Leading the reader on a breathtaking journey into the past, Tutankhamun’s Trumpet takes the objects buried with the boy-king as the primary source material for painting a vivid portrait of life in Ancient Egypt.
On 26 November 1922 Howard Carter first peered into the newly opened tomb of an ancient Egyptian boy-king. When asked if he could see anything, he replied: 'Yes, yes, wonderful things.'
In Tutankhamun's Trumpet, acclaimed Egyptologist Toby Wilkinson takes a unique approach to a well-worn subject. Instead of concentrating on the oft-told story of the discovery, or speculating on the (brief) life and (fractious) times of the boy-king, Wilkinson takes the objects buried with the king as the source material for a wide-ranging, detailed portrait of ancient Egypt - its geography, history, culture and legacy. One hundred artefacts from the tomb, arranged in ten thematic groups, are allowed to speak again - not only for themselves, but as witnesses of the civilization that created them.
Never before have the treasures of Tutankhamun been analyzed and presented for what they can tell us about ancient Egyptian culture, its extraordinary development, its remarkable flourishing, and its lasting impact. Like Tutankhamun himself, the music which surrounded him has vanished. All that remains are echoes of the past, survivors of an age long gone, the stuff of interpretation and reinterpretation. But through the objects buried with him, his world, and the civilization of ancient Egypt of which he remains the ultimate symbol, can be brought back to life.
Filled with surprising insights, unusual details, vivid descriptions and, above all, remarkable objects, Tutankhamun's Trumpet will appeal to all lovers of history, archaeology, art and culture, as well as all those fascinated by the Egypt of the pharaohs.
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
ISBN: 9781529045987
Number of pages: 496
Weight: 376 g
Dimensions: 197 x 131 x 33 mm
Beautifully written, sumptuously illustrated, constantly fascinating and the work of a man who is practised at explaining the past to the present. - David Aaronivitch, The Times
The cleverness of the book lies in how individual grave goods are used to crack open the mindset of a civilisation . . . This book thrums with life. To the ancient Egyptians, a pharaoh’s tomb was a “resurrection machine” and, in a sense, they were right. The dead cannot be resurrected but, through the artefacts they used, we can sense the lives they lived. I’ve read many books on ancient Egypt, but I’ve never felt closer to its people - James McConnachie, The Sunday Times
The Egyptologist Toby Wilkinson takes 100 of the most curious of those finds and uses them to unlock the mysteries of Egyptian history and culture. - Andrew Holgate and Laura Hackett, The Times '100 Best Books for Summer'
Who would have thought that writing yet again about the much publicized discovery of Tutankhamun's burial could yield fresh knowledge today, one hundred years on exactly after Howard Carter's discovery in... More
The story of Carter's discovery has been told many times and, as we come up to the 100th anniversary, is in danger of becoming run of the mill. Wilkinson here avoids a simple retelling and instead focuses on the... More
This excellent book takes a wide range of objects found in the tomb of Tutenkhamun and talks about their place in the life of people living in Egypt from the earliest times to the 18th dynasty and beyond. It is a... More
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