Ikram, S. 2003. Death and burial in ancient Egypt. – London/Harlow, Pearson Education Limited

Abstract

To write a book on death and burial in ancient Egypt and keep it interesting and below nine hundred pages… talking about a major challenge! Salima Ikram proves beyond doubt that it can be done.

In about two hundred pages, manageable even for busy people. She covers every thinkable topic related to funerary ancient Egypt: from beliefs in the afterlife, tomb building, -decoration and -contents, techniques of mummification (humans and animals) to funerals and mortuary cults, which is a huge amount of the ancient Egyptian culture as we know it today but, as the author remarks in the introduction, this is by no means an indication of the Egyptian’s obsession with death. On the contrary, they valued life so much that they went to great lengths as to make it last forever. Salima Ikram makes an effort to point that out throughout the book, by explaining tangible remains in the light of people’s beliefs, customs and desires.

Except maybe for the first chapter, dealing with history, readers will find it easy to read through this book. The chapters are well-organised and paragraphs are never too long. The information is presented in a compact and clear way, without unnecessary elaboration but nevertheless with many examples and links to different theories. Salima Ikram succeeds in putting together an extensive overview of present scientific knowledge in Egyptology in an accessible manner. No scientific notes distract from reading the text, but readers who are interested in more underlying scientific details are referred to publications added in a chapter “Further Reading”. Read more...