A History of Ancient Egypt provides a chronological survey of ancient Egypt from the beginning of the Egyptian state around 3000 BC until the time when the Roman Empire banned the writing of hieroglyphs in the late fourth century AD.
This narrative history outlines major political and cultural events, and considers both social and economic life. Written in an authoritative and accessible style, and incorporating the latest scholarship, A History of Ancient Egypt is an invaluable resource for students of ancient Egyptian history.
Author(s): Marc Van De Mieroop
Series: Blackwell History of the Ancient World
Edition: 1
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
Year: 2011
Language: English
Commentary: http://archive.org/details/historyofancient0000vand // Extensive markings; some pages are blurred but readable.
Pages: xxiii+400
Front Cover
Title Page
Contents
List of Illustrations
List of Color Plates
List of Maps
List of Boxed Texts
List of Summaries of Dynastic History
Preface
1 Introductory Concerns
1.1 What Is Ancient Egypt?
Chronological boundaries
Geographical boundaries
What is ancient Egyptian history?
Who are the ancient Egyptians?
1.2 Egypt’s Geography
The Nile River
The desert
Climate
Frontiers and links
1.3 The Makeup of Egyptian Historical Sources
Papyri and ostraca
Monumental inscriptions
Historical criticism
1.4 The Egyptians and Their Past
King lists
Egyptian concepts of kingship
1.5 The Chronology of Egyptian History
Modern subdivisions of Egyptian history
Absolute chronology
1.6 Prehistoric Developments
The beginning of agriculture
Naqada I and II periods
2 The Formation of the Egyptian State (ca. 3400–2686)
2.1 Sources
2.2 Royal Cemeteries and Cities
The Late Naqada culture
Dynasty 0
2.3 The First Kings
Images of war
The unification of Egypt
2.4 Ideological Foundations of the New State
Kings
Cemeteries
Festivals
Royal annals and year names
Gods and cults
Bureaucracy
2.5 The Invention of Writing
Precursors at Abydos
Hieroglyphic script
2.6 Foreign Relations
The Uruk culture of Babylonia
Late-fourth-millennium Nubia
Late-fourth-millennium Palestine
3 The Great Pyramid Builders (ca. 2686–2345)
3.1 Sources
3.2 The Evolution of the Mortuary Complex
Djoser’s step pyramid at Saqqara
Sneferu’s three pyramids
The Great Pyramids at Giza
Solar temples of the 5th dynasty
3.3 Administrating the Old Kingdom State
Neferirkara’s archive at Abusir
Officialdom
3.4 Ideological Debates?
Problems of royal succession
The gods Horus and Ra
3.5 Foreign Relations
Contacts with Nubia
Contacts with Asia
3.6 Later Traditions about the Old Kingdom
Djoser and Imhotep
Sneferu
The Great Pyramid builders
4 The End of the Old Kingdom and the First Intermediate Period (ca. 2345–2055)
4.1 Sources
4.2 The Rise of the Regions and Political Fragmentation
Nomes and nomarchs
Mortuary texts
Officials’ biographies
Pepy II
Why did the Old Kingdom dissolve?
4.3 Foreign Relations
Nubian independence
Beyond the Nile Valley
Mercenaries
4.4 Competition between Herakleopolis and Thebes
Herakleopolis
Thebes
4.5 Appraising the First Intermediate Period
Middle Kingdom literary refl ections
Historical critique
5 The Middle Kingdom (ca. 2055–1650)
5.1 Sources and Chronology
5.2 Kings and Regional Elites
Reunification and the 11th dynasty
The start of the 12th dynasty and the foundation of Itj-tawi
Provincial powers in the early Middle Kingdom
Royal interference in the provinces
Administrative centralization
Royal power in the 13th dynasty
5.3 Kings as Warriors
The annexation of Nubia
5.4 Egypt in the Wider World
The early Kingdom of Kush
The eastern desert and Sinai
Syria and Palestine
The world beyond
Rhetoric and practice in foreign relations
5.5 The Cult of Osiris
5.6 Middle Kingdom Literature and Its Impact on Egyptian Culture
6 The Second Intermediate Period and the Hyksos (ca. 1700–1550)
6.1 Sources and Chronology
6.2 Avaris: The Multiple Transformations of a Delta City
A history of Avaris
Cultural hybridity
Other immigrants
6.3 The Hyksos
The name Hyksos
Hyksos origins
Egyptian cultural influences
Political history
The 14th and 16th dynasties
Hyksos rule in Palestine?
6.4 Nubia and the Kingdom of Kush
The independence of Lower Nubia
The Kingdom of Kush
Kerma
The extent of the Kingdom of Kush
6.5 Thebes in the Middle
Royal tombs
Seqenenra Taa
Kamose’s war
6.6 The Hyksos in Later Perspective
Queen Hatshepsut
The gods Ra and Seth
Manetho and Josephus
7 The Birth of Empire: The Early 18th Dynasty (ca. 1550–1390)
7.1 Egypt in a New World Order
7.2 Sources and Chronology
7.3 Egypt at War
War and society in the New Kingdom
The “war of liberation”
The annexation of Nubia
Wars in western Asia
7.4 Egypt and the Outside World
7.5 Domestic Issues
Royal succession
Hatshepsut
Royal mortuary customs
New Kingdom bureaucracy
Building activity in the early 18th dynasty
8 The Amarna Revolution and the Late 18th Dynasty (ca. 1390–1295)
8.1 An International Age
The Club of the Great Powers
The administration of Syria and Palestine
The rise of the Hittites
A failed marriage alliance
8.2 Amenhotep III: The Sun King
Amenhotep III’s divinity and his building projects
The king’s family
The king’s court
8.3 From Amenhotep III to Amenhotep IV/Akhenaten
8.4 Akhenaten
Theban years (years 1 to 5)
Akhetaten (years 5 to 12)
Turmoil (years 12 to 17)
Akhenaten’s successors
8.5 Akhenaten’s Memory
9 The Ramessid Empire (ca. 1295–1203)
9.1 Domestic Policy: Restoration and Renewal
Sety I
Rameses II
9.2 International Relations: Reforming the Empire
Wars in Syria
Egyptian–Hittite peace
A new imperial structure
Foreigners in Egypt
9.3 Rameses’s Court
Officials
The royal family
9.4 A Community of Tomb Builders
10 The End of Empire (ca. 1213–1070)
10.1 Problems at Court
Sety II and Amenmessu
Saptah and Tausret
Sethnakht
10.2 Breakdown of Order
Tomb robberies
Workers’ strikes
10.3 The Decline of Royal Power
10.4 Pressures from Abroad
Libyans and Sea Peoples
The end of the international system
10.5 End of the New Kingdom
11 The Third Intermediate Period (ca. 1069–715)
11.1 Sources and Chronology
11.2 Twin Cities: Thebes and Tanis (the 21st dynasty, 1069–945)
Thebes
Tanis
The concordat
11.3 Libyan Rule (22nd to 24th dynasties, 945–715)
Centralization and diffusion of power
The God’s Wife of Amun
11.4 The End of the Third Intermediate Period
Nubian resurgence
Saite expansion
12 Egypt in the Age of Empires (ca. 715–332)
12.1 Sources and Chronology
12.2 The Eastern Mediterranean in the First Millennium
12.3 Egypt, Kush, and Assyria (ca. 715–656)
Military incidents
12.4 Egypt, Greeks, and Babylonians (656–525)
Greek–Egyptian relations
Military activity
12.5 Recollections of the Past under the Kings of Kush and Sais
12.6 Egypt and Persia (525–332)
Domination and resistance
Mixing cultures
13 Greek and Roman Egypt (332 BC–AD 395)
13.1 Sources and Chronology
13.2 Alexandria and Philae
Alexandria
Philae
13.3 Kings, Queens, and Emperors
The Ptolemies
Queen Cleopatra VII
Roman Egypt
13.4 Greeks, Romans, and Egyptians
Administration
Culture and religion
13.5 Economic Developments: Agriculture, Finance, and Trade
13.6 The African Hinterland
13.7 The Christianization of Egypt
Epilogue
Guide to Further Reading
Glossary
King List
Bibliography
Index
Back Cover
