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  • Published: 22 May 2013
  • ISBN: 9780141399713
  • Imprint: Penguin Press
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 512
  • RRP: $45.00
Categories:

A History of Ancient Egypt

From the First Farmers to the Great Pyramid




The extraordinary history of Ancient Egyptian civilization - from its earliest origins to the creation of its greatest monument

This extraordinary book draws on a lifetime of research and thought to recreate the previously untold story of how a civilization which began with handfuls of semi-itinerant fishermen settled, spread and created a rich, vivid, strange civilization that had its first culmination in the pharaoh Khufu building the Great Pyramid.

The book immerses the reader in the fascinating world of archaeological evidence, the process by which this long vanished world has gradually re-emerged and the rapidly changing interpretations which these breathtaking but entirely enigmatic remains have been subjected to. Whether he is writing about the smallest necklace bead or the most elaborate royal tomb, John Romer conveys to the reader a remarkable sense of how to understand a people so like ourselves and yet in so many ways eerily different.

  • Published: 22 May 2013
  • ISBN: 9780141399713
  • Imprint: Penguin Press
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 512
  • RRP: $45.00
Categories:

About the author

John Romer

John Romer graduated from the Royal College of Art in 1966 and began his work in Middle Eastern archaeology shortly thereafter, serving on American and German expeditions in Egyptian Thebes and acting as Field Director of the Brooklyn Museum Theban Expedition, conducting the first physical survey and conservation studies in the Valley of the Kings, and excavating the tomb of Ramesses XI. Romer has also dedicated a great part of his time to archaeological conservation and, as an aid to raising public awareness of the importance and fragility of the past, has made many TV and radio documentaries, to international critical acclaim. Besides numerous specialist articles and reports, his books have included Valley of the Kings; Ancient Lives; and The Seven Wonders of the World (with Elizabeth Romer). His latest book is The Great Pyramid; Ancient Egypt Revisited.

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Praise for A History of Ancient Egypt

Scholarly, passionate and exquisitely written ... a stunning, clear-sighted history of ancient Egypt

James McConnachie, Sunday Times

It is not easy to enliven prehistory while simultaneously respecting limited archaeological evidence and avoiding novelistic pitfalls. But Romer manages it ... After a long wait, we have an up-to-date, stimulating account of the birth of what may turn out to be the world's oldest civilization

Andrew Robinson, Nature

His physical descriptions are superb ... a book to be read and thought about

John Ray, Financial Times

Romer carries the reader along effortlessly on a lengthy, complex yet immensely satisfying journey

Joyce Tyldesley, BBC History