Mark Millmore - Imagining Egypt

Published: 23/03/2007 - 14:43:47 PM
Critic Rating Five Stars

Mark Millmore's first literary offering is fantastic! It's much more than a book, more a trip through a time that we're all broadly familiar with, but with an eye to detail that makes the reader feel they're right there, and any previous knowledge they may have had of the Land of the Pharaohs was plainly inadequate.

'Imagining Egypt' is actually a bit of a misleading title. The reader doesn't need to imagine that much because the sheer depth of information in Millmore's book is vast. But don't get me wrong, this isn't page after page of boring writing with a few line drawings thrown in for good measure. This book is a full colour journey that really does bring to life the wonders of ancient Egypt.

So how does Millmore's book differ from all the others on offer on the subject. Well, as the author is a fine artist, theatre, designer, web designer and art director, it's no surprise to find the book littered with unique computer based images of ancient monuments and temples recreated to look as they would have done in their own time, accompanied by pictures of the sites as they are today, with maps, timelines and other images.

I took the book on holiday with me just recently. Guess where? To Egypt. But I wasn't running round from temple to temple with the largish tome tucked under my arm. I was well away from Luxor, the Valley of the Kings and the Nile, staying on the Red Sea Riviera at Hurghada. But Egyptians are very proud of their land and its long and colourful history, and there was no better place to become immersed in the Land of the Pharaohs, without a pyramid in sight.

In the early pages, Millmore, brings to life the stories of Osiris and Isis, Seth and Horus…..don't think ancient Egypt is just about King Tut! And tell us that a Pharaoh can have loads of wives, but only one 'great wife' or Queen. It would be the great wife's children's that would succeed……unless of course she only had girls then the boys from a lesser wife would be chosen!!
My ten year old daughter had recently done a bit about the ancient Egyptians at school and found the sections on headdresses and regalia fascinating. Another plus for Millmore here….this book can be read cover to cover if you fancy it….or dip in and out and use as a research tool – it's accessible to both adults and children alike. The kids particularly like the bit where Millmore has made reading hieroglyphs easy. Interestingly it's not clear how ancient Egyptians pronounced a number of their words because there are no written symbols for vowels, although it's assumed that the sounds must have existed.

Naturally there's section on the Valley of the Kings, where Millmore reveals that sixty three tombs have been discovered but they're so old that forty of them were regarded as interesting historical monuments by early Greek and Roman tourists!

These days when we shuffle off this mortal coil, we tend to get the coffin we or the family left behind can afford. Fascinating then to read the chapter on death and mummification in 'Imagining Egypt'. Embalmers were highly skilled people in ancient Egypt, but there were varying grades of mummification you could have…depending, of course, on what you could afford. This chapter my not be for the squeamish as it involves details of how bits of internal organs were removed for storage – kids loved it!

This book is invaluable if you're a lover of the Ancient Egyptians and want to enhance your knowledge in a colourful, imagination grabbing way. It should be in every school library and it's linked website www.discoveringegypt.com should be on everyone's favourite list.

Mark Millmore's areas of fine art expertise, eye for detail and obvious fascination and deep knowledge of the subject have surely combined to make this book one of the best on the subject.

Imagining Egypt: A living Portrait of the Time of the Pharaohs. Written and Illustrated by Mark Millmore. Published by Black Dog and Leventhal, New York. ISBN 978-1-57912-547-9 
Reviewed by Clare Fischer  http://www.24dash.com/