Towards a History of Egyptology

Proceedings of the Egyptological Section of the 8th ESHS Conference in London, 2018

edited by Hana Navratilova, Thomas L. Gertzen, Aidan Dodson and Andrew Bednarski

Book cover: Towards a History of Egyptology

Extent: 304 pages

Publisher: Zaphon

Subjects: Ancient Egypt

Series: Investigatio Orientis

Series volume number: 4

Language: English

Hardback (Published)

(December 2019)

ISBN: 9783963270802

Price: $100.00

Out of stock

PDF (Published)

(December 2019)

ISBN: 9783963270819

Price: $100.00

Ancient Egypt has for centuries occupied a prominent place in popular imaginations and scholarly research agendas. While our knowledge of the long-dead civilization of the pharaohs has vastly increased and improved over the past two hundred years, our understanding of what actually constitutes what we call ‘Egyptology’ remains elusive. Based upon research presented in 2018 at the 8th Conference of the European Society for the History of Science in London, this volume comprises a wide range of reflections by an international, interdisciplinary panel of scholars on matters central to the history of Egyptology. Their papers explore various approaches to the study of Egyptology’s history; national, particularly including Egyptian perspectives on Egyptology; and the interdependencies of scholarship and politics. This unique book represents an important step in the evolution of a newly developing dialogue: one that sees the study of ancient Egypt brought more closely in line with modern debates on the construction of knowledge, disciplinary formation, and the importance of ancient history to modern societies-and also within them, as a means of validating aspects of the present.


Ancient Egypt has for centuries occupied a prominent place in popular imaginations and scholarly research agendas. While our knowledge of the long-dead civilization of the pharaohs has vastly increased and improved over the past two hundred years, our understanding of what actually constitutes what we call ‘Egyptology’ remains elusive. Based upon research presented in 2018 at the 8th Conference of the European Society for the History of Science in London, this volume comprises a wide range of reflections by an international, interdisciplinary panel of scholars on matters central to the history of Egyptology. Their papers explore various approaches to the study of Egyptology’s history; national, particularly including Egyptian perspectives on Egyptology; and the interdependencies of scholarship and politics. This unique book represents an important step in the evolution of a newly developing dialogue: one that sees the study of ancient Egypt brought more closely in line with modern debates on the construction of knowledge, disciplinary formation, and the importance of ancient history to modern societies – and also within them, as a means of validating aspects of the present.

  • Edited by Andrew Bednarski
  • Edited by Aidan Dodson
  • Edited by Thomas L Gertzen
  • Edited by Hana Navratilova