Egyptian Tales and Romances (Routledge Revivals): Pagan, Christian and Muslim
ISBN: 9780203071274
Platform/Publisher: Taylor & Francis / Routledge
Digital rights: Users: Unlimited; Printing: Unlimited; Download: Unlimited



Sir E. A. Wallis Budge (1857-1934) was Keeper of the British Museum's department of oriental antiquities from 1894 until his retirement in 1924. Carrying out many missions to Egypt in search of ancient objects, Budge was hugely successful in collecting papyri, statues and other artefacts for the trustees of the British Museum: numbering into the thousands and of great cultural and historical significance. Budge published well over 100 monographs, which shaped the development of future scholarship and are still of great academic value today, dealing with subjects such as Egyptian religion, history and literature.

First published in 1931, Egyptian Tales and Romances examines the historical and religious romances of the Egyptians from the early dynastic period to the twentieth century. Budge demonstrates Egypt's transition from Paganism to Christianity, and finally to Islam, through tales and stories carefully transcribed and translated. Part I contains historical romances written on papyrus and stone, whilst parts II and III are derived largely from Coptic and Muslim manuscript sources. Including detailed illustrations and photographs, this fascinating classic work will be of interest to academics and students of Egyptian folklore, archaeology and history, as well as the general inquisitive reader.


E.A. Wallis Budge, 1857 - 1934 Budge was the Curator of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities at the British Museum from 1894 to 1924. He was also a Sometime Scholar of Christ's College, a scholar at the University of Cambridge, Tyrwhitt, and a Hebrew Scholar. He collected a large number of Coptic, Greek, Arabic, Syriac, Ethiopian, and Egyptian Papyri manuscripts. He was involved in numerous archaeology digs in Egypt, Mesopotamia and the Sudan.

Budge is known for translating the Egyptian Book of the Dead, which is also known as The Papyrus of Ani. He also analyzed many of the practices of Egyptian religion, language and ritual. His written works consisted of translated texts and hieroglyphs and a complete dictionary of hieroglyphs. Budge's published works covered areas of Egyptian culture ranging from Egyptian religion, Egyptian mythology and magical practices. He was knighted in 1920.

E.A. Wallis Budge died on November 23, 1934 in London, England.

(Bowker Author Biography)

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