Today I am reviewing “The Tomb of Queen Nefertari” by Ruth Shilling! This book is an overview of the tomb in regards to the gods and goddesses that appear in the art. Overall, I would recommend the book, however, I wrote about the stuff I didn’t like too much as well!
Some things I love about the book:
The pictures of Nefertari’s tomb are absolutely gorgeous! This is one of the most beautifully decorated tombs in all of Egypt, and the pictures are wonderful. It was worth the price of the book just for the pictures!
When it comes to starting to learn to read hieroglyphs, my philosophy is to to just jump right in with ancient Egyptian texts. You’ll never learn if you just get a book and study vocabulary. This book fits in with that philosophy because it teaches vocabulary (names of deities, popular phrases) in terms of Nefertari’s tomb. This book is great for kids because the explanations are not complex at all, and it’s also great for adults who might just be starting and grammar books/intro books are intimidating.
I like how it focused on the gods/goddesses in the tomb. It gave the book a good focus and allows the reader to see an overview of the Egyptian pantheon.
Some things I didn’t like:
It was very simple and didn’t go into much detail. For example, when showing the names of gods/goddesses in the hieroglyphs, it usually does not include determinatives and only shows the name that appears in the tomb, as opposed to the more common ways to write the name that would allow for recognition in other pieces/places. Also, there is a mistake on one of the pages (shows that 𓇓 = king, but it’s part of the word for King’s Wife 𓇓𓏏𓈞/𓇓𓏏𓏏𓈞).
While it is great for kids and for adults who are just beginning their hieroglyphic reading journey, for someone who is more advanced, this book offers no new information and is almost too surface level sometimes, even for a beginner.
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