Receptions of ancient Egypt : a case study collection

Egyptomania is a term that is used a lot in published works about re­ceptions of ancient Egypt. However, its negative undertone, due to the suffix “mania”, was a decisive factor in not including the term in this publication. The presence of Egypt in a lot of aspects of various societies over a long time has far deeper reasons than mania or obsession, which is understood to be irrational. It is not reasonable to look for an explanation of such complex phenomena in simple mania and an appeal to the Egyptian style. Receptions of ancient Egypt are present for more than two millennia, and today they can be found in every populated corner of the earth. The main goal of this case study collection is to define at least some of the mechanisms that have contributed to the spread of receptions of ancient Egypt in so many contexts.