100 books like The Mind of Egypt

By Jan Assmann, Andrew Jenkins (translator),

Here are 100 books that The Mind of Egypt fans have personally recommended if you like The Mind of Egypt. Shepherd is a community of 11,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

Shepherd is reader supported. When you buy books, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Book cover of The City of Akhenaten and Nefertiti: Amarna and Its People

Tom Hare Author Of ReMembering Osiris: Number, Gender, and the Word in Ancient Egyptian Representational Systems

From my list on if you take ancient Egypt seriously.

Why am I passionate about this?

It took me a while to figure out the backbone running through my intellectual interests, but I’ve always been interested in languages. I had the privilege of studying Japanese in Tokyo, near the peak of the Japanese economic “miracle.” That led to a PhD in Japanese drama (focusing on noh). Once I got tenure, I had the opportunity to add ancient Egypt to my professional profile. I learned hieroglyphs, studied Egyptian religion and art, and while continuing to work on noh drama, I (finally) figured out that what interests me is the way people express, or construct, their identities in literature and art.

Tom's book list on if you take ancient Egypt seriously

Tom Hare Why did Tom love this book?

Barry Kemp’s The City of Akhenaten and Nefertiti: Amarna and its People takes full advantage of the best discernible city plan in all of ancient Egyptian history.

Using it, he presents the ancient city with both its glories and its warts, at just the time that Egyptian culture itself was undergoing a momentous disruption—or was it a transformation?—intellectually, religiously, and in the arts. His archaeological expertise brings striking insights, and abundant illustrations show us the city from multiple perspectives.

Line drawings from Amarnan tombs and temples bring genuine ancient Egyptian voices into the discussion. Kemp’s anthropological grounding, his straightforward but eloquent prose, and his sympathy for the ancients in their everyday lives make this a book you can almost inhabit yourself.

By Barry Kemp,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The City of Akhenaten and Nefertiti as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A companion to Abydos in the New Aspects of Antiquity series, this book - a remarkable evocation of an ancient city - brings together for the first time the history of the site of Tell el-Amarna from its foundation by the pharaoh Akhenaten in c . 1344 bc to its abandonment just 16 or 17 years later, a few years after his death. Nine chapters cover the king's choice of the site and its development, the layout of the city and its buildings, and puts it in the context of the society of the time. Over 260 illustrations, some 50…


Book cover of Principles of Egyptian Art

Tom Hare Author Of ReMembering Osiris: Number, Gender, and the Word in Ancient Egyptian Representational Systems

From my list on if you take ancient Egypt seriously.

Why am I passionate about this?

It took me a while to figure out the backbone running through my intellectual interests, but I’ve always been interested in languages. I had the privilege of studying Japanese in Tokyo, near the peak of the Japanese economic “miracle.” That led to a PhD in Japanese drama (focusing on noh). Once I got tenure, I had the opportunity to add ancient Egypt to my professional profile. I learned hieroglyphs, studied Egyptian religion and art, and while continuing to work on noh drama, I (finally) figured out that what interests me is the way people express, or construct, their identities in literature and art.

Tom's book list on if you take ancient Egypt seriously

Tom Hare Why did Tom love this book?

Heinrich Schäfer’s Principles of Egyptian Art in John Baines’ meticulously patient translation shows us how well we can already read Egyptian art, because of lots of assumptions about seeing that we share with the people of the ancient Nile, and it also shows where we diverge in such readings.

This is a dense and demanding book, though, but one that you needn’t read from beginning to end in a single stream. You can come back to it time and time again, and the hundreds of line drawings and solid section of b/w glossy photos opens your eyes to the exquisite visual system the Egyptians devised for themselves (and us) and used for four thousand years and more. 

By Heinrich Schafer,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Principles of Egyptian Art as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Text: English, German (translation)


Book cover of Ancient Lives: The Story of the Pharaoh's Tombmakers

Tom Hare Author Of ReMembering Osiris: Number, Gender, and the Word in Ancient Egyptian Representational Systems

From my list on if you take ancient Egypt seriously.

Why am I passionate about this?

It took me a while to figure out the backbone running through my intellectual interests, but I’ve always been interested in languages. I had the privilege of studying Japanese in Tokyo, near the peak of the Japanese economic “miracle.” That led to a PhD in Japanese drama (focusing on noh). Once I got tenure, I had the opportunity to add ancient Egypt to my professional profile. I learned hieroglyphs, studied Egyptian religion and art, and while continuing to work on noh drama, I (finally) figured out that what interests me is the way people express, or construct, their identities in literature and art.

Tom's book list on if you take ancient Egypt seriously

Tom Hare Why did Tom love this book?

John Romer’s Ancient Lives, the Story of the Pharaohs’ Tombmakers, like Kemp’s book, is about urban life, but the urbs is not a city per se, but a village.

In this case, though, it’s the village of the workers who excavated, crafted, painted, and consecrated the great royal tombs of the Valley of the Kings, so this “village” is intricately related to a great city on the Nile. Romer had access to a cast of personalities sketched from documents, read off of limestone flakes, potsherds, and administrative and judicial papyri.

He resuscitates networks of gossip and brings us within earshot of personal rivalries and property disputes, uncovers an audacious tomb robbery along the way, and following the trial of its perpetrators. 

By John Romer,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Ancient Lives as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

More than 3000 years ago a village was established at Thebes on the west bank of the Nile. Situated amid a barren and arid landscape, it housed the workers who created the tombs of the Pharaohs and the Valley of the Kings. It was through death and the ritual of burial that the Pharaohs became gods, and their elaborately carved and decorated temples were an essential part of this mystical process. Stonemasons, painters, sculptors, quarrymen, lived with their wives and children in the village, and worked closely together in the sacred valley. As well as building the magnificent tombs of…


Book cover of The Royal Women of Amarna: Images of Beauty from Ancient Egypt

Tom Hare Author Of ReMembering Osiris: Number, Gender, and the Word in Ancient Egyptian Representational Systems

From my list on if you take ancient Egypt seriously.

Why am I passionate about this?

It took me a while to figure out the backbone running through my intellectual interests, but I’ve always been interested in languages. I had the privilege of studying Japanese in Tokyo, near the peak of the Japanese economic “miracle.” That led to a PhD in Japanese drama (focusing on noh). Once I got tenure, I had the opportunity to add ancient Egypt to my professional profile. I learned hieroglyphs, studied Egyptian religion and art, and while continuing to work on noh drama, I (finally) figured out that what interests me is the way people express, or construct, their identities in literature and art.

Tom's book list on if you take ancient Egypt seriously

Tom Hare Why did Tom love this book?

Royal Women of Amarna is the catalog of an exhibition of many years ago, but used copies are still available, and it contains some of the most fascinating images and commentary on the ravishing sculptures of women (and some men) from the world of Akhenaten and Nefertiti.

Introductory material provides context, but the heart of the book is in four chapters written by a longtime curator at the Metropolitan Museum NYC, now emerita. They cover various aspects of portraiture discussing the startling changes in the representation of the human figure in the Amarna period (ca. 1353-1336 BCE), the workshop of the sculptor Thutmose, from which Nefertiti’s iconic bust was recovered, and other aspects of the art and religion of the era.

By Dorothea Arnold,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Royal Women of Amarna as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

During a brief seventeen-year reign (ca. 1353-1336 B.C.) the pharaoh Amenhotep IV/Akhenaten, founder of the world's first known monotheistic religion, devoted his life and the resources of his kingdom to the worship of the Aten (a deity symbolized by the sun disk) and thus profoundly affected history and the history of art. The move to a new capital, Akhetaten/Amarna, brought essential changes in the depictions of royal women. It was in their female imagery, above all, that the artists of Amarna departed from the traditional iconic representations to emphasize the individual, the natural, in a way unprecedented in Egyptian art.…


Book cover of Death and Salvation in Ancient Egypt

Julia Troche Author Of Death, Power, and Apotheosis in Ancient Egypt: The Old and Middle Kingdoms

From my list on the enduring power of the dead in our lives.

Why am I passionate about this?

I love zombie movies. I am also an Egyptologist. The dead affect us in profound ways every day, even without being semi-animated corpses searching for brains. I have always been keenly interested in the relationships we have with our dead, be it Halloween, Día de los Muertos, or an urn on a mantle. The dead are with us and inform our lives. The same was true in ancient Egypt. And to me, this made the ancient Egyptians feel very familiar and accessible. They, too, were anxious about death. They, too, grieved when loved ones were gone and developed practices and beliefs that kept the dead ‘alive’. 

Julia's book list on the enduring power of the dead in our lives

Julia Troche Why did Julia love this book?

Few books have been as influential on my understanding of ancient Egyptian mortuary culture as Jan Assmann’s Tod und Jenseits im alten Ägypten, known in English as Death and Salvation in Ancient Egypt. Assmann brings religious theory and ancient history together to argue that “death is the origin and center of culture.” 

By Jan Assmann, David Lorton (translator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Death and Salvation in Ancient Egypt as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"Human beings," the acclaimed Egyptologist Jan Assmann writes, "are the animals that have to live with the knowledge of their death, and culture is the world they create so they can live with that knowledge." In his new book, Assmann explores images of death and of death rites in ancient Egypt to provide startling new insights into the particular character of the civilization as a whole.Drawing on the unfamiliar genre of the death liturgy, he arrives at a remarkably comprehensive view of the religion of death in ancient Egypt. Assmann describes in detail nine different images of death: death as…


Book cover of The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt

Mesu Andrews Author Of The Pharaoh's Daughter

From my list on Egyptian history intersects with biblical Moses.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a spiritual mutt. Raised with a variegated Christian background (Mom Charismatic, Dad Quaker, Grandparents Wesleyan), I rejected all things biblical and turned to Jack Daniels for Southern Comfort. In college I reconnected with a high school friend who demonstrated God was real by his changed life and showed the Bible’s concrete historical connections in a way I could understand. The words that had so confounded me as a child began to make sense. I dumped Jack Daniels, married that friend, and no longer needed Southern Comfort. Now, through research, study, and a little imagination, I write biblical novels, chug Living Water, and tell Bible stories to eight grandkids. 

Mesu's book list on Egyptian history intersects with biblical Moses

Mesu Andrews Why did Mesu love this book?

I always start my research at a library. I find the shelves on Egyptian history, grab a stack of books, plop down on the floor, and read until I can’t feel my legs. There’s never a shortage of Egyptology resources, but why must the scholars always disagree? Only by reading widely can I find a golden thread of agreement across the many sources. Oftentimes, a particular scholar will emerge as the leading expert on a particular time period and appear in a majority of quoted material and/or bibliographies. The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt was both easy to understand and included interesting details while also following the consensus of the best New Kingdom scholars.

By Ian Shaw,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The essays and illustrations in this history portray the emergence and development of the distinctive civilization of the ancient Egyptians, from their prehistoric origins to their incorporation into the Roman Empire, covering the period from around 7000 BCE to 311. The authors outline the principal sequence of political events, including detailed examinations of the three so-called "intermediate periods" which were previously regarded as "dark ages" and are only now beginning to be better understood. Against the backdrop of the rise and fall of ruling dynasties, this book also examines cultural and social patterns, including stylistic developments in art and literature.…


Book cover of Magic in Ancient Egypt

Melusine Draco Author Of The Atum-Re Revival: Ancient Egyptian Wisdom for the Modern World

From my list on exploring Ancient Egyptian Magic.

Why am I passionate about this?

Having first discovered the mystery of ancient Egypt as a small child via my father’s war-time souvenirs, this interest grew over the years until it became a serious magical under-taking, culminating in Initiation into the magical order of the Temple of Khem. I became Principal tutor of the Order in 1998 and published Liber Ægyptius: The Book of Egyptian Magic in the same year. I continue to teach the Egyptian Mystery Tradition to those willing to submit themselves to the exacting discipline needed to enter the priesthood, and remain a member of the Egypt Exploration Society to keep up-to-date with the current archaeological discoveries in Egypt.

Melusine's book list on exploring Ancient Egyptian Magic

Melusine Draco Why did Melusine love this book?

Dr. Geraldine Pinch lectures Egyptology at Cambridge University and drew on a wealth of scholarly material just as the subject was beginning to be taken seriously and managed to effectively bridge the divide between ancient and modern approaches to magic.  This is the book I highly recommend to those wanting to explore the subject of Egyptian magic without getting bogged down in other disciplines; showing how its elements and influences survived in, or were taken up by later societies, right down to our own century.

By Geraldine Pinch,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Magic in Ancient Egypt as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Reclaims Egyptian mysticism from the lunatic fringe. A serious exploration of how different sorts of `magic' were used in very practical ways by a society known throughout the ancient world as the `mother of magicians'. A final chapter examines its persistent fascination.


Book cover of Cultural Atlas of Ancient Egypt

Ann R. Williams Author Of Lost Cities, Ancient Tombs: 100 Discoveries That Changed the World

From my list on ancient Egypt’s pharaohs.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m an archaeologist by training and a journalist by profession. During my long career as a staff writer at National Geographic magazine, and now as a freelance Nat Geo book editor and author, I have often written about the ancient world and cultural heritage preservation. I was very lucky to be sent to Egypt on a number of occasions to write stories about sites and discoveries, and I have now come to specialize in Egyptology. I recently took an online course that taught me how to read ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. I’m still in glyph kindergarten, but every new sign I learn is allowing me to better understand—and interpret—the culture of the pharaohs.

Ann's book list on ancient Egypt’s pharaohs

Ann R. Williams Why did Ann love this book?

The dates that Egyptologists use for most rulers are guesstimates, and there’s not one fixed dating scheme.

Just for instance, one reference volume gives 1334-1325 B.C. as the dates for King Tut’s reign. Another says 1332-1322 B.C. And yet a third another has 1336-1327 B.C.

How do you know which one to believe?

During the three decades I worked as a staff writer at National Geographic magazine, we relied on the king list that Baines and Malek published in this book.

I still consider it as the last word on dates for my own research. It’s also full of very helpful maps, diagrams, and descriptions of archaeological sites all over Egypt.

By John Baines, Jaromir Malek,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Cultural Atlas of Ancient Egypt as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Filled with fascinating facts and stunning images, this single-volume reference to ancient Egypt introduces readers to this unique, sometimes startling culture.


Book cover of From Atlantis to the Sphinx

Harry Whitewolf Author Of The Road to Purification: Hustlers, Hassles & Hash

From my list on rethinking ancient Egypt.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve been interested in ancient Egypt ever since I read Asterix and Cleopatra when I was a boy. The hilarious moment of Obelix accidentally knocking off the Sphinx’s nose has always stayed with me in particular. By my early twenties, I was reading authors like Graham Hancock, Robert Bauval, and Colin Wilson, who showed me that what we think we know about ancient Egypt is not wholly correct. For instance, there’s little evidence that the Great Pyramid’s purpose was to be a tomb and the Sphinx seems to be much older than Egyptologists believe. In 2010, at thirty-four years old, I finally got to visit the wonders of Egypt myself.

Harry's book list on rethinking ancient Egypt

Harry Whitewolf Why did Harry love this book?

Conventional Egyptologists still insist the mighty Sphinx in Egypt dates to around 4,500 BC. Well, those so-called experts really should start listening to the likes of Colin Wilson. In From Atlantis to the Sphinx, you’ll read how Boston University’s Robert Schoch has proven the Sphinx was damaged by floodwater, meaning it must be much older than it’s generally thought to be. Many believe the Sphinx actually dates from 10,500 BC! Read this book and you’ll probably agree.

By Colin Wilson,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked From Atlantis to the Sphinx as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In this work, Colin Wilson goes beyond the conviction that a pre-Ice-Age civilization existed before being wiped out by some great catas trophe. He suggests that a highly advanced knowledge system, developed by this society was passed on to ancient man by survivors. It is this knowledge system, argues Wilson; that enabled the ancient Egyptians to move heavy blocks of stone; drill a granite coffin with an accuracy that still baffles modern engineers; and hollow out stone vases whose long necks will not admit a child's finger. Wilson attempts to reconstruct the knowledge system, and try to understand how these…


Book cover of The Cat in Ancient Egypt

David Grimm Author Of Citizen Canine: Our Evolving Relationship with Cats and Dogs

From my list on for serious thinkers about cats and dogs.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am, first and foremost, a lover of cats and dogs. I have been fascinated by these animals ever since I was a child. Where did they come from? Why are we so strongly bonded to them? What is the future of our relationship? These are questions I have asked myself for decades, and which I finally answer in Citizen Canine: Our Evolving Relationship with Cats and Dogs. I bring to this book not only my lifelong love of these animals, but a deep-thinker’s exploration of history, law, and science. 

David's book list on for serious thinkers about cats and dogs

David Grimm Why did David love this book?

This is a great coffee table book. Tons of lovely pictures and illustrations. A must for any cat lover who wants to get a better sense of the role—and place—of cats in Ancient Egypt. I still look at it from time to time because I enjoy the pictures so much. 

By Jaromir Malek,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Cat in Ancient Egypt as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A definitive and richly illustrated account of cats in Egyptian life, religion, and art
True aristocrat of domestic animals, the cat has a distinguished ancestry. Most modern cats are thought to be descended from the cats of ancient Egypt, so these beautiful and engaging creatures represent a living link between ancient Egyptian civilization and our own times.
Wild cats were probably domesticated at least as early as 2000 BC, but they were regularly represented in Egyptian tomb paintings only some 500 years later, in the New Kingdom. The cat became one of the most important and highly esteemed animals in…


5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in Egypt, ancient Egypt, and the pharaohs?

11,000+ authors have recommended their favorite books and what they love about them. Browse their picks for the best books about Egypt, ancient Egypt, and the pharaohs.

Egypt 213 books
Ancient Egypt 121 books
The Pharaohs 25 books