Product Description

The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt uniquely covers 700,000 years of ancient Egypt from the stone age to the Roman conquest. The story of the ancient Egyptians, from their prehistoric origins to their conquest by the Persians, Greeks, and Romans makes for fascinating reading, with subjects ranging from the changing nature of life and death in the Nile valley to some of the earliest masterpieces of art, architecture, and literature in the ancient world. An international team of experts in the field address the issues surrounding this distinctive culture, vividly relating the rise and fall of ruling dynasties, exploring colourful personalities, and uncovering surprising facts, such as the revelation that Scotland Yard possesses a print taken from the hand of a mummy. A well-rounded picture of an intriguing civilization emerges.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4294 in Books
• Published on: 2003-10-23
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 552 pages

About the Author
Ian Shaw studied Archaeology and Egyptology at Cambridge University, gaining a PhD on the archaeological remains at Tell el-Amarna. He later undertook research into Egyptian quarrying and mining sites as a British Academy Research Fellow at New Hall, Cambridge. His other publications include Ancient Egyptian Warfare and Weapons (1992), The British Museum Dictionary of Ancient Egypt (1995), The Dictionary of Archaeology (1999), and Ancient Egyptian Materials and Technology (2000)

Customer Reviews

Standard issue for the student of Egypt
This was the second book on Egyptian history I brought as an adult. As an academic resource it is probably the definitive introduction to that subject. It runs chronologically from Predynastic up to the end of the Roman Period, offering a brief but accurate and meaningful glance into the reigns of all the Pharaohs and assorted foreign rulers who shaped Egyptian history.

The academic effort that went into this work must have been immense, and it is rightly one of the most important standard texts for all students, or indeed for those who aspire to become one. Indeed this volume now sits, rather well thumbed as a standard reference on my desk.

At first glance the small typeface and crammed approach makes this a slightly daunting work, but it's division into quite separate works on the major periods of Egyptian history (predynastic,old, FIP, middle, SIP, new, TIP, late, Ptolemaic, roman) means you can easily approach this book "a kingdom at a time", a much better way of tackling it, and also make it an excellent book for soaking up intellectually dead time such as commuting, work etc, which is how I approached it.

Whilst this work lacks some of the readability of Tydesley or Gahlin, it is a veritable gold mine of solidly researched history and for anyone interested in serious/mainstream Egyptian history, there really is no better place to start. It also contains a very useful bibliography for digging further into the nitty gritty of particular areas which fascinate you.

You really do need this book...

One of the best "short" histories of Egypt
Well, for one i'd like to stress how well I think the various authors have squeezed an amazing amount of information on all aspects of Egyptian history, culture and religion into comparatively few pages. This book provides an excellent base from which a reader can go about gathering more information. No one book will be sufficient to provide a reader with a thoroughly detailed account of Egyptian history without running into many many volumes. What the authors here do is condense the information into a size that is manageable without being "basic".

As a student of Egyptology under Ian Shaw I have found this book invaluable and have used it as a standard reference work in most essays and also as a background work in revision and its' list of resources at the back is extremely good at pointing me in the direction of other, more thorough works.

All in all I thoroughly recommend it to the student as well as someone with any interest in the ancient Egyptian civilisation.

Readable very detailed history, lacking religious insight
This book gives a detailed look at the history of ancient Egypt, from earliest times to the end of the pharaohs. Well illustrated with drawings & photographs, supporting the text.

Based entirely on the physical evidence from archealogy this history gives the political, but not the religous detail, that aids understanding of the two kingdoms.

The lack of religous reference, vital to a knowledge of the ancient Egyptians and their view of life, is a serious omission. Previous possession of this knowledge, would help the reader to understand the motivation and driving force of the kingdoms.

It is well written, although as different experts cover differing time periods, readability does vary from chapter to chapter. However this is not a major issue.