A History of Ancient Egypt

A History of Ancient Egypt provides a chronological survey of Ancient Egypt from the beginning of the Egyptian state around 3000 B.C. until the time when the Roman Empire banned the writing of hieroglyphs in the late fourth century AD. This narrative history outlines major political and cultural events, and considers both social and economic life. Written in an authoritative and accessible style, and incorporating the latest scholarship, A History of Ancient Egypt is an invaluable resource for students of ancient Egyptian history.

List of Illustrations. List of Color Plates. List of Maps. List of Boxed Texts. List of Summaries of Dynastic History. Preface. 1. Introductory Concerns. 1.1 What Is Ancient Egypt?. 1.2 Egypt’s Geography. 1.3 The Makeup of Egyptian Historical Sources. 1.4 The Egyptians and their Past. 1.5 The Chronology of Egyptian History. 1.6 Prehistoric Developments. 2. The Formation of the Egyptian State (ca. 3400–2686). 2.1 Sources. 2.2 Royal Cemeteries and Cities. 2.3 The First Kings. 2.4 Ideological Foundations of the New State. 2.5 The Invention of Writing. 2.6 Foreign Relations. 3. The Great Pyramid Builders (ca. 2686–2345). 3.1 Sources. 3.2 The Evolution of the Mortuary Complex. 3.3 Administrating the Old Kingdom State. 3.4 Ideological Debates?. 3.5 Foreign Relations. 3.6 Later Traditions about the Old Kingdom. 4. The End of the Old Kingdom and the First Intermediate Period (ca. 2345–2055). 4.1 Sources. 4.2 The Rise of the Regions and Political Fragmentation. 4.3 Foreign Relations. 4.4 Competition between Herakleopolis and Thebes. 4.5 Appraising the First Intermediate Period. 5. The Middle Kingdom (ca. 2055–1650). 5.1 Sources and Chronology. 5.2 Kings and Regional Elites. 5.3 Kings as Warriors. 5.4 Egypt in the Wider World. 5.5 The Cult of Osiris. 5.6 Middle Kingdom Literature and Its Impact on Egyptian Culture. 6. The Second Intermediate Period and the Hyksos (ca. 1700–1550). 6.1 Sources and Chronology. 6.2 Avaris: The Multiple Transformations of a Delta City. 6.3 The Hyksos. 6.4 Nubia and the Kingdom of Kush. 6.5 Thebes in the Middle. 6.6 The Hyksos in Later Perspective. 7. The Birth of Empire: The Early 18th Dynasty (ca. 1550–1390). 7.1 Egypt in a New World Order. 7.2 Sources and Chronology. 7.3 Egypt at War. 7.4 Egypt and the Outside World. 7.5 Domestic Issues. 8. The Amarna Revolution and the Late 18th Dynasty (ca. 1390–1295). 8.1 An International Age. 8.2 Amenhotep III: The Sun King. 8.3 From Amenhotep III to Amenhotep IV/Akhenaten. 8.4 Akhenaten. 8.5 Akhenaten’s Memory. 9. The Ramessid Empire (ca. 1295–1203). 9.1 Domestic Policy: Restoration and Renewal. 9.2 International Relations: Reforming the Empire. 9.3 Rameses’s Court. 9.4 A Community of Tomb Builders. 10. The End of Empire (ca. 1213–1070). 10.1 Problems at Court. 10.2 Breakdown of Order. 10.3 The Decline of Royal Power. 10.4 Pressures from Abroad. 10.5 End of the New Kingdom. 11. The Third Intermediate Period (ca. 1069–715). 11.1 Sources and Chronology. 11.2 Twin Cities: Thebes and Tanis (the 21st Dynasty, 1069–945). 11.3 Libyan Rule (22nd to 24th Dynasties, 945–715). 11.4 The End of the Third Intermediate Period. 12. Egypt in the Age of Empires (ca. 715–332). 12.1 Sources and Chronology. 12.2 The Eastern Mediterranean in the First Millennium. 12.3 Egypt, Kush, and Assyria (ca. 715–656). 12.4 Egypt, Greeks, and Babylonians (656–525). 12.5 Recollections of the Past under the Kings of Kush and Sais. 12.6 Egypt and Persia (525–332). 13. Greek and Roman Egypt (332 bc–ad 395). 13.1 Sources and Chronology. 13.2 Alexandria and Philae. 13.3 Kings, Queens, and Emperors. 13.4 Greeks, Romans, and Egyptians. 13.5 Economic Developments: Agriculture, Finance, and Trade. 13.6 The African Hinterland. 13.7 The Christianization of Egypt. Epilogue. Guide to Further Reading. Glossary. King List. Bibliography. Index.

Marc Van De Mieroop is Professor of History at Columbia University. He is the author and editor of numerous publications on the Ancient Near East and ancient Egypt, including A History of the Ancient Near East, ca. 3000 – 323 B.C., 2nd edition (Wiley–Blackwell, 2007), The Eastern Mediterranean in the Age of Ramesses II (Wiley–Blackwell, 2007) and King Hammurabi of Babylon (Wiley–Blackwell, 2005).

“This Historywill probably be most valuable to readers new to the subject or to non–specialists interested in aspects of Egyptian culture and in need of historical context.”  ( Antiquity , 1 January 2013)