The Queens of Ancient Egypt

This beautiful book about the queens of ancient Egypt is written by Rosanna Pirelli, a classical archaeologist who teaches Egyptology at the University of Naples, Italy. The preface is written by a guest writer, Suzanne Mubarak, wife of Hosni Mubarak, who was the president of Egypt when the book was published. At the time it seemed fitting that the first lady of modern Egypt should make this contribution to a book about the first ladies of ancient Egypt. The introduction is written by another guest writer, Dorothea Arnold, who is the chairman of the Department of Egyptology in New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The preface is short, only one page. This is not surprising. I do not expect more than this. The point is just to show that Suzanne Mubarak wants to lend her name to this publication. The introduction is also short, only three pages. This is a bit surprising. I would expect a more substantial contribution, maybe 10-15 pages, because this writer is an expert on ancient Egypt. Why is the introduction so short? Is it because Dorothea Arnold did not want to do more? Or is it because the publisher told her not to write more? I do not know. There is no information about this in the book.

The main text is divided into four long chapters:

# 1: Women, Queens and Goddesses in Ancient Egypt

# 2: Women as Sovereigns

# 3: The Queens of Pharaonic Egypt

# 4: Cleopatra and the Ptolemaic Queens

The book concludes with a chronology, an index and a list of photo credits.

This book is published by White Star, an Italian publishing house which specialises in picture books in large format (also known as coffee table books). It is lavishly illustrated. In addition, it comes in a solid cardboard box that will protect the book whether it is standing on a bookshelf or lying on a desk.

All illustrations are in colour, except for a few old photos which are in black-and-white. In many cases, one motive gets a whole page. In some cases, one motive gets two whole pages. As you work your way through this book, you will see one great picture after another: pyramids, temples, tombs, statues, portraits, furniture, jewellery and many other items connected to the queens of ancient Egypt. The impact is overwhelming, almost as if you are there yourself.

Pirelli seems to be very familiar with Egyptian history, but there is a mistake on page 244 where she says Ptolemy III was married to Berenice III. In fact, he was married to Berenice II. The same mistake appears in the chronology (page 265). There are two more mistakes on page 252:

Mistake # 1. She writes:

”… but Caesar’s death, far from re-establishing the balance of power between Pompey and Mark Antony, created further conflict…”

Why does she mention Pompey here? Caesar was killed in 44 BC; Pompey (whose Latin name is Pompeius) was killed in 48 BC. When Caesar was killed, Pompey had already been dead for four years.

Mistake # 2. She writes:

“… at home a re-formulation of the agreement with Octavian and Lepidus was ratified by Antony’s new marriage to the daughter of Octavian.”

Mark Antony (whose Latin name is Marcus Antonius) married Octavian’s sister, Octavia, in 40 BC. Octavian’s daughter (Julia) was not even born at that time. Julia was born in the following year, i.e. in 39 BC.

The British Egyptologist Joyce Tyldesley has written a book about the same topic: Chronicle of the Queens of Egypt: From Early Dynastic Times to the Death of Cleopatra.

Pirelli’s book was published by White Star in 2008, while Tyldesley’s book was published by Thames & Hudson in 2006. It is natural to compare the two books with each other.

The book from White Star is almost twice as big as the book from Thames & Hudson (27 x 37 cm against 27 x 20 cm), and it is longer (272 pages against 224 pages). But I cannot say that one book is better than the other. The strength of Pirelli’s book lies in the stunning illustrations. The strength of Tyldesley’s book lies in the very informative text.

Inevitably, many motives (illustrations) can be found in both books. For reasons of space, I will mention only a few cases here:

** The huge cedar wood coffin of Meritamun

 

** The famous portrait of Nefertiti that was found in 1912

 

** The temples built for Ramesses II and Nefertari at Abu Simbel

 

** Wall decorations in Nefertari’s tomb in the Valley of the Queens

 

** The model of a boat that was found in the tomb of Ahhotep I

In one case – the devotional stele from Amarna showing Akhenaten, Nefertiti and their three daughters – the people from White Star have made a mistake. In the original, Akhenaten is sitting on the left with one daughter (Meritaten), while Nefertiti is sitting on the right with two daughters (Meketaten and Ankhesenpaaten) (see for instance Tyldesley, page 132). But in Pirelli’s book they have switched places: the huge picture in her book (pp. 199-200) is a mirror image!

Tyldesley seems to be very familiar with Egyptian as well as Roman history. She does not make the same mistakes as Pirelli: she knows Ptolemy III married Berenice II (page 192); she knows Pompey was killed in 48 BC (page 201); and she knows Mark Antony married Octavian’s sister (page 205). If only Pirelli had studied (the last chapter of) this book, she could have avoided the embarrassing mistakes which I mentioned earlier.

These mistakes are unfortunate, and so is the mirror image. But in spite of these flaws I want to say that this is an excellent book. If you are interested in ancient history - in particular the queens of ancient Egypt - this book is an excellent place to start.

* * *

 

Rosanna Pirelli,

The Queens of Ancient Egypt,

White Star Books, 2008, 272 pages

 

* * *