The second type of archaeology in between neoclassicism and pre-romanticism
was Egyptian archaeology and to a lesser extent the interest in other antiquities
in Asia (Chapters 7 and 8). 6 In the early modern era the impossibility of
translating Egyptian hieroglyphs had resulted in Egyptian archaeology being
wrapped in a cloud of mysticism. The hieroglyphs, it was thought, had been
devised to conceal the Egyptian doctrines under an allegoric code. TheCorpus
Hermeticum, a collection of texts supposedly written by Hermes Trimegistus, a
contemporary of Moses, had been obtained for the Italian family of the Medicis
in the midWfteenth century. They attracted great attention, and their spell did
not diminish in the seventeenth century when it was revealed that they were of
older date than previously thought (they actually dated to theWrst three
centuriesad). Many scholars still argued that the texts reXected an older
knowledge. Ancient Egypt was considered as the source of wisdom and under
this cloak it was embraced by the Freemasons and popularized by operas such
as, at the end of the period dealt with in this chapter, Amadeus Mozart’s ‘The
Mysteries of Isis’, better known as ‘The Magic Flute’ of 1801 (Curran 2003: 129;
Iversen 1984; Navra ́tilova ́2004: 176).
The comparison between Egyptian monuments and prehistoric buildings
in Europe supplies another proof of the position of Egyptian archaeology
between neoclassicism and pre-romanticism. The English scholar and Free-
mason William Stukeley (1697–1765), for example, listed thirteen connec-
tions between the Egyptians and the Druids, assuming that the ancient
Britons came from the Nile lands (Haycock 2003: 148, see also Cook 2004:
185–6). Rationalism, however, also came to touch Egyptian antiquities, and
the mysticism that surrounded them and their diVerences from prehistoric
European monuments started to become apparent after theWrst oYcial
expeditions to study them in situ. One of the most important was led by
Frederick Lewis Norden, commissioned by the King Christian VI of Denmark
(r. 1730–46). First-hand knowledge of the original Egyptian monuments
also greatly increased with the publications of other travellers (Clayton
1985: 9–13; Haycock 2003).
The other side of the coin: organic nature and cultural diversityThe interest in classical archaeology was in some cases directly inXuential in
stimulating an interest in national antiquities. This was the case of the French
6 To these one could add the practically isolated case of the Dutch Adrian Reland
(1676–1718), an Orientalist whose critical study of the Bible took him to study the antiquities
of Palestine, see Chapter 6.
50 Early Archaeology of Great Civilizations