A History of Ancient Egypt, Volume 2: From the Great Pyramid to the Fall of the Middle Kingdom
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Description
This definitive, multi-volume history of the world's first known state reveals that much of what we have been taught about Ancient Egypt is the product of narrow-minded visions of the past Drawing on a lifetime of research, John Romer chronicles the history of Ancient Egypt from the building of the Great Pyramid through the rise and fall of the Middle Kingdom: a peak of Pharaonic culture and the period when writing first flourished. He reveals how the grand narratives of nineteenth and twentieth-century Egyptologists have misled us by portraying a culture of cruel monarchs and chronic war. Instead, based in part on discoveries of the past two decades, this extraordinary account shows what we can really learn from the remaining architecture, objects and writing: a history based on physical reality.
Specifications
| Dimensions | 13 x 3 x 19.8 cm |
| Edition | 1st |
| Isbn 10 | 0141399724 |
| Isbn 13 | 978-0141399720 |
| Item Weight | 484 g |
| Language | English |
| Print Length | 672 pages |
| Publication Date | 2 November 2017 |
| Publisher | Penguin |
Reviews
User
Best Modern History of Ancient Egypt
John Romer updates Egyptian history and buries the archaic European imperial interpretation in the process. Has an excellent bibliography and copious illustrations. Read volume 1 as well!
User
When you finish, you'll know less than you did before.
Reading this book, I was soon reminded of an album of decades past, by the Firesign Theater entitled "Everything You Know is Wrong". And that, indeed, is how one feels early on, reading this book. As with his first volume of the history of ancient Egypt, John Romer discards all the supposition and conjecture that has tainted the study of this ancient culture for 200 years. His history is entirely objective, built on the discoveries of archeology, and not created by the imaginings of scholars past who viewed the history of this land through the lens of western civilization--and later western civilization at that. That this leaves us "knowing" less, is true. But it puts what we "know" on a surer foundation. Better to know less, but to be reasonably sure of that bit. (With a culture so far removed from us in time, especially, nothing can ever be certain.) To me, this kind of history is a breath of fresh air. "Land of the Pharaohs" is an entertaining fiction. "The Egyptian" a myth. We "know" none of the stuff upon which these tales are built. This is sad, in a way: as a passionate devotee of all things Egyptian, I wish, I want, I long for the full understanding of this people. So have many. But that understanding is, has been and likely always will be impossible. There is just too much time between us and them. Nevertheless, I eagerly devour every morsel, and this book, despite discarding so much of what has been imagined, is filled with good, solid "meat". A completely satisfying study. I have but one comment which might be perceived as negative, but is not intended to be. Much of this book is filled, not with the history of ancient Egypt, but with the history of the STUDY of ancient Egypt, and how what we "know" has undergone change after change. Dare I use the over-used term "paradigm shift"? If you enjoy a scholarly study, you will enjoy this book. The text indicates that writing it, the author has decided, perforce, that a third volume will now be necessitated due to the numerous discoveries of recent years. I eagerly await that.
User
beschadigt
beschadigt angekommen
User
every bit as good as the first book
An interesting and educational rread, every bit as good as the first book
User
Opt for the hardcover copy
I ordered and received paperback two months back. I got a new copy and all was good as expected. But I liked this volume a lot and felt that I may be missing something with smaller paperback format. So, I located twice more expensive used hardcover copy advertised "like new" library withdrawal that I can have with Amazon "free shipping and free return" policy. I was thinking "well, if I won't like it,I'll return it; not a big riskto try and see". I received it and I'll keep it. Bigger format is not just larger print (this is not a problem for me yet) but it's bigger diagrams and printouts. And this does make big difference! Also, when set of included photographs is the same, the hardcover edition has it in color when paperback in monochrome! This is very big difference in quite a few cases. I'll sure keep the hardcover copy of the second volume even I have duplicate paperback (1st and 3rd volumes I got in hardcover from the first try; the 1st volume has photographic section in monochrome- this why I didn't think much about 2nd volume in paperback until getting the 3rd volume that printed in color).Well, you may think I'm just nitpicking: this book is for reading, not for looking at the schematic printouts and a few photographs of some artifacts, but reading description of nameless "Louvre scribe" you can't understand what author is talking about without seeing it in color, as monochrome completely missing it. Well, you sure can get good images of many museum hold sculptures from other sources, but you need to know what you are missing to look for it. And until I saw it in color, I didn't. As author making point that Old Kingdom culture expressed in "making things" vs. writing, as expressive writing comes later, visual cultural "entry points" are critical for understanding.I got interested in the subject as going back in time to understand where we came from. And I'm getting feeling that Old Egypt roots much more important in forming our today's Western civilization, that it's commonly seen.
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