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The Egyptians
An introduction to ancient Egyptian history.
479 pages, hard bound
First published January 1, 1961
6 people are currently reading
226 people want to read
About the author
Alan H. Gardiner
108 books31 followersSir Alan H. Gardiner was one of the premier Egyptologists of the early twentieth century. He is probably best remembered for two of his books, Egypt of the Pharaohs, and Egyptian Grammar which is considered to be among the best works in the field of Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs.
His interest in Egypt started at an early age. He began his education at Charterhouse and was sent to Paris for a year to study under Gaston Maspero, whom he had come to admire after reading a book he had written. Unfortunately, Maspero’s lectures did not live up to Gardiner’s expectations. From Paris, he traveled to England and attended The Queen’s College at Oxford. There he earned a second in Classical Moderations in 1899, and a first in Hebrew and Arabic in 1901. Gardiner was married that year to Hedwig von Rosen, with whom he had two sons and a daughter.
His interest in Egypt started at an early age. He began his education at Charterhouse and was sent to Paris for a year to study under Gaston Maspero, whom he had come to admire after reading a book he had written. Unfortunately, Maspero’s lectures did not live up to Gardiner’s expectations. From Paris, he traveled to England and attended The Queen’s College at Oxford. There he earned a second in Classical Moderations in 1899, and a first in Hebrew and Arabic in 1901. Gardiner was married that year to Hedwig von Rosen, with whom he had two sons and a daughter.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
January 6, 2020
Alan H. Gardiner was one of the premier Egyptologists of the last century so I was intrigued to read this final volume of the Folio Society's ancient civilisation series. This is an extremely thorough analysis of ancient Egypt from pre-dynastic through Alexander's conquest. While Egypt was still a kingdom under the Ptolemies, the book does not consider them to be Egyptians, therefore the history ends long before the Romans appeared.
This is a very DRY telling of history. Gardiner didn't write for the masses which means this is academic in tone with an emphasis on language. Thankfully, I had finished reading other books about the same subject before this one, so I had an inkling of what was happening, but I'll admit this is a tough book to get through. I would finish one chapter and congratulate myself for doing so but then I'd take a break. Gardiner also names his pharaohs differently at times, which drove me a bit crazy.
However, his gist is that the empire was able to control its people by understanding the ancient duty of kingship: uphold order by defeating chaos in all its guises. By installing an ever widening world of gods and focusing yearly ceremonies around the inundation of the Nile, the ancient Egyptians were able to reign much longer than other kingdoms. The detail here is quite extraordinary and if I was more of a linguist, this would be absorbing material.
Book Season = Summer (akhet - the inundation)
This is a very DRY telling of history. Gardiner didn't write for the masses which means this is academic in tone with an emphasis on language. Thankfully, I had finished reading other books about the same subject before this one, so I had an inkling of what was happening, but I'll admit this is a tough book to get through. I would finish one chapter and congratulate myself for doing so but then I'd take a break. Gardiner also names his pharaohs differently at times, which drove me a bit crazy.
However, his gist is that the empire was able to control its people by understanding the ancient duty of kingship: uphold order by defeating chaos in all its guises. By installing an ever widening world of gods and focusing yearly ceremonies around the inundation of the Nile, the ancient Egyptians were able to reign much longer than other kingdoms. The detail here is quite extraordinary and if I was more of a linguist, this would be absorbing material.
Book Season = Summer (akhet - the inundation)
December 8, 2019
A good book if you suffer from Insomnia.
I loved the other books in this set (Babylonians, Persians and Hittites) but this one was like reading the Encyclopedia. Way too much detail and information overload. This is more a textbook than a look at Egyptian history. If I were a Egyptologist it would make for great reference, but for the everyday reader it was mind numbing and slow. Mr. Gardiner is not what I would call a story teller. He says in the introduction he wanted to write a book not complex or covering too wide a field to suit the English speaking persons that came to him for advice. He failed miserably.
I loved the other books in this set (Babylonians, Persians and Hittites) but this one was like reading the Encyclopedia. Way too much detail and information overload. This is more a textbook than a look at Egyptian history. If I were a Egyptologist it would make for great reference, but for the everyday reader it was mind numbing and slow. Mr. Gardiner is not what I would call a story teller. He says in the introduction he wanted to write a book not complex or covering too wide a field to suit the English speaking persons that came to him for advice. He failed miserably.
July 20, 2023
This is like trip, vacation to read this book.
In here we go through Ancient Egyptian periods to build whole picture of it all.
---
The civilization of Kush thrived from about 2000 B.C.E. to 350 C.E. And here we have Aniba Fortress that dates back to the early 12th dynasty and was regarded as one of the oldest military installations known in the whole of Lower Nubia. The fortress is situated on the west bank of the Nile River. At one time in Egyptian History the boundary was set at Semna and Kummna(Semna East), the two fortresses faceing one another at the south west of Cataract. During the New Kingdom of Egypt, Nubia (Kush) was an Egyptian colony, from the 16th century BC governed by an Egyptian Viceroy of Kush. The Kingdom of Kush lasted for over 1400 years. It was first established around 1070 BCE when it gained its independence from Egypt. It quickly became a major power in Northeast Africa. In 727 BCE, Kush took control of Egypt and ruled until the Assyrians arrived.
---
VIIth dynasty consists of seventy kings of Memphis, who regained for seventy days. First Intermediate Period, described as a 'dark period' in ancient Egyptian history, spanned approximately 125 years, c. 2181–2055 BC, after the end of the Old Kingdom. - characterized by an increase in the power of provincial administrators of separate regions and a decrease in that of the central government at Memphis. This shift in power is evident in every aspect of the archaeological and literary evidence. Provincial governors replaced the weak central rulership and began to rule their own districts. The rise of the middle-class and mass production of unique art.
---
Senwosre I, Senwosret I took Asiatic nomadic Stronghold and Senwosret III made an expedition to Syropalestine against the nomadic tribes, defeating his opponents and capturing many cities along the way. This was the first campaign to extend Egyptian influence to the area. The range of warfare conducted by Senusret became the reason for the legendary fame of this ruler, which lasted for many centuries, and revived in the times of Tuthmosis III.
Amenemhat I moved the capital from Thebes to Itjtawy, In the 18th century BC, the Hyksos conquered Lower Egypt and set up Avaris as their capital.Many scholars believed that such was the early designation of what later became city of Tanis. The Hyksos people were a Semitic people in Ancient Egypt who originated in the Levant region of the Mediterranean. The Hyksos ruled over Lower Egypt and the Nile Valley around 1630–1523 BCE, also known as the Second Intermediate Period. The Hyksos are known to have worshiped the Canaanite storm god Baal, who was associated with the Egyptian god Set. Set appears to have been the patron god of Avaris as early as the Fourteenth Dynasty.
---
The Religious Revolution of Ancient Egypt in 1351 B.C.E. until 1337 BC during the reign of Pharaoh Amenhotep IV. He then used Egypt's raw military forces to crush the old polytheistic religion into a monotheistic one.
From many regional Gods to one good sun that is present in everyone.
This move separated Pharaoh and his court from the influence of the priesthood and traditional places of worship.
They dismantled this new capital of Amarna, brick by brick, after only one generation had lived there
---
MERNEPTAH (Egyptian, Mr-n-Pth; "the beloved of Ptah"), king of Egypt (reigned c. 1224–1214 b.c.e.). Most scholars believed that Merneptah was the pharaoh of the *Exodus until the discovery of the "Israel" stela at Thebes in 1896. The Merneptah stele is considered to be the first extra-biblical reference to ancient Israel in ancient history and is widely considered to be authentic and providing historical information. - Israel is laid waste—its seed is no more; Kharru has become a widow because of Egypt. All lands together are pacified. Merneptah states that he defeated the invasion, killing 6,000 soldiers and taking 9,000 prisoners. To be sure of the numbers, among other things, he took the penises of all uncircumcised enemy dead and the hands of all the circumcised. The Ekwesh were part of the combined force of Libyans and Sea Peoples which attacked Egypt in 1208 BC. 1206 BCE – c. 1150 BCE Bronze Age collapse causes the collapse of the New Kingdom of Egypt and subsequent attacks from Libyans, with associated people of Ekwesh, Shekelesh, Lukka, Shardana and Tursha or Teresh possibly Troas. A second attack during the reign of Ramesses III involved Peleset, Tjeker, Shardana and Denyen. The Battle of Perire was fought in 1208 BCE between the New Kingdom of Egypt, led by the pharaoh Merneptah, and a coalition of Libyan tribes, along with a large contingent of Sea Peoples. The Egyptians gained a decisive victory. This was the first of many encounters between Egypt and the Sea Peoples.
---
The Elephantine papyri and ostraca are caches of legal documents and letters written in Imperial Aramaic dating to sometime in the fifth century BC. These papyri document the presence of a community of Judean mercenaries and their families on Elephantine, starting in the seventh century BCE. The Jewish and Syrains plundered Egypt and even builded theyre own colony, at Elephantine.
The Assyrian conquest of Egypt covered a relatively short period of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 673 to 663 BCE. The conquest of Egypt not only placed a land of great cultural prestige under Assyrian rule but also brought the Neo-Assyrian Empire to its greatest extent.
The Assyrian king Esarhaddon (680-669 BCE) made an unsuccessful attempt to conquer Egypt in 674 BCE, only succeeding three years later. The important Egyptian city Memphis (near today's Cairo) was conquered and sacked, and the Kushite king Taharqa (690-664 BCE), who controlled Egypt up to that point, fled southward.
The Battle of Memphis was fought between Egyptian and Assyrian armies in 667 B.C.E. First Assyrian campaign into Egypt early in Ashurbanipal's reign. It ended with the defeat of Taharqa, who fell to regain the throne of the pharaohs and was directed to retreat to Upper Egypt and Nubia.
---
Nebuchadnezzar II
shattered the Egyptian army at Carchemish and Hamath, thereby securing control of all Syria.
The Egyptians met the full might of the Babylonian and Median army led by Nebuchadnezzar II at Carchemish, where the combined Egyptian and Assyrian forces were destroyed. Assyria ceased to exist as an independent power, and Egypt retreated and was no longer a significant force in the Ancient Near East.
---
Achaemenid satrap of ancient Egypt during the 5th century BC, at the time of the 27th Dynasty of Egypt.
The title of the ruler of Egypt under the Persians, later adopted under Alexander when he appointed Cleomenes of Naukratis head of the civil administration. The title was then taken for a brief time by Ptolemy I Soter when he became the ruler of Egypt until he took the title of Pharaoh in 305 BC.
Cafter the Battle of Pelusium (525 BC) and the Achaemenid conquest of Egypt, and his subsequent crowning as Pharaoh of Egypt. ambyses II became the Pharaoh of Egypt after his successful subsumption of Egypt into the Persian Empire. In doing so, Cambyses II was given the Pharaoh name of Mesuti Ra, beginning the 27th dynasty (the first Egyptian Satrapy) which lasted from 525 to 404 BCE.
Egypt and Memphis were taken for Persia by king Cambyses in 525 BC after the Battle of Pelusium. Under the Persians, structures in the city were preserved and strengthened, and Memphis was made the administrative headquarters of the newly conquered satrapy.
The Thirty-first Dynasty of Egypt (notated Dynasty XXXI, alternatively 31st Dynasty or Dynasty 31), also known as the Second Egyptian Satrapy, was effectively a satrapy of the Achaemenid Persian Empire between 343 BC to 332 BC
---
Egyptians where themself considered the only true "man". The only people really entitled to name piromis e.g rome, meaning gentleman.
The west flank of Egypt is most of entirely of desert. But among Mediterranean across has been habitable region, partly pasture land, and partly arable, home of white-skin, red-haired, blue-eyes following the example of Greek, know as Libian. In Egypt taxation was based on how much river Nile was going up, Egyptians disliked desert, naming it red colourish. If you have plenty of water \ _ / it rises and soils more of the land, giving more of grain to make food. Nile was always there, Egypt therefore was the best place to live on Earth. The colour of the desert for egypyians was red.
Apart from sacred writing and gaverment writing of facts we heve poetry, fiction, from which we can learn what is mising in other writing. "Lamentations of Khakheperraseneb", is an ancient Egyptian text from the end of the First Intermediate Period or the beginning of the Middle Kingdom. include such works as the Admonitions of Ipuwer, Prophecy of Neferti, and Dispute between a man and his Ba - The Ba was your personality, whatever made each person unique that was not physical - your humor, your warmth, your charm, yourself. The Ba is pictured in hieroglyphics as a bird with a human head. The Egyptians thought birds were able to fly between worlds, that of the living and the afterlife. Lamentations about foreign bowmen, invasion of Egypt, about upsetting turmoil in divine order, slaves got riches of people, become popular.
According to antiquity, according to Egypt, the character of a person is the soul of a person. Is character not in the heart and mind of man?
Reminder: Aristotle said that the soul is the heart, and Socrates that the soul is the immortal mind.
There is a division between the mind and the brain, in a schizophrenic the mind is healthy, therefore Nash has a beautiful mind/healthy mind/spirit.
In here we go through Ancient Egyptian periods to build whole picture of it all.
---
The civilization of Kush thrived from about 2000 B.C.E. to 350 C.E. And here we have Aniba Fortress that dates back to the early 12th dynasty and was regarded as one of the oldest military installations known in the whole of Lower Nubia. The fortress is situated on the west bank of the Nile River. At one time in Egyptian History the boundary was set at Semna and Kummna(Semna East), the two fortresses faceing one another at the south west of Cataract. During the New Kingdom of Egypt, Nubia (Kush) was an Egyptian colony, from the 16th century BC governed by an Egyptian Viceroy of Kush. The Kingdom of Kush lasted for over 1400 years. It was first established around 1070 BCE when it gained its independence from Egypt. It quickly became a major power in Northeast Africa. In 727 BCE, Kush took control of Egypt and ruled until the Assyrians arrived.
---
VIIth dynasty consists of seventy kings of Memphis, who regained for seventy days. First Intermediate Period, described as a 'dark period' in ancient Egyptian history, spanned approximately 125 years, c. 2181–2055 BC, after the end of the Old Kingdom. - characterized by an increase in the power of provincial administrators of separate regions and a decrease in that of the central government at Memphis. This shift in power is evident in every aspect of the archaeological and literary evidence. Provincial governors replaced the weak central rulership and began to rule their own districts. The rise of the middle-class and mass production of unique art.
---
Senwosre I, Senwosret I took Asiatic nomadic Stronghold and Senwosret III made an expedition to Syropalestine against the nomadic tribes, defeating his opponents and capturing many cities along the way. This was the first campaign to extend Egyptian influence to the area. The range of warfare conducted by Senusret became the reason for the legendary fame of this ruler, which lasted for many centuries, and revived in the times of Tuthmosis III.
Amenemhat I moved the capital from Thebes to Itjtawy, In the 18th century BC, the Hyksos conquered Lower Egypt and set up Avaris as their capital.Many scholars believed that such was the early designation of what later became city of Tanis. The Hyksos people were a Semitic people in Ancient Egypt who originated in the Levant region of the Mediterranean. The Hyksos ruled over Lower Egypt and the Nile Valley around 1630–1523 BCE, also known as the Second Intermediate Period. The Hyksos are known to have worshiped the Canaanite storm god Baal, who was associated with the Egyptian god Set. Set appears to have been the patron god of Avaris as early as the Fourteenth Dynasty.
---
The Religious Revolution of Ancient Egypt in 1351 B.C.E. until 1337 BC during the reign of Pharaoh Amenhotep IV. He then used Egypt's raw military forces to crush the old polytheistic religion into a monotheistic one.
From many regional Gods to one good sun that is present in everyone.
This move separated Pharaoh and his court from the influence of the priesthood and traditional places of worship.
They dismantled this new capital of Amarna, brick by brick, after only one generation had lived there
---
MERNEPTAH (Egyptian, Mr-n-Pth; "the beloved of Ptah"), king of Egypt (reigned c. 1224–1214 b.c.e.). Most scholars believed that Merneptah was the pharaoh of the *Exodus until the discovery of the "Israel" stela at Thebes in 1896. The Merneptah stele is considered to be the first extra-biblical reference to ancient Israel in ancient history and is widely considered to be authentic and providing historical information. - Israel is laid waste—its seed is no more; Kharru has become a widow because of Egypt. All lands together are pacified. Merneptah states that he defeated the invasion, killing 6,000 soldiers and taking 9,000 prisoners. To be sure of the numbers, among other things, he took the penises of all uncircumcised enemy dead and the hands of all the circumcised. The Ekwesh were part of the combined force of Libyans and Sea Peoples which attacked Egypt in 1208 BC. 1206 BCE – c. 1150 BCE Bronze Age collapse causes the collapse of the New Kingdom of Egypt and subsequent attacks from Libyans, with associated people of Ekwesh, Shekelesh, Lukka, Shardana and Tursha or Teresh possibly Troas. A second attack during the reign of Ramesses III involved Peleset, Tjeker, Shardana and Denyen. The Battle of Perire was fought in 1208 BCE between the New Kingdom of Egypt, led by the pharaoh Merneptah, and a coalition of Libyan tribes, along with a large contingent of Sea Peoples. The Egyptians gained a decisive victory. This was the first of many encounters between Egypt and the Sea Peoples.
---
The Elephantine papyri and ostraca are caches of legal documents and letters written in Imperial Aramaic dating to sometime in the fifth century BC. These papyri document the presence of a community of Judean mercenaries and their families on Elephantine, starting in the seventh century BCE. The Jewish and Syrains plundered Egypt and even builded theyre own colony, at Elephantine.
The Assyrian conquest of Egypt covered a relatively short period of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 673 to 663 BCE. The conquest of Egypt not only placed a land of great cultural prestige under Assyrian rule but also brought the Neo-Assyrian Empire to its greatest extent.
The Assyrian king Esarhaddon (680-669 BCE) made an unsuccessful attempt to conquer Egypt in 674 BCE, only succeeding three years later. The important Egyptian city Memphis (near today's Cairo) was conquered and sacked, and the Kushite king Taharqa (690-664 BCE), who controlled Egypt up to that point, fled southward.
The Battle of Memphis was fought between Egyptian and Assyrian armies in 667 B.C.E. First Assyrian campaign into Egypt early in Ashurbanipal's reign. It ended with the defeat of Taharqa, who fell to regain the throne of the pharaohs and was directed to retreat to Upper Egypt and Nubia.
---
Nebuchadnezzar II
shattered the Egyptian army at Carchemish and Hamath, thereby securing control of all Syria.
The Egyptians met the full might of the Babylonian and Median army led by Nebuchadnezzar II at Carchemish, where the combined Egyptian and Assyrian forces were destroyed. Assyria ceased to exist as an independent power, and Egypt retreated and was no longer a significant force in the Ancient Near East.
---
Achaemenid satrap of ancient Egypt during the 5th century BC, at the time of the 27th Dynasty of Egypt.
The title of the ruler of Egypt under the Persians, later adopted under Alexander when he appointed Cleomenes of Naukratis head of the civil administration. The title was then taken for a brief time by Ptolemy I Soter when he became the ruler of Egypt until he took the title of Pharaoh in 305 BC.
Cafter the Battle of Pelusium (525 BC) and the Achaemenid conquest of Egypt, and his subsequent crowning as Pharaoh of Egypt. ambyses II became the Pharaoh of Egypt after his successful subsumption of Egypt into the Persian Empire. In doing so, Cambyses II was given the Pharaoh name of Mesuti Ra, beginning the 27th dynasty (the first Egyptian Satrapy) which lasted from 525 to 404 BCE.
Egypt and Memphis were taken for Persia by king Cambyses in 525 BC after the Battle of Pelusium. Under the Persians, structures in the city were preserved and strengthened, and Memphis was made the administrative headquarters of the newly conquered satrapy.
The Thirty-first Dynasty of Egypt (notated Dynasty XXXI, alternatively 31st Dynasty or Dynasty 31), also known as the Second Egyptian Satrapy, was effectively a satrapy of the Achaemenid Persian Empire between 343 BC to 332 BC
---
Egyptians where themself considered the only true "man". The only people really entitled to name piromis e.g rome, meaning gentleman.
The west flank of Egypt is most of entirely of desert. But among Mediterranean across has been habitable region, partly pasture land, and partly arable, home of white-skin, red-haired, blue-eyes following the example of Greek, know as Libian. In Egypt taxation was based on how much river Nile was going up, Egyptians disliked desert, naming it red colourish. If you have plenty of water \ _ / it rises and soils more of the land, giving more of grain to make food. Nile was always there, Egypt therefore was the best place to live on Earth. The colour of the desert for egypyians was red.
Apart from sacred writing and gaverment writing of facts we heve poetry, fiction, from which we can learn what is mising in other writing. "Lamentations of Khakheperraseneb", is an ancient Egyptian text from the end of the First Intermediate Period or the beginning of the Middle Kingdom. include such works as the Admonitions of Ipuwer, Prophecy of Neferti, and Dispute between a man and his Ba - The Ba was your personality, whatever made each person unique that was not physical - your humor, your warmth, your charm, yourself. The Ba is pictured in hieroglyphics as a bird with a human head. The Egyptians thought birds were able to fly between worlds, that of the living and the afterlife. Lamentations about foreign bowmen, invasion of Egypt, about upsetting turmoil in divine order, slaves got riches of people, become popular.
According to antiquity, according to Egypt, the character of a person is the soul of a person. Is character not in the heart and mind of man?
Reminder: Aristotle said that the soul is the heart, and Socrates that the soul is the immortal mind.
There is a division between the mind and the brain, in a schizophrenic the mind is healthy, therefore Nash has a beautiful mind/healthy mind/spirit.
June 18, 2020
This is a difficult book to rate. The writer was obviously passionate and very knowledgeable about ancient Egypt and this shows throughout. It was incredibly dense and perhaps not a great choice for one who doesn’t have at least a foundational knowledge of Egyptology. I might need to give this a re-read in future if ever I do built up that knowledge base. I was also hoping for more of the culture and everyday life of this civilisation; this is definitely more of a speculation on who’s who in history based on numerous historians and ancient texts available, with far too many characters involved for the number of pages allotted. 2.5 stars.
February 7, 2023
I wanted to like this book very much but I found myself putting it off the more I read. While I do have some knowledge of the Ancient Egyptians, the way this was written was so dry and I found the transitions of in between dynasties and Pharaohs quite off putting as it didn’t feel quite as fluid as it could have been. The other thing that really, really bugged me was the constant different spellings of names and I had to constantly refer and check if this was who the author was referring to. Perhaps it’s the correct spelling, the proper pronunciation.. I don’t know, perhaps that’s my own ignorance, but it would’ve been nice if he just stuck to one type of spelling. The end chapters didn’t include Ptolemy, so that was disappointing. Overall I’m quite disappointed in this book, as I’ve always enjoyed any book on Ancient Egypt, no matter how textbook-ey it is. The only plus was that it is a beautiful book and the pages felt nice to touch.
May 22, 2024
A fragmented look back into ancient Egypt’s past going as far back as around 3000 bce. Thru archaeological excavations and studies, historians are able to patch together a narrative taking us thru all the dynasties up until the conquest of Alexander in 300 bce. It was a very dry read and took work to get thru. I was able to gain an understanding of the geography, names of pharaohs and kings, and the governing laws of the time. I guess the other history books in this set I own read much easier, which I’ll be picking up the history of the Babylonians next. The Folio Society puts out amazing books. Physically this was an excellent book to read from.
March 25, 2020
This book contains a wealth of information, but it doesn’t provide a complete comprehensive picture of Egypt’s ancient society.
The author, Alan Gardiner, acknowledges his limitations of the 500 page composition. However, he was able to introduce the empire’s evolution of writing, language, and religion.
He does manage to briefly touch on certain topics such as the progression of Egyptology, Archeology and Geology. Most conflicting theories are explained, but it can be overwhelming.
Overall, this book is a good introductory read to Egyptology. It can be used as a reference guide of famous historians and monuments (i.e. Manetho, Palermo Stone, Rosetta Stone).
“The Egyptians” contain 3000 years of history, so I won’t consider it as an easy read, but it is still valuable. There were some very interesting chapters, and some boring chapters.
My main criticism for this book is the organization of information.
The author, Alan Gardiner, acknowledges his limitations of the 500 page composition. However, he was able to introduce the empire’s evolution of writing, language, and religion.
He does manage to briefly touch on certain topics such as the progression of Egyptology, Archeology and Geology. Most conflicting theories are explained, but it can be overwhelming.
Overall, this book is a good introductory read to Egyptology. It can be used as a reference guide of famous historians and monuments (i.e. Manetho, Palermo Stone, Rosetta Stone).
“The Egyptians” contain 3000 years of history, so I won’t consider it as an easy read, but it is still valuable. There were some very interesting chapters, and some boring chapters.
My main criticism for this book is the organization of information.
June 25, 2023
I am so happy to be finished with this. It was good but soooooooo hard to get through.
September 8, 2023
The Egyptians by Alan Gardiner? This book is good for a general background on the Egyptians. However, he manages to both be dry, factual, would not lead up in an organized or sufficient detail. The author is trying to explain both why we know what we know, and give a comprehensive history of both Egypt, and egyptology. Without explaining nor correlating sufficiently. It works as a sufficient preference, but not good for explaining to the laymen (IE, me).
I wanted to like this book. Ended up not.
The author could've gone about it in a more organized way.
I wanted to like this book. Ended up not.
The author could've gone about it in a more organized way.
December 3, 2014
There's a little too much enumeration of kings going on in this history, and it crowds out the more interesting stuff. I understand the fascination Mr. Gardiner has with reconciling the various king lists and monuments over the nearly 3000 years of Egyptian history, but I'm not that interested in it as a focus of this work.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews