Gods, graves and scholars
Gods, Graves and Scholars is a non-fiction book on archeology that the German journalist Kurt Wilhelm Marek published in 1949 under the pseudonym CW Ceram .
Marek sees his book as a song of praise to the sagacity and tirelessness of archaeologists. According to his own statements, his "factual novel" was put together solely from facts to which he had not added the smallest ornament.
The sub-title novel of archeology indicates Marek's main concern to write an entertaining book on the history of archeology. In the last chapter Marek writes why he chose this subtitle:
- “Our book is called 'Archeology Novel'. In order to do justice to this title, we have carefully selected those cultures, the exploration of which really turned archeology into a romantic adventure. "
In the book Marek reports on the greatest successes of archeology in the past 200 years, which he brings to his readers in the form of a factual novel.
Marek tells of Heinrich Schliemann's discovery of the city of Troy , Robert Koldewey's research in ancient Babylon and Flinders Petrie's excavations in Egypt.
content
Marek places a quote from Goethe in the frontispiece :
“There is no such thing as patriotic art and no patriotic science. Both belong, like all great good, to the whole world, and can only be promoted through general free interaction of all living at the same time, in constant consideration of what is left and known to us from the past. "
To this quote from Goethe he adds a quote from the Spanish philosopher José Ortega y Gasset :
“If you want to see your time properly, you should look at it from a distance. How far Very easy, so far that he no longer recognizes Cleopatra's nose. "
What is the talk of
In this introductory chapter, Marek explains to his readers what the content of his book is and advises them not to "start on the first page":
“I recommend starting on page 93 and reading the chapter on Egypt, the“ Book of the Pyramids ”first. Then I have the hope that even the most suspicious reader will take a more benevolent approach to our subject and decide to throw certain biases over the shelf. After such an introduction, however, I ask the reader to turn the page back in his own interest and start with page 18. After that, for a better understanding of even the most exciting events, he needs a planned tour. "
He goes on to explain that this book was written without any scientific ambition and that he is trying to make archeology visible in “its dramatic connection”. That is why he does not shy away from digressions that scientists would have to describe as "unscientific".
The book of statues
The book of statues describes the beginnings of the so-called “spade research” in the ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum , of Winckelmann's founding of archeology as a science and of Schliemann's belief in Homer. Marek also tells how Arthur Evans found the Minotaur's labyrinth .
- Foreplay on classic ground
“Foreplay on Classical Ground” tells how the first shaft was discovered in Herculaneum , and of Pompeii's career .
- Winckelmann or The Birth of a Science
"Winckelmann or The Birth of a Science" describes the difficulties that the first excavators faced and tells of Winckelmann's mistakes that gave us a wrong picture of antiquity .
- Trackers of History
Here Marek asks how we actually know, and gives examples of how the passion for collecting led to fossils as home work. He also shows how scholars have repeatedly allowed themselves to be misled.
- The fairy tale of the poor boy who found treasure
Heinrich Schliemann , who - in contrast to the scholars - took Homer literally, discovered Troy and the so-called "treasure of Priam ".
- The mask of Agamemnon
Schliemann discovers the Lion Gate in Mycenae and vigorously supports his workers.
- Schliemann and science
Here Marek lists Schliemann's mistakes and reflects the fate of the treasure of Troy.
- Mycenae, Tiryns and the Isle of Riddles
After Schliemann's death, the Briton Evans searches for an old script and finds the Minotaur's labyrinth.
The book of the pyramids
The Book of Pyramids tells of Napoleon's campaign into Egypt, the resulting decipherment of the Rosette stone by Champollion and tells the story of how Howard Carter discovered the tomb of Tut-anch-Amun in 1922 .
The "learned civilians" made Napoleon's defeat in Egypt a victory. Denon draws ancient Egypt, and Champollion uses the trilingual stone to solve the riddle of the hieroglyphs. Marek tells the life of Champollion and its decipherment with the help of the king names Ptolemy and Cleopatra.
The book of the towers
The book of towers deals with the history of Mesopotamia , the discovery of Nineveh by Botta, the deciphering of the cuneiform by the Göttingen assistant teacher Georg Friedrich Grotefend and the second deciphering of the cuneiform using the inscription by Behistun .
The book of stairs
The Book of Stairs tells the story of the Central and South American empires and their discovery by the adventurer Hernando Cortez , who was after the treasure of Montezuma . Among other things, Marek also tells how, centuries later, a manuscript by Diego de Landa that was important for the deciphering of the Maya glyphs was found.
Books that cannot be written yet
In an additional chapter, Marek lists a number of cultures that are hardly inferior to the cultures described in this book, but still need to be described. He relies on a list by Arnold J. Toynbee and names the following cultures:
background
Kurt W. Marek was a war correspondent during the Second World War . When this book was published, he had the publisher alienate his name with C instead of K and write it backwards (CW Ceram) in order to avoid the memory of his persistent novel We held Narvik, which was written in the spirit of the Nazi era .
Model for Gods, Graves and Scholars was the story of bacteriology as the American doctor Paul de Kruif in his book Microbe Hunters (English: Microbe Hunters ) told in 1927 and pointed out, even complicated relationships that course can be displayed when the Paths are described that led to their discovery.
effect
The book became a bestseller worldwide. As early as February 23, 1950, the Rowohlt Verlag announced that it had sold around 12,000 copies within five weeks at a price of DM 12.00 (around 32 euros based on today's purchasing power). The book has also been translated into 28 languages and sold around five million times. Through its easy-to-understand communication of methods and recent findings, it has made archeology extremely popular.
With its combination of text and images, the book became a model for the design of later popular science non-fiction books. Even the title, in its rhyming form, was often imitated. The cover was designed by the German binding artist Werner Rebhuhn .
The book is often classified as the “first non-fiction book ” in literary studies . It also served as the basis of the screenplay for the 1954 produced feature film The Valley of the Kings ( Valley of the Kings ) by Robert Pirosh with Robert Taylor , Eleanor Parker and Carlos Thompson in the lead roles.
The book inspired the graphic artist and satirist Hans Traxler to his “fairytale archaeological” parody The Truth about Hansel and Gretel , which was initially not recognized as a parody by numerous media and the public and which, like the teacher Georg Ossegg, allegedly depicts the Hansel witch house and Gretel archaeologically researched.
In memory of the impact of the book, the irregularly awarded Ceram Prize was donated.
expenditure
- CW Ceram: Gods, Graves and Scholars. Archeology novel. Revised new edition, Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 2008 (first edition 1949), ISBN 978-3-498-00935-9 (edited and updated by Michael Siebler , illustrated by Hannelore Marek).
- CW Ceram: Gods, Graves and Scholars. Archeology novel. Unabridged reading with background information and maps in the booklet, spoken by Frank Arnold . 12 CDs. Audiobook , Freiburg im Breisgau 2008, ISBN 978-3-89964-322-0 .
It should be noted that newer editions are significantly reduced compared to older editions.
criticism
- A few years after the Second World War, hundreds of copies of CW Ceram's world bestseller Gods, Graves and Scholars fulfilled the hopes of the Germans for undefeated religious remnants. Michael Naumann
literature
- Eckhard Grunewald (ed.): Gods, graves and scholars. Archeology of the novel of archeology. Book accompanying the exhibition at the Oldenburg State Library. Isensee-Verlag, Oldenburg 2004, ISBN 3-89995-280-4 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ “At the beginning of 1963 I read Gods, Graves and Scholars by CW Ceram, a book that everyone knew at the time. It was the first in a long series of popular science books on spade research […]. ”In: Traxler: The Truth About Hansel and Gretel. Stuttgart 2007, p. 121 (section: “Now the witch is laughing in her fist!”: A few things about the genesis and impact of this book).
- ^ The time 2001