The Egyptian Museum in Cairo, the greatest repository of ancient Egyptian artifacts in the world, receives hundreds of thousands of visitors every year. But many of its treasures, long kept in basement storerooms or in magazines at archaeological sites around the country, or recently discovered at ongoing excavations, have never been seen by the general public. To celebrate the centenary of the Museum, many of these unknown pieces of exquisite beauty or great historical importance--and often both--have been brought out of the darkness to form a unique exhibition in a very appropriate setting: a converted section of the great basement storerooms of the Museum. With some 250 artifacts from the earliest beginnings of pharaonic culture to its latest flowerings, the exhibition spans the whole of ancient Egyptian history, and the one hundred masterpieces beautifully photographed for this volume represent the whole range of the exhibition: the Predynastic Period, the Old Kingdom, the First Intermediate Period, the Middle Kingdom, the Second Intermediate Period, the New Kingdom, the Third Intermediate Period, and the Late Period. This handsome book will serve as a prized memento for visitors to the exhibition and as a window onto it for Egyptophiles everywhere.

An in-depth study of artifacts in the Mathạf al-Misṛī (known in America as the the Egyptian Museum in Cairo).

The Egyptian Museum in Cairo is Home to some of the most exquisite artifacts in existence, yet many of these wonders have never been seen outside Egypt. Now, for the first time, world-famous Egyptologist Zahi Hawass takes readers on a tour of these long-lost antiquities and shares the adventures that led to their discoveries. Readers will marvel at the astonishing stories behind these dazzling treasures -- from the leg-endary unearthing of the tomb of boy king Tutankhamun, who ruled Egypt more than 3,000 years ago, to the modern-day photographer who discovered a royal burial shaft when he tripped over it while setting up his tripod. Many of the fabulous antiquities featured here were left to languish in storerooms all over the country and only recently were rediscovered. Hawass provides invaluable insights into what they meant to ancient Egyptians and what they now signify to us in the 21st century. Featuring exquisite photographs and enlightening commentary, Hidden Treasures of Ancient Egypt will delight Egyptophiles and history buffs and shed new light on some of the great mysteries of this ancient civilization. Book jacket.

The Egyptian Museum houses the world's greatest collection of Egyptian treasures and antiquities, tens of thousands of stunning and fascinating objects dating from the earliest Predynastic times right through to the Greek and Roman Periods. Visitors to this great storehouse may become easily overwhelmed by the vast number of objects on display. But here for the first time is the world's best-known Egyptologist's personal introduction to the unmissable highlights of the Museum--Zahi Hawass's own selection of his favorite 200 exhibits. For each piece, he gives some background to its discovery and significance, and describes what it means for him in terms of the art or the history of ancient Egypt, and why it strikes a personal chord. "Due to my love of the Egyptian Museum, I thought that it would be wonderful to write a guide to its treasures, and to talk about my favorite objects within."--Zahi Hawass

This beautifully produced new paperback edition of Silent Images explores a puzzling contradiction: Despite the multitude of artifacts and texts that have come to us from ancient Egypt, much still remains obscure regarding the lives of women. Women were, from the historical perspective, silent-but how should this silence be interpreted? What was the reality of women's lives behind the standardized images? We know that their chief role in society as mothers and anchors of the family was honored and respected, although it meant a degree of segregation and, in most periods, excluded them from public office. Nevertheless, in law they were the equals of men and they could, and did, own property, which they administered and disposed of themselves. Zahi Hawass's book searches for a more realistic picture of women's lives in ancient Egypt. As well as reconsidering the evidence from tomb and temple, the author draws on unpublished material from his excavations at the workers' cemetery at Giza, which sheds light on the womenfolk of the workmen who built and maintained the pyramids. The text is complemented by lavish illustrations of places and objects, many made especially for this book.

"The Egyptian Museum in Cairo, Egypt, contains an extraordinary collection of ancient art, but even more of its treasures are hidden away in its basement. Museum workers are now preparing to show these valuable pieces in a new exhibition. What pices will they exhibit? Now will they decide what to display?"--Back over note.