Moses the Egyptian

Assmann describes the book as a work of mnemohistory, which means it is about how the past was remembered rather than the past as such. It is about the reception of monotheism and its association with Akhenaten and especially Moses. Assmann deals with different types of monotheism and their conflicts with other theologies. Whereas Akhenaten's monotheism remained rooted within the cosmos, Moses' theology relied on transcendence to became central to an anti-Egyptian counter-religion, notable in the Exodus story. Assmann outlines what he calls the Mosaic distinction, where communities use monotheism to proclaim everything outside of their own group as profoundly illegitimate. He covers reception and debates about these subjects in Christian and modern Europe, notably through the increased interest in Egypt during the Renaissance, during Napoleon's invasion of Egypt and in Sigmund Freud's book Moses and Monotheism.^[1]

The book was first published in English in 1997 and in Assmann's native German in 1998.^[2] It received wide acclaimed and became heavily discussed among Egyptologists and religious studies scholars.^[3] In 2003, Assmann published the book The Price of Monotheism where he responded to critics of Moses the Egyptian and expanded on some of its material.^[4]