Ancient Egypt is a place shrouded in myth, mystery and misunderstanding, much of it seemingly deliberately inspired by the people themselves. In other words, it is a place of wonder and delight for those of us with a passion for history.
The fascination for Egypt, revived in Europe during the eighteenth century, was also shared by the Greeks – some of whom felt an affinity with the Nile culture – and the Romans, who seem to have been attracted and appalled in roughly equal measure. It is worth remembering that the Pyramids of Giza were older to Julius Caesar than he is to us.
However, compared to the plethora of books available on Rome, and the smaller canon on Greece, books on ancient Egypt are thinner on the ground. This is partly explained by the sheer lack of evidence; yes, we have colossal monuments, but getting into the heads of ancient Egyptians is much harder. As always, the further we go back in time, the fewer the facts, the greater the variety of interpretations.
I first came across Joann Fletcher on television, where she is an engaging presenter, often irreverent, and offering a slightly different view on events in Egyptian history. So I was perhaps expecting too much when I picked up this book, thinking that it might have a similar style.
It is a very competent and comprehensive history of the Pharaohs and Dynasties of Egypt from about 5500BC up to 30BC, when it became a Roman province. I suspect that most of what we currently know about the ‘King List’ is here in as much detail as we have (although I am aware that one or two of the author’s views are controversial).
We get Pharaoh after Pharaoh, how they were related (or not), what they built, how and where they were buried. We also get other details of life at the time, but only really in as much as they relate to the royal family; and this is what let the book down for me. It certainly isn’t a story of the Egyptian people and way of life; it should perhaps be called ‘The Story of Egypt’s Rulers’.
If you know little about Egypt, then this might be a good starting point to get your bearings, and understand the dynastic chronology (although it can be a bit monotonous at times). It is also quite useful as a reference work, when reading other things, to separate one Ramses from another. However, if you already have some understanding of Egypt ‘from the top down’ so to speak, then this book probably won’t add much.
This is a review of the Hodder & Stoughton 2016 paperback edition.
It is an extended version of my review previously published on Amazon and Goodreads.
