Author: Molly Swetnam-Burland
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107040485
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 263
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Book Description
This book examines the appetite for Egyptian and Egyptian-looking artwork in Italy during the century following Rome's annexation of Aegyptus as a province. In the early imperial period, Roman interest in Egyptian culture was widespread, as evidenced by works ranging from the monumental obelisks, brought to the capital over the Mediterranean Sea by the emperors, to locally made emulations of Egyptian artifacts found in private homes and in temples to Egyptian gods. Although the foreign appearance of these artworks was central to their appeal, this book situates them within their social, political, and artistic contexts in Roman Italy. Swetnam-Burland focuses on what these works meant to their owners and their viewers in their new settings, by exploring evidence for the artists who produced them and by examining their relationship to the contemporary literature that informed Roman perceptions of Egyptian history, customs, and myths.
Author: Bob Brier
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1474242944
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 249
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Book Description
In the half-century between 1831 and 1881 three massive obelisks left Egypt for new lands. Prior to these journeys, the last large obelisk moved was the Vatican obelisk in 1586 – one of the great engineering achievements of the Renaissance. Roman emperors moved more than a dozen, but left no records of how they did it. The nineteenth-century engineers entrusted with transporting the obelisks across oceans had to invent new methods, and they were far from certain that they would work. As the three obelisks, bound for Paris, London and New York, sailed towards their new homes, the world held its breath. Newspapers reported the obelisks' daily progress, complete with dramatic illustrations of the heroic deeds of the engineers and crews struggling under nearly impossible conditions. When the obelisks finally arrived safely in their new homes, bands played Cleopatra's Needle Waltz and silver obelisk pencils dangled from fashionable ladies' necks. This turbulent era, caught up in obelisk mania, is recreated by Bob Brier in all its glory. Amid astounding tales of engineering dexterity and naval endurance, the individuals involved in transporting the obelisks and receiving them in their future homes are brought to life through their letters and diaries, newspaper articles and illustrations. Written by a renowned Egyptologist and author, this compelling book will fascinate all those interested in Egypt, its iconic monuments and the history of great endeavour.
Author: Henry Honeychurch Gorringe
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Obelisks
Languages : en
Pages : 310
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Book Description
"A deluxe book produced at the point that Harroun and Bierstadt dissolved their business ... The Artotypes in this book are some of the finest produced by Bierstadt. The pictorial record of this engineering feat is remarkable in itself; casing and tilting the obelisk, loading it into the side of the ship by removing part of the hull, pulling it out on a special dock in the Hudson and then moving it by custom made rail from the river to the site next to the Metropolitan Museum. The illustrations show the hieroglyphics, now mostly lost due to New York's polluted air, bright and clear."--Hanson Collection catalog, p. 82
Author: Judith Jones
Publisher: Prima Lifestyles
ISBN: 9780761504191
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 404
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Book Description
Archaeologist and historian John Howard is stymied in his work by the huge amount of historical material lost in the Cataclysm of 2479. When an alien technology makes time travel possible, Howard becomes obsessed with retrieving an unimaginable hoard of artifacts--the treasure trove of humanity's history.
Author: Jean-Babtiste Apollinaire Lebas
Publisher: American University in Cairo Press
ISBN: 1649030282
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 237
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Book Description
The extraordinary story of how an obelisk from the banks of Luxor was transferred to the Place de la Concorde in Paris in the early 19th century Transporting the Luxor obelisk from Egypt to Paris was one of the great engineering triumphs of the early nineteenth century. No obelisk this size (two hundred and fifty tons) had left Egypt in nearly two thousand years, and the task of bringing it fell to a young engineer, Apollinaire Lebas, a man of extraordinary resolve and ability. His is a tale of adventure, excitement, and drama, but one hardly known to the English-speaking world. Lebas’ team was struck by the plague; they ran out of wood; they had to wait four months for the Nile to rise to free their beached ship. But in the end, The Luxor, with its precious cargo on board, sailed down the Nile. On October 25, 1836 before two hundred thousand cheering Parisians, Lebas raised his obelisk. He was rewarded handsomely by his king, a medal with his name on it was struck, and his body lies in the famous Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris along with French luminaries. Now this first-ever translation of Lebas’s account, including digitally enhanced copies of his beautiful drawings, makes his remarkable story available to a wide audience.
Author: Margaret Bunson
Publisher: Infobase Publishing
ISBN: 1438109970
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 481
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Book Description
An A-Z reference providing concise and accessible information on Ancient Egypt from its predynastic cultures to the suicide of Cleopatra and Mark Anthony in the face of the Roman conquest. Annotation. Bunson (an author of reference works) has revised her 1991 reference (which is appropriate for high school and public libraries) to span Egypt's history from the predynastic period to the Roman conquest. The encyclopedia includes entries for people, sites, events, and concepts as well as featuring lengthy entries or inset boxes on major topics such as deities, animals, and the military. A plan and photograph are included for each of the major architectural sites.
Author: John Steele Gordon
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 1620406500
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 241
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Book Description
The colorful story behind one of America's greatest monuments and of the ancient obelisks of Egypt, now scattered around the world. Conceived soon after the American Revolution ended, the great monument to George Washington was not finally completed until almost a century later; the great obelisk was finished in 1884, and remains the tallest stone structure in the world at 555 feet. The story behind its construction is a largely untold and intriguing piece of American history, which acclaimed historian John Steele Gordon relates with verve, connecting it to the colorful saga of the ancient obelisks of Egypt. Nobody knows how many obelisks were crafted in ancient Egypt, or even exactly how they were created and erected since they are made out of hard granite and few known tools of the time were strong enough to work granite. Generally placed in pairs at the entrances to temples, they have in modern times been ingeniously transported around the world to Istanbul, Paris, London, New York, and many other locations. Their stories illuminate that of the Washington Monument, once again open to the public following earthquake damage, and offer a new appreciation for perhaps the most iconic memorial in the country.
Author: Brian A. Curran
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 388
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Book Description
Nearly every empire worthy of the name--from ancient Rome to the United States--has sought an Egyptian obelisk to place in the center of a ceremonial space. Obelisks--giant standing stones, invented in Ancient Egypt as sacred objects--serve no practical purpose. This beautifully illustrated book traces the fate and many meanings of obelisks across nearly forty centuries--what they meant to the Egyptians, and how other cultures have borrowed, interpreted, understood, and misunderstood them through the years.
Author: John Henry Parker
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Obelisks
Languages : en
Pages : 268
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Book Description
Author: Labib Habachi
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 228
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Book Description
