Barry J. Kemp (1940–2024)

A concise but beautiful introduction to the famous Book of the Dead, perhaps the most famous writing in Ancient Egyptian history, very popular from about 1500 BCE and constantly placed in the tombs of the Egyptian kings and notables. In essence, it mainly contained spells to protect and guide the deceased during his journey through the otherworld. Kemp not only deals with the content and evolution of the texts and images, but also sketches the broader framework of Egyptian thinking about show more death, about religion and spirituality in general. What struck me most is that there was not really one Book of the Dead, for almost every version is different and thousands of them have been preserved, and that the standardization process was not completed until about 600 bce. Above all, this booklet (by Kemp I mean) shows how diverse the ancient Egyptians thought about life and death, contrasting with the image of the static society that I still had. More on that in my History account on Goodreads : https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5509977436. show less

Although this is a deceptively simple little book to thumb through, with a few pages on each of 100 ancient glyphs, the context for each sign adds amazing clarity to the ancient language. This can be a quick read, casually interesting for its glimpse into the ancient culture. But it is even better for lingering over to help understand why certain abstract signs were used to define words. Most introductions to Egyptian hieroglyphs flood the reader with many signs at a time for rote show more memorization. But read a sign a day as presented by Kemp, letting that glyph's nuances percolate into your repertoire of the ancient culture, and you will find yourself thinking like an ancient Egyptian.

I appreciate Kemp's nondogmatic presentation of current theories. Too many historians present deductions as facts, whereas he presents scholarly ideas while leaving the door open a crack. show less

A very concise introduction, which could just as well have belonged to the series 'A Very Short Introduction'. Barry Kemp, emeritus professor at the University of Cambridge (UK), has opted for a thematic approach, which is certainly meritorious, because the chronological approach is well known in all its simplicity (Old Kingdom-1st Intermediate Period-Middle Kingdom-2nd Intermediate Period-New Kingdom). This book contains both valuable and surprising propositions. For instance, according to show more Kemp the success of a state can generally be judged by the preservation of traditional forms through centuries of change. That may be true of Egyptian civilization, but much less so of other, also successful states.
In line with this, Kemp posits: “History and current experience show that successful societies of significant size tend towards a single natural form. That form is hierarchical, with dominant leadership, which acts in large part through institutions and enforced rules, is glorified through conspicuous buildings, engineering projects and art, and competes with other societies through economic exchange and often through warfare or threat of warfare.” I find that 'single natural form' slightly disturbing.
Other statements are less controversial and even enlightening, I list them in my review in my historical account on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3517436745 show less

This was an amazing find for me. I ran into it at my local used book store and thought it would be a unique way to look at the Ancient Egyptian language and culture, since I would be able to see both at the same time. We often talk about how language influences culture and the other way around, but we never really get to see how it all started.

Don't let the size of this book fool you, there is more information here than you would expect. Each of the 100 hieroglyphs is explored in a page or show more two, but that explanation is why the hieroglyph is as it is, which covers much of the culture of Egypt, from housing to phonetics.

My only quarrel is that some of the hieroglyphs are more in depth than others. It is explained how most researchers believe the word "land" is pronounced - "ta", but many words like "mud" have no pronunciation with them. It would have been an all-encompassing experience to have included that, but then this book wasn't really meant as a dictionary, but of a study in language and culture. show less