In this survey, Rosalie David shows how the attitudes, opinions and working practices of Egyptologists have shaped the structure of their subject. The Experience of Ancient Egypt provides a portrait of what we know about ancient Egypt today, examining issues of religion, beliefs and practices surrounding death, everyday life, and literature. David then looks at the history of Egyptology itself--tracing the discipline from its classical roots, through the deciphering of hieroglyphs in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, to the most up-to-date biomedical and archaeological techniques. --From publisher's description.