Hi Pete,

The problem was that the philologists dominant in Germany tended to criticise the texts according to what they assumed was the reality. It was a politically influenced academic movement including what was called 'tendency criticism', and eventually led to Aryan theory etc.

Neugebauer, who was highly influential in the US post WW2 was a philologist from Germany, and his scholarship influenced what many mathematicians thought about the history of Antiquity.

Petrie had in fact proven these people wrong before the war, but when he died in 1942 his work was largely forgotten, partly because of the huge seismic shift post WW2 and the advent of C14 dating, which meant many of the pre-war texts were chronologically problematic. His conclusions regarding the architecture, based on the archaeology, had nevertheless already proved the philologists, with their skepticism regarding Egyptian civilisation, wrong.

That's why it's important for use today to realise Petrie and Murray's work stands the test of time and build on it, whereas Neugebauers, with respect to the architecture of Egypt, does not.

Dave L




Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/30/2007 08:10AM by Dave L.