Our knowledge of the civilization of ancient Egypt is based on a rich legacy of great monuments, a wealth of artefacts, a strong literature and extensive, well-preserved human remains. With such a range and variety of evidence, generations of Egyptologists have tried to tell the story of this great civilization with certainty. However, as evidence is often partial or contradictory, even the experts can only draw imprecise conclusions. Providing a complete history of Egyptology, this text shows how, since Classical times, our understanding of Ancient Egypt has shifted and changed. It examines in detail issues of religion, of beliefs and practices surrounding death, of everyday life and of literature. Rosalie David goes on to explain how Egyptologists have reached this sophisticated level of understanding, by telling the history of their discipline. She traces Egyptology from its classical roots, through the painstaking process of deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphs in the 18th and 19th centuries, to up-to-date bio-medical and archaeological techniques in the late 1990s, never forgetting how time has proved that it is impossible to deliver the absolute about ancient Egypt.