Erik Hornung

Surveys the development of ancient Egypt, from the time of the first recorded pharaoh to the conquest by Alexander the Great, and describes the many changes that occurred in a society that was not as static as it seemed.

An Introduction

History of Ancient Egypt

Rolf Krauss

David A. Warburton

This volume, the only up-to-date study of its kind in any language, reviews the foundations of Ancient Egyptian chronology before presenting a relative and an absolute chronology for the time span from prehistoric times until the Hellenistic Period.

Ancient Egyptian Chronology

A fascinating study of the Egyptian king who created his own cult devoted to the sun god Aten focuses on the rein of Amenhotep IV, who ruled from 1375 to 1358 B.C. and became known as a religious revolutionary for breaking with the traditions of previous pharaohs.

Akhenaten and the Religion of Light

National Gallery of Art (U.S.)

Betsy Morrell Bryan

"This volume accompanies an exhibition of the same name, which includes artefacts from nearly 2000 years before the Christian era. Objects such as coffins, tombs, masks, jewellery, papyri, sarcophagi and monumental and small-scale sculpture reveal the reverence and awe with which the Egyptians considered the mystery of death. The essays in this book explore Egyptian art history, customs and worship, with specific focus on the Amduat, a book devoted to the pharaoh's 12-hour journey to the afterlife. Additional writings detail the background of the collection and focus upon the role of art in ancient Egypt."--Amazon.

Treasures of Ancient Egypt

The Quest for Immortality

Osiris, Horus, Isis, Thoth, Anubis - the many strange and compelling figures of the Egyptian gods and goddesses seem to possess endless fascination. The renowned Egyptologist Erik Hornung here studies the ancient Egyptians' conceptions of god, basing his account on a thorough reappraisal of the primary sources. His book, now available in English for the first time, is the most extensive exploration yet undertaken of the nature of Egyptian religion. Hornung examines the characteristics, spheres of action, and significance of Egyptian gods and goddesses, analyzing the complex and changing iconography used to represent them, and disentangling the many seemingly contradictory aspects of the religion of which they are a part. He seeks to answer two basic questions: How did the Egyptians themselves see their gods? Did they believe there was an impersonal, anonymous force behind the multiplicity of their deities? Throughout, he attempts to evoke the complexity and richness of the religion of the ancient Egyptians and of their worldview, which differs so greatly from our own. A work of extraordinary distinction, Hornung's book will appeal to anyone interested in ancient Egypt, in ancient religion, and in the history of religion, as well as students and scholars of ancient history, anthropology, and archaeology. Sensitively translated by John Baines and with a new preface by the author, this edition has been amplified and updated with an English-language audience in mind.

The One and the Many

Conceptions of God in Ancient Egypt

The study of Egypt as the fount of all wisdom and stronghold of hermetic lore, already strong in antiquity, Hornung (Egyptology, U. of Basel) calls Egyptosophy. Though it was soundly rebuffed by Egyptology, based on conventional science and history, he thinks its continuing impact on western culture deserves scholarly attention. He reviews the various occult traditions and their expression during various eras. The original Esoterische Agypten was published by C. H. Beck'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Munich, in 1999, and translated by David Lorton, who has also translated Hornung's earlier books for Cornell. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR.

Its Impact on the West

The Secret Lore of Egypt

This volume offers a survey about what is known about the Ancient Egyptians' vision of the afterlife and an examination of these beliefs that were written down in books that were later discovered in royal tombs. The contents of the texts range from the collection of spells in the Book of the Dead, which was intended to offer practical assistance on the journey to the afterlife, to the detailed accounts of the hereafter provided in the Books of the Netherworld. The author looks closely at these latter works, while summarizing the contents of the Book of the Dead and other widely studied examples of the genre. For each composition, he discusses the history of its ancient transmission and its decipherment in modern times, supplying bibliographic information for any text editions. He also seeks to determine whether this literature as a whole presents a monolithic conception of the afterlife. The volume features many drawings from the books themselves.

The Ancient Egyptian Books of the Afterlife

Theodor Abt

Why the Amduat is significant -- every evening the sun becomes old and weak and finally sets behind the Western horizon. Yet, it rises again in the morning, rejuvenated. How is that possible? How could the sun for the Ancient Egyptians the Sun God become young and revitalised during the night, during his night journey? What happens during this time? The Amduat is a description of the journey of the Sun God through the night world, that is also the world of the deceased. The knowledge contained in the Amduat is meant for the dead Pharaoh. But the text also recommends this knowledge for living beings. Thus, the journey of the Sun God can also be seen as a symbolic representation of an inner psychic process of transformation and renewal.

Erik Hornung

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