Egyptology in Antiquity

Egyptology is generally considered to have begun in the nineteenth century, but the ancient Egyptians themselves were interested in their past and related to it in various ways. Greco-Roman contact and eventual control of Egypt inaugurated a new phase of scholarship of ancient Egypt and the first waves of “Egyptomania”: the fascination with ancient Egypt. Obelisks were transported to Rome; Egyptianizing motifs became popular; Egyptian religious cults such as those of Serapis and Isis spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Even with the triumph of Christianity in Egypt and the devastating attacks on the old religion and things associated with it, aspects of Egyptian antiquity were preserved, to be discovered thousands of years later.