A Reader's Guide to Ancient Egypt

A List of Good Books about Ancient Egypt, by Topic

compiled by Stuart Wier

1998. First published by the Egyptian Study Society, 1993.

2010 note: This book list about Ancient Egypt is now more than a decade old, but it is still valid and a very complete list of books prior to 1998, including all the important investigations before about 1990 or 1995.

By the way, if you are not inclined to accept the findings of the professionals from three centuries, of many cultures and many languages, who did not all conspire together to hide something, and instead you seek for "lost mysteries" of ancient knowledge, this is material not for you. Studied in detail, it would be very discouraging. Or possibly, enlightening.

Thanks to Judy Greenfield, Bob Hanawalt, James Lowdermilk, Robert Lowdermilk, Dennis McDonald, David Pepper, Harriette Peters, Frank Pettee, Mary Pratchett, Andrea Preyer, Troy Sagrillo, Ted Snook, and Jill Taylor, all members of the Egyptian Study Society; Kathie Gully of the Library of the Denver Museum of Natural History, Emily Tetter, Richard Wilkinson, and Mark Lehner, who all have provided help and encouragement over five years, and Barbara Mertz for delightful books and interesting dinner conversation.

Table of Contents

Introduction

The question is not, why am I interested in ancient Egypt, but why isn't everyone interested in ancient Egypt? - Barbara Mertz

Something about ancient Egypt will interest or delight almost everyone. Egypt offers mystery, intellectual and scholarly challenge, buried treasure, art and craftsmanship of the highest quality, awe-inspiring ruins, and human drama extending over 3000 years. The story of the exploration of its remains combines hard work under very demanding conditions with great intellectual triumphs as well as dazzling tangible discoveries. And the story of ancient Egypt is by no means complete.

This Reader's Guide is an invitation to read the best popular books and selected scholarly works about ancient Egypt in English. A reader of any level, from complete novice to up to university student in archaeology, should be able to find suitable works listed here, including the latest information on all but the most obscure topics about ancient Egypt.

In the past two centuries some twenty thousand books have been written about ancient Egypt in all languages. Many of the best are by men and women who made a career studying the remains and culture of ancient Egypt, and who worked extensively in Egypt. These authors have knowledge, insight, and notable writing ability. Many works have beautiful illustrations.

The problem is to discover the titles and authors of the books that suit your interests. Publishers print few copies and rarely keep them in print for long. The demand is not large enough to support good selections in most libraries; most bookstores only have some of what is in print at the moment, a tiny fraction of even the best titles.

This guide attempts to list all the best popular works in English, and selected scholarly publications which are especially good for their topics. We include obscure works when they are the best thing on a subject, but have not included excellent rare books whose material is well treated in easier-to-obtain volumes. This is not a guide for collectors of rarities. A few older books have been included because of past prominence in Egyptology, or for lasting insights, even if they are now somewhat dated. Books are included if they are readable, or at least not too arcane, and represent the consensus of scholarship on ancient Egypt.

The time period for the guide extends from earliest human habitation in Egypt until the death of Cleopatra, the last resident ruler of Egypt following the ancient culture. Most of the books pertain to some time between 3000 B.C. and 1000 B.C.

We hope this guide helps enthusiasts of ancient Egypt sustain their interest and find the information they are looking for. Most books listed here have their own bibliographies. A single recent book on a topic can be a useful guide key to material on that subject.

My qualification is a long interest in ancient Egypt, reading, and one publication about pyramid construction in the Cambridge Archaeological Journal.

Stuart Wier

 

General Accounts of Ancient Egypt

 

The Legacy of Ancient Egypt. Charles Freeman. Facts on File. 1993. 224 p. The real ancient Egypt (very good; 120 pages), and how it has been seen in western (classical and modern) imagination and art. Abundant superb color photos.

Ancient Egypt. David P. Silverman, editor. Oxford University Press, New York, 1997, 256 p. With 13 top Egyptologists contributing. Survey of Egypt from pre-pharaonic times to Ptolomies, including cult of dead, pyramids, marriage, medicine, magic, etc.Well illustrated.

Egypt: Splendors of an Ancient Civilization. Alberto Silioti. Thames and Hudson, 1996. 290 pages, 302 illustrations, 272 in color. Magnificent photographs; maps, site plans, diagrams of tombs, glossary, with commentary and an overview of history to modern times.

Discovering Ancient Egypt. Rosalie David. New York, N.Y.: Facts on File Publications, 1993. 192 pages, illustrated. Includes sections on "the discoverers" and an "outline of Egyptian history."

A Short History of Ancient Egypt: From the Predynastic to Roman Times. T. G. H. James. London: Cassell. 1995. 167 p.

Old World Civilizations The Rise of Cities and States. Goran Burenhult, ed. Harper Collins, 1994. 239 p. Many professional contributors. Through European iron age. 21 pages on ancient Egypt.

Cradles of Civilization: Egypt. Jaromir Malek, ed. Univ. Oklahoma, 1993. 192 p. 324 color illus., 61 black-and-white photos, 9 maps. Ancient to modern period.

The British Museum Book of Ancient Egypt. Stephen Quirke and Jeffrey Spenser. Thames and Hudson, 1992. 240 p. "excellent" "profusely illustrated"

Egypt: Land of the Pharaohs. Lost Civilizations series. Alexandria Virginia: Time-Life, 1992. 168 p. 186 illus. From a series of books about archaeology. Well done; a good starting point for the beginner. Good review of past work and also up-to-date; well produced; good photographs.

The World of the Pharaohs. Christine Hobson. Thames & Hudson, 1987. Many photos and diagrams; special sections on hieroglyphs, temples, site descriptions, what to see in Egypt, short biographies of Egyptologists, and much else. A good introduction.

The Egyptians. Cyril Aldred. Thames & Hudson, 1984 revision. Another good introduction. Rather literary. Not quite as excellent as Aldred's book on art.

An Introduction to Ancient Egypt. T.G.H. James. British Museum, 1979; Harper and Row 1990. 287 p. James is an excellent writer and knowledgeable in all aspects of ancient Egypt.

Ancient Egypt Discovering its Splendors. Karl W. Butzer et al. Washington: National Geographic Society, 1978. 256 p. excellent photos & diagrams. Chapters by I.E.S. Edwards, W. K. Simpson, Barbara Mertz, and others. Came with a piece of modern papyrus.

The First Great Civilizations: Life in Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley, and Egypt. Jacquetta Hawkes. NY: Knopf, 1973. 465 p. 92 illus. A "beautifully written" introduction.

The Pyramids and Sphinx. Desmond Stewart. Newsweek, 1971. 172 p. Actually a fine short history of Egypt. Includes some history since ancient times, and special section "The Pyramids and Sphinx in Literature" with extensive quotes from Herodotus to G. B. Shaw, some very entertaining.

Temples, Tombs and Hieroglyphs: A Popular History of Ancient Egypt. Barbara Mertz. Coward-McCann 1964; Bendick 1990. 349 p. Easy reading; has freshness and enthusiasm. More inspirational than comprehensive. Limited illustrations.

The Splendor that was Egypt. Margaret Murray. London 1964; rev. ed., New York: Praeger, 1969.

Egypt of the Pharaohs: An Introduction. Sir Alan Gardiner. Oxford 1960; 1966. 460p. Detailed and a little scholarly, but by an expert on ancient Egypt and its language. "classic authoritative work." Includes translations of several important texts.

The Horizon Book of Lost Worlds. Leonard Cottrell. New York: American Heritage, 1962. 431 p. Large size, and a good selection of color photos. Good summary of Egyptian history. Includes Egypt, Sumer, Babylon, Crete, and others. Good introduction for a complete beginner.

Tombs, Temples & Ancient Art. Joseph Lindon Smith. Norman: University of Oklahoma, 1956.

The Glory of Egypt. Samivel. translated by J. E. Manchip White. NY: Vanguard, 1956. Photos by Michel Audrain. 229 p. 115 photographs.A "lovely book" of photographs.

Akhenaten and the Amarna Period

The Amarna Letters. edited and translated by William L. Moran. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992. 393 p. Translations of the nearly 400 cuneiform Tell el-Amarna tablets.

Akhenaten's Sed-festival at Karnak. Jocelyn Gohary. London; New York: Kegan Paul International; New York, NY, USA: Distributed by Routledge, Chapman & Hall, 1992. 238 p., 110 p. of plates

A Bibliography of the Amarna Period and its Aftermath: The Reigns of Akhenaten, Smenkhkare, Tutankhamun, and Ay (c. 1350-1321 BC). Geoffrey Thorndike Martin. London; New York: Kegan Paul International, 1991. 136 p.

The Private Chapel in Ancient Egypt: a study of the chapels in the workmen's village at el Amarna with special reference to Deir el Medina and other sites. Ann H. Bomann. London; New York: Kegan Paul International, 1991. 144 p.

Amarna Letters (2 vols.) (96 p. 156 ill.; 128 p., 176 ill.); 1990; 1992, available from KMT magazine; address listed below. Essays on the times before, during, and after Akhenaten.

Boundary Stelae of Akhenaten. William Murnane.

Quseir el-Amarna: the tombs of Pepy-ankh and Khewen-wekh. A. el-Khouli and N. Kanawati. Sydney: Australian Centre for Egyptology, 1989. 57 p.

Akhenaten: King of Egypt. Cyril Aldred. Thames and Hudson, revised edition, 1988. New information on the King's temple at Karnak.

Akhenaten: The Heretic King, Donald B. Redford. Princeton University. 1984. "Perhaps the best single book on this controversial figure." The author excavated the Akhenaten temple at Karnak.

Amarna: City of Akhenaten and Nefertiti. J. Samson. 2nd ed., Aris and Phillips, 1979.

Akhenaten and Nefertiti. Cyril Aldred. Viking 1973. 231 p. Exhibition catalog of 175 items. "One of the best books on the subject."

Akhenaten: Pharaoh of Egypt - A New Study. Cyril Aldred. McGraw-Hill, 1968. 153 illustrations.

The Age of Akhenaten. Eleonore Bille-DeMot. McGraw-Hill, 1966.

Amarna Reliefs from Hermopolis in American collections. John D. Cooney. Mainz a. Rh., v. Zabern 1965 110 p. A publication of the Department of Ancient Art, the Brooklyn Museum.

The Chronology of the Amarna letters, with special reference to the hypothetical coregency of Amenophis III and Akhenaten. Edward Campbell. Baltimore, Johns Hopkins Press 1964. 163 p.

Ancient Egypt; the New Kingdom and the Amarna period. Christiane Desroches-Noblecourt. Photographed by F. L. Kenett. Greenwich, Conn., New York Graphic Society 1960. 33 plates.

Nefertiti Lived here. Mary A. Chubb. London, 1954. "an amusing and partly fictional book" on work at Amarna.

Tell el-Amarna. J.D.S. Pendlebury. London, 1935. A popular account of British work here.

The Mural paintings of El-Amarneh. Henri Frankfort. London: Egyptian Exploration Society, 1929. 74 p. 21 plates. 8 plates in color. A key book on Amarna, and rare.

The City of Akhenaten. 3 vols. T. Peet and J.D.S Pendlebury. London 1922-1935. reports

Die El-Amarna Taflen. 2 vols. J. A. Knudtzon. Leipzig, 1907-1915. "the definitive study"

Tell El Amarna. W. M. Flinders Petrie; with chapters by A. H. Sayce, F. L. Griffith, and F. C. J. Spurrell. Warminster, Eng.: Aris & Phillips; Encino, Calif.: J. L. Malter, 1974 46 p., 24 plates. Reprint of the 1894 ed. published by Methuen, London.

Architecture and Building Methods

Searching for Ancient Egypt: Art, Architecture, and Artifacts. introduced by David P. Silverman. Cornell. 125 pages of color illustrations. 1997.

The Pharaohs' Masters Builders. Anne & Henri Stierlin. Pierre Terrail, pub. 220 pages. 200 color photographs.

Building in Egypt Pharaonic Stone Masonry. Dieter Arnold. Oxford University Press, 1991. 316 p. excellent; superb diagrams, by one of the top experts in the subject.

"An Old Kingdom Basalt Quarry at Widan el Faras and the Quarry Road to Lake Moeris in the Faiyum, Egypt." J.A. Harrell and T. M. Bown. Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt , 32 , 1995.

Ancient Egyptian Construction and Architecture. Somers Clarke and R. Engelbach. New York: Dover Publications, 1990. 242 p. An unabridged republication of the work originally published in 1930 by Oxford University Press, under the title Ancient Egyptian Masonry The Builders' Craft.

Building Construction before Mechanization. John Fitchen. Cambridge (MA) and London, 1986.

Ancient Egyptian Architecture. James Phillips. Monticello, Illinois: Vance Bibliographies, 1982.

Brick Architecture in Ancient Egypt. A.J. Spencer. Aris and Phillips, 1979. 159 p

The Master Builders: a history of structural and environmental design from Ancient Egypt to the nineteenth century. Henry J. Cowan. New York: Wiley, 1977. 299 p.

Ancient Architecture: Mesopotamia, Egypt, Crete, Greece. Seton Lloyd, Hans Wolfgang Muller, and Roland Martin. New York, H. N. Abrams 1974 415 p.

The Buildings of Ancient Egypt. Helen and Richard Leacroft. New York: W. R. Scott, 1963.

Architecture of the Ancient Civilizations in color: Mesopotamia, Egypt, .... Bodo Cichy. [Translated from the German by A. K. Bakker] New York, Viking Press 1966 424 p.

Architecture in Ancient Egypt and the Near East. Alexander Badawy. Cambridge, M.I.T. Press 1966, 1972. 246 p.

The Eternal Present: The Beginnings of Architecture, S. Giedion, 583 p., Pantheon 1964. Part of the Andrew W. Mellon Lectures in Fine Arts for 1957. Discusses Egypt and Mesopotamia; mostly Egypt. Looks good for the serious student of Egyptian architecture and sculpture.

Egyptian Ornament. M Vilimkova and P. Fortova-Samalova. London: Wingate, 1963. 163 p. 84 color plates of design elements in tombs, temples, and monuments done in watercolor paintings. "most beautiful."

Egypt. Jean-Louis de Cenival and Henri Stierlin. ("Architecture of the World" series). Benedikt Taschen, 1963. 193 p. Survey of ancient Egyptian architecture with excellent black and white photos and diagrams.

Egypt: Architecture, Sculpture, Painting, K. Lange and M. Hirmer, 4th edition, London: Phaidon Press, 1961. 364 p. 260 photographs. "a great book"

The Art and Architecture of Ancient Egypt, W. Stevenson Smith, revised by William Kelly Simpson, 501 p., Penguin, 1958, 1981. Still in print. Illustrations are only in black and white, otherwise excellent. Not light reading but very thorough.

A History of Egyptian Architecture, vols. I - III, Alexander Badawy, Giza 1954, reprinted by Histories and Mysteries of Man Ltd.; 1 Battersea Bridge Road, London SW1. "Dated but complete and scholarly." "a great book"

Egyptian Architecture, W. F. M. Petrie.

Art

Searching for Ancient Egypt: Art, Architecture, and Artifacts. introduced by David P. Silverman. Cornell. 125 pages of color illustrations. 1997.

Art of Ancient Egypt. Kazimier Michalowski. Translated and adapted from Polish and French by Norbert Guterman. New York: H. N. Abrams 1969; Thames and Hudson 1985. 600 p. [Lib.; 2 copies]. 145 color illus. "magnificent"

Egyptian Art. Cyril Aldred. Thames & Hudson, 1980. Fine writing and photos; also a good introduction to ancient Egypt by way of this topic.

The Art and Architecture of Ancient Egypt. W. Stevenson Smith. 1958, revised by William Kelly Simpson. Penguin, 1981. 501 p. paperback. Still in print. Illustrations are in black and white, otherwise excellent. Not light reading but very thorough. "Best survey of art."

Egyptian Sculpture: Cairo and Luxor. Edna R. Russmann; photographs by David Finn. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1989. 230 p. big book with lots of photos

The Canonical Tradition in Ancient Egyptian Art. Whitney Davis. Cambridge University Press, 1989. 272 pages.

Principles of Egyptian Art. H. Schaefer, translated by J. Baines. Oxford: Griffith Institute, 1986. 498 pages.

Egyptian Painting and Drawing in the British Museum. T.J.H. James. British Museum, 1985.

The Representations of Statuary in Private Tombs of the Old Kingdom. M. Eaton-Krauss. Wiesbaden: Otto Harroassowitz, 1984.

Egyptian Sculpture. T.J.H. James and W. V. Davies. Harvard University Press, 1983. 72 p. Short survey of the Egyptian Sculpture Gallery of the British Museum.

Egyptian Wall Paintings: The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Collection of Facsimiles. C. K. Wilkinson. New York, 1983.

Great Sculpture of Ancient Egypt. Kazimierz Michalowski; translated from the Italian by Enid Kirchberger. New York: Morrow, 1978. 191 p. 192 photographs; complement to his Art of Ancient Egypt.

Egyptian Drawings. W.H. Peck and J. G. Ross. New York, Dutton, 1978. 208 p. 148 plates of Egyptian drawings; many of them are preliminaries to paintings. "lovely"

Ancient Egypt Three Thousand Years of Splendor. Warner Hutchinson. Grosset & Dunlap, 1978. 116 p. 125 photographs of wall paintings and relief carvings.

Principles of Egyptian Art. H. Shafer. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1974. Scholarly, but a standard work for the serious student.

Monuments of Civilization: Egypt. Claudio Barocas. NY: Grosset & Dunlap, 1972. 192 p. 115 color photos, including tomb and temple paintings and sculpture. "Stunning."

Egypt: Architecture, Sculpture, Painting, K. Lange and M. Hirmer, 4th edition, London: Phaidon Press, 1968. 364 p. 260 photographs. "a great book"

Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture of Ancient Egypt. Wolfhart Westendorf. New York: H. N. Abrams, 1968. 260 p. Translation of Das alte Agypten. "succinct and handy reference with great illustrations."

Gods, Men and Pharaohs The Glory of Egyptian Art. Irmgard Woldering. NY: Abrams, 1967. 276 p. 249 illus. "a most beautiful book."

Egyptian Art in the Egyptian Museum of Turin. Ernesto Scamuzzi. Abrams, 1965.

The Development of Ancient Egyptian Art from 3200 to 1315 B. C. Cyril Aldred. London: A. Tiranti, 1965. Contains the author's three previous short works Old Kingdom Art in Ancient Egypt, Middle Kingdom Art in Ancient Egypt, and New Kingdom Art in Ancient Egypt, with an additional introductory preface.

The Art of Egypt The Time of the Pharaohs. Irmgard Woldering. New York: Greystone, 1962.

Egyptian Wall Paintings from tombs and temples. UNESCO. Intro. by Christiane Desroches-Noblecourt. New York: New American Library of World Literature, 1962.

Egyptian Sculpture of the Late Period, 700 B.C. to 100 A.D. B. V. Bothmer. New York: Brooklyn Museum, 1960. Exhibit catalog. Author is a top expert in this period.

Tombs, Temples, and Ancient Art. Joseph Smith. ed. by Corinna Smith. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1956.

Les Chefs-d'Oeuvre de la Peinture Egyptienne. Andre Lhote. Paris: Arts du Monde, Hachette, 1954. "stunning color photos of tomb paintings." 190 plates, many in color.

A History of Egyptian Sculpture and Painting in the Old Kingdom. Wm. Stevenson Smith. London and Oxford, 1949. 2nd ed. 422p. "Still important"

Ancient Egyptian Paintings. Nina M. Davies and Alan Gardiner. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1936.

Egyptian Sculpture. Margaret Murray. London: Duckworth 1930. 207 p. 55 plates. One of many fine books by the first full-time woman archaeologist.

Art: Special Topics

Symbol and Magic in Ancient Egypt. Richard H. Wilkinson. Thames and Hudson, 1994. 224 p.

Proportion and Style in Ancient Egyptian Art. Gay Robins. Austin: Univ. of Texas Press, 1994.

"Artists and Artisans in Pharaonic Egypt." R. Drenkhahn. in Civilizations of the Ancient Near East , eds. J. Sasson et al. New York: Scribners, 1994.

"On the Status and Purposes of Ancient Egyptian Art." John Baines. Cambridge Archaeological Journal , vol. 4, no. 1, April 1994. pp. 67-94.

Reading Egyptian Art Richard H. Wilkinson. Thames and Hudson, 1992. 224 p., 450 illus. A dictionary of some 100 signs most often used in painting and inscriptions, with extensive discussion of each.

"Proportionality in Mind and Space in Ancient Egypt." Barry Kemp and Pamela Rose. Cambridge Archaeological Journal , vol. 1, no. 1. April 1991. pp. 103-129.

The Art of Amenhotep III: Art historical analysis: papers presented at the international symposium held at the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio, 20-21 November 1987. edited by Lawrence Michael Berman. Cleveland Museum of Art in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1990. xii, 92 p.

Ancient Egyptian designs for artists and craftspeople. Eva Wilson. New York: Dover Publications, 1987. 100 p. Dover pictorial archive series reprint. Originally published as Ancient Egyptian designs, London British Museum Publications, 1986. (British Museum pattern books).

Pharaohs and Mortals: Egyptian art in the Middle Kingdom. catalogue by Janine Bourriau; with a contribution by Stephen Quirke. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press; Cambridge Fitzwilliam Museum, 1988. Exhibition organized by the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge 1988. "This is an excellent treatise on Middle Kingdom art, which seeks to weave the art of the period into the historical development of the Middle Kingdom."

Through Ancient Eyes: Egyptian portraiture: an exhibition organized for the Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, Alabama, April 21-July 31, 1988. Donald Spanel. 159 p.

Ancient Egyptian Art in the Brooklyn Museum. Richard A. Fazzini et al . Brooklyn, N.Y.: The Brooklyn Museum and Thames and Hudson, 1989. "wonderful collection"

The Road to Kadesh: a historical interpretation of the battle reliefs of King Sety I at Karnak. William J. Murnane. 2nd ed. Chicago, Ill.: Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 1990.

Africa in Antiquity: the arts of Ancient Nubia and the Sudan. Brooklyn, N.Y.: Brooklyn Museum, 1978. Catalog of the exhibition held at the Brooklyn Museum, September 30-December 31, 1978

Canon and Proportions in Egyptian Art. E. Iverson, 2nd ed. Aris and Phillips, 1976. "very scholarly"

Decorative Patterns of the ancient world for craftsmen. W. M. Flinders Petrie. Dover, 1974.

Ancient Egyptian Art: the Cults of Osiris and Amon. E. Otto, Photos by Max Hirmer. New York, Abrams 1967 144 p.

Amarna Reliefs from Hermopolis in American collections. John D. Cooney. Mainz a. Rh., v. Zabern, 1965. 110 p. "A publication of the Department of Ancient Art, the Brooklyn Museum."

Interconnections in the Ancient Near-East; a study of the relationships between the Arts of Egypt, the Aegean, and western Asia. William Stevenson Smith. New Haven, Yale University Press, 1965. 202 p.

Tomb sculpture; four lectures on its changing aspects from Ancient Egypt to Bernini. Erwin Panofsky. Edited by H. W. Janson. New York: H. N. Abrams 1964 319 p. 446 illus.

Ancient Egyptian Materials and Industries. Alfred Lucas. 4th ed., rev. and enlarged by J.R. Harris. London: Edward Arnold, 1962. 523 p. Lucas worked on conservation of materials from the tomb of TutAnkhamun, among other things. This book is still a standard reference. Includes chemical analysis of pigments used in paintings.

Ancient Egypt as Represented in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. William Stevenson Smith, curator of Egyptian Art. 4th ed., fully revised. Boston, 1960 215 p.

Topographical Bibliography of Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts, Reliefs, and Paintings. Bertha Porter and Rosalind Moss. Oxford: Griffith Institute, Ashmolean Museum. Including the following titles:

Volume I part I. The Theban Necropolis Private Tombs. 520 p. 8 maps.

Volume I part II. The Theban Necropolis Royal Tombs and Smaller Cemeteries. 440 p. 20 maps.

Volume II. Theban Temples. 622 p. 49 maps and plans.

Volume III Part I. Memphis. Abu Rawash to Abusir. 422 p. 40 plans and maps.

Volume III part II. Memphis. Saqqara to Dahshur. 657 p. 36 maps and plans.

Volume IV. Lower and Middle Egypt. 320 p. 33 plans, 6 maps.

Volume V. Upper Egypt Sites. 315 p. 32 plans. 4 maps.

Volume VI. Upper Egypt Chief Temples. 283 p. 40 plans.

Volume VII. Nubia, The Deserts, and Outside Egypt. 488 p. 63 plans, 8 maps.

Biographies of Modern Figures and Personal Accounts

Howard Carter, The Path to TutAnkhAmun. T.G.H James. 1992.

Howard Carter Before TutAnkhAmun. Nicholas Reeves and John H. Taylor. Abrams, 1992.

A Passage to Egypt: The Life of Lucie Duff Gordon. Katherine Frank. Houghton Mifflin, 1994, 398 pages. In 1862 Ms. Gordon, an accomplished Englishwoman, moved to Egypt for the climate. "a unique testimony to the poetry, sensuality, and kindness of the land that became her home." "an exceptional woman, funny, wry, occasionally flamboyant" - Literary Supplement of London.

Nile Notes of a Howadji: A Bibliography of Traveler's Tales From Egypt, to 1918. Martin Kalfatovic. Metchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 19923. 427 p.

Flinders Petrie: A Life in Archaeology. Margaret S. Drower. London: V. Gollancz, 1985. 500 p.

Recollections of an Egyptologist, Dows Dunham, Boston, 1972. 55 p. Worked at Boston with Reisner, starting in 1914.

Seventy Years in Archaeology. W. M. Flinders Petrie. New York: H. Holt and Company, 1932. 307 p.

A Thousand Miles up the Nile. Amelia B. Edwards. London: Longmans, Green, 1877. 732 p. reprinted many times since. Drawings by the author. Amelia Edwards, one of the great Victorian women travelers, went to Egypt in 1873 "to get out of the rain," and ended up an enthusiast for ancient Egypt, and a leading proponent of modern archeological methods and careful preservation. Her book is more than an historical curiosity. The excellent descriptions of the ancient monuments are still exciting and fresh. This might be the book to give to a literary friend who has not yet become interested in Egypt. Everyone interested in Egypt ought to read this.

Letters from Egypt, A Journey on the Nile 1849 - 1850. Florence Nightingale. London: Barrie and Jenkins. reprinted 1987.

My First Hundred Years. Margaret Murray. London: Kimber, 1963. "delightful" The first full-time woman archaeologist relates her first century.

My Working Years. Alan Gardiner. London: Coronet, 1964. The great hieroglyph scholar.

Bonaparte in Egypt. Herold J. Christopher. London: Hamish Hamilton, 1962. Who earned respect by bringing a bevy of scholars to Egypt, a very productive group.

The World of the Pharaohs, Hans Baumann. color photographs by Albert Burges; line drawings by Hans Peter Renner. Pantheon, 1960. 256 p. recounts some of the great discoveries. "delightful."

The March of Archaeology. C. W. Ceram. NY: Knopf, 1958. 326 p.

Pioneer to the Past: The Story of James Henry Breasted. Charles Breasted. Scribners, 1943, 1947. 436 pages. Biography of one of America's great Egyptologists.

The Innocents Abroad. Mark Twain. Boston: Joseph Knight, 1895, and later. Includes humorous account of climbing the Pyramids.

Ten Years Digging In Egypt 1881-1891. W. M. F. Petrie. NY: Fleming, 1892.

Biographies of Ancient Figures

Hatchepsut The Female Pharaoh. Joyce Tyldesley. Viking 1996. 270 p. This recent biography by a historian has received a lot of attention.

Monarchs of the Nile. Aidan Dodson. London: Rubicon Press, 1995. 238 p. A concise account of the lives and times of some of the significant occupants of the Egyptian throne, from unification to Cleopatra.

Chronicle of the Pharaohs. P. A. Clayton. Thames and Hudson, 1994(?). 224 p. 350 illus. A handy reference to all the kings, with many photographs of images of the kings.

Fragments of a Shattered Visage: The Proceedings of the International Symposium on Ramesses the Great. eds. R. E. Freed and E. Bleiberg. Memphis: Memphis State University, 1993.

Ramses II. editors of Time-Life. Alexandria, Virginia, 1993. Another from the Lost Civilization series. Good coverage of topic with excellent color photographs.

A Biographical Dictionary of Ancient Egypt. Rosalie David and Antony David. London: Seaby, 1992. 179 p. A good beginning reference on figures and sites.

Who were the Pharaohs. Stephen Quirke. British Museum, 1990. 80 p. [US: Dover Publications]. Brief biography of prominent pharaohs; not a children's book. Hieroglyph name of each is shown.

Cleopatra: Histories, Dreams, and Distortions. Lucy Hughes-Hallett. NY: Harper and Row, 1990. 338 pages. "Cleopatra" changes through time to support fads of the moment. And a true portrait.

Hatshepsut. Amr Hussein. Elias Modern Press, Egypt, 1989.

Ramses II: The Pharaoh and his time: learning resource packet for teachers, parents, and students. College of Education. Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University, 1985.

Nefertiti and Cleopatra: Queen-Monarchs of Ancient Egypt. Julia Samson; introduction by H.S. Smith. London, UK: Rubicon Press, 1985. 150 p.

Pharaoh Triumphant: The Life and Times of Ramses II. K. A. Kitchen. Toronto: Benben; Warminster U.K.: Aris & Phillips, 1982. By an expert on the subject.

Cleopatra. Michael Grant. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1973. 324 p. noted popular historian

Hatshepsut. Evelyn Wells. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1969.

"The Search for Imhotep" Lionel Casson. Horizon magazine, Summer 1969. hardbound

Lives of the Pharaohs. Pierre Montet. Cleveland: World Publishing, 1968.

Pharaohs of Egypt. Jacquetta Hawkes. London: Cassell, 1967

Lady of the Two Lands: Five Queens of Ancient Egypt. Leonard Cottrell. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill 1967 238 p. First published in 1966 under title: Queens of the Pharaohs. Another good popularizer.

Nefertiti. Evelyn Wells. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1964. 300 p.

Boats and Ships

The ancient Egyptians were the first to build large vessels, even sea-going ships, and use them extensively, though this accomplishment is overshadowed by other feats. By 2500 B.C. they were moving very large timbers by ship across the Mediterranean, and 50-ton granite blocks down the length of the Nile.

Museum of Cheops Boat. Amal M. Safwat El-Alfy. Cairo: Egyptian Antiquities Organization Press, 1986.

Ships and Seaman in the Ancient World. Lionel Casson. 2nd. ed. Princeton, 1986.

Egyptian Boats and Ships. Steve Vinson. Shire Egyptology Series, Shire Publications, Church Street, Princes Risborough, Bucks HP27 9AJ U.K.

A Glossary of Ancient Egyptian Nautical Titles and Terms. Dilwyn Jones. London; New York: Kegan Paul; New York, NY, USA: Distributed by Routledge, Chapman & Hall, 1988.

The Royal Ship of Cheops. Paul Lipke. Greenwich: National Maritime Museum, 1984.

The Boat Beneath the Pyramid. Nancy Jenkins. Thames and Hudson 1980.

Ships of the Pharaohs. Bjorn Landstrom. Doubleday, 1970.

The Ship An Illustrated History. Bjorn Landstrom. Doubleday, 1961. Several paintings of how ancient Egyptian ships probably appeared, by a marine historian and skilled artist.

The Cheops Boats. M. Z. Nour et al . Cairo 1960.

The Navy of the Eighteenth Dynasty. T. Save-Soderbergh. Uppsala and Leipzig, 1946.

Etudes de Nautique Egyptienne. L'Art de la Navigation en Egypte jusqu'a la Fin de l'Ancien Empire. Charles Boreux. Cairo, l'Institut Francais d'Archeologie Orientale, 1925. 569 p., 200 figures, and 3 plates. "Boreux specialized in Egyptian ships and nautical matters."

 

Children's Books: Fiction placed in Ancient Egypt

For a longer list see the article: "Ancient Egypt in Children's Fiction" by Elsa Harik in the magazine KMT , vol. 3 no. 2, Fall 1992 (An address for KMT is listed at end of the Reader's Guide), plus other books.

For younger readers:

The Blue Faience Hippopotamus, Joan Grant, illustrations by Alexandra Day, Green Tiger Press, 1984. Beautiful pictures; delightful story. For reading to age 3 and up; reading by grades 2 or 3 and up.

The Winged Cat: A Tale of Ancient Egypt. Deborah Lattimore. Harper Collins, 1992.

The Prince who knew His Fate An Ancient Egyptian Tale translated from hieroglyphs and illustrated by Lise Manniche. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art/Philomel Books, 1981. 40 p. Retells the 3,000 year-old Egyptian tale of the prince whose fate, to die by a crocodile, a snake, or a dog, is decreed at his birth.

How Djadja-em-ankh Saved the Day: a Tale from Ancient Egypt. translated from the original Hieratic with illustrations and commentary by Lise Manniche. New York: Crowell, 1977, 18 p. Third tale from Papyrus Westcar. Egyptian and English. Printed on a continuous sheet folded in accordion style. A tale of a king and his magician in Egypt 4500 years ago.

The Mystery of the Pharaoh's Treasure. Janet Neavies. Lippincott, 1963.

Amuny, Boy of Old Egypt. Miriam Schlein. Abelard-Schuman, 1961. 159 p.

Boy of the Pyramids. Ruth Fosdick Jones. Random House, 1950.

For readers in the middle grades:

The Last Pharaoh. John Latimer. Thomas Nelson, 1970.

Scarab for Luck. Enid Meadowcroft. Crowell - Harper -Collins 1964.

Blossom Culp and the Sleep of Death. Richard Peck. Dell, 1987.

The Sycamore Warrior. John Schealer. Dutton 1960.

The Reluctant God. Pamela Service. Atheneum, 1988.

Flash, Dog of Old Egypt. Lynn Hall. Garrard, 1973.

Asterix and Cleopatra. Goscinny. 1965. Cartoon book. Silly but fun, including how the Sphinx lost its nose. All young classical history enthusiasts should meet Asterix and Obelix.

Child of the Sun. Margaret Dulles. Boston: Beacon, 1939. 111 p. Akhenaten and Nefertiti.

For young adult readers:

The Moon in the Cloud; The Shadow on the Sun; The Bright and Morning Star. all by Rosemary Harris. Faber and Faber (recent reprints).

Mara, Daughter of the Nile. Eloise McGraw. Puffin 1985.

The Lost Queen of Egypt. Lucille Morrison. Lippincott, 1937.

Shadow Hawk. Andre Norton. Harcourt Brace, 1960.

Honey of the Nile. Erick Berry. Oxford, 1940. 224 p. about Tut and his wife.

 

Children's Books: Nonfiction

There are many books about ancient Egypt for children, with new ones appearing all the time. Some are not always exactly correct. The first four in this list are the best introductions to ancient Egypt for children I know of in print at the moment. See introductory books listed under other topics, such as Hieroglyhs, which are often good introductions for older children as well as adults.

How We Know about the Egyptians. Peter Bedrick Books, NY, 1997. 32 pages.

 

An Egyptian Pyramid, J. Morley, M. Bergin, and J. James, Peter Bedrick Books, 1991. paper. Covers all society, not only pyramids.

Ancient Egypt, Judith Crosher, Viking, 1992.

What do we know about the Egyptians? Joanna DeFrates, Peter Bedrick Books, 1991,

Cleopatra. Diane Stanley. New York: Morrow Junior Books, 1994.

The Ancient Egyptians: Life in the Nile Valley. Viviane Koenig. Millbrook Press, 1992. 64 p.

Hieroglyphs from A to Z: A Rhyming book with ancient Egyptian stencils for kids. Peter Der Manuelian. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1991.

Ancient Egypt (Eyewitness Books series), George Hart, Knopf, 1990. Most of the book is some 200 excellent color photographs of actual ancient artifacts, many from everyday life.

Ancient Egypt: Cultural Atlas for Young People. Geraldine Harris, New York: Facts on File, 1990.

Into the Mummy's Tomb The Real-Life Discovery of TutAnkhAmun's Treasures, Nicholas Reeves, Scholastic, 1992. Just about the discovery; little about ancient Egypt. Reeves is an expert on Tut.

The Giant Book of the Mummy, Rosalie David, Reed, 1992, 10p. and text on covers, 25 by 16 inches. More Tuttery. Despite the gimmick - huge size and stiff pages - this is really fairly good. Paintings of scenes from Tut's life (conjectural) and artifacts from the tomb. The author is an authority.

Indiana Jones explores Ancient Egypt. John Malam. London: Evans Brothers Limited, 1991. "Indiana Jones, fictitious archeologist-adventurer, describes the civilization of ancient Egypt, its history, geography, dynasties, daily life, religion, art, and influences on subsequent civilizations" Only Indy could do all that in 47 pages!

Pyramids of Ancient Egypt. John D. Clare; consultant editor Rosalie David. London, England: Bodley Head, 1991. 64 p. Photos use real people and reconstructed backgrounds.

Language and Writing in ancient Egypt. David P. Silverman. Pittsburgh, PA: Carnegie Museum of Natural History, 1990. 48 p.

The Riddle of the Rosetta Stone: Key to Ancient Egypt: illustrated with photographs, prints, and drawings. James Cross Giblin. New York: Crowell, 1990. 85 p.

A Short History of Ancient Egypt. David O'Connor. Pittsburgh, PA: Carnegie Museum of Natural History, 1990. 40 p.

ABC, Egyptian Art from the Brooklyn Museum. Florence Cassen Mayers. New York: Abrams, 1988. 32 p. Presents ancient Egyptian art objects from the Brooklyn Museum in alphabetical order (crocodiles, kings, mummies, pyramid, etc.).

Science in Ancient Egypt. Woods, Geraldine. Watts, 1988. 92 p.

Mummies Tombs, and Treasures. Lila Perl. NY: Clarion, 1987. 120 p. "delightful"

See Inside an Egyptian Town, Unstead (ed.), Barnes & Nobel 1986 Amarna period only; also a picture book plus text; about 75 p.

Hieroglyphs the writing of Ancient Egypt, N. J. Katan, Antheneum NY 1981, 96p. Grades 6 - 8 or so. See also books listed under hieroglyphs.

"Expedition" (a game), Whitehall Games, 1980, Newton Mass 02158.

Mummies made in Egypt. Aliki. New York: Crowell, 1979. 32 p. Describes the techniques and the reasons for the use of mummification in ancient Egypt.

The Mummy of Ramose: the life and death of an Ancient Egyptian nobleman. Shirley Glubok and Alfred Tamarin. New York: Harper & Row, 1978. 82 p.

The Time Traveler Book of Pharaohs & Pyramids, Tony Allen, Usborne, 1977; lots of new drawings showing ancient Egyptian life.

Ancient Egyptians, Pierre Miquel, Silver Burdett, 1979; both these two books similar and good; second slightly more advanced.

Pyramid. David Macaulay; illustrated by the author. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1975. 80 p. Text and black-and-white drawings illustrate plausible construction of Khufu's pyramid.

The Archaeology of Ancient Egypt. T. G. H. James; drawings by Rosemonde Nairac. London: Bodley Head, 1972. 144 p.

Egyptian Hieroglyphs for Everyone, J. and L. Scott, Harper Collins, 1968, 94 p. Grades 7 - 12?

Fun with Hieroglyphs, Catherine Roehrig, Metropolitan Museum of Art, $20.00. A project kit to spell English words with hieroglyphs. Includes 24 rubber stamps of the hieroglyphs which come closest to being an alphabet. Do it yourself. Since hieroglyphs have almost no vowels, this is make-believe, but fun. Good to stimulate children's interest.

The World of the Pharaohs, Hans Baumann. color photographs by Albert Burges; line drawings by Hans Peter Renner. Pantheon, 1960. 256 p. recounts some of the great discoveries. "delightful."

William and His Friends. A Group of Notable Creatures in the Metropolitan Museum of Art Herded Together. Elisabeth Naramore. Viking Press, 1936. William arrived at the Met in 1917, at age 4000, plus or minus a few years.

Coins

Contributed by Ted M. Snook

Coinage was not minted in ancient Egypt until the Ptolemaic period. The Ptolemaic Egyptian coins are some of the finest from the ancient world; beautiful objects to see indeed.

Ptolemaic Kings: 336 to 30 BC.

The Royal Collection of Coins and Medals, vol. 8., SNG Copenhagen. Kromann & Morkholm, Sunrise Publications Inc., reprint of 1982. 31 p. "premier reference."

Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum Italia Milano, Vol. XIII, Comune di Milano, 1989. 146 p. Written in Italian but not too difficult to use; excellent cross reference with SNG Copenhagen, listed above.

Greek Coins and Their values, Vol II. Asia & Africa. David Sear, Seaby Publ., 1979. Best general overview, limited in scope, excellent introduction & history section; well illustrated.

Roman Egypt: 14 to 305 AD.

Katalog Alexandrinischer Kaisermunzen der Sammlung. Angelo Geissen, Univ. Koln, WestDeutcher Verlag, 1983. 5 vols. Premier reference, written in German but very usable with the aid of a German dictionary and a little patience. Fully and beautifully illustrated.

Catalog of Alexandrian Coins. J. G. Milne. Univ. of Oxford Ashmolean Museum, 1971. reprinted by Spink and Son Ltd. Excellent introduction to Roman Egyptian coins, though somewhat dated.

Tetradrachms of Roman Egypt. James W. Curtis. Durst Pub. reprinted 1990 with six additional supplements. Most complete reference on tetradrachms; supplements well illustrated.

Roman Coins and their values. David Sear. Seaby Pub., revised 1971. Excellent introduction and history of Roman Alexandrian coinage; limited in scope; well illustrated.

 

Conservation of Artifacts

The Tomb of Nefertari. J. K. McDonald. Getty, 1995, 116 p. Chamber by chamber photographs.

In the Tomb of Nefertari: Conservation of the wall paintings. Bianchi and McDonald. Malibu, Calif.: J. Paul Getty Museum and The Getty Conservation Institute, 1992. 88 p.

Art and Eternity: the Nefertari wall paintings Conservation Project, 1986-1992 Miguel Corzo and Mahasti Afshar, editors. Santa Monica, Calif.: Getty Conservation Institute, 1993. 140 p. "A joint project of the Getty Conservation Institute and the Egyptian Antiquities Organization."

Wall Paintings of the Tomb of Nefertari: scientific studies for their conservation: first progress report, July, 1987: a joint project of the Egyptian Antiquities Organization and the Getty Conservation Institute. Cairo, Egypt; Century City, Calif., The Institute, 1987. Special publication of the Annales du Service des Antiquites de l'Egypte. prefatory matter in Arabic and English.

The Conservation of Ancient Egyptian Materials, Watkins and Browne, eds. 1988.

Ancient Egyptian Materials and Industries. Alfred Lucas. 4th ed., rev. and enl. by J.R. Harris. London: E. Arnold, 1962. 523 p. Lucas pioneered conservation of ancient egyptian materials, and worked on conservation of materials from the tomb of TutAnkhamun. (original edition around 1936)

 

Chronology

Pharaohs and Kings: A Biblical Quest. David Rohl. Crown, 1995. [British: A Test of Time. London: Century, 1994.] 425 pages. Rohl presents evidence he claims shows that the Third Intermediate Period, which is used to establish dates in the Holy Land, actually is misdated by some 200 years. His evidence purports to have the 21-24 dynasties of Egypt overlapping in their reigns. Using original evidence, he presents a case for re-computing the ties between the pharaohs of Egypt and the rulers of the Biblical lands. This also moves the Hebrew sojourn in Egypt into the Middle Kingdom which may make more sense of the whole business, and which shifts the locations where Hebrew remains are to be found in Egypt, and he presents some. There is video of this title, too.

Centuries of Darkness: A Challenge to the Conventional Chronology of Old World Archaeology. Peter James. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1993. James tries to discover why the near eastern part of the Mediterranean seems to have many cultures that have centuries of unexplained darkness. His conclusions are that these civilizations are improperly dated due to an error in Egyptian chronology that can be explained by contemporaneous rule of the 21-24 Dynasties, which moves up the Old through New Kingdoms some 300 years, supposedly removing the "centuries of darkness."

Egyptian Chronology, E. Wente et al., Oriental Institute University of Chicago, 1976.

The Late New Kingdom in Egypt (1300-664 B.C.) A Genealogical and Chronological Investigation. M. L. Bierbrier. School of Archaeology and Oriental Studies. University of Liverpool, Aris and Phillips, 1975.

The Royal Canon of Turin. Alan. H. Gardiner. Oxford: Griffith Institute, 1959. 20 p. 9 plates. Important list of Kings, used for dating.

 

Daily Life in Ancient Egypt

What Life Was Like On the Banks of the Nile: Egypt 3050 - 30 BC. Denice Dersin, ed. Time-Life Books, Alexandria, Virginia. 1997. 192 p. General overview by topics (rather than historical periods) illustrated with photographs of many artifacts and artworks, and with diagrams. Topics include children, women, joy for living, in the service of the Pharaoh, Journey to the Hereafter, and others.

Life of the Ancient Egyptians. Eugen Strouhal; with photographs by Werner Forman; foreword by Geoffrey T. Martin; [translated by Deryck Viney]. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1992. 279 p. (200 color illus., 90 black-and-white). The author is an anthropologist and archeologist. Color photos of Egyptian art or antiquities illustrate most every page. Very good for topic.

Travel in the Ancient World. Lionel Casson. Johns Hopkins U. Press, 1994. 391 p.

Egypt: Ancient Culture, Modern Land. Jaromir Malek, ed. Norman: Univ. Oklahoma Press. 1993. 192 p. ancient and modern life

The Cat in Ancient Egypt. Jaromir Malek. London: British Museum Press, 1993. 144p. By an accomplished scholar, writer, Keeper of the Archive of the Griffith Institute, and one supposes, a cat lover.

The Ancient Egyptians: Life in the Nile Valley. Viviane Koenig; illustrations by Veronique Ageorges; translated by Mary Kae LaRose. Brookfield, Conn. Millbrook Press, 1992. 64 p.

Peoples of the Past [translation of: Au Bord du Nil.]. Paris: Editions Nathan, 1990.

Sports and Games of Ancient Egypt. Wolfgang Decker; translated by Allen Guttmann. New Haven Yale University Press, 1992. 212 p.

Women's Work: the first 20,000 years: Women, Cloth, and Society. E. J. Barber. Norton

Fish and Fishing in Ancient Egypt. Douglas J. Brewer, Renee F. Friedman. Warminster, England: Aris & Phillips, 1989. 109 p. The Natural History of Egypt; v. 2.

Ancient Egyptian Society. David O'Connor. Pittsburgh, PA: Carnegie Museum of Natural History, 1990. 40 p.

Egyptian Life, Miriam Stead, British Museum, Harvard University Press. 1989. 72p. Booklet with photos. All objects are in the British Museum.

Egyptian Civilization: Daily Life, Anna Maria Donadoni Roveri, Electra (Milan), 1987.

Shire Egyptology Series, "written by experts for the student." Shire Publications Ltd., Cromwell House, Church Street, Princes Risborough, Buckinghamshire HP179AJ England. (All in Library). The titles and authors of these small books are:

1. Mummies. Barbara Adams. 2. Gods and Myths. Angela Thomas. 3. Painting and Relief. Gay Robins. 4. Textiles. Rosalind Hall. 5. Pottery. Colin Hope. 6. Pyramids and Mastaba Tombs. Philip Wilson. 7. Predynastic Egypt. Barbara Adams. 8. Towns and Cities. Eric Uphill. 9. Food and Drink. Hilary Wilson. 10. Akhenaten's Egypt, Angela Thomas. 11. Coffins. John Taylor. 12. Household Animals Rosalind and Jack Janssen. 13. Metalworking and Tools. Bernd Scheel. 14. Rock-cut tombs. Aidan Dodson. 15. Medicine. Carole Reeves. 16. Warfare and Weapons. Ian Shaw. 17. Graeco-Roman Egypt. Simon Ellis. 18. Faience and Glass and 3 more new ones...

Ancient Lives: Daily Life in Egypt of the Pharaohs John Romer. Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1984. 235 p. Surprisingly different from his excellent PBS series of the same name; more detailed and refined. Valley of the Kings workmen's village.

Pharaoh's People: Scenes from Life in Imperial Egypt, T.G.H. James, Bodley Head, London; University of Chicago 1984. Vizier, judge, scribe, craftsman and others portrayed in detail.

People of the Nile: Everyday Life in Ancient Egypt. John Romer. New York: Crown, 1982. 224 p. Informed, concise, lots of fine color photographs, and pleasant to read.

Egypt's Golden Age: The Art of Living in the New Kingdom 1558-1085 B.C. Exhibit Catalog. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. 1982.

Everyday Life in Egypt in the Days of Ramesses the Great, Pierre Montet, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 1981.

Ancient Egyptian Furniture. Geoffrey Killen. Warminster, Eng.: Aris & Phillips, 1980.

Ancient Egyptian Mirrors: from the earliest times through the Middle Kingdom. Christine Lilyquist. Munchen; Berlin: Deutscher Kunstverlag, 1979. illus. A revision of the author's thesis, New York University.

Red Land, Black Land: Daily Life in Ancient Egypt. Barbara Michaels (Barbara Mertz). Rev. ed. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1978. 385 p.

Horizon Book of Daily Life in Ancient Egypt, Lionel Casson, McGraw, 1975.

Travel in the Ancient World. Lionel Casson. London: Allen and Unwin, 1974.

Ancient Egyptian Dances. Irena Lexova; with drawings made from reproductions of ancient Egyptian originals by Milada Lexova; Brooklyn, N.Y.: Dance Horizons, [1974?] 95 p.

Sport in Ancient Egypt. A.D. Touny, Steffen Wenig. Leipzig: Edition Leipzig, 1969. 189 p.

Thebes in the time of Amenhotep III, Elizabeth Riesfstahl, Univ. Oklahoma, 1964. Well written, with a few illustrations.

Models of Daily Life in Ancient Egypt, from the Tomb of Meket-Re at Thebes. Herbert Eustis Winlock, Cambridge, Published for the Metropolitan Museum of Art by Harvard University Press, 1955.106 p. Publications of the Metropolitan Museum of Art Egyptian Expedition, v. 18

The Scepter of Egypt, 2 vols., W.C. Hayes, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1953; Cambridge 1959; New York 1990. "good survey of material culture."

The Home Life of the Ancient Egyptians. Nora Scott. New York, 1947.

Toilet articles from Ancient Egypt, from the Charles Edwin Wilbour Memorial collection in the Brooklyn Museum. Brooklyn Museum, 1943. 14p.

Exhibit Catalogs and Museum Guides

Egyptian Art: Fitzwilliam Museum Handbook. Elena Vassilika. Cambridge Univ. Press, 1995. Beautiful photos; descriptions of objects. The Fitzwilliam Museum is in Cambridge.

Pharaohs: Treasures of Egyptian Art from the Louvre. Lawrence M. Berman and Bernadette Letellier. [Oxford?] 100 pages. black and white photos.

Egypt's Dazzling Sun: Amenhotep III and his World. Arielle P. Kozloff, Betsy M. Bryan, and Lawrence Berman, Indiana University, 1992. 580 p. 565 illus. This period considered by some to be the golden age of Egyptian art. Also other publishers for this traveling exhibit.

In the Tomb of Nefertari: Conservation of the wall paintings. Malibu, Calif. J. Paul Getty Museum, 1992. 88 p. "Published on the occasion of an exhibition at the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, November 12, 1992-February 21, 1993."

Egypt and Nubia, John Taylor, British Museum, 1991. For a new permanent exhibit.

Reflections of greatness: Ancient Egypt at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Diana Craig Patch. Pittsburgh, Pa.: The Museum, 1990. 118 p.

Ancient Egyptian Art in the Brooklyn Museum. Richard A. Fazzini et al . Brooklyn, N.Y.: The Brooklyn Museum and Thames and Hudson, 1989.

Mummies and Magic The Funerary Arts of Ancient Egypt. Sue D'Auria, Peter Lacovara, and Catherine H. Roehrig. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1988. 276 p. Very detailed catalog for an exhibit from Boston in Dallas 1990-2000.

Beyond the Pyramids: Egyptian Regional Art from the Museo Egizio, Turin. Gay Robins, ed. 96 pp. 54 color plates, 100 b&w photos. From the FIrst Intermediate period and Middle Kingdom. Includes important essays on the period.

Pharaohs and Mortals: Egyptian art in the Middle Kingdom. catalogue by Janine Bourriau; with a contribution by Stephen Quirke. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press; Cambridge Fitzwilliam Museum, 1988. 167 p. Exhibition organized by the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge 1988. "This is an excellent treatise on Middle Kingdom art, which seeks to weave the art of the period into the historical development of the Middle Kingdom."

Through Ancient Eyes: Egyptian portraiture: an exhibition organized for the Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, Alabama, April 21-July 31, 1988. by Donald Spanel. 159 p.

The First Egyptians. Michael Hoffman. Univ. South Carolina, 1988. 120 p. pre-dynastic material

Ramses II: The Great Pharaoh and His Time, Rita Freed, Denver Museum of Natural History, 1987.

The Egypt of the Pharaohs at the Cairo Museum, Jean Pierre Corteggiana, Scala, 1987, 191 p. The pieces in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo.

Official Catalog of the Egyptian Museum Cairo, Mohamed Saleh and Hourig Sourouzian, Prestel-Verlag, 1987, 268 p.

Egyptian Sculpture, T.J.H. James and W. V. Davies, Harvard University Press, 1983. 72 p. Survey of the Egyptian Sculpture Gallery of the British Museum.

Egypt's Golden Age: The Art of Living in the New Kingdom 1558-1085 B.C. Exhibit Catalog. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. 1982.

The British Museum and Ancient Egypt, T. G. H. James, London 1981.

Africa in antiquity: the arts of ancient Nubia and the Sudan. Brooklyn, N.Y.: Brooklyn Museum, 1978. 2 v. Catalog of the exhibition held at the Brooklyn Museum, September 30-December 31, 1978

Treasures of Tutankhamun. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1974. The Tut exhibition catalog has beautiful photographs and good text, if you can find a used copy.

Ancient Hierakonpolis. Barbara Adams; with an introd. by H. S. Smith. Warminster, Eng., Aris & Phillips, 1974. 87 p. Catalogue of objects in the Petrie Collection in the Dept. of Egyptology, University College London.

Akhenaten and Nefertiti. Cyril Aldred. Viking 1973. 231 p. Exhibition catalog of 175 items. "One of the best books on the subject."

Egyptian Museum, Cairo. Sergio Donadoni. NY: Newsweek, 1969. 173 p. 135 color photos of the best pieces.

Ancient Egypt as represented in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. William Stevenson Smith, curator of Egyptian art. 4th ed., fully revised. Boston, 1960 215 p.

Egyptian Sculpture of the Late Period, 700 B.C. to 100 A.D. B. V. Bothmer. New York: Brooklyn Museum, 1960. Exhibit catalog.

The Scepter of Egypt, 2 vols., W.C. Hayes, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1953; Cambridge 1959; New York 1990. History as illustrated by art, household objects, etc., from the Met collection. Also an excellent catalog of the Met's Egyptian collection. "Dated info but good survey of material culture."

Exploration and Excavations in Egypt, and Early Travels

Discovering Ancient Egypt. Rosalie David. New York, N.Y.: Facts on File Publications, 1993. 192 pages. Ms. David is an authority on Egypt.

Egypt: Yesterday and Today: Lithographs and Diaries by David Roberts. Fabio Bourbon. 272 pages, over 500 color illustrations. In 1833 David Roberts traveled to Egypt where he made the finest paintings and drawings of the monuments ever made. Each reproduction accompanied by a modern photo of the same scene.

Description de l'Egypt. Taschen, c. 1995. 1007 pp. Reproductions of the 837 copper engravings and 3000 other illustrations that accompanied the report of the French expedition to Egypt in 1798. Text in English and French; captions en Francais seulement .

The American Discovery of Ancient Egypt. Nancy Thomas. Abrams. From early travelers to modern expeditions until 1960. Includes color photos of important finds.

River in the Desert: Modern travels in ancient Egypt. Paul William Roberts. New York: Random House, 1993. 394 p.

The Search for Ancient Egypt, Jean Vercoutter, 207 p., Abrams 1992; Thames and Hudson 1992. 208 p. Small paperback but excellent color illustrations from nineteenth century accounts of discoveries and travels. Vercoutter, a French Academician, worked in Egypt.

The Monuments of Egypt: The Napoleonic Edition. Charles Gillespie and Michel Dewachter, eds. NY: Princeton Architectural Press, ca. 1990.

The First Hundred Years: Egyptology at University College London 1892 - 1992, R. Jansen, UCL, 1992.

The Rape of the Nile: Tomb Robbers, Tourists, and Archaeologists. Brian M. Fagan. NY: Scribners, 1975; revised 1992. 407 p. "... a lively account of those who ventured in Egypt - from the ancients themselves to the flamboyant plunderers of the 19th century." "fascinating"

The Golden Age of Travel 1880-1939. Alexis Gregory. New York: Rizzoli, 1991. The chapter "Egypt" has good illustrations, including a picnic lunch in a tomb with servants and Champagne.

The Discovery of Egypt, Fernand Beaucour, Flammarion, 272 p., ca. 1990. Napoleon to the founding of the Egyptian Museum of Cairo.

Excavating in Egypt - The Egypt Exploration Society, 1882 - 1982, T.G.H. James, editor, University of Chicago, 1983. many historical photos. The first one hundred years.

The Rediscovery of Ancient Egypt: artists and travellers in the 19th century. Peter A. Clayton. London Thames and Hudson, 1982. 192 p.

The British Museum and Ancient Egypt, T. G. H. James, London 1981.

Excavating in Egypt. Herbert Winlock. New York: Metropolitan Museum, 1975.

Who Was Who in Egyptology, W. Dawson and E. P. Uphill, Egyptian Exploration Society London, 1972. Does not include workers living in 1969.

Thousands of Years; an Archaeologist's Search for Ancient Egypt. John A. Wilson. New York, Scribner 1972 218 p.

The Genesis of British Egyptology 1549 - 1906. John David Wortham. Oklahoma, 1971.

A History of Egyptian Archeology, Fred Bratton, Crowell, 1968.

Gods, Graves, and Scholars. C. W. Ceram. Alfred Knopf, 2nd ed., 1967. 441 p. 125 pages on Egypt.

The Discovery of Egypt, Leslie Greener, Viking, New York, 1967; Marlboro 1990.

Signs and Wonders upon Pharaoh, John Wilson, University of Chicago, 1964. An excellent history of archaeology in Egypt, with emphasis on American workers. Very good annotated bibliography.

The World of the Past. Jacquetta Hawkes. 2 vols. Alfred Knopf, 1963. Essays and accounts by excavators and scholars. "The Egyptian World" is in volume 1.

The Egyptian Department and Its Excavations. Dows Dunham. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts. 1958. 151 p.

Tombs, Temples & Ancient Art. Joseph Lindon Smith. Norman: University of Oklahoma, 1956.

Tanis, douze annees de fouilles dans une capitale oubliee du delta egyptien. Pierre Montet. Paris, 1942. Yes, Indiana Jones fans, there really was Tanis, excavated circa 1940.

Travels in Egypt 1880-1891: Letters of Charles Wilbour, Jean Capart, ed. Brooklyn Museum, 1936.

The Glory of the Pharaohs. A. E. P. B. Weigall. New York, 1933.

Seventy Years in Archaeology, W. M. Flinders Petrie, New York, H. Holt and Company 1932.

Reminiscences. A. H. Sayce. London, 1923.

Methods & Aims in Archaeology. W. M. Flinders Petrie, New York, B. Blom, 1972. 208 p. Reprint of the 1904 edition.

Narrative of the Operations and Recent Discoveries within the Pyramids, Temples, Tombs, etc., Giovanni Battista Belzoni, John Murray, London, 1822, 2 volumes.

 

Hieroglyphs and the Egyptian Language - Basic Books

A brief introduction to this topic gives you basic ideas and some common written phrases. Beyond that you discover you are learning an ancient and forgotten language along with a writing system. Hieroglyphs are not picture writing, and there were two other scripts used to write Egyptian.

The first book listed here is generally regarded as the best introductory book for adults. The first four books listed here are recommended by Bob Hanawalt of the ESS as ones suitable for a serious student of hieroglyphs. Students not able to attend ESS classes may take a course of instruction in hieroglyphs by mail from the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago.

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Hieroglyphs without Mystery, Karl-Theodor Zauzich, Austin: University of Texas, 1992. 121 pages. One of the best introductions. German original edition 1980.

Egyptian Grammar, Alan Gardiner, Aris and Phillips, 3rd ed., 1982. 682 p. "The bible of hieroglyphs." This is used in beginning and graduate courses on hieroglyphs. Useful introductory material on several topics for beginners here, too.

Concise Dictionary of Middle Egyptian, Raymond Faulkner, Oxford, 1988. "A required text for any serious hieroglyph study." A dictionary of hieroglyphs: look up what hieroglyphs mean.

English/Egyptian Index of Faulkner's Concise Dictionary of Middle Egyptian. David Shennum. Malibu, California: Undena Press. Egyptian hieroglyph equivalents to English words listed alphabetically; the reverse of the method in Faulkner's book. Sold by the Oriental Institute, Chicago.

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Hieroglyphs: The Writings of Ancient Egypt. Maria Betro. Abbeville. 251 p. Presents and explains over 600 signs, including origins and meanings.

The Story of Writing, Alphabets, Hieroglyphs and Pictographs. Andrew Robinson.[1995?] 224 p.

Papyrus. Richard Parkinson and Stephen Quirke. Austin: University of Texas, 1995. 96 p. many illustrations.

Hieroglyphs from A to Z: A Rhyming book with ancient Egyptian stencils for kids. Peter Der Manuelian. Boston: Museum of FIne Arts, 1991.

Who were the Pharaohs? A History of their names with a list of cartouches. Stephen Quirke. British Museum, 1990. 80 p. [US: Dover]. Brief biography of prominent pharaohs; not children's book. Hieroglyph name of each is shown. 250 cartouches.

Ancient Egyptian Calligraphy A Beginners Guide to Writing Hieroglyphs, Henry G. Fischer, Metropolitan Museum, NY, 1988.

How to read the names of the Pharaohs. Erika Scott. 1988. Pharaonic names and translations.

Reading the Past Egyptian Hieroglyphs, W. V. Davies, 1987, University of California, 64 pages. Good introduction; leaves you wanting more.

Introducing Egyptian Hieroglyphs, and, More About Egyptian Hieroglyphs. Barbara Watterson, Scottish Academic Press 1987. Good introduction to both the signs and to Egyptian grammar, an unusual feature for introductory books on hieroglyphs.

The Sons of Re: Cartouches of the Kings of Egypt, John Rose, Deanprint Limited U.K., 1985. The kings, and their names in hieroglyphs.

Forgotten Scripts: Their Ongoing Discovery and Decipherment, Cyrus H. Gordon, Basic Books, 1982.

The Rosetta Stone, Carol Andrews, 62 p., British Museum, 1981; Peter Bendrick NY 1985. Brief, good, adult level.

The Story of Decipherment, M. Pope, London, 1975.

Fun with Hieroglyphs, Catherine Roehrig, Metropolitan Museum of Art. A project kit for children to use hieroglyphs to write English; includes 24 rubber stamps of the hieroglyphs which come closest to being an alphabet. Since there are few hieroglyphs for vowel sounds, this is make-believe, but fun. Good to stimulate children's interest.

 

Hieroglyphs: Special Topics

See also books listed under Literature, below.

Hieroglyphs and the Afterlife in Ancient Egypt. Werner Forman and Stephen Quirke. Univ. Oklahoma, 1996. "history of the texts to guarantee life beyond death." Beautiful photos of artifacts, temples, tombs, manuscripts.

Egyptian A Linguistic Introduction. Anthony Loprieno. Cambridge University Press, 1995.

The Egyptian Book of the Dead The Book of Going Forth by Day. translated by Raymond Faulkner; preface by Carol Andrews. Chronicle Books. 1995. "The first authentic presentation of the complete papyrus of Ani." The finest English translation of the text." Hieroglyphs and English text side by side. Large format.

The Rhind Mathematical Papyrus. Gay Robins and Charles Shute. New YorK: Dover. 88 p. Includes 24 color plates of the papyrus. Original in British Museum.

Before Writing, Denise Schmandt-Besserat, University of Texas, 700 pages, 1992.

The Epigraphic Survey Annual Report 1990-1991, Peter F. Dorman, The Oriental Institute. A recent report from this decades-long undertaking to record ancient inscriptions.

Aspects of the military documents of the Ancient Egyptians. Anthony John Spalinger. New Haven Yale University Press, 1982, 1983. 258 p.

The Name of the Dead: TutAnkhamun Translated, Hany Assaad, Bebben, 1979 "Excellent book for hieroglyph students- doubles as a practical workbook."

The Palermo Stone and the archaic Kings of Egypt. Patrick O'Mara. La Canada, CA: Paulette, 1979.

Ramesside Inscriptions. K. A. Kitchen. Oxford: Blackwell, 1979, 1980. 3 vols. transliteration of all the principle texts relating to Ramesses II. "mammoth project" Vol II has 928 pages.

Kadesh Inscriptions of Ramesses II. A. H. Gardiner. Oxford: Griffith Institute, 1975. 65 p.

The Report of Wenamun. Hans Goedicke. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1975 vii, 192 p. Egyptian language papyri translated

The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts, translated into English by R. O. Faulkner Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1969. 88 p.

The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts Supplement of Hieroglyphic Texts. R. O. Faulkner, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1969. 330 p.

Origins of the Book; Egypt's contribution to the development of the book from papyrus to codex Mohamed A. Hussein. Translated by Dorothy Jaeschke and Douglas Sharp Greenwich, Conn., New York Graphic Society 1972. Translation of Vom Papyrus zum Codex: der Beitrag Agyptens zur Buchkultur.

The Hekanakhte Papers and other Early Middle Kingdom Documents. T.J.H. James. New York: Metropolitan Museum, 1962.

Topographical Bibliography of Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts, Reliefs, and Paintings. Bertha Porter and Rosalind Moss. Oxford: Griffith Institute, Ashmolean Museum. Including the following titles:

Volume I part I. The Theban Necropolis Private Tombs. 520 p. 8 maps.

Volume I part II. The Theban Necropolis Royal Tombs and Smaller Cemeteries. 440 p. 20 maps.

Volume II. Theban Temples. 622 p. 49 maps and plans.

Volume III Part I. Memphis. Abu Rawash to Abusir. 422 p. 40 plans and maps.

Volume III part II. Memphis. Saqqara to Dahshur. 657 p. 36 maps and plans.

Volume IV. Lower and Middle Egypt. 320 p. 33 plans, 6 maps.

Volume V. Upper Egypt Sites. 315 p. 32 plans. 4 maps.

Volume VI. Upper Egypt Chief Temples. 283 p. 40 plans.

Volume VII. Nubia, The Deserts, and Outside Egypt. 488 p. 63 plans, 8 maps.

The Leyden Papyrus. F. Griffith and H. Thompson, eds. 219 p. Dover. Translation of demotic spells, medicine, magic. "Probably a compilation of an Egyptian sorcerer." 3rd cent B.C.

 

Histories

General Histories of Ancient Egypt

See also the first section of the Reader's Guide: "General Accounts of Ancient Egypt."

A History of Ancient Egypt. Nicolas Grimal; translated by Ian Shaw. Oxford, UK; Cambridge, Mass.: Blackwell, 1992. 512 p. Translation of: Histoire de l'Egypte Ancienne. The latest history of ancient Egypt, including recent data on field work. Excellent bibliography, approximately 80 pages.

A Short History of Ancient Egypt. T. G. H. James. Cassell. 1995. 167 p.

Egypt, Canaan, and Israel in Ancient Times, Donald B. Redford, Princeton 1992. Best current survey of Egyptian foreign relations with Syria-Palestine and Mesopotamia, although the part on the origin of the Israelites is rather speculative. Very dense, but well documented and readable.

Ancient Nubia: Egypt's Rival in Africa. David O'Connor, Philadelphia: The University Museum, University of Pennsylvania, 1994. 224 p. Bronze age through Christian era.

Nubia, Ancient Kingdoms of Africa, Joyce L. Haynes, Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 64 p. 1992.

Egypt and Africa: Nubia from Prehistory to Islam, ed. W. V. Davies, British Museum, 320 p., 1991.Thirty essays on Nubian archaeology.

A Short History of Ancient Egypt. David O'Connor. Pittsburgh, PA: Carnegie Museum of Natural History, 1990. 40 p.

The Egyptian Kingdoms, Rosalie David, Peter Bendrick, 1988.

Ancient Egypt: the Land and its Legacy. T.G.H. James. Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press, 1988. 223 p. Profiles of nine key locations with photos of both artifacts and the modern setting.

Ancient Egypt: A Social History. Bruce Trigger, Barry Kemp, David O'Connor, Alan Lloyd. Cambridge University, 1983. 450 p. four top researchers work together.

Temples, Tombs, and Hieroglyphs: a Popular history of Ancient Egypt. Barbara Michaels (Barbara Mertz). Rev. ed. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1978. 335 p.

The Cambridge Ancient History, third edition, editors I.E.S. Edwards and others, volumes I-II, 1970; reprinted 1974, 1976, 1980. A different author for several phases of Egyptian history, each an authority in his area.

Egypt of the Pharaohs, Sir Alan Gardiner, Oxford 1960; 1966. 460p. A little dry, but by an expert on Egypt and hieroglyphs. "classic authoritative work." Includes translations of several important texts.

The Scepter of Egypt, 2 vols., W.C. Hayes, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1953; Cambridge 1959; New York 1990. History as illustrated by art, household objects, etc., from the Met collection.

The Culture of Ancient Egypt. John Wilson. University of Chicago, 1951. hardback title The Burden of Egypt. "thoughtful, urbanely written, an intellectual history and a fine one"

A History of Egypt, from the earliest times to the Persian conquest. James Henry Breasted. fully rev. New York, Scribner's Sons, 1905, 1937. 634 p. 2nd. edition Scribner's 1948; Bantam, 1967. This was a basic work for decades. Comprehensive, though now 50 years behind times.

 

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Predynastic and Old Kingdom Histories

Early Egypt The Rise of Civilisation in the Nile Valley. A. J. Spencer. British Museum. 1993, 128 pages. Through the early Fourth Dynasty.

Egypt's Making: the Origins of Ancient Egypt 5000-2000 BC. Michael Rice. London; New York: Routledge, 1990. 322 p. Many illustrations; also a chapter on Carl Jung's ideas on Egypt.

"The Evolution of Early Egyptian Civilization: Issues and Evidence," R. J. Wenke, Journal of World Prehistory , vol. 5, no. 3, pp. 279-329, 1991. "features an excellent bibliography"

Predynastic Egypt, Barbara Adams. Shire, 1988. 90 p.

The First Egyptians. Michael Hoffman. Univ. South Carolina, 1988. 120 p. Exhibit catalog.

"The Predynastic of Egypt," F.A. Hassan, Journal of World Prehistory , vol. 2, pp. 135-172, 1988.

"Egypt's Old Kingdom," David Roberts, National Geographic , vol 187, no. 1, 2-43. (January 1995)

In the Shadow of the Pyramids: Egypt during the Old Kingdom, Jaromir Malek and Werner Forman, Oklahoma, 1986. 128p. 120 color plates. excellent text and superb photography

The Administration of Egypt in the Old Kingdom: the highest titles and their holders. Nigel Strudwick. London; Boston: KPI, 1985. 366 p.

The Administration of Egypt in the Old Kingdom. N Strudwick. London: Kegan Paul, 1985.

An Historical Bibliography of Egyptian Prehistory. Kent Weeks. Am. Research Center in Egypt, no. 6. 1985. 138 p.

Governmental Reforms in Old Kingdom Egypt. Naguib Kanawati. Warminster, Eng.: Aris & Phillips, 1980. 163 p.

Egypt Before the Pharaohs, Michael A. Hoffman, 1979, 1984, 1990 University of Texas. "very readable."

The Palermo Stone and the Archaic Kings of Egypt. Patrick O'Mara. La Canada, CA: Paulette, 1979.

Ancient Hierakonoplis, and, Ancient Hierakonoplis Supplement, B. Adams, Aris and Phillips, 1974.

Early Hydraulic Civilization in Egypt, K. Butzer University of Chicago, 1976. Detailed discussion of population estimates are still used.

The Cambridge Ancient History, third edition, editors I.E.S. Edwards and others, volumes I-II, 1970; reprinted 1974, 1976, 1980. A different author for several phases of Egyptian history, each an authority in his area.

Ancient Egyptian Literature A Book of Readings 93 vols). Miriam Lichtheim, ed. Univ. Calif, 1973, 1976, 1980. Volume I covers Old and Middle Kingdoms.

Most Ancient Egypt, W.C. Hayes, Univ. Chicago, 1965.

Egypt to the End of the Old Kingdom, Cyril Aldred, 143 p., 136 illus. (41 color), Thames and Hudson, 1965, 1984. "The best sort of introduction to the period for the general reader. The text is accurate and stimulating." - Journal of Egyptian Archeology .

The Old Kingdom in Egypt and the First Intermediate Period. Wm. Stevenson Smith. Cambridge University Press, 1962. 72p. from The Cambridge Ancient History.

Archaic Egypt. W. B. Emery. Pelican, 1961, 1985. Dynasties I - II; still in print.

Memphis: The City of the White Wall. M. T. Dimick. (U. Penn?), 1956. 29 p.

A History of Egyptian Sculpture and Painting in the Old Kingdom. Wm. Stevenson Smith. Oxford, 1949 2nd ed., 422p. rare and expensive to buy.

 

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Middle Kingdom, and First and Second Intermediate Period Histories

Voices from Ancient Egypt: an anthology of Middle Kingdom writings. translated and edited by R.B. Parkinson. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1991. 160 p. An "ideal" introduction to the culture of the period, as well as a representative sample of writings from the Middle Kingdom.

Beyond the Pyramids: Egyptian Regional Art from the Museo Egizio, Turin. Gay Robins, ed. 96 pp. 54 color plates, 100 b&w photos. From the First Intermediate period and Middle Kingdom. Includes important essays on the period.

Pharaohs and Mortals: Egyptian Art in the Middle Kingdom. catalogue by Janine Bourriau; with a contribution by Stephen Quirke. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press; Cambridge Fitzwilliam Museum, 1988. 167 p. "This is an excellent treatise on Middle Kingdom art, which seeks to weave the art of the period into the historical development of the Middle Kingdom."

Herodotus' Autopsy of the Fayoum: Lake Moeris and the Labyrinth of Egypt, O. Kimball Armayor. Amsterdam: J.C. Gieben 1985. 160 p.

The Cambridge Ancient History, third edition, editors I.E.S. Edwards and others, volumes I-II, 1970; reprinted 1974, 1976, 1980. A different author for several phases of Egyptian history, each an expert in his area.

"The First Dark Age in Egypt". Barbara Bell. American Journal of Archaeology , 75, 1975, pp. 1-26.

The Hyksos A New Investigation, Van Setters, New Haven, 1966.

The Rise and Fall of the Middle Kingdom in Thebes. Herbert E. Winlock. New York: Macmillan, 1947. 174 p.

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New Kingdom

There is an opportunity for a new, modern, well-illustrated history of the New Kingdom. One is surprised not to find such a book already, judging by the popularity of this period. There are excellent books on several New Kingdom topics, such as the Valley of the Kings.

Land Tenure in the Ramesside Period. Sally L.D. Katary. London; New York: Kegan Paul International, 1989. 320 p.

The Duties of the Vizier: Civil Administration in the Early New Kingdom. G.P.F. van den Boorn. London: Kegan Paul, 1988. 399 p.

Ramses II: the Great Pharaoh and his Times. Rita E. Freed. Denver Museum of Natural History, 1987.

Herodotus' Autopsy of the Fayoum: Lake Moeris and the Labyrinth of Egypt, O. Kimball Armayor. Amsterdam: J.C. Gieben 1985. 160 p.

Ancient Centers of Egyptian Civilization, editors H.S. Smith, Rosalind M. Hall. Windsor Forest, Berks.: Kensal Press, 1983 100 p.

Egypt's Golden Age: The Art of Living in the New Kingdom 1558-1085 B.C. E. J. Brovarski, et al. Exhibit Catalog. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. 1982.

Symbols of Ancient Egypt in the Late Period: the twenty-first dynasty. Beatrice L. Goff. The Hague, New York: Mouton, 1979. 309 p.

Ancient Egyptian Coregencies. William J. Murnane. Chicago: Oriental Institute, 1977. 272 p.A revision of the author's thesis, University of Chicago, 1973.

Nubia under the Pharaohs. by Bruce G. Trigger. London: Thames and Hudson, 1976. 216 p.

The Cambridge Ancient History, third edition, editors I.E.S. Edwards and others, volumes I-IV, 1970; reprinted 1974, 1976, 1980. A different author for several phases of Egyptian history, each an expert in his area.

Manuel d'Archeologie Egyptienne, J. Vandier, vols I - VI, Paris, 1952 - 1975.

Ancient Egypt; the New Kingdom and the Amarna period. Christiane Desroches-Noblecourt. Photographed by F. L. Kenett. Greenwich, Conn., New York Graphic Society 1960. 33 plates. Judging by her related book on TutAnknAmun, this is probably very well written and with excellent photos.

When Egypt Ruled the East, G. Steindorff and K. Steele, Univ. Chicago, 2nd ed. 1957. Authoritative and short, concentrating on the 18th Dynasty. " Very dated."

The Making of Egypt. W. M. Flinders Petrie, London, Sheldon Press; New York, Macmillan [1939] 187 p.

 

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Later Period Histories

The Life and Fate of the Ancient Library of Alexandria. Mostafa El-Abbadi. Paris: Unesco/Undp, 1990. 250 p.

The Vanished Library: A Wonder of the Ancient World. Luciano Canfora. California, 1990. 200 p. The Library at Alexandria from 300 BC to 640 AD.

Egypt in Late Antiquity. Roger Bagnall. Princeton University Press. 1993. 370 p. Covers 284 A.D. (not B.C.) to the Fifth Century A.D. Just in case you wanted to know what happened even later.

Egypt after the Pharaohs, A. Bowman, British Museum Publications, 1986.

The Late New Kingdom in Egypt (1300-664 B.C.) A genealogical and chronological investigation. M. L. Bierbrier. School of Archaeology and Oriental Studies. University of Liverpool, Aris and Phillips, 1975.

The Third Intermediate Period 1100-650 B.C. K. A. Kitchen. Warminster, 1972

The House of Ptolemy: A History of Egypt Under the Ptolemaic Dynasty. E. R. Bevan, Chicago: Argonaut, 1968.

Alexandria. E. M. Forster. New York: Doubleday, 1961. yes, the famous novelist.

Egyptian Sculpture of the Late Period, 700 B.C. to 100 A.D. B. V. Bothmer. New York: Brooklyn Museum, 1960. Exhibit catalog. Author is a top expert in this period.

"Note on the History of Kush, 850 B.C. - A.D. 350." Dows Dunham. American Journal of Archaeology, 50 , 1946, 378-388.

A History of Egypt under the Ptolemaic Dynasty. E. Bevan. London 1927.

A History of Egypt under Roman Rule. J. G. Milne. 3rd ed., London 1924.

The Histories, Herodotus, Penguin, 1980. The earliest surviving (intact) account of ancient Egypt, written in 460 BC in Egypt, while ancient Egypt was still open for business. Herodotus loved a good story, regardless of plausibility, and he included many here.

 

Jewelry

Amulets of Ancient Egypt. Carol Andrews. University of Texas, 1994. 112p. Lots of detailed information and illustrations.

The Scarab A Reflection of Ancient Egypt. Daphna Ben-Tor. Tel Aviv: Sabinsky, 1993. 84. p. catalog with translations of inscriptions.

Ancient Egyptian Jewelry, Carol Andrews, HY: Harry Abrams, 1991, 208 p. 186 illus.

Catalog of Egyptian Antiquities in the British Museum. Vol. VI. Jewelry. From the Earliest Times to the 17th Dynasty. Carol Andrews. London: British Museum, 1981. 102 p. 48 b&w plates. Shows simple beads and shell jewelry as well as gold.

Jewels of the Pharaohs: Jewelry of the Dynastic Period, Cyril Aldred, Thames and Hudson, 1971; 2nd. edition 1978. Special photography in Cairo by Albert Shoucair. "Wonderful photographs." The 1978 edition has less text but more photographs than the original 1971 edition. Take your choice.

Tutankhamun's Jewelry. I.E.S. Edwards. Metropolitan Museum, 1976. 48 p. 36 pieces shown in color photos.

Ancient Egyptian Jewelry. Alix Wilkinson. London: Methuen, 1971. 266 p.

Egyptian Jewelry. Milada Vilimkova. NY: Paul Hamlyn, 1969. 142 p. "some of the most breath-taking photographs of Egyptian jewelry in any book."

The Treasure of Lahun. Herbert E. Winlock. Metropolitan Museum, 1934. 80 p. 16 plates. The story of the jewelry of the princess of Senwosret II, found near his pyramid in Lahun. These fine pieces are now sold in reproduction by the Met. 400 copies printed.

Literature of Ancient Egypt

Love Lyrics of Ancient Egypt. Translated by Barbara Fowler. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1994. 101p.

Voices from Ancient Egypt: an Anthology of Middle Kingdom writings. translated and edited by R.B. Parkinson. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1991. 160 p. An introduction to the culture of the period, as well as a representative sample of writings from the Middle Kingdom.

The Egyptian Book of the Dead The Book of Going Forth by Day. translated by Raymond Faulkner; preface by Carol Andrews. Chronicle Books. [1995] "The first authentic presentation of the complete papyrus of Ani." "The finest English translation of the text." Hieroglyphs and English text side by side. Large format.

Letters from Ancient Egypt. translated by Edward F. Wente; edited by Edmund S. Meltzer. Atlanta, Ga.: Scholars Press, 1990. 271 p.

The Ancient Egyptian "Tale of Two Brothers" the oldest fairy tale in the world. by Susan Tower Hollis. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1990. 276 p.

Ramesside Inscriptions. K. A. Kitchen. Oxford: Blackwell, 1979, 1980. 3 vols. transliteration of all the principle texts relating to Ramesses II. "mammoth project" Vol II has 928 pages.

Awakening Osiris A New translation of the Egyptian Book of the Dead. trans by Normandi Ellis. Phanes Press, 1988. 227 p. An interesting modern translation. Library has a sound recording of readings by the translator. The Denver Public library has an audio recording of excellent readings by another reader.

The Prince Who Knew His Fate An Ancient Egyptian Tale. translated and illustrated by Lise Manniche. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art/Philomel Books, 1981. 40 p. Retells the 3,000 year-old Egyptian tale of the prince whose fate, to die by a crocodile, a snake, or a dog, is decreed at his birth. The ending of the tale has been lost, so who knows how it turned out?

Love Songs of the New Kingdom, translated by John L. Foster, University of Texas, Austin.

Ancient Egyptian Coffin Texts, (3 vols). R. O. Faulkner, Aris and Phillips, 1978.

Ancient Egyptian Literature A Book of Readings (3 vols). Miriam Lichtheim, ed. Univ. Calif, 1973, 1976, 1980. Volume I covers Old and Middle Kingdoms.

How Djadja-em-ankh saved the day: a tale from Ancient Egypt. translated from the original Hieratic with illustrations and commentary by Lise Manniche. New York: Crowell, 1977, 1976. 18 p. Third tale from Papyrus Westcar. Egyptian and English. Printed on a continuous sheet folded in accordion style. A tale of a king and his magician in Egypt 4500 years ago.

The Literature of Ancient Egypt: An anthology of stories, instructions, and poetry. Edited with an introd. by William Kelly Simpson. With translations by R. O. Faulkner, Edward F. Wente, Jr. and William Kelly Simpson. New Haven, Yale University Press, 1973. 354 p. new edition this date.

Myths and Legends of Ancient Egypt. T.G.H. James. Grosset & Dunlap, 1971. 159 p. Fourteen Egyptian myths with background material.

The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts, translated into English by R. O. Faulkner Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1969. 88 p. (see also next listing)

The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts Supplement of Hieroglyphic Texts. R. O. Faulkner, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1969. 330 p.)

Wings of the Falcon; Life and Thought of Ancient Egypt. translated and edited by Joseph Kaster. New York, Holt, Rinehart and Winston 1968 305 p.

Late Ramesside Letters, Edward Wente, Chicago, 1967.

The Ancient Egyptians: A sourcebook of their writings. Adolf Erman. intro. by W. K. Simpson. Harper and Row, 1966.

Stories from Old Egypt. Edward W. Dolch. Champaign, Ill.: Garrard Pub Co., 1964.

Popular Stories of Ancient Egypt. Translated by A. S. Johns from the French by Gaston Maspero. New foreword to this ed. by Aziz S. Atiya. New Hyde Park, N.Y., University Books 1967 316 p. A revised translation of Les contes populaires de l'Egypte ancienne. Reprint of the 1915 ed.

Ancient Records of Egypt, James H. Breasted (5 vols.). University of Chicago, 1906; reprinted Russell and Russell 1962; International Specialized Book Services, 1988. Breasted a top US Egyptologist; translations of records from monuments and tombs.

 

Miscellaneous

Egypt, The Living Past, T. G. H. James, British Museum, 1992. Life in Egypt today and its connection to the past. Large format and fine color photos.

Ancient Egypt: the Land and its Legacy. T.G.H. James. Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press, 1988. 223 p.

Science in Egyptology. R. A. David. Manchester University Press, 1986. 525 p.

Writing for Antiquity, Glyn Daniel, 192 p. His collected editorials for the journal Antiquity from 1958 to 1986. "... the essays that make up this book comprise a delightful grab-bag of learning, opinion, and reflection." Includes the Rosetta Stone, and many non-Egyptian topics.

Ancient Egypt; A Cultural Topography. edited by T.G.H. James. [Translated from the German by Ian F.D. Morrow] Chicago, University of Chicago Press 1961; 1977.392 p.

The Myth of Egypt and Its Hieroglyphics in European Tradition. Erik Iversen. 2nd. Edition. Princeton, 1993. "This is one of the noblest works I have ever reviewed. Egypt is a rare, superlative, exploit in the geste of mankind..." - from an academic reviewer, obviously. (One wonders if either the author or the reviewer knows that "hieroglyphic" is an adjective, not a noun. What next, a book on the Geologic of Egypt?) Despite reading the review, I still don't know if here is anything about Egypt in this book.

 

Mummies

Egyptian Mummies. Bob Brier. Morrow, 1994. 288 p. Over 100 photographs. Rituals, process of mummification, etc. Lists and describes known mummies and where they are today. "delightfully written and most entertaining."

Mummies A Voyage through Eternity. Francoise Dunard and Roger Lichtenburg. Abrams.

Canopic Equipment of the Kings of Egypt. Aidan Dodson. Kegan Paul, 1994 215 p.

The Mummy's Tale. A. R. David. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1993.

Biological Anthropology and the Study of Ancient Egypt. Vivian Davies and Roxie Walker eds. British Museum, 1993. 228p. Papers by twenty experts from a 1990 conference. This is obviously a professional level book. New research areas and techniques including diseases and DNA.

Egyptian Mummies, G. Elliot Smith and Warren R. Dawson, Kegan Paul Intn'l, 1991

Mummies, Myth and Magic in Ancient Egypt. Christine El Mahdy (Christine Hobson). New York: Thames and Hudson, 1989. 192 p. Excellent overview of whole topic. "thoroughly entertaining"

Egyptian Mummies, Carol Andrews, British Museum 1990. 71 p., small paperback.

Mummies of the Pharaohs: Modern Medical Investigations., Maurice Bucaille, St. Martin's, 1990.

Mummies and Magic The Funerary Arts of Ancient Egypt. Sue D'Auria, Peter Lacovara, and Catherine H. Roehrig. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1988. 276 p. Very detailed catalog for an exhibit from Boston in Dallas 1990-2000.

Tales Mummies Tell. Patricia Lauber. Crowell, 1985. 118 p. Mummies, both natural and man-made, including a frozen baby mammoth found in Siberia and the human mummies of Egypt, Peru, and Denmark, reveal information about ancient civilizations and life.

Mummies, Disease, and Ancient Cultures, Aidian Cockburn and Eve Cockburn, Cambridge, 1984.

Evidence Embalmed: Modern Medicine and the Mummies of Ancient Egypt. edited by Rosalie David and Eddie Tapp. Manchester University Press, 1984. 175 p.

Death in Ancient Egypt. A.J. Spencer. Penguin Books, 1982. 256 p. Survey of funerary beliefs.

An X-Ray Atlas of the Royal Mummies, James E. Harris and Edward Wente, University of Chicago, 1980. 401 pages. "very technical" 299 radiographs.

The Egyptian Mummy, Stuart Fleming, Bernard Fishman, David O'Connor and David Silverman, Philadelphia: The University Museum, University of Pennsylvania, 1980. 94 p.

Mysteries of the Mummies, A. Rosalie David (Ed.), Cassell London 1978.

Mummies: Death and Life in Ancient Egypt. James Hamilton-Paterson and Carol Andrews. Harmondsworth, New York: Penguin Books, 1978. 24 p.

X-Raying the Pharaohs, James E. Harris and Kent R. Weeks, Scribner's 1973. 195 p.

Mummies and Human Remains, W. R. Dawson and P. H. Gray, London 1968.

Music

Music and Musicians in Ancient Egypt. Lise Manniche. London: British Museum Press, 1991. 142 p. (US: Dover)

Musical Instruments from the tomb of Tut'ankhamun. Lise Manniche. Oxford, England: Griffith Institute, 1976. 15 p. TutAnkhamun's tomb series 6

Ancient Egyptian Dances. Irena Lexova; with drawings made from reproductions of ancient Egyptian originals by Milada Lexova; translation by K. Haltmar. Brooklyn, N.Y.: Dance Horizons, [1974?] 95 p.

Music of the Ancient Near East. Claire Polin. New York, Vantage Press 1954 138 p. "Musical examples": p. 123-127.

Natural Setting (Animals, Plants, Geology, Climate, etc.)

The Animal World of the Pharaohs. Patrick Houlihan. Thames and Hudson, 1996.

The Geology of Egypt, editor R. Said, Rotterdam, 1990. Includes summary of climate of Egypt since the last Ice Age.

Fish and Fishing in Ancient Egypt. Douglas J. Brewer, Renee F. Friedman. Warminster, England: Aris & Phillips, 1989. 109 p. Includes bibliographical references (p. 93-99) and index. The Natural History of Egypt; v. 2

An Ancient Egyptian Herbal. Lise Manniche. Austin: University of Texas Press, published in co-operation with British Museum Publications, 1989. 176 p. Ninety-six kinds of plants and trees.

The Birds of Ancient Egypt. Patrick F. Houlihan; with the collaboration and a preliminary checklist to the birds of Egypt by Steven M. Goodman. Warminster, England: Aris & Philips, 1986. 191 p. The Natural History of Egypt; volume 1.

Common Birds of Egypt. Bertel Bruun. Cairo: American University in Cairo Press, 1985

Pharaoh's Flowers. Hepper.

Geological Map of Greater Cairo Area, Geological Survey of Egypt, Cairo, 1983. Scale 1:100,00.

Climate, History and the Modern World. H. H. Lamb, London: Methuen, 1982, 387 p., ills.

Climate Present, Past and Future; 2 volumes. (Volume 2: Climatic history and the future.) H. H. Lamb. London: Methuen, 1977, 835 p. These two works by H. H. Lamb are the fascinating result of thirty years of study of the past history of the Earth's climate. The longer is slightly more technical but has more details, including recorded Nile levels from the Old Kingdom. The shorter is more of a popular summary. Both are easy to read.

The Geological Evolution of the River Nile, R. Said, New York, 1981.

The Sahara and the The Nile: Quaternary Environments and Prehistoric Occupation in North Africa, Williams and H. Faures, eds., Balkema, 1980.

Environment and Archaeology: An Ecological Approach, K. W. Butzer, Chicago, 1971. Includes mention of the Nile valley.

Guidebook to the Geology and Archaeology of Egypt, editor F. A. Reilly, Petroleum Exploration Society of Libya, 1964.

The Geology of Egypt, R. Said, Amsterdam, 1962.

Anatomical identification of some ancient Egyptian plant materials. Elhamy A. M. Greiss. Cairo, Impr. C. Tsoumas, 1957. 165 p.

La Famine dans l'Egypte Ancienne. Jacques Vandier. New York: Arno Press, 1979. 176 p. (more history than climate?) Reprint of the 1936 ed. published by Institut Francais d'Archeologie Orientale, Cairo. One of the few works addressing historic famines in Egypt.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Pyramids and Related Structures

General Accounts

The first six books here constitute a basic library on the pyramids and their times.

The Complete Pyramids. Mark Lehner. Thames and Hudson 1997. 256 p. 400 illus.(100 in color). The most recent book on the pyramids, by one of the foremost investigators at Giza who has spent over 15 years working there. The best book on the pyramids, especially if you want to start with only one.

The Pyramids of Egypt. I.E.S. Edwards. Penguin, first edition 1947; revised several times, last revision 1993. A basic reference on the pyramids. Excellent, with lots of detail. Black and white diagrams and photos. Be sure to use the latest edition which has new material.

Building in Egypt Pharaonic Stone Masonry. Dieter Arnold. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1991. 316 p. Superb details of construction of all kinds; excellent photographs and diagrams of construction details. Summarizes a great deal of work.

Pharaohs and Pyramids. George Hart. London: Herbert Press, 1991. New and up to date, well written. With history, good photographs, and a basic guide to the sites.

In the Shadow of the Pyramids: Egypt during the Old Kingdom, Jaromir Malek and W. Forman, Norman: Oklahoma University, 1986. 128p. 120 color plates. Old Kingdom history. excellent text and photography.

The Pyramids, Ahmed Fakhry, Univ. of Chicago, 2nd ed., 1969. Fakhry is an Egyptian archeologist. A good basic pyramid reference. References to expedition reports.

"Egypt's Old Kingdom," David Roberts, National Geographic , vol 187, no. 1, 2-43. (January 1995)

The Pyramids of Ancient Egypt, Zahi Hawass, Pittsburgh, 1990. booklet.

"A Unique Approach to Unraveling the Secrets of the Great Pyramids." Dora Jane Hamblin, Smithsonian, April 1986. 78-93. Describes Mark Lehner's Giza Plateau Mapping Project. Includes a wonderful 2-page reconstructed perspective view of the area around Giza when the Khufu pyramid was being built.

Sakkara and Memphis. Jill Kamil. New York: Longman, 1984. Travel guide. "This gives excellent in-depth descriptions of the monuments and tombs - highly recommended."

Egypt to the End of the Old Kingdom, Cyril Aldred. Thames and Hudson, 1965, 1984. 143 p., 136 illus., 41 color plates. "The best sort of introduction to the period for the general reader. The text is accurate and stimulating." - Journal of Egyptian Archeology .

The Boat Beneath the Pyramid. Nancy Jenkins. Thames and Hudson, 1980.

The Mountains of Pharaoh, Leonard Cottrell, Robert Hale and Co., 1956. "old but good"

 

The Pyramids and Related Structures:

Technical Investigations and Reports

 

"Insight from Geometry and Physics Into the Construction of Egyptian Old Kingdom Pyramids." Stuart Wier. Cambridge Archaeological Journal , volume 6, number 1, April 1996. Estimates of construction rates and manpower requirements based on pyramid design, geometry, and simple principles of physics, without reference to any unverified construction technique. You can build the great pyramids with one to two percent of the population in Egypt at the time.

Pyramid Symposium 1993. Egyptian Study Society. Denver: Denver Museum of Natural History. Sound recording of proceedings.

"The Pyramid of Meidum: was it the victim of structural collapse?" George B. Johnson, KMT , 2 parts, vol. 4 no. 2, pp. 65-71; vol. 5 no. 1 pp. 72-82.

Building in Egypt Pharaonic Stone Masonry. Dieter Arnold. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1991. 316 p. Superb details of construction of all kinds; excellent photographs and diagrams of construction details. Summarizes a great deal of work.

Die Grossen Pyramiden von Giza. Rainer Stadelmann. Akademische Druck - U. Verslagsanstalt, 1990.

The Egyptian Pyramids: A Comprehensive Illustrated Reference. J. P. Lepre, Jefferson, North Carolina: MacFarland and Co., 1990. Lots of detailed information, but very few and simple illustrations. Not a book for an introduction to pyramids. Apparently the work of an amateur enthusiast.

"Herodotus' Pyramid Machine Reinvented." Bob Lowdermilk, KMT vol. 2, no. 4. 1991 (Winter 91-92). A practical proposed construction technique which lifts stones by levers and rope slings.

"Boston at Giza The Museum of Fine Arts' Race Against Time in the Shadow of the Pyramids" Peter Der Manuelian, KMT 1, no. 4. 1990 (Winter 91-92). pp. 10 - 21. Overview of the work and discoveries of George A. Reisner at Giza. Reisner conducted the largest excavations of the large cemeteries and temples at Giza, and introduced modern documentation techniques. His team's work is essential to understanding Giza.

The Pyramid Complex of Senwosret I (Metropolitan Museum of Art Egyptian Expedition 22). Dieter Arnold. 1988-1992. 3 vols.

"On Pyramid Building." M. Isler. Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt . vols XXII (1985); XXIV (1987).

The Pyramid Builders of Ancient Egypt: a modern investigation of pharaoh's work force. A.R. David. London; Boston: Routledge & K. Paul, 1986. 269 p. Pyramid of Senwosret II. A reassessment of the excavation of the Dynasty XII workmen's village at Kahun.

"The Development of the Giza Necropolis: The Khufu Project." Mark Lehner. Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archaologisch Instituts Kairo 41, 109-146. 1985

The Pyramid Tomb of Hetepheres and the Satellite Pyramid of Khufu. Mark Lehner. Mainz and Rheim, 1985.

"A Contextual Approach to the Pyramids." Mark Lehner. Archive fur Orientforschung 31, 136-158. 1984.

"Survey of the Temple of Isis Mistress of the Pyramid at Giza", Michael Jones and Angela Milward, Journal of the Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities , 12, 1982, 139-151.

Saqqara - The Royal Cemetary of Memphis Excavations and Discoveries since 1850. Jean-Philippe Lauer. Thames and Hudson, 1976; NY: Scribners 1976. 248 p. By an Egyptologist who spent his life working at Saqqara. 210 illus. "a rare and classic work"

Le Mystere des Pyramids. Jean-Philippe Lauer. Paris, 1974.

The Riddle of the Pyramids, Kurt Mendelssohn, Thames and Hudson, 1974, 1989. Interesting ideas, and good diagrams. An introduction to the Pyramids by way of a hypothesis linking construction and social history. Mendelssohn also proposed that the Meidum pyramid collapsed during construction.

The Mastaba of Queen Merysankh, W. K. Simpson, Boston, 1973.

"A Scientist Looks at the Pyramids." Kurt Mendelssohn. American Scientist 59, 1971. 210-.

The Pyramid of Unas, A. Piankoff, Princeton, 1968.

Histoire Monumentale des Pyramids d'Egypt. Jean-Philippe Lauer. Cairo, 1962. (several vols)

Archaic Egypt. W. B. Emery, 1961, 1985, Pelican. Dynasties I - II; good information on mastabas

The Monuments of Sneferu at Dashur, Ahmed Fakhry, Cairo: Egyptian Antiquities organization, 1959-1963. excellent report on Bent Pyramid and Valley temple.

Excavations at Saqqara. The Unfinished Step Pyramid. M. Zakaria Goneim. Cairo: l'Institute Francais d'Archeologie Orientale, 1957. 37 p. best pictures of how the site appeared cleared.

"Building an Egyptian Pyramid." Dows Dunham. Archaeology, 9, 159-165. 1956.

The Lost Pyramid, Zakaria Goneim, Rinehart, New York 1956. on the unfinished and buried large pyramid of Sekhemkhet. (also as The Buried Pyramid, M. Z. Goneim, London 1956.)

Giza (12 volumes). Hermann Junker. Vienna and Leipzig, 1929 - 1955. Junker had the largest concession at Giza after Reisner, and the German team also did important work.

Great Tombs of the First Dynasty Kings, W. B. Emery, 3 vols., 1949-1958.

A History of the Giza Necropolis. 2 vols. G. A. Reisner and W. S. Smith, Harvard, 1942-1955.

The Sphinx: Its History in Light of Recent Excavations, Selim Hassan, Oxford University, 1949.

Sakkarah: The Monuments of Zoser. Etienne Drioton and Jean-Philippe Lauer. Cairo: l'Institute Francais d'Archeologie Orientale, 1939.

The Step Pyramid (2 vols). Cecil M. Firth, J. E. Quibell, and Jean-Philippe Lauer. Cairo: l'Institut Francais d'Archeologie Oriental, 1936. (Also as La Pyramid a Degres, in French?)

The Development of the Egyptian Tomb Down to the Accession of Cheops, George A. Reisner, Cambridge: Harvard, 1935.

Mycerinus: The Temples of the Third Pyramid at Giza, George. A. Reisner, Cambridge Mass.: Harvard, 1931. Found here were the superb black statues of Menkaura which are arguably the finest art works from ancient Egypt.

Ancient Egyptian Construction and Architecture. Somers Clarke and R. Engelbach. New York: Dover Publications, 1990. 352 p. An unabridged republication of the work originally published in 1930 by Oxford University Press, under the title Ancient Egyptian Masonry The Builders' Craft.

Meydum and Memphis, W. M. F. Petrie, E. MacKay and G. A. Wainwright, London, 1910.

Abydos, W.M.F. Petrie, London, 1902. regarding the First Dynasty tombs there

Medum, W.M.F. Petrie, London, 1892.

Fouilles a Dahchour Mars-Juin 1894. Jacques Jean-Marie De Morgan. Vienne, Holzhausen, 1895. 165 pages. 40 plates, 274 figures. Excavations at the Middle Kingdom pyramids of Dashur. Spectacular jewelry of XIIth Dynasty Princess Merit, among others. The 1894-1895 excavations were published in 1903.

The Pyramids and Temples of Gizeh, W. M. Flinders Petrie. London, 1883; reprinted by Histories and Mysteries of Man Ltd, 1990. 135 p. The first scientific survey by one of the greatest early Egyptologists. Still of value today to students of the pyramids. The 1990 reprint has additional material by Zahi Hawass.

Operations Carried on at the Pyramids of Gizeh in 1837. Howard Vyse. (3 vols). London, 1840, 1842.

Reference Books on Ancient Egypt

Atlas of Ancient Egypt. John Baines and Jaromir Malek. New York, N.Y.: Facts on File Publications, 1980. 240 p. illus. Lots of detail, organized by locations, with maps, diagrams, photos, etc. One of the best references to the sites.

The Dictionary of Ancient Egypt. Ian Shaw and Paul Nicholson. British Museum; Abrams. 328 pages. 600 entries, 75 maps, plans and drawings. 420 illus. Includes ideas and individuals both ancient and modern.

Chronicle of the Pharaohs. P. A. Clayton. Thames and Hudson, 1994(?). 224 p. 350 illus. A handy reference to all the kings.

Cultural Anthropology of the Middle East A Bibliography. vol 1: 1965 - 1987, R. Strijp, E. J. Bril, 1992.

The Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt. Margaret Bunson. New York: Facts on File Publications, 1991. 291 p. Predynastic to 1070 B.C. 1500 entries.

Dictionary of Ancient Egypt. Margaret Bunson. Oxford University Press 1991. 291 p. (same as preceding?) black and white illustrations.

Smithsonian Timelines of the Ancient World. Chris Scarre, editor. From origins of life to A. D. 1500. 256 p. Mr. Scarre is the Editor of the Cambridge Archaeological Journal .

Ancient Egypt (Eyewitness Books series), George Hart, Knopf, 1990. Most of the book consists of some 200 excellent color photographs of actual ancient artifacts, many from everyday life.

Ancient Egypt: Cultural Atlas for Young People. Geraldine Harris, New York: Facts on File, 1990.

A Dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses, George Hart, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1986. 229 p.

Atlas of Ancient Egypt. John Baines and Jaromir Malek. New York, N.Y.: Facts on File Publications, 1980. 240 p. illus. Lots of detail, organized by locations, with maps, diagrams, photos, etc. One of the best references.

Ancient Egypt: sources of information in the New York Public Library. compiled by Ida A. Pratt under the direction of Dr. Richard Gottheil. New York: Kraus Reprint Corp., 1969. 486 p.

 

Religion and Mythology

Symbol and Magic in Ancient Egypt. Richard H. Wilkinson. Thames and Hudson, 1994. 224 p.

Ancient Egyptian Religion, Stephen Quirke, British Museum, 1992. Quirke is one of the curators at the British Museum. "A good feature is his discussion of popular religion and the use of artifacts, many of which are rarely pictured, to illustrate the text."

"Popular Worship in Ancient Egypt," Emily Teeter, KMT , vol 4, no. 3; Summer 1993. Points include the diversity of religious practices, common people's place in temples, and the role that religion played in community life outside the realm of the temples.

The Festival Procession of Opet in the Colonnade Hall with translations of texts, commentary, and glossary by the Epigraphic Survey. Chicago; Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 1994.

The Egyptian Book of the Dead The Book of Going Forth by Day. translated by Raymond Faulkner; preface by Carol Andrews. Chronicle Books. [1995] "The first authentic presentation of the complete papyrus of Ani." The finest English translation of the text." Hieroglyphs and English text side by side. Large format. [Library has earlier version of the text only, 1985]

The Mechanics of Ancient Egyptian Magical Practice. Robert Kriech Ritner. Chicago: Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 1993. 322 p.Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization; no. 54 Originally presented as the author's thesis (Ph. D. University of Chicago, 1987.)

Idea into Image: Essays on Ancient Egyptian Thought. Erik Hornung, Timken, 224 p. 1992. [from German] "An introduction to the imagination of ancient Egypt ... questions of being and non-being, time and eternity, nature of the divine, creation of the world, and the meaning of death."

Akhenaten's Sed-festival at Karnak. Jocelyn Gohary. London; New York: Kegan Paul International; New York, NY, USA: Distributed by Routledge, Chapman & Hall, 1992. 238 p.

Egyptian Light and Hebrew Fire: theological and philosophical roots of Christendom in evolutionary perspective. Karl W. Luckert. Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, 1991. 347 p.

Religion in Ancient Egypt: Gods, Myths, and Personal Practice. edited by Byron E. Shafer; contributors, John Baines, Leonard H. Lesko, David P. Silverman. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1991. 217 p. Lectures given at a symposium held in 1987. Detailed and scholarly (footnotes) with Black & white illustrations. May be a good overview for those interested in Egyptian religion.

The Private Chapel in Ancient Egypt: a study of the chapels in the workmen's village at el Amarna with special reference to Deir el Medina and other sites. Ann H. Bomann. London; New York: Kegan Paul International, 1991. 144 p.

Magic in Ancient Egypt. Geraldine Pinch. Austin: University of Texas. 191 p. [1990?]

Ancient Egyptian: the Sirius connection Murry Hope. Shaftesbury, England: Element Books, 1990. Includes glossary, bibliography and index. Magic of Egypt and religious aspects. magic, mythology, Sirius, double stars. (is this credible?)

The Cobra Goddess of Ancient Egypt: Predynastic, Early Dynastic, and Old Kingdom periods. Sally B. Johnson; drawings by Victoria Solia. London; New York: Kegan Paul International 1990. 276 p.

Valley of the Kings - Horizon of Eternity, Erik Hornung, Timken 1990, from the German "Tal der Konige." Strong on religious symbols: very detailed - and very bizarre to modern minds - beliefs about the Egyptian underworld. Color photos of tomb paintings with explications.

La Clerge Feminin d'Amon Thebain a la 21e Dynastie. Saphinas-Amal Naguib. Leuven: Uigeverij Peteers, 1990. 240 p. 9 plates. The role of women in the worship of Amun in the 21st dynasty.

Egyptian Gods and Myths, Angela Thomas, Shire, 1986.

A Dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses, George Hart, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1986. 229 p. His book on pyramids is excellent so this probably is so, too.

Egyptian Myths. Hart.

Gods and Myths of Ancient Egypt. Robert A. Armour; with Alison Baker. Cairo, Egypt: American University in Cairo Press, 1986. 207 p.

The Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead, R. O. Faulkner, British Museum, 1985.

Egyptian Magic. Christian Jacq. Aris and Phillips, 1985. 162 p. This author is a very popular novelist in France, but almost unknown in the US, and none of his novels are translated.

The Book of the Dead. Evelyn Rossiter. Geneva: Minerva, 1984. 119 p. Filled with color photos of outstanding scrolls of the book. Commentaries.

The Gods of Ancient Egypt. Barbara Watterson. Facts on File, 1984. 208 p., 24 p. of plates; illus.

The Ancient Egyptian Religious Beliefs and Practices, A. Rosalie David, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 260 p., 1982. "attempts to show not only the religious developments within the historical framework, but to demonstrate how the religion permeated nearly every part of society." Looks like a good adult introduction.

Death in Ancient Egypt. A.J. Spencer. Penguin Books, 1982. 256 p. "excellent survey of funerary beliefs."

"Funerary Beliefs of the Ancient Egyptians," Edward F. Wente, Expedition 24, no. 2 (Winter 1982). "A very insightful study of the theology of the afterlife."

Conceptions of God in Ancient Egypt: the one and the many. Erik Hornung; translated by John Baines. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1982. 295 p. Translation, with revisions, of: Der Eine und die Vielen.

The Death of Gods in Ancient Egypt, Jane B. Sellers, Penguin, 424 p. "Sellars argues that the stories of the ancient Egyptian religion have a firm basis in astronomy... observations were in time turned into mythic tales." anyone familiar with this?

Ancient Egyptian Magic. Bob Brier. New York: Quill, 1981. Supposed to be one of the best on this topic.

Egyptian Mysteries. Lucy Lamy. Thames and Hudson, 1981, 1991. 96 p.

A Guide to Religious Ritual at Abydos, A. Rosalie David, Aris and Phillips 1981.

Cult of the Sun: Myth and Magic in Ancient Egypt. Rosalie David. London: J. M. Dent, 1980.

Illustrated Dictionary of the Gods and Symbols of Ancient Egypt. Manfred Lurker. Thames and Hudson. 142 p.

The Gods and Symbols of ancient Egypt: an illustrated dictionary. Manfred Lurker English ed., rev., enlarged. and picture-edited by Peter A. Clayton. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1980. 142 p. Translation of: Gotter und Symbole der alten Agypter.

Ancient Egyptian Coffin Texts, R. O. Faulkner, 3 vols., Aris and Phillips, 1978.

The Wandering of the Soul. Texts Translated with Commentary. Alexandre Piankoff. Princeton, 1974. 124 p. 48 plates. also includes a game of senet.

Egyptian Religion, Siegfried Morenz, Cornell University Press, 1973, recently reprinted. "Although this book is tinged with the author's own Christian background, it is an excellent discussion of many aspects of religion, and well organized by topic. A very strong feature of the book is the use of texts in translation to illustrate points of theology."

Myths and Legends of Ancient Egypt. T.G.H. James; illustrated by Brian Melling. Grosset & Dunlap, 1971. 159 p. Fourteen Egyptian myths accompanied by background material.

The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts, translated into English by R. O. Faulkner Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1969. 88 p. (see also The ancient Egyptian pyramid texts, Supplement of hieroglyphic texts. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1969. 330 p.)

Egyptian Mythology, Veronica Ions. Paul Hamlyn, 1968. 141 p. "informative and enjoyable"

Ancient Egyptian Art: the cults of Osiris and Amon. E. Otto, Photos. by Max Hirmer. New York, Abrams 1967 144 p. Translation of Osiris und Amon: Kult und heilige Statten. (Egyptian Art and the Cults of Osiris and Amun, London, 1968.)

The Litany of Re. Texts Translated with Commentary. Alexandre Piankoff. NY: Pantheon, 1964. 182 p. New Kingdom theological work. 82 plates. "important work for any study of the new Kingdom."

The Conflict of Horus and Seth, J. Gwyn Griffith, Univ. Liverpool, 1960.

Myth and Symbol in Ancient Egypt. R.T. Rundle Clark. London: Thames and Hudson, 1991, 1978, 1959. 292 p.

Ancient Egyptian Religion. by Jaroslav Cerny. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1979. 159 p. Reprint of the 1957 printing of the work originally published in 1952 by Hutchinson's University Library.

Development of Religion and Thought in Ancient Egypt. James Henry Breasted. New York: Scribner's Sons, 1912. Harper reissue, introduction by John A. Wilson; 1959. 379 p.

The Tomb of Ramesses VI. Alexandre Piankoff. NY: Pantheon, 1954. 2 vols. 459 p. 196 plates. "all the inscriptions and decoration in one of the most popular and attractive tombs of the Valley of the Kings."

Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament. James B. Pritchard, ed. Princeton, 2nd. edition, 1955. 526 p. Egyptian section has important religious texts.

"The Consecration of an Egyptian Temple according to the use of Edfu." A. M. Blackman & H. W. Fairman. Journal of Egyptian Archaeology , 32, 75-91, 1946.

Religious Life in Ancient Egypt. W. M. Flinders Petrie, London, Constable, 1924. 221 p. "an excellent book based on 40 years' excavations"

The Dawn of Astronomy; a study of the temple worship and mythology of the ancient Egyptians. Joseph Norman Lockyer (1836-1920). Cambridge, Mass., M.I.T. Press 1964 432 p.

 

Science and Technology

Including Astronomy, Mathematics, Crafts, Industries, Medicine, etc.

Ancient Egyptian Medicine. John Nunn. Univ. Oklahoma Press. 1996. 240 p.

Papyrus. Richard Parkinson and Stephen Quirke. Austin: University of Texas, 1995. 96 p. many illustrations.

"An Old Kingdom Basalt Quarry at Widan el Faras and the Quarry Road to Lake Moeris in the Faiyum, Egypt." J.A. Harrell and T. M. Bown. Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt , 32, 1995.

The Rhind Mathematical Papyrus. Gay Robins and Charles Shute. New York: Dover. 88 p. Includes 24 color plates of the papyrus. Original in British Museum.

"The Chariot In Egypt" Kathy Hansen. KMT, vol. 5, number 1. Spring 1994. pp. 50-61.

Mathematics in the Time of the Pharaohs. Richard J. Gillings. Dover. 286 p.

The Discovery of Glass: Experiments in the smelting of ... John E. Dayton. Harvard, 1993. 72 p. 47 illus. Did Egyptian dark blue glass come from Schneeburg, Saxony? So this claims.

Studies in Ancient Technology. Forbes.

Studies in Early Egyptian Glass. Lilyquist and Brill. Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1993. Technical articles. some color photos.

Prehistoric textiles. Elizabeth Barber. Princeton, 1991.

Women's Work: the first 20,000 years: Women, Cloth, and Society. E. J. Barber. Norton.

The Medical Skills of Ancient Egypt, J. Worth Estes, Science History Publications, Canton Mass., 1989.

Ancient Egyptian Science: a source book. Marshall Clagett. Philadelphia, PA: American Philosophical Society, 1989. Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society; v.184

A Study of Ancient Egyptian Cordage in the British Museum, Donald P. Ryan and David H. Hansen, London: British Museum, Occasional Paper 62, 1988.

Science in Ancient Egypt. Woods, Geraldine. Watts, 1988. 92 p. Discusses the achievements of the ancient Egyptians in science, mathematics, astronomy, medicine, agriculture, and technology. (juvenile)

The Death of Gods in Ancient Egypt, Jane B. Sellers, Penguin, 424 p. "Sellars argues that the stories of the ancient Egyptian religion have a firm basis in astronomy... observations were in time turned into mythic tales."

A Survey of Glassmaking from Ancient Egypt to the Present. The Corning Museum of Glass; compiled by Charleen K. Edwards. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1977. 59 p.

Egyptian Chronology, E. Wente et al., Oriental Institute University of Chicago, 1976.

A History of Ancient Mathematical Astronomy. Otto Neugebauer. Berlin; New York: Springer-Verlag, 1975. 3 vols. 1456 p.

Ancient Egyptian Glasses and Glazes in the Brooklyn Museum. E. Riefstahl. Brooklyn, 1968.

Egyptian Astronomical texts. O. Neugebauer and Richard Parker. London: Humphries, 1960-1969.

Science and secrets of early medicine: Egypt, Mesopotamia, India, China, Mexico, Peru. Jurgen Thorwald. Translated by Richard and Clara Winston. New York, Harcourt, Brace & World 1963, 331 p. Translation of Macht und Geheimnis der fruhen Arzte. (?)

Ancient Egyptian Materials and Industries. Alfred Lucas. 4th ed., rev. and enl. by J.R. Harris. London: E. Arnold, 1962. 523 p. Lucas worked on conservation of materials from the tomb of TutAnkhamun. (original 1936?)

Physics and Archeology, M. J. Aitken, Interscience, 1961. Carbon 14 and other dating and mapping techniques.

Anatomical identification of some ancient Egyptian plant materials. Elhamy A. M. Greiss. Cairo: Impr. C. Tsoumas, 1957. 165 p.

The Old Egyptian Medical Papyri. Chauncey Depew Leake, Lawrence, Kan., University of Kansas Press, 1952. 108 p.

The Calendars of Egypt, Richard Parker, Univ. Chicago, 1950.

Glass and Glazes from Ancient Egypt. Brooklyn Museum 1948. 24 p. A short list of references on Egyptian glass and glazed wares.

Bitumen and Petroleum in Antiquity. R.J. Forbes. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1936.

Ancient Textiles from Egypt in the University of Michigan collection. Lillian M. Wilson. Ann Arbor, University of Michigan press, 1933. 77 p.

The Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus published in Facsimile with Translation and Commentary in Two Volumes. James Henry Breasted. Chicago, 1930. 596 p. 53 plates. ca. 2700 - 1700 B.C.

Tools and Weapons. W. M. Flinders Petrie. London, 1917.

The Hearst Medical Papyrus. George Reisner. Leipzig, 1905.

Tools and Weapons. W. M. Flinders Petrie. London, 1917.

Society (Social life, Administration, Foreign relations, etc.)

See also Daily Life.

Ancient Egypt. David P. Silverman, editor. Oxford U. Press, 1997, 256 p. Essays by 14 top professional researchers survey Egypt from pre-pharaonic times to Ptolomies, including marriage, different social classes.

Women in Ancient Egypt. Gay Robins. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1993. 205 p.

Egypt, Canaan, and Israel in ancient times. Donald B. Redford. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1992. 488 p. Best current survey of Egyptian foreign relations with Syria-Palestine and Mesopotamia, although the part on the origin of the Israelites is rather speculative. Very dense, but well documented and readable.

Daughters of Isis: Women of Ancient Egypt. Joyce Tyldesley. Penguin. 352 pp.

Women in Ancient Egypt. Barbara Watterson. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1991. 201 p.

Dwarfs in Ancient Egypt and Greece. Veronique Dasen. Oxford. 434 p.

Egyptian Phyles in the Old Kingdom: the evolution of a system of social organization. Ann Macy Roth. Chicago, Ill.: Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 1991. 243 p. Studies in ancient oriental civilization; no. 48 Based on the author's thesis (Ph.D.--University of Chicago, 1985).

Sexual life in Ancient Egypt. Lise Manniche. London; New York: KPI; New York, NY, USA: Distributed by Methuen Inc., Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1987. 127 p.

Ancient Egypt: A Social History, B. Trigger, B. Kemp, D. O'Connor, A. Lloyd, Cambridge University 450 p. 1983, 1990. four top scholars provide insight

The Remarkable Women of Ancient Egypt. Barbara Lesko, Berkeley: B.C. Scribe 1978 (?).

The Jewish-Aramaean Communities in Ancient Egypt. Boulos Ayad. Cairo: Institute of Coptic Studies, 1975. 343 p.

Military Rank, Title, and Organization in the Egyptian New Kingdom. A. R. Schulman, Berlin 1954.

Race Relations in Ancient Egypt: Greek, Egyptian, Hebrew, Roman. Simon Davis, New York, Philosophical Library 1952 176 p.

The Sphinx

For the historical setting, see works listed under Pyramids, and under History: Old Kingdom.

"Who Built It, and Why?" Zahi Hawass and Mark Lehner. Archaeology 47, 1994. 30-41.

"Can the Sphinx be Saved?" Zahi Hawass. Archaeology 47, 1994. 42-43.

"Remnant of a Lost Civilization?" Zahi Hawass and Mark Lehner. Archaeology 47, 1994. 44-47.

"Reconstructing the Sphinx." Mark Lehner. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 2, 1992. 3-26

"Computer Rebuilds the Sphinx." Mark Lehner. National Geographic 179. April 1991. 32-39.

The Sphinx: Its History in Light of Recent Excavations. Selim Hassan. Cairo; London: Oxford University Press, 1949.

 

Sun Temples

Building in Egypt Pharaonic Stone Masonry. Dieter Arnold. Oxford, 1991. 316 p.

Cult of the Sun Myth and Magic in Ancient Egypt, Rosalie David, 1980.

The Obelisks of Egypt, Labib Habachi, Scribner's Sons, 1977; Am. Univ Cairo, 1986.

Egypt to the End of the Old Kingdom, Cyril Aldred, 143 p., 136 illus. (41 color), Thames and Hudson, 1965, 1984.

Das Sonnenheiligtum des Konigs Userkaf (2 vols), Herbert Ricke. Cairo, 1965.

A History of Egyptian Architecture, (vol 1: From the earliest times to the end of the Old Kingdom), Alexander Badawy, Giza 1954, reprinted 1990, Histories and Mysteries of Man Ltd, 1 Battersea Bridge Road, London SW1. "Dated but complete and scholarly."

Manuel d'Archeologie Egyptienne, J. Vandier, vols I - VI, Paris, 1952 - 1975.

A History of Egypt, vol I, W.F. Petrie, (c 1900). Reprinted Histories and Mysteries of Man Ltd, 1991.

Das Re-Heiligtum des Konigs Ne-woser-Re (3 vols.), Ludwig Borchardt, Berlin: Der Bau, 1905. (same title listed for F.W. von Bissing and H. Kees, Leipzig 1923, 1928)

 

Syntheses and Reflections

The Fractal House of Pharaoh. Mark Lehner. Oxford University Press. due 1999. A very new and exciting view of the nature of Egyptian society based on the household as the nuclear unit. See related books Seeing Like a State: How Schemes to Improve the Human Condition have Failed by James Scott, Yale 1998; and Pasha's Peasants by Kenneth Cuno, Cambridge 1993; and The Theory of Social and Economic Organization, Max Weber, 2nd ed., Oxford, 1950.

Early Civilizations: Ancient Egypt in Context. Bruce G. Trigger. Cairo, Egypt: American University in Cairo Press, 1993. 158 p. Based on four lectures on `Ancient Egypt as an Early Civilization' delivered at the American University in Cairo between April 12 and 15, 1992

Ancient Egypt: Anatomy of a Civilization. Barry J. Kemp. London: New York: Routledge, 1989. 356 p.

City and Cosmos in Ancient Egypt. D. O'Connor.

Ancient Egypt: A Social History. B. Trigger, B. Kemp, D. O'Connor, A. Lloyd, Cambridge University, 1983; 1990. 450 p.

Glimpses of Ancient Egypt: Studies in Honor of H. W. Fairman. eds. John Ruffles and Kenneth Kitchen. Warminster: Aris and Phillips, 1979.

The Emergence of Society. John Pfeiffer. McGraw-Hill, 1977. 512 p.

The Culture of Ancient Egypt. John A. Wilson. University of Chicago Press 1951, 1956; 344 p. First published in 1951 with the title The Burden of Egypt. "thoughtful, urbanely written, an intellectual history and a fine one" A history but more philosophic, analytical, and intellectual than most. For the person seeking deeper meaning this may be very appealing and enlightening.

The Dawn Of Conscience. James Henry Breasted. Scribner, 1933 reprinted 1950. 431 p. Some ethical ideas common in the Judeo-Christian religion first appeared in Egypt.

 

Temples and Religious Structures

There is no single overview about ancient Egyptian temples, and there is a clear need for such a book. Something like Mark Lehner's Complete Pyramid only for temples.

For more on temples see entries under Architecture, Religion, and Sun Temples, listed above.

Ptolemaic Philae. Elena Vassilika. Leuven: Uitgeverij Peeters, 1989. 402 pages. "informative book on one of the loveliest sites in Egypt."

The World of the Pharaohs, Christine Hobson, Thames & Hudson, 1987. Short section on temples, with diagrams.

Luxor: A Guide to Ancient Thebes, Jill Kamil, Longman, 1973, 1984. 175 p. "This gives excellent in depth descriptions of the monuments - highly recommended."

The Egyptian Temple A Lexicographical Study. Patricia Spencer. London, Boston, 1984. numerous hieroglyphic inscriptions.

Island of Isis. Philae, Temple of the Nile. Wm. MacQuitty. Scribners 1976. 191 p. History and rescue from Lake Nasser.

The Obelisks of Egypt. Labib Habachi. Scribner's Sons, 1977; Cairo 1984. "excellent." Habachi was a Chief Inspector of Antiquities.

Dendera, H. G. Fischer, Locust Valley, New York, 1968.

Abu Simbel, William McQuitty, Putnam's Sons, 1965.

Egyptian Wall Paintings from tombs and temples. UNESCO. Intro. by Christiane Desroches-Noblecourt. New York: New American Library of World Literature, 1962.

Tombs, Temples, and Ancient Art. Joseph Smith. ed. by Corinna Smith. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1956.

Cleopatra's Needle and Other Egyptian Obelisks. E. Wallis Budge. 352 p. Dover. Gives texts of all the important Egyptian obelisks. By the famous Wallis Budge. So the camel's nose gets under the tent.

 

Temples and Religious Structures: Scholarly or hard to find

"The status of early Egyptian temples." D. O'Connor. in The Followers of Horus: Studies dedicated to Michael Hoffman. eds. R. Friedman and B. Adams. Oxford: Oxbow Books, 1992.

The Private Chapel in Ancient Egypt: a study of the chapels in the workmen's village at el Amarna with special reference to Deir el Medina and other sites. Ann H. Bomann. London; New York: Kegan Paul International, 1991. 144 p., 84 p. of plates.

Karnak, Agypten: Anatomie eines Tempels. Jean-Claude Golvin and Jean-Claude Goyon. Tubingen: Ernst Wasmuth, 1990.

The Egyptian Mining Temple at Timna, B. Rothenberg, ed., 1988

Temples and Tombs of ancient Nubia: The International Rescue Campaign. general editor, Torgny Sve-Sderbergh. Thames and Hudson, 1987.

"Luxor Temple and the Cult of the Royal ka." L. Bell. Journal of Near Eastern Studies , 44, 251-294, 1985.

The Temple of Per Ramesses, E. P. Uphill, Warminster, 1984.

Les Temples de Karnak (2 vols). R. A. Schwaller de Lubicz, G. Mire, and V. Mire. Paris, 1982.

The Temples of Ancient Egypt, Nubia, and Mesopotamia: a comparative study. Michelle Lewis Bassi. 1982. Thesis (M. A.), University of Colorado, Boulder, 1982.

The Great Hypostyle Hall at Karnak. Harold Helson, edited by William Murnane. Chicago: Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. 1981. [Lib. rare book]

"Survey of the Temple of Isis Mistress of the Pyramid at Giza", Michael Jones and Angela Milward, Journal of the Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities , 12, 1982, 139-151.

The Temple of Mentuhotep at Deir el-Bahari: From the Notes of Herbert Winlock. Dieter Arnold. Metropolitan Museum of Art Egyptian Expedition 21. 1979.

Deir El-Bahari, The Temple of Tuthmosis III, Jadwiga Lipinska, 4 vol. Warsaw, 1977.

The Temple of Dendur; a visit to ancient Egypt. Indianapolis, Bobbs-Merrill 1972 111 p. Describes life of the ancient Egyptians and relates the story of the small temple that was moved to the Met in New York when the Aswan Dam was built.

Medinet-Habu, vols I-VIII, Oriental Institute, University of Chicago, 1930-1970.

Le Petit Temple d'Abou Simbel. C. Desrouches-Noblecourt and C. Kuentz. Cairo: Centre de Documentation et d'etude sur l'ancienne Egypte, 1968.

"The Osiris Temple at Abydos." B. Kemp. Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archaologisch Instituts Kairo 23, 138-155, 1968.

Legacy of a Pharaoh: The united effort to save Abu Simbel. Christine Trevor, Lippincott 1966.

Wall scenes from the mortuary chapel of the mayor Paser at Medinet Habu. Translated by Elizabeth B. Hauser. Chicago, University of Chicago Press 1957 21 p. The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. Studies in ancient Oriental civilization, no. 30.

Abu Simbel. Markaz Tasjil al-Athar al-Misriyah. Cairo, Centre of Documentation and Studies on Ancient Egypt, 1960(?). English and French.

The Temple of Edfu. Markaz Tasjil al-Athar al-Misriyah. Cairo, Centre of Documentation and Studies on Ancient Egypt, [196-?] 72 p. In Arabic, English, and French.

The Excavation of Medinet Habu (4 vols). Uvo Holscher. Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1934 - 1951. [Vol 2 is titled The Temples of the Eighteenth Dynasty, 1939].

"The Consecration of an Egyptian temple according to the use of Edfu." A. M. Blackman & H. W. Fairman. Journal of Egyptian Archaeology , 32, 75-91, 1946.

Le Temple de Dendara I. E. Chassinat. Cairo: l'Institut Francais d'Archeologie Oriental, 1934.

The Temple of the King Sethis I at Abydos. A. M. Calverly & M.F. Broome. London & Chicago: Egyptian Exploration Society & The Oriental Institute, 1933-1959.

Excavations at Deir El Bahri 1911- 1931, Herbert E. Winlock, Macmillan 1942.

The Aswan Obelisk. Reginald Engelbach. Cairo, 1932., and The Problem of the Obelisks: A Study of the Unfinished Obelisk at Aswan. Reginald Engelbach. NY: George Doran, 1923. 134 p.

Egyptian Temples. Margaret Murray. London: Sampson Low, 1931. 246 p. 64 b&w plates.

Mycerinus: the Temples of the Third Pyramid at Giza. George A. Reisner. Cambridge, Mass., 1931.

Luxor and its Temples. A. M. Blackman. London: Black, 1923. 200 p. 24 plates and 50 line drawings.

The XIth Dynasty Temple at Deir El-Bahari, Edouard Naville and H. R. Hall, 3 vol. London, 1907-1913.

Hierakonpolis (2 vols). J. E. Quibell and F.W. Green. London: Quartich, 1900, 1902. Part I is plates with notes by W. M. F. Petrie, part II is the text.

 

Thebes, including Karnak, Luxor, and west of Thebes

See also books under General, Reference, Temples, Travel, and Valley of the Kings for site descriptions

The Tombs of the Nobles at Luxor. Lise Manniche. Cairo: American University in Cairo Press, 1988, 150 p. (Originally published under the title City of the Dead: Thebes in Egypt. Chicago: University of Chicago Press London: British Museum Publications, 1987.) A list of Theban tombs and their owners: p. 132-146.

The Topography of Thebes from the Bronze Age to Modern Times. Sarantis Symeonoglou. Princeton. 334 p. The development of Thebes from archaeological and historical records; relations to myths.

Luxor: A Guide to Ancient Thebes, Jill Kamil, Longman New York, 1984. "This gives excellent in depth descriptions of the monuments - highly recommended."

Atlas of Ancient Egypt, John Baines and Jaromir Malek, Facts on File 1980, reprinted 1988, 240 p., 36 maps, 530 illustrations, $40.00.

Thebes of the Pharaohs: Pattern for Everyday Life, Charles F. Nims, London: Elek, 1965.

The Royal Necropolis of Thebes, Elizabeth Thomas, Princeton University, 1966.

The Rise and Fall of the Middle Kingdom in Thebes, H. E. Winlock, New York, 1947.

 

Tombs

see also Pyramids, Thebes, Travel Guides, and Valley of the Kings.

The Tomb of Nefertari. J. K. McDonald. Getty, 1995, 116 p. Chamber by chamber photographs.

The Hidden Tombs of Memphis, Geoffrey T. Martin, Thames and Hudson, 1991, 216 p. New discoveries of late New Kingdom nobles' tombs.

The Tomb of Pharaoh Seti I. Erik Hornung. NY: Princeton Architectural Press, ca. 1990. 10 color plates and 210 illustrations. Zurich and Munich: Artemis, 1991.

Lost Tombs. Lise Manniche. Kegan Paul, 1988. Some 18th Dynasty tombs at Thebes were described by early travelers but their location is now unknown. "Fascinating"

The Fort Cemetery at Hierakonpolis: excavated by John Garstang. Barbara Adams, with a contribution by Michael A. Hoffmann. London; New York: KPI; Distributed by Methuen, 1987. 258 p., 27 p. of plates.

Ancient Lives, John Romer, Holt, 1984. Surprisingly different from his excellent PBS series of the same name; more detailed and refined. Valley of the Kings workmen's village.

Excavations at Saqqara: north-west of Teti's pyramid N. Kanawati et al ., Sydney: The Ancient History Documentary Research Centre, Macquarie University, 1984 illus.

The Tomb Builders of the Pharaohs. M. L. BierBrier. Charles Scribners, 1982.

The Rock Tombs of El-Hawawish: the cemetery of Akhmim Naguib Kanawati. Sydney, N.S.W., Australia: Macquarie Ancient History Association; Warminster, England: Aris and Phillips, 1980.

Egyptian Wall Paintings from Tombs and Temples. UNESCO. Intro. by Christiane Desroches-Noblecourt. New York: New American Library of World Literature, 1962.

Archaic Egypt. W. B. Emery, 1961, 1985, Pelican. Dynasties I - II good information on mastabas

Tomb sculpture; four lectures on its changing aspects from Ancient Egypt to Bernini. Erwin Panofsky. Edited by H. W. Janson. New York: H. N. Abrams 1964 319 p. 446 illus.

Wall Scenes from the Mortuary Chapel of the Mayor Paser at Medinet Habu. Translated by Elizabeth B. Hauser. Chicago, University of Chicago Press 1957 21 p. illus., 3 plates.The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization, no. 30.

Tombs, Temples, and Ancient Art. Joseph Smith. ed. by Corinna Smith. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1956.

A History of the Giza Necropolis, vol 2: The Tomb of Hetep-heres. G. H. Reisner and W. S. Smith. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard, 1955.

Great Tombs of the First Dynasty Kings, W. B. Emery, 3 vols., 1949-1958.

The Development of the Egyptian Tomb Down to the Accession of Cheops, George A. Reisner, Cambridge, 1935.

Sept Tombeaux a l'est de La Grande Pyramid de Guizah. A. Fakhry. Cairo, 1935.

The Royal Tombs of the Earliest Dynasties (3 vols.). W.M. Flinders Petrie. London: Egyptian Exploration Society Memoirs, 1900-1901.

Abydos, W.M.F. Petrie, London, 1902.

Archaic Mastabas, J. E. Quibell, Cairo, 1923.

Travel Guides

Knopf Guide to Egypt. 1996, 560 pages. 1000 illustrations. graphics include aerial views, pyramid interiors, color illustrations. 4 by 8 inches.

Ancient Egypt. Delia Pemberton. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1992. 9209 150 p. illus. "Architectural guides for travelers"

Egypt, The Living Past, T. G. H. James, British Museum, 1992. Life in Egypt today and it's connection to the past. Large format and fine color photos. Might be good for someone planning a visit to Egypt.

Egypt Handbook, Kathy Hansen, Moon Publications, 1990. P. O. Box 3040, Chico CA 95927. "very good"

Sakkara and Memphis, Jill Kamil, New York: Longman, 1984. The author is a native Egyptian woman. highly recommended

A Guide to the Antiquities of the Fayyum. Mary-Ellen Lane. Cairo: American University in Cairo Press, 1985.

The Fayoum A Practical Guide. R. Neil Hewison. Cairo: American University in Cairo Press, 1984.

Luxor: A Guide to Ancient Thebes, Jill Kamil, Longman New York, 1984.

Upper Egypt: Historical Outline and Descriptive Guide to the Ancient Sites, Jill Kamil, Longman 1983. "This gives excellent in-depth descriptions of the monuments - highly recommended."

The Penguin Guide to Ancient Egypt. William J. Murnane. Penguin Books, 1983. 367 p. complete travel guide, and short historical bits; well presented. "excellent reference"

Blue Guide: Egypt, V. Seton-Williams and P. Stocks, Norton, 1983.

Say it in Arabic (Egyptian), Dover. $3.50. 3.3 inch by 5.25 inch. about 150 p.

 

Tutankhamun, The Ever Popular

The first three books here are the best overviews; only Reeves' book is in print.

The Complete Tutankhamun: The King The Tomb The Royal Treasure. Nicholas Reeves. Thames and Hudson, 1990. 224 p., 500 illus., 200 new photographs. The best single book on the subject. Excellent and detailed description of the tomb and the contents; many illustrations. Reeves earned a Ph.D. recently on this material; the dissertation is also available as noted below. Reeves also wrote a picture book for children based on this work as well, and a biography of Carter.

The Tomb of Tut-ankh-Amen, Howard Carter and A.C. Mace, London: Cassell 1923 - 1933, 3 vols. The book by the man who found and excavated the tomb; lots of b&w photos. Out of print. It took Carter years to clear the tomb and finish this book. The only complete description of the tomb's contents until Reeves' book.

Life and Death of a Pharaoh: Tutankhamen. Christiane Desroches-Noblecourt. Paris; Boston: New York Graphic Society, 1963. 312 p. 75 superb color illustrations. Noblecourt an Egyptologist, with 50 years experience digging. More readable and more background than Carter's. This was the best illustrated book on Tut before Reeves' book came out. Many excellent color photos of artifacts. "Now somewhat controversial," but the photos alone are worth the price.

After Tutankhamun: Research and Excavation in the Royal Necropolis at Thebes. edited and with and introduction by C. N. (Carl Nicholas) Reeves; foreword by the Earl of Carnarvon. London; New York: Kegan Paul, 1992. 211 p. 14 papers from a conference.

Valley of the Kings: the Decline of a Royal Necropolis. C.N. Reeves. London; New York: Kegan Paul International: Distributed by Routledge, Chapman & Hall, Inc., 1990. xliii, 374 p. based on Ph.D. dissertation.

Howard Carter, The Path to TutAnkhAmun, T.G.H James, 1992. Carter's life and work in Egypt before he found the tomb.

Howard Carter Before TutAnkhAmun, Nicholas Reeves and John H. Taylor, Abrams, 1993. 200 illus, 80 in color. "wonderful book"

The Name of the Dead: TutAnkhAmun Translated, Hany Assaad, Bebben, 1979 "Excellent book for hieroglyph students - doubles as a practical workbook."

TutAnkhAmun, Craftsmanship in Gold in the Reign of the King, Cyril Aldred, 1979.

The Gold of Tutankhamun. Kamal El Mallakh and Arnold Brackman. Newsweek, 1978. 332 p. 155 color photos, mostly of the golden objects, and 24 b&w photos by Harry Burton of the tomb. Text is also good, including account of the discovery of the tomb. "The most sumptuous book about the tomb of Tut."

TutAnkhAmun, His Tomb and Its Treasures, I. E. S. Edwards, New York, Metropolitan Museum, 1977. 256 p. With 103 original photos from the tomb by the Met's Harry Burton and 100 new color photos.

Tutankhamun's Jewelry. I.E.S. Edwards. Metropolitan Museum, 1976. 48 p. 36 pieces shown in color photos.

Treasures of Tutankhamun (catalog), Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1974 The Tut exhibition catalog has beautiful photographs and good text, if you can find a used copy.

Treasures of Tutankhamun. I. E. S. Edwards. Viking, 1973; Ballentine 1976.

The Search for the Gold Of TutAnkhAmen, Arnold C. Brakeman, 1976, Pocket Books; journalistic and exciting but balanced; the human story of this excavation. A few illustrations.

The Face of TutankhAmun, Christopher Frilling, 298 p., Faber and Faber, 1992. The modern events and personalities surrounding the opening of the tomb. Many illustrations.

TutAnkhAmun The Untold Story, Thomas Hoving, 1978. Another fascinating book on the tomb discovery.

The Shrines of TutAnkhAmen, Alexandre Piankoff. Harper and Row, 1955; 1962. Complete translations of inscriptions on the shrines of Tut, and some photos and diagrams.

The "Tut'ankhamun Tomb Series," published by the Griffith Institute, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, includes the following titles (they cost a lot, as some $30.00 for a 62 page booklet.):

A Handlist of Howard Carter's Catalog of Objects in Tut'ankhamun's tomb. 1963. 30 p.

Hieratic Inscriptions from the Tomb of Tut'ankhamun. 1965. 37p.

Composite Bows from the Tomb of Tut'ankhamun. 1970. 68p.

Self Bows and other archery tackle from the Tomb of Tut'ankhamun. 1982. 75 p.

The Human remains from the Tomb of Tut'ankhamun. 1972. 63 p.

Chariots and Related Equipment from the Tomb of tut'ankhamun. 1985. 118 p.

Musical Instruments from the Tomb of Tut'ankhamun. 1976. 22 p.

Game Boxes and Accessories from the Tomb of Tut'ankhamun. 1982. 62 p.

Model Boats from the Tomb of Tut'ankhamun. 1990. 126 p. 38 plates.

 

Valley of the Kings and Valley of the Queens

Many other books on Egyptian history, mummies, TutAnkhAmun, and religion have information about this area.

Guide to the Valley of the Kings. Alberto Siliotti. Barnes and Noble, 1997. 168 p. Background material and diagrams of the better tombs, plus many excellent photographs. Also a guide to the Valley of the Queens, tombs of the nobles near by, temples at Deir El-Bahri, the village of Deir El-Medina; with maps, including a map of footpaths connecting the sites. Quite useful and a bargain.

The Complete Valley of the Kings: Tombs and Treasures of Ancient Egypt's Royal Burial Site. Nicholas Reeves and Richard H. Wilkinson. 1996, 224 pp., 320 illustrations; 60 in color. A definitive account, including history of the burials and the discoveries, latest discoveries, and detailed diagrams and maps.

Pharaoh's Workers: The Villagers of Dier El Medina. Leonard H. Lesko. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press, 1994. 197 p.

In the Tomb of Nefertari: conservation of the wall paintings. Malibu, Calif.: Bianchi and McDonald, J. Paul Getty Museum and The Getty Conservation Institute, 1992. 88 p.

After Tutankhamun: Research and Excavation in the Royal Necropolis at Thebes. edited and with and introduction by C. N. (Carl Nicholas) Reeves; foreword by the Earl of Carnarvon. London; New York: Kegan Paul, 1992. 211 p.

Howard Carter Before TutAnkhAmun, Nicholas Reeves and John H. Taylor, Abrams, 1992, $30.00

Howard Carter, The Path to TutAnkhAmun, T.G.H James, 1992

Valley of the Kings: the Decline of a Royal Necropolis. C.N. Reeves. London; New York: Kegan Paul International: Distributed by Routledge, Chapman & Hall, Inc., 1990. 374 p. based on Ph.D. dissertation.

The Tomb of Pharaoh Seti I. Erik Hornung. NY: Princeton Architectural Press, ca. 1990. 10 color plates and 210 illustrations.

Valley of the Kings - Horizon of Eternity, Erik Hornung, Timken 1990, from the German "Tal der Konige." Strong on religious symbols: very detailed stuff here about the Egyptian underworld. Color photos of tomb paintings with explications.

Passage to Eternity. Arpag Mekitarian et al . Knokke, Belgium: Mappamundi, 1989. 191 p. "Stunning photographs from some of the most beautiful tombs in Thebes."

The Tomb of Queen Tiyi. Theodore Davis. 90 p. ills., Republishes original 1910 report on KV 55, with added introduction by Nicholas Reeves, and his bibliography on the subject. from KMT .

Valley of the Kings, John Romer, Holt, 1981, 1988. 293 p. "very good" "fascinating in every respect"

Ancient Lives, John Romer, Holt, 1984. Surprisingly different from his excellent PBS series of the same name; more detailed and refined. Valley of the Kings workmen's village Dier El Medina.

The Tomb Builders of the Pharaohs, Morris Bierbrier, British Museum 1982; Scribner's 1984. The workmen's village Dier El Medina.

The Valley of the Kings, Jaroslav Cerny, Cairo, 1973.

The Royal Necropolis of Thebes, Elizabeth Thomas, Princeton University, 1966.

The Tomb of Ramesses VI. Alexandre Piankoff. NY: Pantheon, 1954. 2 vols. 459 p. 196 plates. "all the inscriptions and decoration in one of the most popular and attractive tombs of the Valley of the Kings."

Fiction

Ancient settings:

Murder in the Place of Anubis. Lynda S. Robinson. NY: Walker, 1994. 190 p. First novel by this author set at the end of the 18th dynasty (Amarna period).

Murder at the God's Gate. Lynda S. Robinson. NY: Walker, 1995. 236 p. Second title in a series.

City of the Horizon, Anton Gill, 1991. Criminal detective mystery in Amarna.

City of the Dreams, Anton Gill, 1993.

City of the Dead, Anton Gill.

A God Against the Gods. Allan Drury. Doubleday, 1976. 310 p. Akhenaten and, yes, Amarna.

Return to Thebes. Allen Drury. Doubleday, 1977. 272 p. Sequel to A God against the Gods, including Tut and the end of Amarna.

Lady of the Reeds. Pauline Gedge. Farrar Straus & Giroux. 1995.

The Twelfth Transforming. Pauline Gedge. NY: Harper and Row, 1984. 407 p. Akhenaten and Amarna. "beautifully written"

Mirage. Pauline Gedge. Nobleman succumbs to temptation of ancient curse. Plots relies on reality of magic of great power. A dark novel.

Child of the Morning. Pauline Gedge. NY: Dial Press, 1977. 403 p. Hatshepsut.

Her-bak, The Living Face of Ancient Egypt. Isha Schwaller de Lubicz. Inner Traditions, 1978 (reprint). 344 p. "Excellent, following a boy's initial education in nature and various crafts and his later introduction to the outer temple." Contributed by Ted Snook. (translation of Her-bak Pois Chiche, pub. by Ernest Flammarion Editeur, Paris 1955).

Her-bak, Egyptian Initiate. Isha Schwaller de Lubicz. Inner Traditions, 1978 (reprint). 396 p. Continues the life of Her-bak and the teachings of the Inner Temple. (translation of Her-bak disciple de la sagesse egyptienne.)

King of the Two Lands. Jacquetta Hawkes. NY: Random House, 1966. 288 p. Amarna again.

On a Balcony. David Stacton. NY: House and Maxwell, 1959. 256 p. Amarna, again.

Nefertiti Lived here. Mary A. Chubb. London, 1954. "an amusing and partly fictional book" on excavations at, you guessed it, Amarna.

The Egyptian. Mika Waltari. NY: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1949. yet more Amarna. One of the best novels of ancient Egypt, despite some supernatural or mythical hocus-pocus at the end. Unfortunately the movie based on this book was very bad, according to Peter Ustinov who starred in it.

Prince of Egypt. Dorothy Wilson. 1947. The story used for Cecil B. deMille's 1960 film of "The Ten Commandments," the best movie about ancient Egypt by far.

Death Comes as the End. Agatha Christie. Dodd Mead, 1944. The Egyptian setting of the XI Dynasty is correct. This is based on a real family of the Middle Kingdom, headed by the elderly priest Hekanakhte whose papers have survived by chance to the present day (see translations by T.J.H. James listed under hieroglyphs). Unfortunately not one of Christie's best writing efforts, but an interesting combination.

The following four novels and a collection of short stories by Joan Grant, all set in ancient Egypt. are strong on the spiritual or mystical angle. Some obvious errors of fact are used to promote the plots, such as chariots in the First Dynasty, but the atmosphere is very believable, and the writing is excellent. For some readers these novels will be very appealing; for others the historical errors and mystical elements may be a disincentive.

Winged Pharaoh, by Joan Grant. New York, London: Harper & Brothers, 1938. 382 p. First Dynasty period novel; very effective spiritual atmosphere; main character is a woman.

Eyes of Horus, Joan Grant 1942. (Dynasty XI)

Lord of the Horizon, by Joan Grant. London: Methuen & Co., 1943. 291p. Amenemhat I period (Dynasty XI; continuation of preceding?)

So Moses was Born. Joan Grant 1952. (Dynasty XVI)

The Scarlet Fish and Other Stories. Joan Grant 1942. Short stories or fables? with a lesson.

Ramses Son of Light. Christian Jacq. Warner 1997. Perils-of-Pauline action and stunts, with no real character, conversation, setting, or style. Better for a movie screenplay. A bad movie. Translation of best-selling French novels. First of five books about Ramses. Did Ramses really know Helen of Troy? Will the fat greasy brother triumph? Will the scribe find the supplier of bad ink? We can hardly wait to find out. As one reader said, "and I thought the French were intelligent." Avoid Christian Jacq books.

Fiction, modern settings:

The Bat Flies Low. Sax Rohmer. NY: Burt, 1935. 314 p. Murder mystery involving ancient cult.

The "Amelia Peabody" mysteries:

The Crocodile on the Sandbank, 1975. 262 p. [set in 1885]

The Curse of the Pharaohs. 1981. 285 p.

The Mummy Case, 1985. 313 p.

The Lion in the Valley. 1987. 310 p.

The Deeds of the Disturber. 1988. 289 p.

The Last Camel Died at Noon, 1991. 430 p.

The Snake, the Crocodile, and the Dog. 1993.

The Hippopotamus Pool, 1996.

Seeing a Large Cat. 1997.

The Ape Who Guards the Balance. 1998.

All by Elizabeth Peters, a pseudonym for Barbara Mertz who earned a Ph.D. in Egyptology from the Oriental Institute, and who appears under her own name several times elsewhere in this bibliography. These mystery and adventure novels describe the very progressive, opinionated and regrettably fictional Victorian English Egyptologist Amelia Peabody Emerson, her husband Radcliffe Emerson and their son Ramses. The setting, excavations, historical background, and historical archeologists who make appearances are quite correct. ("The Last Camel" has a really far-fetched plot, though it is based on an actual legend of a lost oasis; kind of a Rider Haggard African story. The others are not quite so improbable.) These combine real understanding of Egyptian history and excavations, with good yarns, funny dialog, and lively perceptions about the war between the sexes. See if you notice where Amelia and Emerson almost find Tut's tomb, by accident, twenty years before Carter. Probably best if read in order, but any old how is fine too.

 

Egyptological Societies, Journals, and Magazines

American Journal of Archaeology . A primary American publication for scholarly work in the ancient Near East including Egypt. Really high quality. book reviews. For members of the Archaeological Institute of America, 656 Beacon Street, Boston, Ma. 02215. Individual membership. AIA also publishes Archaeology magazine.

The American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE), 50 Washington Square South, New York, NY, 10012. (212) 998-8890. Quarterly Newsletter, annual Journal, lectures. The annual meeting is the big annual Egyptological meeting in the US. ARCE has facilities in Egypt.

The Egyptian Exploration Society, 3 Doughty Mews, London WC1N 2PG, England. Sponsors excavations and lectures, publishes books and The Journal of Egyptian Archeology . Facilities in Egypt. This organization has been central to British archaeology for over 100 years.

The Egyptian Study Society, Denver Colorado. A public interest group of the Denver Museum of Natural History. Publishes The Ostracon, usually quarterly. Monthly meetings; classes, etc. 10 years old and growing in size.

KMT A Modern Journal of Ancient Egypt . 1531 Golden Gate Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94115. Popular magazine with in-depth articles on ancient Egyptian topics, some by active Egyptologists and authorities. Notes of excavations and new finds; book reviews; lots of illustrations. The best way for U.S. amateurs to keep informed about recent work.

 

Copyright (c) 1998 Stuart K. Wier. Reproduction, redistribution, or retransmission prohibited without written consent of the author.