A History of Ancient Egypt, 2nd Edition

Blackwell History of the Ancient World

by Marc Van de Mieroop

Explore the entire history of the ancient Egyptian state from 3000 B.C. to 400 A.D. with this authoritative volume The newly revised Second Edition of A History of Ancient Egypt delivers an up-to-date survey of ancient Egypt's history from its origins to the Roman Empire's banning of hieroglyphics in the fourth century A.D. The book covers developments in all aspects of Egypt's history and their historical sources, considering the social and economic life and the rich culture of ancient Egypt. Freshly updated to take into account recent discoveries, the book makes the latest scholarship accessible to a wide audience, including introductory undergraduate students. A History of Ancient Egypt outlines major political and cultural events and places Egypt's history within its regional context and detailing interactions with western Asia and Africa. Each period of history receives equal attention and a discussion of the problems scholars face in its study. The book offers a foundation for all students interested in Egyptian culture by providing coverage of topics Perfect for students of introductory courses in ancient Egyptian history and as background material for students of courses in Egyptian art, archaeology, and culture, A History of Ancient Egypt will also earn a place in the libraries of students taking surveys of the ancient world and those seeking a companion volume to A History of the Ancient Near East .

Genres: History, Egypt, Nonfiction, Ancient History, Egyptology, Ancient, Archaeology

416 pages, Paperback

First published August 16, 2010

About the author

is a professor of Ancient Near Eastern history at Columbia University.

Reviews

[Sense of History]

I think I can say this with great certainty: this is absolutely the standard as a comprehensive textbook on Ancient Egyptian history. Van de Mieroop (Columbia University, US) offers the classic chronological story, but supplemented with frameworks that explore certain themes, provide source texts, and above all provide explanations for the many historical-scientific debates. His great merit is that he constantly emphasizes how little we know with certainty, with which he corrects the legion of archaeologists and historians who proclaim all kinds of speculative theories as the absolute truth. He also regularly zooms in on the growth of our knowledge, and the many changing views. And finally: maps, chronologies, illustrations, bibliography and index, it's all there. Without a doubt well done, and a perfect companion to his A History of the Ancient Near East, ca. 3000-323 BC, that covers Mesopotamia and beyond.

[Ralph Mazza · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really liked this book, but it wasn't as good as Ancient History of the Near East. The Near East book had a better voice. While Mieroop stuck to presenting the facts of what is actually known it was more conversational and there was more effort to fill in the blanks.

With Egypt, the combination of having more facts to work with and also bigger holes made for a much less entertaining read. The greater number of facts due to the vast amount of information known about Egypt meant parts read like a pretty dry bibliography of stuff that is known. But other parts of Egypt are fairly unknown. In the Near East book because there was such a wide cultural area being covered those blank spots could be filled in with stuff known about somewhere else. But in Egypt it meant a blank spot. And since Mieroop is dedicated to presenting our best current understanding alot of the traditional interpretation are given only abbreviated coverage.

Definitely a good book, definitely will present you with the latest scoop on Ancient Egypt or bring your knowledge up to date if you were a previous Egypt junky. Just less enjoyable to read...parts became a bit of a slog that was a chore to finish.

[Wendelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is probably the best starting point-- best introductory textbook on Ancient Egypt, fulfilling the core functions of a chronological history and specific kingly achievements along with discussions of the distinctive social and cultural trends of each period. This is a bit in contrast with Wilkinson's 'Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt which although great, was about 700 pages of paragraphs of text and with Brewer's 'Egypt and the Egyptians' which focused on social and cultural history without major references to the king list.

[Marc Lamot · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really great, comprehensive overview. See the review in my History account on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....

[Nick · Rating 3 out of 5]

As with any more or less 'classic' historical overview, it is rather hard to review. Historical overview have less of narrative to discuss as so much time and effort is devoted to getting the facts across. What we can discuss is which facts are presented and in what way.

Van De Mieroop's history of Ancient Egypt is 80% political history, how did Egypt became a state, old kingdom, middle kingdom, new kingdom, the tree intermediary periods, Persian/Ptolemaic Egypt and a little bit of Roman Egypt. Almost all Pharaohs get time as well as the building projects, diplomacy, military attempts/achievements, the specifics of rule (centralization and administration), the role of and ideological importance of religion, burial ceremony and the use of writing. Other subjects discussed are; Egypt in the wider regional context, ethnicity/identity and to a lesser extent cities, art and economy (with noted inclusion of the letters of tomb builder town in new kingdom Deir El-Medina). That could be judged to be a one sided and very traditional approach to the history of Pharaohnic Egypt and they are correct, however to be honest it was a are of expertise I lacked. I knew several of the great and less great names of ancient Egypt but even though I knew more time is between Cleopatra and the great Pyramids then between Cleopatra and us, it still wasn't something I fully comprehended. Therefore an accessible overview of dynasties and what they accomplished as well as the defining characteristics of what made the different eras of ancient Egypt different was a welcome read. I will from now remember such names as the scorpion king (0) Namer (1th) Djoser (3th), Sneferu and Khufu (4th), Pepy II (6th) Mentuhotep II(11th) Hatshepsut, Thutmoses III, Akhenaten(18th), Ramses II (19th), Shabaqo (25th) and Psamtek I (26th) as they do represent the important moments in Ancient Egypt's history.

Having said all that, I do have to point out that Van De Mieroop does give his own twists to the story such as arguing the third intermediary period ended with the so called black pharaohs of Nubian origin who ruled both Nubia and Egypt, a rule that in the past has mostly been linked to the bad intermediary periods. He also does not accept the easy explanation of the Hyksos for the second and Sea peoples for the third intermediary periods to be the sole or even most important factor. Neither does he go full on the Ramses the Second was the greatest warrior Pharaoh litany suggesting he was the best promoter of his own exploits since his recent predecessor Thutmoses III had arguable achieved more through military might then he had. He readily admits that some discussions are not closed, such as the entire division of dynasties as he uses them in this book or the naming of Pharaohs. Another aspect I had never given thought is how wrong my assumptions were on the evolution of burial; I had always understood this to be a linear procession first towards monuments, then Pyramids and afterwards carved tombs in rock. I was surprised to learn that earlier conceived Mastabas switched back and forth with pyramids in preference and survived pyramid period up until the new kingdom and the attempts to hide tombs of Pharaohs. This and the role of religion analysed as ideological choices made by individual Pharaohs. It makes so much sense but if one has never set down and read about it, it is easy to make false or oversimplified assumptions.

All in all I did enjoy reading this book and believe it is a solid book to further built upon your knowledge of ancient Egypt. What I did miss was a more detailed account on military changes. We get some comment on the introduction of the chariot, use of mercenaries as well as development of bronze weapons. As it is now however, I can't picture an old kingdom Egyptian army or how it differed from a middle or new kingdom army or how the Nubian and late Egypt army was composed. Since the military conquest are a big part of the book, it would have been nice to get an idea of how these conquests where achieved.

On the other side of the spectrum I do find the account of the building projects to interesting, a lot of comment on the recycling of building materials, tombs and temples, the abandonment of cities and mortuary practices and how this affects the periods but also our understanding of the periods. Van Den Mieroop as said spends quite a bit of time on the subject of ethnicity as well as the big how black were the ancient Egyptians question, his focus is more directed towards the place of Nubian, Libyans, Asians (middle east) and Greeks in the country and how they and their culture (both material and non material) interacted with and influenced Egyptian culture and society. I did find interesting to note that the so often neglected Nubian civilization were the ones who kept the ancient traditions going as long as they did (in their own fashion) as it was mostly Nubians of Meroe kingdom who still actively used the last built temple complex of Philae as it was intended to be used up until it was finally closed and reused as a christian site in 391 by emperor Theodosius. This was the final blow to ancient Egypt as an active culture along with the loss of Hieroglyphs and the priesthood attached to both.

But what is the point of reading about and studying ancient Egypt? I believe that Ancient Egypt's long history is a fascinating history due to the various events and processes that still concern us today; like the question of centralization vs decentralization, the role of religion and monumental building in politics and society, the impact of revolutionary reforms (the monotheist revolution of Akhenaten) and societies/elites response to them, ethnic identity in a multicultural society and above all a lesson of accepting a life, dynasty, kingdom and culture will come to an end but a legacy can last millennia.

[William Bies · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ever since Napoleon’s campaign in Egypt opened the country to modern European consciousness, ancient Egyptian culture has exercised a hold over the popular imagination – especially after such spectacular finds as Tutankhamum’s tomb in 1922. Everyone reads the Book of the Dead, schoolgirls teach themselves hieroglyphics and historians of mathematics ponder Egyptian fractions in the Rhind papyrus. If one wishes to go beyond an impressionistic overview of Egypt in the ancient world, though, Marc van de Mieroop’s A History of Ancient Egypt (Wiley, 2011) should begin to satisfy the thirst for knowledge, even if, as we discuss below, as a guide it can go only so far.

The author is a distinguished and erudite scholar in his field (we have just reviewed his earlier contribution to the Wiley-Blackwell History of the Ancient World series, A History of the Ancient Near East, ca. 3000-323 BC, here). Here, he follows the same format with a concentration on Egypt. As he frankly admits in the preface, his focus will be on political history to the neglect of art, culture, mythology, religion, women etc. This shortcoming is not as serious as it may seem, for politics sets the context for everything else and it is well to have a sound grasp this aspect of the life of a society, before entering into higher speculations on the meaning of its cultural productions. As it happens, the political history of ancient Egypt is pretty well documented from the late fourth millennium onwards, if not perfectly so. The scholar in van de Mieroop comes out in the preface as well; he protests that he wants to use his own periodization and will to discuss the nature of the sources, not just to assert but to argue from them for his own interpretations.

This recensionist – long an archaeology buff – particularly enjoyed van de Mieroop’s presentation of the prehistory starting around 7,000 BC down to the formation of the unified state from around 3,400 to 2,686. He had never studied the physical geography of Egypt in any depth before. Apparently until circa 2,200 BC, the climate was wetter than it is now and semi-nomadic peoples could settle in what are now the desert regions on either side of the Nile river. All through the historical period, there persisted a number of large oases in the desert regions between Egypt and Libya, which we hear about because the Egyptian state was subject to raids from the tribes living there and its kings often led military campaigns to suppress the threat.

But the real story centers on the upper and lower Nile regions. Here, despite the scarcity of early sources van de Mieroop weaves a compelling tale of gradual coalescence during the Naqada period and the rise of the first kings. His main concern is to show how the state ideology that was to reign as the ideal in the Egyptians’ minds, even if often contradicted by political reality during the interregnums, all the way to the Roman takeover could be founded in contemporary institutions. The function of the king was, above all, a religious office. Only such a motive could explain the astonishing mobilization of manpower to construct the great pyramids during the third to fifth dynasties (2,686-2,345). In van de Mieroop’s view, the workers were not slaves, by and large, but contributed their labor voluntarily. Nonetheless, a large bureaucracy had to be maintained to organize all these major efforts, forming another characteristic feature of ancient Egyptian society.

If nothing else, Egypt has a long history! Even in ancient times, one could look back to the Old Kingdom the way we look back to the Middle Ages or to classical Greece and Rome. Only, for them, the sacral ideal of the Old Kingdom continued to be normative until the dissolution of the last dynasty in 30 BC. Van de Mieroop, however, sees the true end of ancient Egypt in AD 395, when the Byzantine emperors proscribed the teaching of hieroglyphics, shuttered the still-operating pagan temples and disbanded the priesthood.

What does not emerge from a quick listing of the contents of this book is the extent to which ancient Egypt fell short of the well-regulated unified state of its ideal. The kings could maintain their hold on power only through a coalition of elites (governors, priests and military commanders), who could be tempted to rebel and often enough did, especially upon the death of the king and the struggle over who should become his (or her) successor or when it faltered in its main task, the collection and redistribution of agricultural commodities (ancient Egypt operated on a barter economy). For long spells during the intermediate periods, all of upper Egypt broke away and elevated its own rulers (the Nubian kingdom). Thus, the unified state proved to be surprisingly fragile, although the Egyptians themselves cannot be blamed for all its woes, as when the foreign Hyskos peoples overwhelmed the Middle Kingdom (circa 1,700) or later on, during the age of empires in the first millennium, when Egypt was threatened with invasion by the Assyrians and Persians.

Good for orientation and splendid in detail, even if it can give only incidental treatment to religious beliefs and has little to say on artistic traditions and the like. Recommended to anyone seeking a solid foundation for further study of ancient Egypt.

[Banole · Rating 1 out of 5]

We will not waste too much time with Mr. van De Mieroop's compilations of tired worn out Eurocentric speculations and dogmas about a series of ancient African civilizations that he does not understand at all.


Mr. van De Mieroop simply decided to jump on the band wagon and quickly cobble together another Eurocentric "HISTORY OF ANCIENT EGYPT" for the waiting masses who will buy book after book, never learning anything about the authentic African Nile valley civilizations that we now call "ancient Egypt".

It should be common knowledge by now that the populations of modern day Egypt had nothing to do with classical ancient African Egyptian civilizations.

Mr. van De Mieroop rightly criticizes Hegel for bigotry; then goes on to repeat the very things that Hegel wrote in slightly different language!
In his Philosophy of History Herr Hegel wrote that black Africa was outside of human history and black African peoples had never contributed anything to human civilizations.
Later Mr. van De Mieroop writes that ancient "Egypt was in Africa-but not of Africa". Then Mr. van De Mieroop goes on to state the old Eurocentric talking points about the "Near Eastern" origins of ancient African Nile Valley civilizations. He offers not one shred of evidence-not one.
The Yale professor knows that he nor anyone else can give any evidence to prove that the civilizations of the Tigris and the Euphrates predates ancient African Egypto-Nubian civilizations of the Nile.

We only get the importation of lapis-Lazuli from Afghanistan and copper from Palestine as evidence of an "Eastern" origin!

After that all he gives is pure assertion after assertion and speculation on speculation!

Mr. van De Mieroop seems almost neurotic in his mad flight from the black African realities of his mythical "Ancient Egypt". Like many before him , Mr. van De Mieroop desperately attempts to construct Apartheid walls between the different ancient African peoples along the Nile, especially his "Ancient Egyptians" and the Nehase(Nubians).
He talks a lot about the Nile river.
Yet not once does he reminds his readers that the Nile river has its southernmost sources in the heart of Africa in northern Uganda and Congo.
Mr. van De Mieroop neglects to tell his readers that the Nile was the world's first cultural highway.
Not only did "many hominids" leave Africa, as Mr. van De Mieroop writes -but so did every homo sapiens sapiens! Africa is the birthplace of human kind. Humankind with language and culture and abilities. Perhaps Mr. van De Mieroop has a problem with those facts.
Like a severe neurotic terrified to look out the window Dr. van De Mieroop avoids the south of his "Ancient Egypt". He must know that everything about the culture of Egypt(KMT) shouts black Africa:the language, religion, social structure, matriarchy and totemism . Every renewal of Egyptian culture came from the south. Even the first word for king in the language of ancient Egypt "Nswt" has an etymological meaning of "he who is of(from) the south.
"Biti" king of the north is a much later word and was never used to mean "king" of all of Kmt(Egypt).

Mr. van De Meiroop labored furiously to re-formulate the old Hegelian Eurocentic view that man and human civilization originated in the "East". Not too long ago this theory was taught in all the great universities of Europe and propagated throughout the world.

Yet today we know that it is false.
Nevertheless many Western scholars cling to these dogmas and old German ideas of "Naturvolk" and "Kulturvolk".

Egyptology seems to have become a fairy tale for many people in the west. When they hear the words "Ancient Egypt" it is much like the child who hears the words "once upon a time"........
"Ancient Egypt" allows many people to enter a historical fantasy land where mysterious ancient "dark reddish" Caucasian people much like themselves(yet they were unique) romped in an Alice in Wonderland Ancient Egypt with pyramids and dog-headed gods. They cast spells on each other and performed strange rituals....its soooo mysterious-soooo cool!!!!

Mr. van De Mieroop has written a modern day fairy tale for grown ups who need to hear once again the words "Once upon a time..." And believe just one more time in the sweet escape of fantasy and myth.
If one attempts to avoid the ancient Negro African realities of "Ancient Egypt" the end results has been and shall always be a Fairy Tale, complicated and shallow. Never simple and deep.

Mr. van De Mieroop has attempted to run from the Black African Egypto-Nubian origins of ancient Nile Valley civilizations.

At the same time Mr. Van de Meiroop has taken advantage of an opportunity to grow his bank account by writing a book of cliches about Ancient Egypt(ancient African civilizations).

Anyway, let Mr. van De Mieroop jump on the band wagon too, after all its very profitable.

THUMBS DOWN!

[Bihter İyidir · Rating 5 out of 5]

Antik Mısır’a dair okuduğum açık ara en iyi kitap. Aşağı ve Yukarı Mısır’ın birleşmesinden imparatotluğun sonuna kadarki tüm Mısır tarihini anlatan tek bir kitap okunacaksa bence bu kitap tam da o. Tarihsel süreci, süreçteki kültürel değişimleri, komşularla ilişkileri, onlar üzerindeki etkinve onlardan etkilenmeleri, iç siyaseti, öne çıkan firavunların dönemlerini tatminkar şekilde ele alıyor. Üstelik bunu hikayeleştirme hatasına düşmeden gayet bilimsel bir şekilde yapıyor; keskin iddialar sunmuyor ve bilim insanları arasındaki tartışmaları bakış açılarına yer veriyor. Arkeolojik buluntular çeşitlendikçe ve yeni kaynaklara ulaşıldıkça bilim insanlarının varsayımlarının değişimine de vurgu yapıyor.
Çok beğendim, okudum bitti kitabı değil, bir başvuru kaynağı olarak kitaplığımda güzel bir yer verdim kendisine.

[Ars Nova · Rating 4 out of 5]

While the writing may not be as gripping as Sima Qian or many modern authors, the absence of any bias and ego makes this a great overview of Egyptian history. There are color plates, maps, references for further reading, and the chapters are split into chronological order very neatly. I found it very easy to immerse myself in the setting, and the descriptions and accompanying visuals really help to make what would be an otherwise relatively dry read into something you can really dig into and enrich your knowledge of Ancient Egypt and its surroundings.

[Liam Malone · Rating 5 out of 5]

This represents one of the better histories I have read regardless of the subject. Though it claims to be an introductory text book, it is learned without being pedantic and obtuse. It draws wonderful connections between Egyptian and outside influences. We learn much about Ancient Eygpt's relationships with its often stronger neighbors.

[Rob Roy · Rating 4 out of 5]

While a survey this book is not simply a chronology of the kings, but rather it picks topics of the major periods within the context of the succession of kings. This is an excellent book for the person who wishes to delve a bit deeper into the history of Ancient Egypt.

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent - accessible, just-right level of detail, careful presentation of differing theories. Great to read pre- Egypt trip (whenever that's possible!).

[Mina · Rating 3 out of 5]

As an Egyptian, I think Marc's book offers an academic overview in Egyptology. His book is a comprehensive introduction to the history of Egypt until the Christianization of the nation. He covered over 3000 years in his book and there are more questions than answers. So, he had to be selective in his narrative. And titled his book "A history" which means it is not the only history.

It took me a while to understand the organization of the book. The chapter titles were clear. His narrative was readable. He divided the book into chronological historical periods. Starting with pre-history period, then old kingdom , middle kingdom and new kingdom. There are intermediate periods between and after theses kingdoms. I think each chapter could be standalone. Marc's writing is academic and evidence based.. He walks his readers through the archeological and written evidence available. However, I found the style is too academic for the non-academic reader. I would have loved the book to tell a story.

While I failed to understand the purpose of the book, but I learned many facts about my ancestors.

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

While this book will pass for presenting the information and does have good maps and tables it is less than aspiring, very repetitious and comes across as if the author was rushed or less enthused with his project than you might expect. I understand that the book was an introduction to Ancient Egypt but I've had the equivalent amount of information on Ancient Egypt given in books the same size that covered the entire ME ancient world. As it was, the book was too shallow and could of used a bit more depth and as such did not meet my expectations.

[Seth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up this book for a class that I was taking but enjoyed learning about Egypt so much I ended up reading it for fun. It's difficult to condense thousands of years of history into a relatively short book, but Van de Mieroop did a fantastic job.

-1 because I don't like the author's writing style. Some of the writing is very elementary and not what I expected from one of the leading Egyptologists.

[Omar Abou-youssef · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great overview of Ancient Egyptian history and very well cited, also enjoyed the excepts/debates of certain legends and myths. My only issue was the last chapter for Ptolemy, Cleopatra and Alexander the Great’s stay in Egypt and Siwa felt incredibly rushed and not as detailed as earlier phases, but the author does provide recommendations for further reading.

[WRH · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was looking for a book to summarize Egypt's history, religion and major Pharaohs. This was not the book to do that. It was more of a summary of previous findings and research that was hard for a lay person unfamiliar with Egypt to follow. It is a good book but not the best for as a beginner.

[Mario Fabrizio Polinelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

I couldn’t imagine a better book to begin the study of egyptian history. Brilliant, comprehensive and very well written. Another excellent job by this great author!

[Manana Hvedelidze · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book, but I really enjoyed "A History of the Ancient Near East" which I would give five stars. It seems cuneiform world is the principal occupation of prof. Mieroop.

[Dylan Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic, concise overview of several thousand years worth of history. A feat of academic Egyptology.

[Sydney]

I read this whole textbook, so I’m counting it towards my reading challenge

[relz · Rating 3 out of 5]

⭐️3 - i read this a long time ago. i was so into egyptian history when i was in 5th grade. i cant remember everything in it tho, i only know that this book gave me some knowledge

[Lauren Albert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent if not exciting history of Ancient Egypt. I did find the boxed texts (special topics, etc.) really irritating. The publishers did not bother to put them at the end of a section or chapter but just dropped them in--often mid-sentence. You have to scroll forward (in the digital version anyway) to finish your sentence and then scroll back to read the boxed text. Then, you have to remember what you were reading before the box interrupted.

[Chris · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had to read this for my class and I found it absolutely boring. If I would have read it for fun over a longer period of time I probably would have found it a bit more delightful and would have probably given it two or three stars instead of one. It is filled with tons of information that an Ancient Egypt lover cannot be without but otherwise you should leave it on the shelf whenever possible.