Choice Review

In this abridged and updated book, Assmann (emer., Heidelberg Univ.), a renowned Egyptologist, approaches the Egyptian texts using semiotics and what he calls "a cultural-theoretical hypothesis." He presents a synthesis of the topics of death, preparation and burial, presentation for judgment, funerary rites and rituals, royal inscriptions, didactic sayings, pyramid texts, coffin texts, and The Book of the Dead. Because of the cost of paying the priests to read the rites and perform the rituals, the embalmers for preparing the body, and the laborers to dig and decorate the tomb, the texts quoted pertain to royalty, important government officials, and the wealthy, rather than to all of Egyptian society. The translations of the German and Egyptian texts quoted in the book are nicely done; however, some differences of opinion exist regarding the readings of the texts. Readers should note that this book represents Assmann's interpretation. There is no separate bibliography, but the notes contain references to primary and secondary sources. Summing Up: Recommended. Advanced graduate students and scholars. L. A. Sinclair emeritus, Carroll College (WI)