Tutankhamen and Other Essays
Cambridge Library Collection - Egyptology Series

Arthur Weigall (1880?1934) is chiefly remembered as an Egyptologist, although he also wrote novels, screenplays and film reviews. Following a period spent working with Flinders Petrie at Abydos, he succeeded Howard Carter in 1905 as Chief Inspector of Antiquities for Upper Egypt at Luxor. Here he worked diligently to protect Egyptian artefacts from the ravages of thieves, antiques dealers, public works, and amateur excavators. Ill health then forced a return to London, where Weigall became a successful set designer and later moved into journalism. He returned to Egypt to report on Carter's discovery of Tutankhamen's tomb for the Daily Mail. This collection of essays, accessible to non-specialists, appeared in 1923. Written in response to the extraordinary surge of public interest in Egyptology, the book covers various archaeological and historical subjects, taking Tutankhamun's magnificent tomb in the Valley of the Kings as its starting point.

Preface; 1. The valley of the tombs of the kings; 2. The tomb of Tutankhamen; 3. The future of excavation in Egypt; 4. Tutankhamen: the historical problems; 5. The ancient ghouls of Thebes; 6. The malevolence of ancient Egyptian spirits; 7. The problem of Egyptian chronology; 8. The eastern Egyptian desert and its interests; 9. The quarries of Wady Hammamat; 10. The Red Sea highroad; 11. The imperial porphyry quarries; 12. The quarries of Mons Claudianus; 13. The temple of Wady Abad; 14. The flooding of lower Nubia; 15. The Egyptian empire; 16. The gateway of the east; 17. The meaning of civilisation; Index.