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The Spirit of Ancient Egypt

The book details:.
  • Title: The Spirit of Ancient Egypt .
  • Author: .Ana Ruiz.
  • Publisher: Algora Publishing.
  • Language: English.
  • Format: PDF.
  • Size: 1.52 MB.
  • pages: 281.
  • Date: September 2001.
hough most of the information in this general introduction to Ancient Egyptian civilization is accurate and the effort well intended, Ruiz (a member of the Staffordshire Egyptology Society and Canada's Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities) has failed to do justice to that culture.
She insists on using "Egyptianized" versions of the gods' names rather than their common English forms (Ausar for Osiris, Auset for Isis), which makes the Ancient Egyptian stories she retells confusing. The sparse illustrations are amateurish line drawings, and there are major omissions and factual errors.


In the "Kings and Conquerors" chapter, Ruiz omits such important empire builders and preservers as Tuthmose III, Amenhotep III, and Ramses III. In her discussion of language, she includes reference to such faulty etymology as the English word sir, which in fact derives from the Latin sen(ex) ("old," "old man") via Old French not from Osiris or the Egyptian word for official, ser. She states that "approximately ten percent of the Egyptian population is currently fluent in Coptic," whereas though roughly ten percent of Egypt's population is Coptic Christian, Coptic ceased to be a spoken language by the 15th century.

A superior choice for all libraries in need of a solid overview of Ancient Egyptian civilization is Ancient Egypt (Oxford Univ., 1997), edited by University of Pennsylvania Egyptologist David Silverman. Edward K. Werner, St. Lucie Cty. Lib. Syst., Ft. Pierce, FL
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. 

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