The Use of Ancient Egypt: Pharaonism and Egyptomania

This project is an analysis of the usage of Ancient Egypt by Egypt itself and by other countries. In both cases the nuances of the past are eliminated in favor of flashier symbols and icons. Pharaonism, which was the short lived Egyptian nationalist movement of the 1930's, created to create support for an independent Egyptian state under the push away from colonialism, skips over millennia of local history in favor of the Ancient Egyptians/ Pharaohs. In the long term, it was a emancipatory nationalism pushed by the intelligentsia that was never latched on to by the masses. While fascinating, little scholarly attention has been paid to Pharaonism.

Egyptomania is the mass interest in Ancient Egypt by the international community, primarily Europe and the US. It began with the Napoleonic invasion of Egypt in 1798, and had spikes in the 1920s and 1970s, the latter of which was encouraged by Egypt itself.

Each of these two phenomena involve the removal of ancient symbols from their context in favor of interest and novelty. One is done by the people themselves, the other by non- domestic actors. That being said, the two have been growing closer together in recent decades. It is unique because no other country has had its past used by others to the extent Egypt has, which has begun to reflect internally.

This presentation will cover both Pharaonism and Egyptomania as a tokenization of the Ancient past, one nationalistically, the other colonially/ internationally.