stealing and being a jerk and a criminal. There were a few passages detailing the specific mental justifications for his behavior, how he convinced himself that he was doing the right thing. Fascinating. So many of the characters (historical personages?) in this book had really interesting morality based on the culture they were coming from. England was a weird place back then.