History of Ancient Egypt, Volume 3

The final chapter in the definitive, three-volume history of the world's first known state

Archaeologist John Romer has spent a lifetime chronicling the history of Ancient Egypt, and here he tells the epic story of an era dominated by titans of the popular imagination: the radical iconoclast Akhenaten, the boy-king Tutankhamun and the all-conquering Ramesses II. But 'heroes' do not forge history by themselves. This was also a time of international trade, cultural exchange and sophisticated art, even in the face of violent change.

Alongside his visionary new history of this, the most famous period in the long history of Ancient Egypt, Romer turns a critical eye on Egyptology itself. Paying close attention to the evidence, he corrects prevailing narratives which cast the New Kingdom as an imperial state power in the European mould. Instead, he reveals - through broken artefacts in ruined workshops, or preserved letters between a tomb-builder and his son - a culture more beautiful and beguiling than we could have imagined.

Romer carefully reconstructs the real story of the New Kingdom as evidenced in the archaeological record, and the result - the final volume of a life long project - secures his status as Ancient Egypt's finest chronicler.

Reviews

Romer is a seasoned field archaeologist, accomplished researcher, and canny observer. This book, the third and final of a series, synthesises Romer’s dynamic take on pharaonic culture through more than five decades of work in Egypt… Fresh, detailed, and often unexpected... A genuine pleasure to read… Romer’s essential point – that pharaonic culture simply cannot be fully comprehended in modern Western terms or ways of thinking – is valid and needs shouting from the rooftops. This sterling volume may be the best way of doing that for some time to come