This volume deals with the chronology of Ancient Egypt from the fourth millennium until the Hellenistic Period. An initial section reviews the foundations of Egyptian chronology, both ancient and modern, from annals and kinglists to C14 analyses of archaeological data. Specialists discuss sources, compile lists of known dates, and analyze biographical information in the section devoted to relative chronology. The editors are responsible for the final section which attempts a synthesis of the entire range of available data to arrive at alternative absolute chronologies. The prospective readership includes specialists in Near Eastern and Aegean studies as well as Egyptologists.
An authoritative account by preeminent Egyptologist Miroslav Verner covering over 70 of Egypt’s and Sudan’s pyramids, their historical and political significance, updated in a magnificent new edition A pyramid, as the posthumous residence of a king and the place of his eternal cult, was just a single, if dominant, part of a larger complex of structures with specific religious, economic, and administrative functions. The first royal pyramid in Egypt was built at the beginning of the Third Dynasty (ca. 2592–2544 BC) by Horus Netjerykhet, later called Djoser, while the last pyramid was the work of Ahmose I, the first king of the Eighteenth Dynasty (ca. 1539–1292 BC). Nearly two decades have passed since distinguished Egyptologist Miroslav Verner’s seminal The Pyramids was first published. In that time, fresh explorations and new sophisticated technologies have contributed to ever more detailed and compelling discussions around Egypt’s enigmatic and most celebrated of ancient monuments. In this newly revised and updated edition, including color photographs for the first time, Verner brings his rich erudition and long years of site experience comes to bear on all the latest discoveries and archaeological and historical aspects of over 70 of Egypt’s and Sudan's pyramids in the broader context of their more than one-thousand-year-long development. Lucidly written, with 300 illustrations, and filled with gripping insights, this comprehensive study illuminates an era that is both millennia away and vividly immediate.
In ancient Egyptian history, some dynasties prospered, and some faded out of existence. They are traditionally divided into thirty-two pharaonic dynasties; they are classified into "kingdoms" and "intermediate periods" from these dynasties.Manetho, the third-century Egyptian priest, gives us the first thirty dynasties, which he published in Aegytiaca, now lost to ravages of time. These likely stems from the Ptolemaic rule in Egypt. The Ptolemaic Dynasty and the 31st dynasty form the remaining two.While widely used and valuable, the system does have its weaknesses. Some dynasties only governed part of Egypt and endured concurrently with other dynasties based in other cities. The Seventh might not have been at all, the Tenth appears to be a succession of the Ninth, and there may have been one or numerous Upper Egyptian Dynasties before the First Dynasty.The privilege of "Pharaoh" is utilized for those leaders of Ancient Egypt who governed after the alliance of Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt by Narmer throughout the Early Dynastic Period, circa 3100 BC. However, the specific title "Pharaoh" was not employed to direct Egypt's kings by their peers until the dominion of Merneptah in the 19th Dynasty, c. 1200 BC. Along with the name Pharaoh for later rulers, an Ancient Egyptian sovereign titulary was used by Egyptian kings, which prevailed relatively consistent during Ancient Egyptian history, originally featuring a Horus name.Egypt was steadily administered, at least in part, by domestic ruler-pharaohs for nearly 2500 years, until it was overcome by the Kingdom of Kush in the late 8th century BC, whose kings embraced the classical pharaonic titular for themselves. Following the Kushite victory, Egypt underwent another independent constitutional rule before being subdued by the Achaemenid Empire, whose governors also assumed the title of "Pharaoh." The last regional Pharaoh of Egypt was Nectanebo II, Pharaoh before the Achaemenids defeated Egypt for a second time.Achaemenid control over Egypt ended abruptly through Alexander the Great's triumphs in 332 BC, after which it was controlled by the Hellenic Pharaohs of the Ptolemaic Dynasty. Their government and Egypt's sovereignty came to an end when Egypt became a Rome province in 30 BC. Augustus and succeeding Roman dictators were styled as Pharaohs when in Egypt until Maximinus Data in 314 AD.The dates provided in this list of pharaohs are estimated. They are based fundamentally on Ancient Egypt's established chronology, often based on the Digital Egypt for Universities database generated by the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, but other dates taken from other professionals may be designated separately.
Who has not seen a picture of the Great Pyramid of Egypt, massive in size but deceptively simple in shape, and not wondered how that shape was determined? Starting in the late eighteenth century, eleven main theories were proposed to explain the shape of the Great Pyramid. Even though some of these theories are well known, there has never been a detailed examination of their origins and dissemination. Twenty years of research using original and difficult-to-obtain source material has allowed Roger Herz-Fischler to piece together the intriguing story of these theories. Archaeological evidence and ancient Egyptian mathematical texts are discussed in order to place the theories in their proper historical context. The theories themselves are examined, not as abstract mathematical discourses, but as writings by individual authors, both well known and obscure, who were influenced by the intellectual and social climate of their time. Among results discussed are the close links of some of the pyramid theories with other theories, such as the theory of evolution, as well as the relationship between the pyramid theories and the struggle against the introduction of the metric system. Of special note is the chapter examining how some theories spread whereas others were rejected. This book has been written to be accessible to a wide audience, yet four appendixes, detailed endnotes and an exhaustive bibliography provide specialists with the references expected in a scholarly work.
1922. The Tomb of Tutankhamun. A candle flame flickers on treasures that have lain in darkness for 3,250 years. Lord Carnarvon: "Can you see anything?" Howard Carter: "Yes . . . wonderful things!" Carter did, indeed, stumble on wonderful things. Here is one of the world's most exciting detective stories, told by a master Egyptologist, filled with the adventures of those who first unraveled the mysteries of ancient Egypt. While no one may ever uncover all the secrets behind the Pyramids and Sphinx, modern archeologists can tell us something about the strange and fascinating people who built them. The Lost Pharaohs takes you on an unforgettable journey along the Nile, revisiting a civilization that has vanished and been recaptured on these pages.
Drawing on Jungian psychology to show why Egypt has been so important in the history of Western civilisation, Michael Rice explains the majesty and enduring appeal of Egyptian civilization. Jung claimed that there exist certain psychological drives dormant in our shared unconscious: these are the archetypes. From the omnipotent god to the idea of the nation state, the formulation of most of these archetypes is owed to ancient Egypt. Michael Rice sets out to recover the sense of wonder that the Egyptians themselves felt as they contemplated the world in which they lived, and the way they expressed that wonder in the religion, art and literature. He traces the story of Egyptian civilization from its emergence in the third millennium BC to its transformation following the Macedonian conquest in 30 BC.
