The myth of Egypt and its hieroglyphs in European tradition
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
The myth of Egypt and its hieroglyphs in European tradition
(Princeton paperbacks)(Mythos)
Princeton University Press, c1993
Available at 7 libraries
  Aomori
  Iwate
  Miyagi
  Akita
  Yamagata
  Fukushima
  Ibaraki
  Tochigi
  Gunma
  Saitama
  Chiba
  Tokyo
  Kanagawa
  Niigata
  Toyama
  Ishikawa
  Fukui
  Yamanashi
  Nagano
  Gifu
  Shizuoka
  Aichi
  Mie
  Shiga
  Kyoto
  Osaka
  Hyogo
  Nara
  Wakayama
  Tottori
  Shimane
  Okayama
  Hiroshima
  Yamaguchi
  Tokushima
  Kagawa
  Ehime
  Kochi
  Fukuoka
  Saga
  Nagasaki
  Kumamoto
  Oita
  Miyazaki
  Kagoshima
  Okinawa
  Korea
  China
  Thailand
  United Kingdom
  Germany
  Switzerland
  France
  Belgium
  Netherlands
  Sweden
  Norway
  United States of America
Note
Originally published: Copenhagen : Gad, 1961. With new introd
Includes bibliographical references (p. 147-[168]) and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
Erik Iversen describes the powerful effect of the "myth of Egypt" - particularly Egyptian hieroglyphs - on European literature, art, religion and philosophy. It explains how an erroneous interpretation of the traditions of ancient Egypt became a rich source of inspiration for Europeans from ancient times through the medieval and Renaissance periods to the Baroque era. The misguided notion that hierogylphs were allegorical, and that they constituted a sacred writing of ideas, exerted a dynamic influence in almost all fields of intellectual and artistic endeavour, as did conceptions of Egypt as the venerable home of true wisdom and of occult and mystic knowledge. Iversen begins by discussing the nature of Egyptian writing. Then he explains, with illustrations and quotations, the ways in which Europeans tried to understand and use the hieroglyphs. A final chapter sets Jean Francois Champollion's decipherment of the hieroglyphs into a reconstructed historical context.
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