Egypt: Faith after the Pharaohs

Fascinating exhibition at the British Museum charting the transformation in Egypt after the last pharaoh from a religion of many gods to the monotheistic religions of Christianity, Judaism and Islam. Covering 12000 years from 30BC and the coming of the Roman Empire to 1171 AD when Saladin took power.

Despite the main focus of the exhibition being big theological ideas the show managed to have a very personal feel and to reflect how these changes affected people’s lives. I’m not sure what the link to religion was but who could resist the tiny child’s striped sock!

There was a lot about how the later religions reused Egyptian temples and how they adapted the imagery. I was fascinated by the section on the family unit of Serapis, Isis and Harpokrates which showed how some of their imagery was reused sometimes as a trilogy image but also as a strong mother and child image.

I loved all the documents which had been found in one city with boggy earth and in the synagogue in Cairo. In both cases there were all types of document from shopping lists to legal documents. I particularly liked a lease renting property between Christians and Jews with the line “and whenever it is wished I will give back the aforementioned rooms free from dirt as I received them”! How many leases today have a very similar clause!

There was an underlying theme to the show about religious coexisting together in an area and I loved the final display of three ancient children’s tops one from Christian, Jewish and Islamic areas and yet they were almost the same.

Closes 7 February 2015.

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