The Priests of Ancient Egypt: New Edition

By Serge Sauneron

Book Overview

The gods were everywhere in Ancient Egypt. Represented by statues, bas-reliefs, and funerary paintings, they even walked among the Egyptians in the person of Pharaoh, considered to be a living god, son of the divine Ra. What better way to understand that distant culture than by becoming familiar with the people who served those gods? Using as his sources the Egyptian texts and the testimony of classical authors, Serge Sauneron illuminates the role of the priesthood in Ancient Egypt.He recreates the system of thought of one of the great civilizations of antiquity, addressing such topics as priestly functions, the world of the temples, holy festivals, tombs, and pyramids. Sauneron describes the ceremonies of daily worship, considered vital in preventing the world's descent into chaos. He takes us deep into the sacred precincts of the temples-- home to the divine statues in which a part of the god was believed to dwell. One of the duties of the priests was to maintain these sacred effigies, to nourish, clothe, and protect them from attacks by evil spirits. This edition of The Priests of Ancient Egypt, an augmented version of the 1957 classic, was published in France in 1988, and has been translated authoritatively by David Lorton.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0801486548
• ISBN13: 9780801486548
• Release Date: May 2000
• Publisher: Cornell University Press
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.47 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.0" x 8.0"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

This book is both a hoot and a living history

This is not dry reading. The author (or the translator or both) have a droll sense of what people are really like and his descriptions of 'evil-doers' in the priesthood are a riot. In so expressing himself with these observations of human foibles, he manages to make history come alive and his subject suddenly 'more human' thereby.A reccomended read for any student of ancient Egypt, Phd or not. This book deserves a place on every egyptophiles bookshelf.

excellent introduction to the lives of Egyptian priests

Religion, an essential key to understanding the pharaonic civilisation, tells of the importance of learning about the Ancient Egyptian priests. In this book the author informs the readers about the priestly profession, the necessity of temples, the religious texts priests had to know, the belief in magic, the gods and the clergy. Aimed at the general public, this 1957 classic originally written in French is finally made available in English, thanks to David Lorton's excellent translation. Widely illustrated in black and white, this book should be recommended reading for everyone.

Remarkably informative for specialists and laymen alike

I had been studying ancient Egypt for over 20 years before I read Sauneron's book, and I was amazed at how little I knew about the day-to-day lives of the priests who stood near the very center of Egyptian society. The book is well-written, nicely illustrated, and easily read, mixing technical titles for the various types of priests with personal vignettes describing their lives and how their roles as priests affected and were affected thereby. I truly hope that this goes back into print, but will some future publisher PUH-LEEZE include an index and some maps?! It was difficult for me, a specialist, to track down specific bits of data, so it must surely be very hard on those who don't have a whole library of books like this at their disposal. On the plus side, however, thumbing through the book to find a particular passage can lead one down some very interesting by-ways which might otherwise be overlooked by over-particularism.