Something I’ve been thinking about a lot since starting this class is the sweeping popularity that has landed Ancient Egypt so squarely in the public consciousness. Egypt was my first love in terms of history; my mom can’t even remember what it was that got me interested in it because it was before I had even started kindergarten (although she thinks it was a board book). I am not alone in this fascination. As we’ve talked about in class, Ancient Egypt has been the favorite of Europeans since it was still in existence up until now. It’s the question of why that has me so intrigued by it’s popularity. I hadn’t considered before taking this class that Biblical lore would play a big part in that, but really, that comes at no surprise. However, I am unconvinced that that is the only factor (although it may be the first for many people). I have no direct proof of this, but from what I’ve learned of the history of interest in history and anthropology, Europeans are particularly fascinated with the “other.” They have shown intense curiosity in how people who are unlike them can survive to create something as robust as Ancient Egypt was, and couldn’t seem to tear their eyes away from the spectacle that so challenged their egocentricity. The most obvious example of this is the diffusion theory, in which Egypt learns “civilization” from its distant neighbors in the Fertile Crescent. And although that theory has been largely discredited on account of wildly different societal and cultural models, that idea has still stuck around enough that it was taught to me in middle school as a viable explanation for Egypt’s existence. We also still see this theory of diffusion in other modes as well, such as the ancient aliens theory, in which aliens descended to Earth thousands of years ago to inspire cultures such the Egyptians and the Mayans. This theory shares with the more traditional diffusion model the disbelief that Egypt could form on its own, and I think that disbelief played and continues to play a large role in why people find Egypt so fascinating. For some, it’s simply the factor of Ancient Egypt’s age and its relative development in comparison to the other widely known historic cultures. For others, the fact that it’s in Africa might play a role (again, this is simply my speculation based on conversations I’ve had in the past). We are not taught about the other grand African kingdoms from the past, and I think that lack of education confuses people and makes them wonder how Egypt could have been so spectacular when nothing else in the region is of note (and of course, it was also this idea of a “civilization” coming out of Africa that had eugenicists so interested as well). To put it simply, I believe that the reason Egypt is so fascinating to the Western public eye is that it is unlike anything else in our collective narrative and we can’t help but wonder why.
5 thoughts on “Fascination and Ancient Egypt”
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When I was a child I was also fascinated by ancient Egypt as well as other cultures just like you were, my parents loved taking my sister and I to science and art museums and I was often most intrigued by Egypt. Ancient Egypt holds a strange popularity in mass media, from movies such as “The Mummy” to children’s books like ‘The Magic Treehouse’ series. The idea of ancient Egypt was ingrained into our brains despite never really learning about it in school, well in my school district anyway. The fascination does stem from our cultures obsession with ‘the other’ that you mentioned. It seems that people in Western cultures are intrigued by the mortality of ancient Egypt, how they embalmed their dead and had religious practices and ceremonies focused around the gods of death and the afterlife. Our society loves dark, ‘scary’ things, and often ancient Egypt is painted in a light that makes it mysterious and exotic to our culture.
Your discussion of diffusion was interesting. I’m surprised you were taught that neighboring communities around the Nile helped develop ancient Egypt, I had never heard that before but I understand why some people would believe that. The development of Egypt is a great mystery to many but I think within the last 200 years archaeologists and Egyptologists have figured out a majority of what ancient Egypt was about. Obviously there are things we can never know, not everything leaves behind physical evidence, some things have to be lost to history.
I think it is interesting that so many people were fascinated with ancient Egypt as children. Growing up, my parents used to take us to the museum and I remember being amazed by the mummies and the clay reconstruction of the face of Queen Nefertiti. I used to sit in my bedroom and stay up all night reading books about Egypt and mummies. Now, after hearing about how far back this fascination with ancient Egypt goes, I find that it is no surprise that this captivation with the ancient Egyptians has persisted into the 21st century.
Your post made me do some reflection upon the experiences of my childhood and I came to realize, just like you, that ancient Egypt was the only civilization on the African continent that I had ever learned about as a kid. In school, my teachers focused primarily on European and American history (with a few scatterings of Mesopotamia) and I do not recall ever hearing about the African peoples outside of Egypt before the arrival of the Europeans. One would think that, given all of the amazing archaeology that has done in Africa (Great Zimbabwe, Olduvai Gorge, Laetoli), people would pay more attention to the rest of the continent, but that wasn’t true in my case. It wasn’t until I got to college that I began to learn about things/places/people that I had never even heard about and experience a new kind of history that I had never seen before. The readings that we have done in addition to the lectures have encouraged me to consider how narrow my worldview actually is and how much I actually don’t know.
This post was especially interesting for me to read because I can personally relate to what you wrote. I too have been interested in Ancient Egypt since I was young though I remember exactly when it started. A book on King Tut that I found in elementary school with a picture of his tomb was the first thing that sparked my interest, and that grew into fascination with mummies and temples and everything else that comes along with the world of Ancient Egypt. One thing that I had never personally thought of before, like you mention, it the Biblical Lore that comes with the subject. Since it is a topic of much interest to the public, I find it strange that there are so many misconceptions about the Egyptians. You mentioned Aliens as an explanation which I personally thought was funny as I remember being young and my dad watching a documentary on the subject.
The article I wrote on was the Dynamics of a Riverine Civilization which spoke much about how Egypt came to power and how they used the Nile, having this understanding on how the Egyptians came to be helps one understand their civilization, though I think there will always be more to uncover about their world and the fascination will continue.
I myself was interested in Ancient Egypt growing up. I don’t know if it was looking at my mothers National Geographic magazines when they had stories of Egypt in them or even watching fictional Hollywood movies like “The Ten Commandments” or the Indiana Jones movies that initially drew my interest. To me, Egypt seemed like a mysterious and mystical area that captured the want-to-be explorer in me. I am sure this was the same with those in the past and today; not to mention the lucrative business of antiquities from Egypt before current laws came into effect and the notoriety that comes with important archaeological finds.
My interest has endured through the years about Egypt, the pharaohs, and the conflicting views of different researchers and archaeologists such as the debates of how King Tutankhamen died. The amazing technology we have today that we didn’t have years ago is the ability to run DNA testing on the mummies of these ancient kings of Egypt. It has helped to answer many questions such as in the case of King Tutankhamen. They found, just from analysis of his DNA that he had multiple malarial infections and had congenital mutations due to his father and mother being siblings. Although there are many debates at his manner of the death, DNA doesn’t lie and he, at the very least, struggled with these medical problems. I also find the debates about Egyptian history and its alignment to the bible interesting because of the different theories that come out. This is the scientific method at work in every sense. Faith and belief are important, but science helps support or negate theories and, in these cases,, it has helped us to come to a better understanding of the past and history. I watched a documentary a few months ago on the mummified remains of Rameses II and how they were falling apart due to a fungal infection and exposure after removal from his tomb. The lengths they have gone to preserve his remains is amazing and they seemed to find a way to at least slow down the process of his remains falling apart.
Ancient Egypt has and will continue to be an interest to many people because as one of the oldest civilizations, it still has so many more stories to tell.
I have also had a long-term interest in Ancient Egypt, and I would assume that at least most of us in the class do as well! It is really neat how famous a place and history it has. I never really thought about why it was so famous, just that maybe because it was a mysterious place, but now learning in class that European fascination and writings have based a lot of what people know about Ancient Egypt today is really interesting. I have to agree with you that part of what makes Ancient Egypt so attractive to learn about is because it is such a unique time period in history and for that reason it draws a lot of attention.
Your point about Egypt really being one of the only famous civilizations to come out of Africa is also really interesting! I also never really thought about this before, but now that I do, I see how true it is. I have seen plenty of literature, movies, games, and other popular culture based off of the Ancient Egyptians which has helped foster my interest in this time period, but I never really see things from other places in Africa. It would be nice to learn about some other famous African cultures, but I can understand why Egypt is the most famous. Going back to what you said, it certainly is very unique, which is definitely an interest point, but also just the enormity of what is known, and even not known, also draws us in. There is so much to learn about the Ancient Egyptians, but also the mystery of what isn’t known makes it an interesting subject to pursue and wonder about.