From the first kings of the Nile to the modern republic: the complete story of Egypt in one illustrated volume.
For more than five thousand years, a single river has shaped one of the longest-running stories on Earth. EGYPT follows that story from the farming villages of the Nile Valley, through the pyramid builders and the empire of the pharaohs, to the Greek, Roman, Christian, Islamic and Ottoman worlds, and on to the modern republic.
Along the way you will meet Imhotep and the architects of the Step Pyramid, Khufu and the Great Pyramid, Hatshepsut, Thutmose III at Megiddo, Akhenaten and Nefertiti, Tutankhamun, Ramesses the Great at Kadesh, Cleopatra VII, Saladin, the Mamluk sultans, Muhammad Ali and the builders of the Suez Canal.
This is not only a book about kings and battles. Separate chapters show how Egyptians surveyed and quarried, moved colossal stone, lived in houses and apartments, farmed, cooked, wrote, worshipped and went to war. More than 200 illustrations bring homes, markets, ships, construction sites, chariots and siege engines to life, with maps and portraits throughout.
Every chapter ends with The Historian's Verdict, a clear-eyed look at what the evidence proves, what it suggests and what we still do not know. Three Cultural Interludes explore Egyptian myth, writing and literature, and the long story of the so-called curse of the pharaohs. Appendices include a compendium of rulers, a timeline, battles and campaigns, monuments, a glossary and a reading guide.
If you loved SPQR and HELLAS, EGYPT completes the trilogy of the ancient Mediterranean's great civilizations.
