UVM Libraries Research Guides: Classics: Starting Points: Ancient Egypt

Encyclopedias, Companions, Dictionaries

Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt
Print: REF DT 58 .O94 2001 (3 vols) Scholarly articles make available what we know about the full social, political, religious, cultural and artistic legacy of of ancient Egyptian civilization, from the predynastic era to its eclipse in the seventh century CE. Illuminates the Egyptian world in art, architecture, religion, language, literature, trade, politics, everyday social life and the culture of the court.
Encyclopedia of Ancient History
Encyclopedia of the entire ancient Mediterranean world covering Neolithic through the eighth century CE (i.e., 701-800). Geographic range includes: Greece and Rome, Ancient Near East, Bronze and Iron Age Greece, Jewish history, and Pharaonic Egypt. MAPS: in the "More from this reference work" sidebar, click the link "Maps of the Ancient World."

The Princeton Dictionary of Ancient Egypt by Ian Shaw; Paul Nicholson
Call Number: REF DT 58 .S55 2008
Authoritative illustrated dictionary of ancient Egypt. Written by archaeologists, it defines and explains important themes, sites, objects, individuals, and historical periods throughout four thousand years of Egyptian civilization. 600+ entries provide information on all aspects of ancient Egypt and Nubia during the pharaonic and Graeco-Roman periods. Each entry is followed by a bibliography. Includes photographs, line drawings, site plans, and maps.
Encyclopedia of the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt Opens with a general map of the region and a chronology of periods and dynasties, providing a context. The first section comprises 14 overviews which explore the history and significance of each period. The main body offers 300+ entries, covering topics such as: artefacts - glass, jewellery, sculpture, archaeological practices - dating techniques, representational evidence, textual sources, buildings - cult temples, private tombs, pyramid complexes geographical features - agriculture, climate, irrigation sites - Abydos, Dakhla Oasis, Thebes social organization - kingship, law, taxation Each entry is followed by a selected further reading section.
Call Number: REF DT 58 .E53 2014
Civilizations of the Ancient Near East Over 180 essays are collected in this reference set, examining the cultures of the ancient Near East from the Bronze Age to the Hellenistic era. It describes the physical world of the ancient Near East, evaluates its impact on succeeding cultures, and reconstructs its cultural contexts.
Call Number: REF DS 57 .C55 1995 (4 vols)
Encyclopedia of African History by Kevin Shillington (Editor)
Call Number: REF DT 20 .E53 2005 (vol.1 A-G. pp.397-427)

Encyclopedia of Africa
Print: REF DT 3 .E53 2010 (2 vols)

The Ancient Gods Speak : a guide to Egyptian religion Provides 90+ in-depth articles ranging from Anubis, the dog-headed god of the underworld, to the Opening of the Mouth, the cultic ceremony of reanimation. Entries cover topics such as deities, burial practices, cults, demons, fantastic animals, magic, oracles, sacred writings, festivals, and other facets of Egyptian belief and practice. Includes 35 photographs and illustrations, a detailed index, and a further reading section.
Call Number: REF BL 2428 .A53 2002
The Routledge Dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses by George Hart Containing one of the most comprehensive listings and descriptions of Egyptian deities available.
Call Number: REF BL 2450.G6 H37 2005
A Companion to Ancient Egypt by Alan B. Lloyd (Editor)
Call Number: DT 60 .C 6345 2010 (2 vols) [2nd Floor]
This is a circulating title located on the 2nd floor, not in the reference collection. This 2-volume companion provides accounts of the major aspects of Egyptology by leading scholars. Covers a broad scope of topics including physical context, history, economic and social mechanisms, language, literature, and the visual arts.
Hieroglyphics : the writings of ancient Egypt Six hundred of the figures used in classic Egyptian sacred text are here presented with explanations, tracing the origin and meaning of each sign.
Call Number: REF PJ 1097 .B46 1996
Egyptian Hieroglyphic Dictionary by E. A. Wallis Budge (originally published 1920 by John Murray, London) Contains @28,000 words or terms that occur in hieroglyphics texts dating from the Third Dynasty through the Roman period, roughly from 3,000 B.C. to 600 A.D. Each entry consists of a transliteration of the word, the word in hieroglyphs, and the meaning in English.
Call Number: REF PJ 1425 .B8 1978 (2 vols)

Encyclopedia of Religion
[Print: REF BL 31 .E46 2005 (15 volumes)] One of the most complete and authoritative works on all aspects of religion and traditional belief systems.
Oxford Companion to World Mythology Covering all aspects of mythology, this title includes essays on the world's major mythological traditions, along with retellings of better-known myths, and entries on mythological motifs, types, and figures, and related subjects.
Dictionary of African Mythology
Dictionary of World Mythology

Bibliographies

Online Egyptological Bibliography (OEB)
Hosted by The Griffith Institute, University of Oxford. This searchable database holds the largest available collection of references in Egyptological literature and is updated almost daily. It includes the records and abstracts from Annual Egyptological Bibliography (AEB, 1947-2001), combined with Bibliographie Altägypten (BA, 1822-1946), the Aigyptos database with keywords, and more than 40,000 further items. Coverage is from 1822 to the present.
Topographical Bibliography (Porter & Moss)
Hosted by The Griffith Institute, University of Oxford. Digital searchable edition of the standard source for both published and unpublished information about ancient Egyptian monuments (on inscribed temples, tombs and statues from all locations in Egypt). NOTE: See the link to the pdf version of the book below.
Topographical Bibliography of Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts, Reliefs, and Paintings
This is the 520-page print version of the online database listed above.

Websites - Egypt

Date Converter for Ancient Egypt
This website is a tool for converting calendar dates mentioned in Greek and Demotic papyri from Egypt into Julian and corresponding Gregorian dates, from the reign of Psametik to Diocletian.
Global Egyptian Museum
Images and information on ancient Egyptian antiquities from museums and collections all over the world.Supported by Supported by CIPEG, Committee of the International Council of Museums(ICOM/UNESCO).
British Library - Ancient Egypt
Digital Egypt for Universities
(University College London)
The Griffith Institute on Egyptology
Part of the Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Oxford. Hosts the digitized version of The Topographical Bibliography of Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts, Statues, Reliefs and Paintings (aka Porter & Moss), an essential reference resource for Egyptologists. It comprehensively covers both published and unpublished information about ancient Egyptian monuments.
The Griffith Institute Archive
Houses a diverse and significant collection spanning archaeology, architecture and the history of art and science. 130+ groups of material, from complete excavation records to watercolors, photographs and correspondence. Scope: beginning of the 19th Century to new media..
Duke Papyrus Archive
Part of APIS, provides electronic access to texts about and images of nearly 1400 papyri from ancient Egypt, drawn from the unpublished Duke papyrus collection. Includes links to selected other resources relating to papyrology.
Trismegistos
A portal for textual and epigraphic resources in Egypt from c. 800 BCE to c. 800 CE. Databases include people, places, archives, and current bibliography.
The Amarna Project
Website of the British Amarna (ancient Egyptian city of Tell el-Amarna, short-lived capital built by the ‘heretic’ Pharaoh Akhenaten and abandoned shortly after his death, c. 1332 BCE) expedition.
Egyptology Resources
Meta-site which provides links to museums, societies, publications, etc.for the study of Ancient Egypt.

Digital Images (Egypt) - Freely Available on the Internet

Global Egyptian Museum
Images and information on ancient Egyptian antiquities from museums and collections all over the world.Supported by Supported by CIPEG, Committee of the International Council of Museums(ICOM/UNESCO).
Digital Egypt for Universities
(University College London)
Osirisnet
Images (primarily tombs and mastabas) and information on tombs throughout Egypt, constantly updated.
Meketre Scene Repository
A searchable database of Middle Kingdom images maintained by the Institute of Egyptology at the University of Vienna (interface is in English). Users are invited to upload their own Middle Kingdom images, as well. There is also a substantial bibliographical database available.
Digital Karnak
A source of plans, maps, photos and videos of the great temple of Amun at Karnak. NOTE: This is an archived web page, collected at the request of UCLA. This page was captured on Sep 19, 2016, and information on this web page may be out of date.
Karnak Cachette
A searchable database of photos of the many statues discovered in the Karnak "cachette."
Tombs of Deir el-Medinah: Photographic Coverage
A very extensive, searchable database of photos and plans of New Kingdom tombs at Deir el-Medinah. Interface is in French.
Egypt Centre Swansea
A teaching center with a large collection of Egyptian objects in Swansea, Wales.