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Classical and Later Authors
As a province of the Roman Empire, Egypt was a
safe and interesting country to visit. Its ancient sites and
civilization attracted many “tourists” from other parts of the
empire, including several famous classical authors. Their firsthand
accounts remained the main source for the study of ancient Egypt
until hieroglyphs were deciphered in the eighteenth century. When
they visited Egypt most of the monuments were in a better state of
preservation than they are today, and many of the ancient traditions
and customs were still being practiced. Following are the most
important Classical accounts.
Herodotus Regarded as the “Father of History,” Herodotus was the first writer who attempted to separate fantasy from reality. His work, The Histories, gives an account of the conflict between Persia and Greece, but Book II, called “Euterpe,” digresses from the main theme and provides an account of Egypt’s geography and history. It is the first comprehensive study of Egypt by a foreign observer that has survived intact, and it was based on his firsthand observation of the monuments and on “facts” and evidence obtained from priests and other people whom he met there. Born at Halicarnassus in Asia Minor between 490 and 480 BC, Herodotus traveled widely. He visited Egypt in c.450 BC during the period of Persian domination and probably reached the First Cataract on the Nile. His travels may have been less extensive, however, since he provides more information about the Delta than the South and omits any detailed references to the monuments at Thebes. He describes in detail the Giza pyramids (correctly identifying them as royal burial places); Lake Moeris and the Labyrinth in the Fayoum; Memphis; and the temples at Sais and Bubastis in the Delta. He also speculates about the source and inundation of the Nile and considers plants and animals, especially the strange behavior of the hippopotamus, ibis, crocodile, and mythical phoenix. Enthusiastic about the Egyptians’ peculiar customs, Herodotus also discusses religious beliefs and customs, festivals, magical rites, dream interpretation, and animal cults. He remains the most important literary source regarding the procedure of mummification, and modern scientific studies have mostly confirmed his statements. Nevertheless, there have been criticisms of some of his “factual evidence,” which, it is claimed, was obtained from informants who were either ignorant or who consciously misled him. But despite shortcomings and possible inaccuracies, his account remains a most important source, and its new approach to reporting and assessing information influenced other Classical writers. He was one of the few authorities trusted and quoted by medieval and Renaissance writers. . Diodorus Siculus Diodorus Siculus was a Greek writer who lived in the late first century BC and visited Egypt briefly in c.59 BC. He discusses this firsthand experience in the first book of the twelve volumes of his Universal History in which he considered aspects of ancient Egypt. He also relied heavily on earlier writers such as Herodotus, Hecataeus of Abdera, and Agartharchides of Cnidus. He covers many of the same topics as Herodotus including mummification, but he provides additional facts. Other subjects include the Osiris Myth, animal worship, the cult and burial of the dead, administration, law, education, medicine, the flora and fauna, and the cause of the Nile’s inundation. The work includes many inaccuracies and lacks Herodotus’s originality and entertaining style, but it is still an important source for those periods when other evidence is scarce. . Strabo General interest in Egypt during the Roman Empire prompted Strabo to devote the last of the seventeen volumes of his Geographia (which amassed a wealth of facts about the Roman world) to Egypt. He also provided other details about Egypt in his other works. Born at Pontus, Strabo (64 BC–AD 22) lived at Alexandria in Egypt for some years. In 25–24 BC he accompanied the Roman prefect Aelius Gallus on a journey probably as far south as the First Cataract. He visited the tombs at Thebes in 27 BC and the nilometer at Elephantine and also commented on the Colossi of Memnon (the massive statues that once flanked the entrance to Amenhotep III’s mortuary temple at Thebes). Although his “facts” should be treated with caution, the geographical details he provides are generally considered to be accurate. Alexandria and the Delta are described in most detail, and he includes a topographical list of ninety-nine towns, settlements, and resources. He refers to major monuments such as the pyramids, tombs, and temples and comments on religious cults. Some details have assisted modern investigation. Strabo’s description of an avenue of sphinxes leading to the Serapeum (the burial monument of the Apis bulls) at Saqqara enabled the archaeologist Auguste Mariette to correctly identify the site 2,000 years later. .
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Pliny the Elder
The account (Historia Naturalis) of this Roman author (AD 23–79) provides some useful information about Egypt mainly drawn from earlier writers. He comments on human inventions and material objects not manufactured by man; mummification; and monuments within Egypt as well as those (such as obelisks) that the emperor had ordered to be removed and set up in Rome. He was one of the first Roman writers to describe the Great Sphinx at Giza. . Plutarch This Greek writer (c. AD 50–120) concentrated on one aspect of Egyptian religion in his Moralia, providing the most complete version of the famous Egyptian myth of Osiris and Isis (De Iside et Osiride). This relates how Osiris defeated his wicked brother Seth, describing the eternal conflict between good and evil and the ultimate triumph of life over death. There are many references to the myth in Egyptian papyri and on tomb and temple walls, but no extant Egyptian version survives. Plutarch’s account of the story, although it may provide a viewpoint that differs in some respects from the lost original Egyptian tradition, nevertheless made the myth available to scholars in medieval and Renaissance Europe. .
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Medieval and Later Writers
The Classical authors provide a unique view of Egypt, and despite their shortcomings they remained the most reliable source for studying ancient Egypt until Champollion deciphered Egyptian hieroglyphs. However, there are accounts by travelers who visited Egypt in medieval and later times that add their own views and some fragmentary knowledge. In the early years after Egypt became a Christian country, few travelers reached the sites. The earliest account of a European making the journey survives in a manuscript discovered in Tuscany in 1883. The traveler, Lady Etheria, was a nun from Gaul who visited Egypt between 378 and 388 to identify sites known from the Bible. She apparently saw Alexandria, Tanis, and the area around Thebes. When the Arabs conquered Egypt in 640, there was little knowledge or interest about the ancient past among either the indigenous inhabitants or the new invaders. Nevertheless, travelers still visited the country: Some, such as Bernard the Wise, who was there in 870, and Rabbi Benjamin ben Jonah of Tudela in Navarre, who traveled in 1165–71, were not Muslim. With the end of the Crusades, Europeans were able to travel to the Near East more easily, and conditions improved in Egypt when it became a Turkish province after the invasion by Selim I in 1517. Merchants, diplomats, pilgrims, and travelers now enjoyed greater freedom and safety to move around Egypt, and the Renaissance also encouraged a new interest in the philosophies and heritage of the ancient civilizations .
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Classical and Later Authors
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