Books in Brief
Atlas of Ancient Egypt
John Baines and Jaromir Malek
(Facts on File: New York, 1980) 240 pp., 36 maps, 530 illustrations, 380 in color. $24.95
Atlas of the Greek World
Peter Levi
(Facts on File: New York, 1981) 240 pp. 60 maps, 500 illustrations, 350 in color. $29.95
A volume of the scope of the Atlas of Ancient Egypt demanded the sifting and distillation of thousands of archaeological reports (many unpublished). Professors John Baines (Queens College, Oxford) and Jaromir Malek (Charles University, Prague) have acquitted themselves magnificently, producing not only an atlas but also a most comprehensive one-volume library on all aspects of Egyptian civilization. This atlas should instruct and delight both layperson and expert alike.
The volume of three parts covers (1) the geographical and historical background (2) “A Journey Down the Nile” (identifying and describing hundreds of major and minor archaeological sites—tombs, temples, cities, pyramids, forts—from Nubia to the Nile Delta), and (3) “Aspects of Egyptian Society,” including everyday life, women, the army, religion and the gods, burial customs, and even an article on the influence of Egypt in western art. Maps, chronologies, charts of terrain and changes therein, lists (the names with their insignae, the rulers with portraits, museums with important Egyptian collections, etc.) and numerous illustrations accompany a highly informative text set in a most readable type.
This atlas of Egypt contains 75,000 words, 30,000 explanatory captions, 250 color photographs, 130 color drawings, 150 black and white photos, and some 36 essential maps, many in color. Photos are selected well, balancing the familiar with the unfamiliar, including objects rarely reproduced (many having perished or disappeared) and views of sites now gone or greatly altered. Of striking aesthetic as well as archaeological interest are beautiful one- and two-page color photos which in clarity and sharpness approach three-dimensional reality.
A fascinating checklist includes the location and characteristics (shape, size, angle, etc.) of all pyramids. When known, the place names of sites, varying from Egyptian through classical, Coptic, Arabic, and modern languages, are given. Articles on numerous subjects include information on tomb stelae, conventions of representation in Egyptian art, and the work of pioneer Egyptologists such as J. G. Wilkinson who copied extensive Luxor temple scenes no longer extant. A comparative chronology of the Egyptian and the neighboring cultures from 6500 B.C. to 650 A.D. is included, along with a reproduction of the only surviving Egyptian map.
If one had only a single volume on Egyptian civilization and culture to select for a library it should be this atlas which celebrates Egypt as one vast temple-necropolis which in its art, from the lively depiction of peasants at daily tasks to the feasts of pharaohs and the processions of the gods bears witness to the vitality of human life and the exuberance of the human spirit sufficient to outlast the eternity of “millions of years.”
Uniform in excellence is Peter Levi’s Atlas of the Greek World. Readers who believe ancient Greece more familiar than ancient Egypt will peruse this atlas with increasing feelings of delight and astonishment. Generally our knowledge of Greece, after a nod at Homer, centers on the great fifth century—“the classical moment”—and closes with New Testament times. This atlas takes us back beyond the mists of Minoan origins to trace the long history of the diverse peoples and cultures we call “the Greeks” through the periods of Helladic, Cycladic, Archaic, Mycenaean and “Homeric,” unfolding a panorama of astonishing richness and strangeness. Impressive maps, charts, photos, and drawings make vivid the cultures of the different historical periods. Montages of large and small artifacts paired with photos of their original environs offer illuminating comparisons and insights. A handbook, as well as an atlas, special articles treat gods and oracles, sports, coinage, military logistics, the development of sculpture, vase painting, drama (listing locations of all extant theaters), beginnings of medicine, and the pervasiveness of music in philosophy and everyday life. Excavations of hundreds of familiar and unfamiliar sites are chronicled—cities known to St. Paul, like Ephesus, and more ancient Dodona where Zeus whispered through the leaves of his sacred oaks. The atlas conveys the miracle of The Greek World, a world still today “so various, so beautiful, so new” in accomplishment as to awe and inspire the reader. This book is basic for an understanding of the roots and development of our western civilization.
Excavations at Tell Qasile: Part One. The Philistine Sanctuary: Architecture and Cult Objects. Qedem, Monographs of the Institute of Archaeology
Amihai Mazar
(The Hebrew University of Jerusalem: Jerusalem, 1980) 162 pp., 40 plates $20.00
This is an unusual book. It is a final excavation report. True, a second volume is to come, but even the first volume of a final excavation report is a cause for celebration. The sad fact is, as the professionals silently acknowledge, there are many, many more excavations than there are final reports. Most excavations never reach the stage of a final report. What would be contained in a final report is lost forever. From many excavators, there are not even preliminary reports. The situation is little short of disgraceful. So much of the effort that went into the excavation turns out to be wasted because the results are not made known. That is why it is such a pleasure to welcome a final excavation report in these pages.
Moreover, the volume is about a fascinating excavation and is well reported.
Tell Qasile is probably the single most important site anywhere for understanding the Philistines and their culture. Situated on the northern bank of the Yarkon River, not far from the Mediterranean coast, Tell Qasile was founded by the Philistines as a port city around the middle of the 12th century B.C.
The tell contains three successive Philistine strata (strata XII, XI, and X), the last of which was destroyed in a great conflagration at the beginning of the 10th century B.C. This destruction layer probably represents the conquest of the region by King David as described in 2 Samuel 8.
Later in the 10th century, the city was rebuilt probably as a port for the United Kingdom of David and Solomon. (Solomon brought cedars from Lebanon to build the Temple through the “sea of Jaffa”; they could well have arrived at this port).
The successive Philistine strata provide an almost unique opportunity to study the gradual development of Philistine architecture, city planning, culture and daily life. Tell Qasile also exposed for the first and only time a Philistine temple.
This volume is devoted primarily to the temple, in its three successive phases, and to the various cult objects found in the sanctuary.
The religious center of the town included not only the main temple, but also a subsidiary temple and courtyards. All this was surrounded by streets and blocks of residences. The latest strata of the temple was the best preserved. Constructed of mudbrick on a stone foundation, the main hall measured about 18 by 24 feet. Stepped, plastered benches lined the walls. A raised platform stood at the end of the main hall which was mounted by two steps. The main hall was supported by two wooden pillars set on round stone bases on the central axis of the building. The two pillars are just over six feet apart and are reminiscent of the Samson story in which the blinded hero of Dan brought down a Philistine temple by pushing out two central supporting pillars.
The excavator of Tell Qasile also uncovered one of the richest collections of cult vessels ever found in the Holy Land, including pottery vessels for serving food to the deity, for libations, for holding sacred plants and for various other rituals. Each find is discussed in terms of the history of the type, with a comparison of parallels in Israel and neighboring countries. An effort is made to determine whether Aegean and Cypriote traditions were retained by the Philistines when they settled in Canaan.
BAR readers who remember the article entitled “Philistine Temple Discovered Within Tel Aviv City Limits,” BAR 01:02, may well want to peruse this fascinating volume.