This thought-provoking collection of magical texts from ancient Egypt shows the exotic rituals, esoteric healing practices, and incantatory and supernatural dimensions that flowered in early Christianity. These remarkable Christian magical texts include curses, spells of protection from "headless powers" and evil spirits, spells invoking thunderous powers, descriptions of fire baptism, and even recipes from a magical "cookbook." Virtually all the texts are by Coptic Christians, and they date from about the 1st-12th centuries of the common era, with the majority from late antiquity. By placing these rarely seen texts in historical context and discussing their significance, the authors explore the place of healing, prayer, miracles, and magic in the early Christian experience, and expand our understanding of Christianity and Gnosticism as a vital folk religion.

This book offers a commentary on the 'Maxims of Good Discourse', an exceptional text from Ancient Egypt's Old Kingdom (ca. 2670 - 2205 BCE), written over 4000 years ago by a man called Ptahhotep. By way of a deliberate instruction given by a father to his (spiritual) son, it enables the latter, by way of good discourse, to live the good life, the outcome of not interrupting the moment of the heart, offending one's vital energy (Ka). Such an excellent son, an Egyptian gentleman during life, will be a justified deceased in the afterlife. To the British, a 'Gentleman' is modest, well-mannered, self-deprecating, quietly intelligent, considerate of other people's feeling, well-informed, and never vulgar, inflated, vain, boastful, noisily ignorant, sleazy or common. So too in Egypt. The 'Maxims' describe a special kind of discourse, one leading to a happy life. This by engaging in proper thoughts, speech and actions. Morality is rooted in thought (heart) and speech (the right or wrong use of the tongue).

English translation of selected Ancient Egyptian texts, bringing to life the sapiential, magical, ceremonial and theological traditions at work in the 'House of Life' of Pharaonic Egypt. Included are: Instruction to Hordedef, Instruction to Kagemni, Pyramid Texts (of Unas), Instruction to Merikare, To Become Magic, Discourse of a Man with his Ba, Instruction to Amenemhat, The Great Praise of the Aten, The Book of the Cow of Heaven, Hymns to Amun, The Shabaka Stone, Instruction to Amen-em-apt, The Adoration of Re. These readings span a period of thirteen centuries, covering all important stages of Ancient Egyptian literature. Translated from Egyptian originals and ordered chronologically, these texts were considered by the Ancient Egyptians as part of the core of their vast literature.

Authoritative and up-to-date, this key single-volume work is a thematic exploration of ancient Egyptian civilization and culture as it was expressed down the centuries.Including topics rarely covered elsewhere as well as new perspectives, this work comprises thirty-two original chapters written by international experts. Each chapter gives an overvi

The Oxford Handbook of Egyptology offers a comprehensive survey of the entire study of ancient Egypt from prehistory through to the end of the Roman period. It seeks to place Egyptology within its theoretical, methodological, and historical contexts, indicating how the subject has evolved and discussing its distinctive contemporary problems, issues, and potential. Transcending conventional boundaries between archaeological and ancient textual analysis, the volume brings together 63 chapters that range widely across archaeological, philological, and cultural sub-disciplines, highlighting the extent to which Egyptology as a subject has diversified and stressing the need for it to seek multidisciplinary methods and broader collaborations if it is to remain contemporary and relevant. Organized into ten parts, it offers a comprehensive synthesis of the various sub-topics and specializations that make up the field as a whole, from the historical and geographical perspectives that have influenced its development and current characteristics, to aspects of museology and conservation, and from materials and technology - as evidenced in domestic architecture and religious and funerary items - to textual and iconographic approaches to Egyptian culture. Authoritative yet accessible, it serves not only as an invaluable reference work for scholars and students working within the discipline, but also as a gateway into Egyptology for classicists, archaeologists, anthropologists, sociologists, and linguists.