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Ancient Egypt Magazine -- Volume Three Issue One -- July/August 2002

Editor's Column

Welcome to the latest issue of Ancient Egypt! As ever, we bring you a diversity of features by specialist writers including three that we are delighted to welcome back Cathie Bryan, Patrick Houlilian, and Dr Nicolas Manlius.

 A two-part series by Patrick begins with a survey of the migratory and domesticated birds of Egypt, a land whose geographical position plays a key role in the flight of migratory species. Egyptian artists presented a number of these on the walls of tombs, taking evident pleasure in the accuracy of portraying them in flight and at rest. The magnificent barn owl cover photograph was taken by Patrick and is a testament to the beauty and harmony of Egyptian hieroglyphs.

 The animal inhabitants of Egypt provided an equally popular subject for artists. Nicolas Manlius describes some of the less well-known animals in the Egyptian bestiary, point­ing out the challenges that some of them created in portraying them and suggesting possible reasons for this.

 Cathie Bryan reviews an exhibition revealing the lives of some of the ancient artists and craftsmen who lived in the town of Deir el Medina, and you'll find complimentary material on another famous town of the workmen, Kahun, on the news pages this issue. In fact, the launch of 'Virtual Kahun' earlier this year will give you the chance to take a stroll around the dwellings and temple of this site which was suddenly and mysteriously abandoned in the Middle Kingdom.

  There has always been a huge amount of material on Egypt accessible via the internet. It is particularly pleasing to see, in this year which is producing a steady stream of new and often unique discoveries in Egypt, that more academic institutions than ever are making serious efforts to make the best use of this medium to keep us up to date on their projects.

 We welcome for the first time Dr Ian Shaw, of Liverpool University, who has contributed a piece on emerald mining in Egypt's Eastern Desert. We tend to view the desert, as did many of the ancient Egyptians, as a lonely and potentially danger­ous place haunted by threats known and unknown. However, it was also a place providing the Nile Valley with its wealth in the form of semi‑precious and precious stones as well as building materials.

 Living far from the biggest urban centres, the lives of the miners at these sites must have seemed a lonely and strange one, but their mining settlements included places of worship and, we can guess, as many comforts as they could obtain. The inscriptions of several monarchs show that they took particular pride in the fact that they had provided water in harsh environments such as this.

 It's always a pleasure to read and prepare for the magazine the pieces our contributors provide, knowing that their enthusi­asm for their area of interest is infectious; and there is always something new to be learned. We take great pride in this issue and hope that you enjoy its content as much as we have.

  Miriam  A Bibby

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