Having studied ancient Egypt her entire life, Professor Joann Fletcher is based in the Department of Archaeology at the University of York. As a founding member of the university’s Mummy Research Group, she is also Lead Ambassador for the Egypt Exploration Society and an advisor to museums around the UK. Her numerous publications include The Search for Nefertiti, Cleopatra the Great, and The Story of Egypt, academic papers, and regular contributions to the BBC's History magazine. She also makes frequent appearances on radio and television. Although it’s incredibly difficult to pick just 5 books that best encapsulate ‘Ancient Egypt’ in its broadest sense, it’s important to start with those which are as informative and accurate as possible when many can be quite the opposite!
The book covers Egypt’s ancient history, from its major events and key sites to the people themselves. By looking at both the pharaohs and their subjects, it reveals how these men and women created this spectacular culture which still influences our modern world. It also features new discoveries, some of which I’ve been involved with over the last thirty years or more, including the true beginnings of mummification, Tutankhamen’s clothing, and the women who ruled as pharaohs (as also highlighted in two of my previous books The Search for Nefertiti and Cleopatra the Great).
Ultimately The Story of Egypt is based on my life-long passion for the subject, and my genuine desire to bring the ancient Egyptians ‘back to life’ as it were.
I’m recommending this 1st book because it really is the perfect introduction to ancient Egypt and its unique landscape. Its accessible format features excellent maps which each have a theme to best explain the way Egypt’s distinct environment directly influenced its culture, its history, and its relationship with the rest of the ancient world.
From its humble origins as a cluster of rival chiefdoms along the banks of the Nile, ancient Egypt rose to become one of the most advanced civilizations of its time. This atlas traces its turbulent history and remarkable cultural development, from the founding of Memphis around 5000 BC, through the territorial expansion and flourishing trade of the 'age of empire', to Greek domination and ultimate collapse. Political rivalries are charted through the successive dynasties, from the strife of the intermediate periods to the golden ages of prosperity and artistic glory under Akhenaten, Tutankhamun and Ramesses II. The latest archaeological evidence…
Even though this book has been around for a while, it really can’t be beaten for the sheer number of easy-to-find, reliable facts complete with a very useful bibliography for each entry (the paperback edition being especially useful when travelling).
This successful and highly-esteemed British Museum reference work is now republished in a new pocket-sized edition. This authoritative illustrated dictionary provides clear explanations and descriptions of the important ideas, events and personalities throughout four thousand years of Egyptian civilization. More than 600 extensively cross-referenced and comprehensively-indexed A-Z entries provide detailed information on all aspects of ancient Egypt and Nubia during the pharaonic and Graeco-Roman periods. Each entry is followed by a bibliography. The dictionary is lavishly illustrated throughout with photographs, line drawings, site plans and maps.
This book covers the great Egyptological discoveries made up to the end of the C.20th. Perfectly combining Nick Reeves’ authoritative text with lavish illustrations, it manages to create a real sense of adventure while showing how Egyptology developed as a subject, explaining why we know what we know about ancient Egypt – and what we don’t!
This is the story of Ancient Egypt as it was revealed to the world - a succession of discoveries and treasures. The book provides a trip through the golden ages of archeaology in Egypt, from the discovery of the Rosetta Stone in 1799 to the Golden Mummies in 1999. The discoveries are presented through archival images and extracts from notebooks, diaries and published accounts of excavators. Some finds are world famous, such as Nefertari's tomb and King Khufu's royal boats, others are less well known and they include the Ferlini treasure with its cache of gold and the jewels of…
Again, another book I can read time and time again. So although there are many general histories of Egypt’s ancient past, Toby Wilkinson explains so much that others can often fail to mention, his detailed yet highly readable text containing some real gems of information.
This is a story studded with extraordinary achievements and historic moments, from the building of the pyramids and the conquest of Nubia, through Akhenaten's religious revolution, the power and beauty of Nefertiti, the glory of Tutankhamun's burial chamber, and the ruthlessness of Ramesses, to Alexander the Great's invasion, and Cleopatra's fatal entanglement with Rome.
As the world's first nation-state, the history of Ancient Egypt is above all the story of the attempt to unite a disparate realm and defend it against hostile forces from within and without. Combining grand narrative sweep with detailed knowledge of hieroglyphs and the iconography of…
Although this is a slim volume, it’s packed with fascinating details about some of the biggest names in Egyptian history from pharaohs male and female to brilliant architects and disgruntled farmers. And since John Ray has that rare gift of combining academic rigor with an entertaining way of writing, he really does bring these ancient people to life.
Spanning more than two millennia, Reflections of Osiris opens a small window into a timeless world, capturing the flavor of life in ancient Egypt through vivid profiles of eleven actual people and the god Osiris. Some of the figures profiled here are famous. Ray discusses Imhotep, whom he calls "Egypt's Leonardo"-the royal architect of the Step Pyramid, high priest of the sun cult, and a man of great medical skill. We meet Hatshepsut, a rare female Pharaoh, who had herself depicted as a male figure in temple scenes, ceremonial beard and all. Horemheb, who rose from local politician to general…
I’m a professional historian and life-long lover of early American history. My fascination with the American Revolution began during the bicentennial in 1976, when my family traveled across the country for celebrations in Williamsburg and Philadelphia. That history, though, seemed disconnected to the place I grew up—Arkansas—so when I went to graduate school in history, I researched in French and Spanish archives to learn about their eighteenth-century interactions with Arkansas’s Native nations, the Osages and Quapaws. Now I teach early American history and Native American history at UNC-Chapel Hill and have written several books on how Native American, European, and African people interacted across North America.
A magisterial history of Indigenous North America that places the power of Native nations at its center, telling their story from the rise of ancient cities more than a thousand years ago to fights for sovereignty that continue today
Long before the colonization of North America, Indigenous Americans built diverse civilizations and adapted to a changing world in ways that reverberated globally. And, as award-winning historian Kathleen DuVal vividly recounts, when Europeans did arrive, no civilization came to a halt because of a few wandering explorers, even when the strangers came well armed.
A millennium ago, North American cities rivaled urban centers around the world in size. Then, following a period of climate change and instability, numerous smaller nations emerged, moving away from rather than toward urbanization. From this urban past, egalitarian government structures, diplomacy, and complex economies spread…
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