Egyptomania

From Bangles songs to Brendan Fraiser movies, Steve Martin skits to Indiana Jones adventures, the Western world’s obsession with ancient Egypt is far from a recent phenomenon. It’s been happening for thousands of years.

Egyptomania is the word for this fascination, coming from the Greek Egypto, which of course means “Egypt”, and mania, meaning “madness and fury”. Indeed, Egypt has been studied with a kind of manic fervor. Histories have been written by non-Egyptians and Egyptians alike since ancient times, with varying degrees of accuracy and attention to detail, sometimes slipping into fiction and pseudoscience.

And the interest is not just historical. Elements and parodies of Egyptian art and history have slipped into the cultural mainstream in Europe, America, and beyond. This was usually prompted by advances in the study of Egypt, whether it’s the decoding of the Rosetta Stone or the opening of King Tut’s tomb.

Below is a timeline of these moments, and their enduring cultural impact.