Ambitious in scope, Antiquity imagined provides readers with a broad survey of some of the ways in which ancient Egypt has been configured outside the realms of scholarly investigation. The work covers the treatment of Egyptian culture in a wide range of contexts, dealing with many different historical periods and traditions of interpretation. Designed for a wide audience, this book seeks to sketch out some of the prevailing frameworks for making sense of the vast legacy of ‘mysterious’ Egypt, such as the obsession with pyramids and mummies, the generation of mystical and religious theories about this ancient culture, and, more recently, the political and cultural debates concerning Egypt's significance for conceptions of race and its place in the context of the Middle East.

The value of Antiquity imagined lies in the way it brings together such a vast array of imaginative ‘re-workings’ of ancient Egypt in a single volume. With this account, readers are able to get a sense of how varied, complex and intense the engagement with ancient Egypt has been over the centuries. Another positive attribute of the work is the balanced way in which the author treats his succession of case studies, suggesting that there is no agenda here in promoting one framework of understanding over another. In addition to providing a colourful narrative of the reception of Egypt, which runs parallel to the more conventional and traditional reconstructions of the history of Egyptology, Derricourt demonstrates that theories not supported in academic scholarship are still worthy of discussion. Noting how alternative understandings of ancient Egypt “exist to inspire, or to distract, to entertain or fascinate” (p. 71), the author structures his historical survey with key chapters on the imaginative ways in which the pyramids have been explained, on the way mummies have featured in literature and film, and on the ‘use’ of Egypt in theories of race.

Overall, the chapters show how a highly complex mix of scholarly and imaginative interpretation has influenced our perception of Egypt. Many would be quick to dismiss the importance of these more ‘marginal’ and sometimes controversial responses to ancient Egypt, but it is important to acknowledge that this type of engagement is a key part of both archaeological and Egyptological history. More specifically, a number of interesting ideas about the relationship between arguments founded within Egyptological scholarship and those generated in the wider public realm are presented in the book. For instance, Derricourt argues that interpretations that are at odds with scholarly enquiry are still thriving and that “the greater the academic research on Egypt, the greater the enthusiasm for alternative ideas” (p. 69). This point would have benefited from a fuller discussion in the book, as it is important to understand why scholarly work has done little to diminish alternative readings of ancient Egypt. Indeed, Derricourt's suggestion that scholarship has had the opposite effect raises questions about whether this is a characteristic unique to the study of ancient Egypt. If so, why is ancient Egypt particularly susceptible to this type of engagement? Could it be that audiences feel more entitled or indeed, comfortable, with interpreting this culture in these kinds of imaginative ways than they do others? The types of appropriation that Derricourt describes appear to reflect an ‘open-border’ policy on interpreting ancient Egypt; something that does not appear to exist to the same extent as it does for ancient Greece and Rome. Antiquity imagined encourages us to contemplate this fascinating question.