As the world recently commemorated the hundredth anniversary of the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun, our fascination with the pharaoh begs for a balanced view. Most recovered mummies have not escaped the modern trafficking in ancient bodies and body parts. The story of Ankh-Hap, a Ptolemaic-era mummy seized in the nineteenth century from the infamous mummy-pits of Egypt, provides a salutary example of what most mummies have endured.
Frank Holt makes use of a robust combination of scientific tools and archival research to tell the story of Ankh-Hap's life, death, and his mummified remains, which ended up in the back of an American college classroom. A Mystery from the Mummy-Pits takes the listener into a forgotten world of mummy trafficking by an American entrepreneur named Henry Augustus Ward. His company's shelves were stocked with mummies, coffins, and even ancient body parts. Customers could piece together their own 'Frankenmummy' with authentic wrappings and amulets.
A Mystery from the Mummy-Pits contextualizes this information by surveying the history of similar mummies from antiquity to the twentieth century, moving from ancient tomb robbers and medieval apothecaries to modern dime museums, traveling shows, pulp fiction, films, and pop culture. The book offers listeners a glimpse inside a dark chapter of mummy history.
Coinage-it is one of the most successful and consistent technologies ever invented. Nothing else we still use in everyday life has a history quite like it. Look around at all the things that would bewilder a Greek, Roman, or Renaissance ancestor; then, dig into your purse or pocket for that one artifact that they would immediately recognize. Historian Frank L. Holt takes us on a journey through the history of numismatics, the study of coins-one of the oldest and most important contributions to the arts and humanities.
For 2600 years, poets, economists, philosophers, historians, and theologians have pondered the mysteries of money. Who invented coins, and why? Does coinage function beyond our control? How has it changed world history and culture? What does numismatics reveal about our past that could never be discovered from any other source? How has numismatics advanced using modern science? Does it still suffer from racist ideas about physiognomy and phrenology? The approach taken in this book is as multifaceted as coined money itself. Coins are integral to our economic, social, political, religious, and cultural history. When Money Talks explores each aspect of coinage, and takes a special interest in how coins have appeared in literature and pop culture, ranging in its analysis from Greek drama and the New Testament to TV sitcoms and meme theory.
