Description
Book SynopsisTrade Review"Jennifer Taylor Westerfeld presents a logical narrative, with a clear arc, describing how Christian writers made use of the cultural heritage of pharaonic Egypt. An excellent treatment of a very complicated subject." * Richard Jasnow, Johns Hopkins University *
"Equally conversant with the texts in ancient Egyptian scripts-hieroglyphic, hieratic, and demotic-and the late antique sources, Jennifer Taylor Westerfeld offers a dynamic account of how late antique authors viewed ancient hieroglyphic script in an increasingly Christian world." * Jitse Dijkstra, University of Ottawa *
"[T]he volume sheds considerable light on the discourse around hieroglyphs in Late Antiquity, and how these increasingly mysterious and incomprehensible letters embody the cultural memory of the wisdom of Egypt, either positively as being symbols of divine truth, or negatively as the idolatrous past of a triumphalist Egyptian Christianity, or somewhere in between." * Numen *
Table of ContentsList of Abbreviations
Note on Translations
Introduction. Confronting Pharaonic Egypt in Late Antiquity
Chapter 1. From Sign to Symbol in Roman Egypt
Chapter 2. Hieroglyphs, Deep History, and Biblical Chronology
Chapter 3. Encoding the Wisdom of Egypt
Chapter 4. Laws for Murdering Men's Souls
Chapter 5. Translating Hieroglyphs, Constructing Authority
Conclusion. Hieroglyphs in the Late Antique Imagination
Notes
Bibliography
Index Locorum
Subject Index
Acknowledgments
