Egypten - Det märkvärdigaste land på jordytan: En komparation mellan Michael Enemans och Johan Hedenborgs skildringar om Egyptens monument och befolkning

Sammanfattning: “Egypt - The most remarkable land on earth: A comparison between Michael Eneman and Johan Hedenborg's descriptions of Egypt's monuments and population”. Egypt has throughout the ages always intrigued people, tempting their curiosity to explore and witness the old monuments. This essay aims to analyse two Swedish travelers who went on a journey to Egypt and then compare their descriptions of the monuments and the people of Egypt. The first traveler, Michael Eneman, visited Egypt in the early 18th century. The second one, Johan Hedenborg, traveled over a hundred years later, in the first half of the 19th century. The thesis first analyses the two travelers with a hermeneutic method from two different views, a scientific one and a religious and moral one. The thesis applies a global microhistorical theory to also analyse their descriptions in relations to their own background and to larger processes and changes in the global world, particularly in Europe and the mediterranian region. The results of the thesis show that Michael Eneman relied a lot on ancient writers. Both his scientific view and how he judged the monuments and the people was a product of his own background as a Lutheran priest from Sweden, and also his linguistic studies. A hundred years later a lot had changed. As a result Hedenborg had different views on a lot of things. His views on the monuments and people were formed by his own background as a doctor, and he relied more on modern writers than ancient ones. His views were also a product of the european imperialistic and scientific interests in Egypt, as well as the romanticism and the developing anthropological field of his time.