Yearning for Immortality

Rune Nyord is associate professor of ancient Egyptian art and archaeology at Emory University. He is the author of Breathing Flesh: Conceptions of the Body in the Ancient Egyptian Coffin Texts and Seeing Perfection: Ancient Egyptian Images Beyond Representation, and he has edited or coedited several anthologies.

• Introduction1. Antiquity’s Antiquity: Ancient Sources2. Explaining the Remains: Medieval and Renaissance Sources3. The Egyptian Afterlife in Universal History: 1650–17004. Death and Initiation: 1700–17505. Describing Egypt: 1750–17986. Invasion and Aftermath: 1798–18227. The Decline of Metempsychosis: 1822–18608. Emergence of the Modern Paradigm: 1860–1885Conclusion: Where Do We Go from Here?AcknowledgmentsReferencesIndex

“Nyord provides an intricate account of how Egyptian mortuary practices have been transformed in the Western imagination to fit Christian archetypes. . . . Exploring why Western misinterpretations of ancient Egyptian death practices persist, the author points to an enduring ‘universal human longing for transcendent, eternal life,’ as well as documentaries, film exhibits, and books that reinforce entrenched ideas about the Egyptian quest for immortality. Dense and methodical, Nyord's history meticulously probes the challenges of cultural transmission. Serious Egyptologists will be edified.”