Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
With a brilliant combination of literary criticism, cultural history, and linguistic expertise, archaeologist Morrow (The Names of Things) provides a dazzling new translation of the hieroglyphs of the pyramid of Unis (built in 2323 B.C.E.) as well as a detailed and thoughtful guide to interpreting hieroglyphs and understanding the culture that produced them. Though others have translated the so-called Pyramid Texts, Morrow points out that they miss much of the poetry and meaning because they rely on Western notions of Egyptian religion and art. In the book's first section, she shows that the poetic writing on pyramid walls reveals two streams of subject matter: the night sky and the constellations that fill it, and the death and waning of the human body. Morrow explores the poetic devices and themes-such as riddles, rebuses, paradoxes, and reincarnation-that will help readers to understand the Pyramid Texts, and she explains the meanings behind other pictures, including the falcon, Taurus, and fire. Most translations misinterpret the Pyramid Texts to be the stories of animals and gods, but Morrow's translation and interpretation reveal them to be the story of the invention of time and an examination of the ways in which humanity is deeply embedded in the cosmic. (Dec.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
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Review by Library Journal Review
Drawing upon her studies of classical literature, Arabic, and ancient Egyptian, Morrow (Wolves and Honey) spent a decade re-translating, analyzing and reinterpreting the inscriptions known as the Pyramid Texts found within the burial chamber of Unis, the last king of the Fifth Dynasty of Egypt's Old Kingdom (2353-25 BCE), the oldest and most complete corpus. Unlike earlier translations, the author has dispensed with Egyptologist Kurt Heinrich Sethe's system of numbered "utterances" and treats the inscriptions as a poetic whole that transports the deceased's essence from the perishable physical body to join the eternal stars. Morrow reveals her methodology by guiding readers through the step-by-step translation of selected hieroglyphic passages, emphasizing that the use of specific hieroglyphs is more important, in many cases, than their phonetic value to comprehend the meaning of the text. VERDICT Highly recommended for anyone with serious interest in ancient Egyptian or comparative religion. Readers may also consider the second edition of J.P. Allen's The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts, a major revision of the first edition which includes the texts from the pyramid of Unis as well as the Sixth Dynasty pyramids of Teti, Pepi I, Merenre, Pepi II, Queen Neith, and several other queens.-Edward K. Werner, formerly with St. Lucie Cty. Lib. Syst., Ft. Pierce, FL © Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Ancient Egyptian philosophy revealed in a hieroglyphic text. Classicist and linguist Morrow (Wolves and Honey: A Hidden History of the Natural World, 2004, etc.) offers a meticulous exegesis of the Pyramid Texts, a manuscript of hieroglyphics inscribed on stone walls within the Pyramid of Unis in the Saqqara Plateau. Unearthed in 1880 and 1881, the text "is the earliest surviving body of written poetry and religious philosophy in the world." The author insists that previous translators, believing ancient Egyptians to be wholly materialistic, with no interest except for "earthly pursuits and pleasures," have starkly "misunderstood, misrepresented, and marginalized" the inscriptions as "violent, pornographic, and stupid." Morrow, however, bringing to bear her own exaltation of Egyptian culture, sees them as "superbly lucid" and "supremely intelligent" considerations of philosophical and religious questions: "What is life on earth, how does it relate to time and the interrelationship of all things, what is death, what survives death?" Her new translation comprises the central 90 pages of the book, framed by an introductory section analyzing the intricate composition of each hieroglyphic and a concluding section investigating the "deeper design" of Egyptian religious belief. "Hieroglyphs are simple," the author claims. "The multiplicity unfolds in the meaning." Steeped as she is in mythology, history, archaeology, the Egyptian landscape and natural environment, and other religious practices, such as tantric yoga, Morrow deduces poetic, multilayered meaning that is sometimes challenging to follow. She is persuasive, nevertheless, in demonstrating that hieroglyphics "are metaphors drawn from physical reality itself, tactile, observable, knowable." The inscriptions, for example, make repeated references to astronomy, particularly the changing constellations marking the seasons. As a whole, she argues, the Pyramid Texts seek "the magical key, the pattern that lies beyond form, the invisible, eternal structure of life." An erudite investigation that rewards patient, careful reading. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
