PREFACE
For many people ancient Egypt is a baffling phe-
nomenon. Certainly it is impressive, with its mighty
monuments, its three thousand years of history,
and its reputation for vast learning and skill. On
the other hand, a culture of now deserted monu-
ments, of aloof statues, of a flat and static art
and of gaping mummies never seems to pulse with
good red blood. W e feel no kinship to the austere
King Khafre in the Cairo Museum or to Queen
Hatshepsut masquerading as Osiris in the Metro-
politan Museum, New York. The story of ancient
Egypt seems more like a fable than human history.
This is an unfortunate impression created by a
people which, in seeking to find eternity, estab-
lished a static and unchanging form of art and ar-
chitecture and thereby obscured their little souls.
Those little souls were alert, gay, noisy, romantic
and artistic. The Egyptians were like their statues,
in which the bland stereotype of the eternally
youthful and serene noble overlies the individual-
ity of a firm jaw or a hooked nose. One has to
excavate the Egyptian from his covering.
W e who feel so little spiritual relation to the
ancient Egyptian still use his things, as we sit on
a four-legged chair at a four-legged table, writing
with a pen on a piece of paper. Such legacies from
Egypt and Babylonia have survived for five thou-
sand years. In these respects we arc closer to the
ancients than to our children who use posture chairs,
tape-recordcrs and punch cards, and to our grand-
children, who may use a 13-month calendar. The
pace of our lifetime is so fast that we are discard-
ing a long heritage without much consideration.
The Hebrews, the Greeks and the Romans were
much impressed by ancient Egypt, and some of
them paid respectful credit to that culture for learn-
ing and skill. If we are closer in understanding to
the Hebrews, the Greeks and the Romans, we must
remember that the Egyptians established the es-
sentials of their culture two thousand years before
these later peoples. A grandfather may seem hope-
less when confronting a stalled motor-car or cranky
television set; yet he may have been highly skilled
in dealing with horses and a cranky hand-pump.
Certainly the Egyptian culture must have had the
stability which comes from successful adaptation
to environment; otherwise the same expression
could not have survived for three thousand years.
To us it is a paradox that a tomb, solemnly de-
signed for eternal bliss, should be the setting of
lively and gay scenes. Should one carry into the
presence of the gods a noisy gang of romping chil-
dren, a mischievous ape, chattering workmen and
a woman guest who has overeaten at a banquet?
Should hymns to the gods be loaded with atrocious
puns? Should a myth represent the supreme deity
as sulking in his arbour because another god chal-
lenged his wisdom? These apparent frivolities are
as much a part of this gifted people as the stunning
accomplishment of the Great Pyramid.
It is the great merit of Lionel Casson's treat-
ment that he sees the Egyptians as people who
really did live and love and hate and hope and suf-
fer. He presents them honestly as people who pos-
sessed no mystic and lost lore, but who achieved
great things by honest effort and, in other respects,
fell short of greatness—and who are thus under-
standable to us in our groping days.
JOHN A. WILSON
Professor of Egyptology, Lhiivcrsity of Chicago