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Tutankhamun's Trumpet: Ancient Egypt in 100 Objects from the Boy-King's Tomb Hardcover – November 1, 2022

by Toby Wilkinson (Author)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 75 ratings
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Marking the one hundredth anniversary of the discovery of Tutankhamun’s magnificent tomb, its incredible treasures are revealed as never before.

In 1922, after fifteen years of searching, archaeologists finally discovered the tomb of King Tutankhamun. There, buried alongside the king’s mummy, they found more than 5,000 unique objects, from the mundane to the extravagant, from the precious to the everyday. Tutankhamun’s spectacular gold mask is justifiably famous, but the rest of the treasures remain largely unknown, their stories untold.

In this rich and beautifully illustrated work of history, renowned Egyptologist Toby Wilkinson allows one hundred artifacts from the boy king’s tomb to speak again―not only for themselves, but as witnesses of the civilization that created them. A gold-decorated chariot reveals the impressive scale of Egyptian technology. Loaves of bread, baskets of fruit, and jars of wine hint at the fertility of the Nile Valley and the abundant feasts enjoyed by its people. Ebony and ivory from Nubia and a jewel of Libyan desert glass show the range of Egypt’s trading and diplomatic networks. Shaving equipment and board games provide a window into the everyday lives of the people. And perhaps most poignant of all the objects in the tomb is one that conjures up a lost world of human experience: Tutankhamun’s silver trumpet.

Through these treasures, Wilkinson bring us face-to-face with the culture of the pharaohs, its extraordinary development, its remarkable flourishing, and its lasting impact. Filled with surprising insights and vivid details, Tutankhamun’s Trumpet offers an indelible portrait of the history, people, and legacy of ancient Egypt.

50 black-and-white illustrations throughout; 16 pages of color illustrations
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Previous page
  1. Print length
    496 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    W. W. Norton & Company
  4. Publication date
    November 1, 2022
  5. Dimensions
    6.4 x 1.3 x 9.4 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0393531708
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0393531701
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"British historian Toby Wilkinson tells everything we need to know about pharaonic Egypt…Wilkinson writes beautifully, melodically."
― David Luhrssen, Shepherd Express

"A fresh history of King Tut and his world, generously illustrated and lucidly written."
― Kirkus Reviews (starred)

"Wilkinson’s expert discussions touch on each item’s significance to Tutankhamun and what they reveal about daily life in ancient Egypt…Accentuated with black-and-white and color photos, this is an informative and immersive survey of the ancient world."
― Publishers Weekly

"Beautifully written, sumptuously illustrated, constantly fascinating and the work of a man who is practised at explaining the past to the present"
― David Aaronovitch, Times (UK)

"The cleverness of the book lies in how individual grave goods are used to crack open the mindset of a civilisation… This book thrums with life. To the ancient Egyptians, a pharaoh’s tomb was a ‘resurrection machine’ and, in a sense, they were right. The dead cannot be resurrected but, through the artefacts they used, we can sense the lives they lived. I’ve read many books on ancient Egypt, but I’ve never felt closer to its people."
― James McConnachie, Sunday Times (UK)

From the Back Cover

Praise for Toby Wilkinson and A World Beneath the Sands

“Wilkinson is a consummate historian.… He has mastered the facts with painstaking research and allowed them to speak for themselves. Rarely do facts speak this clearly.”
― Rosemary Mahoney, New York Times Book Review

“[A] dramatic, detailed and eccentric-packed story.”
― Dominic Green, Wall Street Journal

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ W. W. Norton & Company (November 1, 2022)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 496 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0393531708
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0393531701
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.81 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.4 x 1.3 x 9.4 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 75 ratings

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Toby Wilkinson

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Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
75 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

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Kinga
5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic !!!
Reviewed in the United States on February 13, 2024
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Amazing read !!!!
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Beth H
4.0 out of 5 stars Detailed Egyptian artifacts
Reviewed in the United States on February 3, 2023
This book is a very detailed account and description of the objects found in King Tuts tomb. The book is organized in chapters of 10 items. The descriptions are thorough and give a great insight into Egyptian history and the ways of life.
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Theodora A. House
5.0 out of 5 stars Looks very interesting!
Reviewed in the United States on January 24, 2024
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The book came in perfect shape. I haven't read it yet, but looking forward to doing so.
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Kindle Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent review of many aspects of ancient Egyptian life culture and history of egyptoloogy
Reviewed in the United States on July 17, 2023
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The book takes ten aspects of ancient Egyptian life and culture as exhibited by 100 artefacts from the tomb of Tutankhamun with ten pictured for each section while others are described in the text. Two other highlights are a detailed index and extensive bibliography for further reading on the various aspects covered well integrated with footnotes in the text which can be checked individually or for the entire bok or each chapter. Enjoy and learn🤔
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K. Kobylarz
3.0 out of 5 stars A unique and engaging exploration of ancient Egypt's history, but it's not without flaws.
Reviewed in the United States on February 24, 2024
Since November 2022 marked the 100th anniversary of the discovery of King Tut’s tomb, several Tut-themed books came out that year and in the year that followed. British Egyptologist Toby Wilkinson’s Tutankhamun’s Trumpet: Ancient Egypt in 100 Objects from the Boy King’s Tomb is one of them.
Based on the title, one might expect a volume divided into numerous sections, each focusing on a specific item from the tomb. But while a list of the featured 100 objects appears after the last chapter, the book takes a different approach.
Wilkinson begins with a ten-page introduction giving readers background on the tomb’s discovery. Then he shifts to the history of ancient Egypt from its pre-dynastic beginnings to its influence on modern culture.
Divided into ten chapters, Tutankhamun’s Trumpet uses various objects from the tomb to illustrate aspects of ancient Egyptian life. The first chapter focuses on how geography helped form the ancient Egyptian state. “History” explores how Tutankhamun’s Egypt came to be, from the time of the pyramid builders to the Boy King’s early ancestors who established his dynasty—a span of over 1000 years. “Supremacy” zeros in on Tut’s more immediate ancestors, including the warrior-pharaoh Thutmose III—his great-great-great-grandfather—and the religious revolutionary Akhenaten—his father.
“Bounty” turns to the topics of diplomatic relations and trade, while “Monarchy” examines the royal ideology behind pharaonic rule. “Humanity” looks at daily life from birth to old age. This includes schooling, games, careers, and healthcare. “Piety” and “Mortality” delve into ancient Egyptian beliefs concerning the gods and the afterlife. The final chapter, “Legacy,” examines not only how Tutankhamun faded into obscurity only to become a household name after the discovery, but also the rediscovery of ancient Egypt and modern Egypt’s struggle to reclaim its history from the West.
In an online presentation sponsored by the American Research Center in Egypt, Richard Bruce Parkinson recently suggested Wilkinson is promoting a commercialized view of ancient Egypt by focusing on the golden treasures. But I disagree with this assessment. Many of the artifacts Wilkinson focuses on are more mundane objects including a pair of linen gloves, the food items Tut was buried with, and a lock of hair belonging to Tut’s grandmother. The dust cover features seven gilded items from the tomb, but these are not the sole focus of the text.
Nevertheless, this unique and engaging retelling of ancient Egyptian history is not without flaws. Wilkinson sometimes gives vague references, such as “a noted Egyptologist” (71), leaving readers wondering: Which Egyptologist?
Another linguistic oddity is Wilkinson’s use of the terms hieroglyphs and hieroglyphics. Most Egyptology books use hieroglyphs (for example Barbara Mertz’s Temples, Tombs & Hieroglyphs and James P. Allen’s Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs). Linguistically speaking, hieroglyphs is a noun, while hieroglyphic is an adjective. Wilkinson uses both terms interchangeably, which feels off.
More problematic is his use of ableist language when discussing disability (see page 267). He also writes, “Deformity is not often depicted in ancient Egyptian sculpture and painting,” when in actuality, there are multiple representations of disabled individuals in the art as the work of Egyptologists Dr. Alexandra Morris and Kyle Lewis Jordan has shown. The dwarf person Seneb and the doorman Roma, whose image shows signs of either polio or cerebral palsy, are just two examples. An internet search provides even more images of disability in ancient Egypt.
Also troubling is Wilkinson’s presenting rumors about the discovery of the tomb as fact. Christina Riggs debunked the claim that the first step leading to the tomb was found by an Egyptian water boy in her recent book Treasured (296-298). Another tale suggesting Egyptologist Howard Carter’s canary was eaten by a cobra shortly before the find is generally acknowledged to be fiction.
For those interested in an entertaining overview of ancient Egyptian history, I would recommend Mertz’s Temples, Tombs & Hieroglyphs. But with the above caveats in mind, Wilkinson’s book comes in second. It is more up-to-date than Mertz’s and its Tut-centered approach will appeal to those interested in the Boy King and his tomb.
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Annette Greenbaum
5.0 out of 5 stars Tut, Ancient Egypt and Beyond
Reviewed in the United States on February 17, 2023
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I really liked this book. Professor Wilkinson knows Ancient Egypt and is also a very good writer. He has the ability to teach history but also involves the reader on a personal level. The idea for the book is excellent. On the 100th anniversary of the opening of Tutankhamun's Tomb, Wilkinson selects 100 items from the tomb. He describes how these items were part of Tutankhamun's life, but more importantly how these items relate to the history, culture and civilization of Ancient Egypt as well as their neighbors. If you see these items in a museum they are just objects under glass. Wilkinson relates them to (once) living peoples and gives them reality and meaning.
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M. K. Solomon
5.0 out of 5 stars Nice collection, fascinating!
Reviewed in the United States on August 31, 2023
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A fascinating look at the objects in Tutankhamen's tomb!
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Top reviews from other countries

RVN
5.0 out of 5 stars Superb
Reviewed in Canada on November 18, 2022
Verified Purchase
This is one of the finest books I have ever read or added to my personal library on the subject of Tutankhamun and the history of Egypt. Wilkerson’s elegant prose makes for a fascinating, informative read of just 100 of the 5,500 objects discovered in the tomb of Tutankhamun as a reflection of one one of the greatest civilizations to have ever existed. Superb history in every sense written by one of the greatest experts on the history of Egypt writing today.
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ecbh01
5.0 out of 5 stars An engaging, discursive account of ancient Egyptian civilisation
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 19, 2022
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I had not initially been interested in reading this book, despite the excellent reviews in the national press. The idea of 100 objects being described had seemed derivative and a little dull, but on looking at a copy of the book itself it became clear that the objects are just a jumping-off point for a lively, discursive account of ancient Egyptian civilisation. I had read a fair amount on ancient Egypt, and returned a few months ago from an intensive tour of the sites, and this book helped to provide a unifying overview of the culture and how it evolved from its very beginnings through to its close, as well as its ongoing legacy.

I had read the other reviews before buying the book and looked out for the anglocentric perspective claimed by another reviewer. Potential purchasers can be reassured that this really is not present. The Tutankhamun dig was funded and carried out by British nationals, at a time when Britain had a significant present in Egypt. The author Toby Wilkinson is also British. But Britain does not feature disproportionately: there is barely a reference to anything British in the main part of the book, while the end chapter on ancient Egypt's legacy gives appropriate weight to France and the US, as well as the UK. This claim can be discounted, as can the view of it being a dry account - I found it very engaging.
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Toni E. Hoffman
5.0 out of 5 stars Loved this book
Reviewed in Australia on January 10, 2023
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I’m still reading this book, I love it, I love the presentation although, I think it would have been enhanced by the use of a large coffee style type of book with the picture adjacent to the text, the information is brilliant, as it should be by such an experienced Egyptologist. Thoroughly enjoying the whole experience.
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ken metcalf
5.0 out of 5 stars A must read
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 12, 2023
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Anyone interested in Egyptology will enjoy this - very interesting read
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anglesey lad
5.0 out of 5 stars Bought asa gift
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 15, 2022
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The book was bought as a birthday gift for my brother
He is very interested in Tuankhamun and requested it as a birthday present
From what he tells me he has enjoyed the book and it has come up to his expectations
Hope this is of value to future buyers
One person found this helpful
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