Is Egypt's allure ALL ABOUT THE GOLD? A visit to "RAMSES & The Gold of the Pharaohs" Exhibition

What brings the throngs to block-buster Egyptian shows like the recent "RAMSES & The Gold of the Pharaohs" Exhibition?

Egyptologist and book writer Kara Cooney once quipped on social media: “It’s all about the gold.” She made a point about the popularity of Egyptian exhibitions, and I agree. On a certain level, all that shining bullion certainly is a lure for anyone. And yet... it’s also about a bit more than the gold, as I am sure she'd be quick to agree. What really compels us, on a deeper, less conscious level, to draw physically close to Tutankhamun’s golden treasures at an exhibition - or to the Great Pyramid at Giza, for that matter? What compels us to journey to be in their presence? It’s more than the preposterous display of ancient power and riches, although that’s a large part of it. It’s a desire for proximity to this magnificent ancient past. For proximity between us now, and Egypt then. These artefacts overwhelm our senses, and yet they also engage us with a deeply personal issue - the ‘first great mystery’ - death. A thrall comes over our senses when we, in our modern age, stand in the presence of the Egyptians’ magnificent obsession with eternity and their monumental rejection of death. As Carl Jung asserted: "The unconscious psyche believes in life after death." I think that is perhaps why I prefer to concentrate on writing my series of modern, archaeological thrillers that explore this frisson, this brushing together of today against the ancient past, rather than setting my fiction purely in the past. We want to feel ourselves in its presence.