Even Briefer
United With Eternity—A Concise Guide to the Monuments of Medinet Habu
William J. Murnane
(The Oriental Institute, University of Chicago and the American University in Cairo Press: Chicago, 1980) 90 pp., $8.00
BAR readers will remember the wall reliefs from Medinet Habu, picturing the war between the Egyptians and the Sea Peoples, that appeared in Trude Dothan’s article, “What We Know About The Philistines,” BAR 08:04. Medinet Habu, a complex of buildings comprising a massive temple and a variety of smaller structures, was built by Ramesses III in West Thebes in the first half of the 12th century B.C. The many wall reliefs, which depict scenes from wars, Egyptian mythology, and the life of Ramesses III, make Medinet Habu an especially important site to scholars and students of ancient Egypt. Over a 45-year period, the Epigraphic Survey of the Oriental Institute of Chicago made drawings of all the reliefs and published them in eight volumes, each two feet tall and weighing ten pounds. This paperback guide makes available to the general public the Survey’s most important and most useful drawings, along with an explanatory text written by Dr. Murnane, a member of the Survey team. Except for its cover, the guide has no color plates; it offers instead plans of the temple and temple compound and some 65 of the Survey’s drawings of the wall reliefs. (Three of the drawings deal with the war against the Sea Peoples.) The text is divided into sections corresponding to the different structures at Medinet Habu and is arranged so as to conduct the reader on a walking tour. Those who have never traveled to Egypt will have no trouble following the author’s presentation; anyone taking a trip to Medinet Habu should plan to have this book in hand at the site.