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Needles from the Nile
Chris Elliott
其他書名
Obelisks and the Past as Property
出版Liverpool University Press, 2022-04-15
主題History / Ancient / EgyptHistory / Middle East / EgyptSocial Science / ArchaeologyHistory / Modern / General
ISBN18008551099781800855106
URLhttp://books.google.com.hk/books?id=OG9vEAAAQBAJ&hl=&source=gbs_api
EBookSAMPLE
註釋In the hearts of London and New York stand their two oldest public monuments, Cleopatra’s Needles, the last of a series of obelisks from Ancient Egypt to be moved abroad during a period of over two thousand years. This book uses the Needles to examine how objects embody the cultures that create them, and how the use, value, and meaning of these objects change as they are transferred between cultures by gift, sale, barter, or theft. It explores the way in which obelisks functioned as imperial trophies, how their transfer was part of the complex political manoeuvring between European powers, America, the Ottoman Empire, and the semi-autonomous rulers of Egypt, and how their acquisition reflected the relative power of these parties. In contrast, it also examines the crucial role that private individuals and finance played in the acquisition and transport of the obelisks, and how popular understanding of them, and of the culture they came from, often differed from those of social and professional elites. It also relates the Needles to contemporary debates about the ownership of cultural artefacts, the legacy of colonial history, and the nature of reception as the process of understanding and valuing the past and its surviving material and immaterial culture.