The History of Egyptology and Egyptian Archaeology

There is no arguing that Egyptology, and by proxy Egyptian archaeology, like all scholarly approaches to understanding the human past, is a product of its historical and cultural context. What makes Egyptology interesting, compared to many other geographic areas, is the sheer depth of time associated with the discipline. When I say “discipline,” I don’t refer to academia in the modern sense, but instead the kind of focus initiated and sustained by affluent dilettantes. Despite what one would expect, some of the most interesting examples of individual interest in Egyptian archaeology and ancient history derive both from the western Christian and Islamic worlds.

When one seeks to understand the history of the discipline, one is easily confounded by its rich historical legacy. The earliest examples of focused interest are found not in the centuries leading up the to the Industrial Revolution, but from ancient Egypt itself. There are numerous examples of dynastic “historical” works that discuss earlier monuments in much the same way they were to be discussed several thousand years later by the earliest western travelers to brave the Nile passage. Further, the accounts of classical scholars such as Herodotus, Josephus Flavius, Diodorus Siculus, Pliny, and Strabo are arguably of equal in historical value as many of the work that is attributed to the “first” Egyptologists. The study of ancient Egypt is not something that can be easily assigned a point of departure. It is, infact, more of a continuum that begins in ancient Egypt itself and winds unbroken to the modern day. Granted, the form of the study as well as its historical context, both of which were responsible for the quality and results of the scholarly focus, was infinitely malleable. It is this interplay between historical context and scholarly study that constitutes the bulk of the question at hand. However, one needs to engage in a discussion of the historical events, personages, and trends that characterize this sometimes intellectual, oftentimes political, frequently ideological, but always captivating scholarly focus that came to be known as Egyptology.

The question, then, becomes where exactly does one draw the line when one wishes to explore the development of the discipline and its influence on the way in which we view ancient Egypt today? The first step that can be taken is to exclude ancient Egypt itself from the discussion. While quite interesting from a historical and epistemological point of view, and definitely worthy of scholarly study, the interest of ancient Egyptians themselves in their own history is somewhat superfluous to the question at hand. On the other hand, the classical accounts of ancient Egypt are quite pertinent as they had enormous impact on the development of Egyptology. From there, one can wind their way through the Medieval period (including both western Europe and the Islamic world), the western European Renaissance, the age of Enlightenment and Exploration, the Age of Imperialism, the Industrial Revolution, and the 20th century. Ultimately, one will be faced with an exploration of how the rich and oftentimes sordid history of Egyptology informs and guides the ways in which contemporary scholars approach the study of ancient Egypt.

Coming Soon: Classical Accounts of Egypt and its Antiquities