The Oxford Illustrated History of Ancient Egypt

by Ian Shaw

Overview

The Oxford Illustrated History of Ancient Egypt is the only book available providing detailed historical coverage of Egypt from the early Stone Age to its incorporation into the Roman Empire. The lively essays and beautiful illustrations portray the emergence and development of the distinctive civilization of the ancient Egyptians covering the period from 700,000 BC to AD 311.

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. The pace of change in such aspects of Egyptian culture as monumental architecture, funerary beliefs, and ethnicity was not necessarily tied to the rate of political change. Each of the authors—working at the cutting edge of their particular fields—has therefore set out to elucidate, in both words and pictures, the underlying patterns of social and political change, and to describe the changing face of ancient Egypt, from the biographical details of individuals to the social and economic factors that shaped the lives of the population as a whole.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780192802934
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	06/13/2002
Series:	Oxford Illustrated History
Edition description:	Revised ed.
Pages:	552
Sales rank:	476,557
Product dimensions:	9.58(w) x 6.98(h) x 0.99(d)

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)

Table of Contents

List of Plates; List of Maps; Acknowledgements
Introduction
Prehistory: Palaeolithic and Neolithic
Predynastic Period
Late Predynastic and Early Dynastic
The Rise of Eqyptian Civilization
The Old Kingdom
The First Intermediate Period
The Middle Kingdom
The Second Intermediate Period
The New Kingdom: Pre-Amarna
The New Kingdom: Amarna and Post-Amarna
Egypt and the Outside World
The Third Intermediate Period
The Late Period
The Ptolemaic Period
The Roman Period
Further Reading; Chronological Tables; Acknowledgement of Sources; Index

Editorial Reviews

Review from previous edition "The approach combines traditional chronological history with cultural and social historical material to produce a well rounded picture...chapters covering prehistory and the intermediate periods are particularly good, with Seidlmayer on the First Intermediate Period and Bourriau on the Second Intermediate Period outstanding. Bryan's chapter on the 18th Dynasty before the Amarna Period is also particularly good."—Antiquity

"If you only want to read one book on Egypt, then read this one...even people who consider themselves as experts on Ancient Egypt will find much to set them thinking: And while such Egyptologists will have a field day, the casual reader will find plenty to arouse their interest, ranging from the story of the world's first strike ... to the revelation that Scotland Yard possesses a print taken from the hand of a mummy."—The Northern Echo

"brimming with...intriguing facts ...also provides a first-rate overview of - le progress Egyptien - from the period when Homo erectus first stalked the land right up to Octavian's triumphant entry into Egypt in 30 BC."—Douglas Kennedy, The Times

From the Publisher

No one does authoritative history better than Oxford University Press. Ian Shaw, an expert in Egyptian archaeology at the University of Liverpool, brings us a detailed look at the period from 700,000 B.C. to A.D. 311. Scholarly yet eminently readable, this is a volume destined for the bookshelf of any serious history buff.

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