| View Larger Image | Ancient Egypt | Paperbackby David P. Silverman (Author)
| List Price: | $24.99 | | Price: | $16.49 | | You Save: | $8.50 (34%) | | | Available: | Usually ships in 24 hours |
| | Binding: | Paperback | | Publisher: | Oxford University Press, USA | | Page Count: | 256 Pages | | Publication Date: | June 05, 2003 | | Sales Rank: | 63,930rd |
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EDITORIAL REVIEWS |
Product Description
The ancient Egyptians created some of the world's most beautiful art and architecture. To this day, this ancient civilization--which produced the great pyramids, the riddle of the Sphinx, and the riches of Tutankhamun--exerts a strong hold on our imaginations. Now, in Ancient Egypt, eminent Egyptologist David P. Silverman and a team of leading scholars explore the cultural wealth of this civilization in a series of intriguing and authoritative essays based on the latest theories and discoveries. Illustrated with more than 200 superb color photographs, maps, and charts, this book illuminates the vivid and powerful symbolic images of this fascinating culture--from pyramids and temples to priests and rituals; from hieroglyphic writing to daily life by the Nile; and from temple carvings to the cult of the dead. Correcting the popular misconception of the Egyptians as a death-obsessed people, the book uses the most recent historical research and archaeological finds to illuminate the routines of daily life in royal, elite, priestly circles, as well as at lower levels of society. We learn, for example, that despite the monochromatic appearance of most temple ruins today, in ancient times they would have been colorful, even gleaming structures; that the title ""Pharaoh"" derives from the Egyptian phrase per aa, which means ""great house"" and was originally a reference to the royal palace; that temples employed all manner of part-time and full-time personnel, from farmers and carpenters to scribes, jewelers, and keepers of livestock; and that Egyptian law viewed women as equal to men, and they could, in some cases, wield considerable influence. Lavishly illustrated, The ancient Egyptians created some of the world's most beautiful art and architecture. To this day, this ancient civilization--which produced the great pyramids, the riddle of the Sphinx, and the riches of Tutankhamun--exerts a strong hold on our imaginations. |
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.5 based on 22 reviews)
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Ancient Egypt by Esrod Rehpnal (Glendale, CA USA)  2 Stars
June 24, 2009
There is an abundance of info in this book but there is a problem with the way the infomation is arranged. It's as if all of the informational bits are strewn on the floor and one has to search threw the bits to get a running story about ancient egypt...And with way to many "see pg 21" or "see pg 56" or whatever references one needs to refer to keep the narrative going....
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Nice Coffee Table Book by Me Jane  5 Stars
April 21, 2009
If you are a lover of Egyptian artifacts, this will make a nice book for your coffee table. There are dozens and dozens of images; tombs, jewelry, sarcophagi. It's definitely not a scholarly work, and I wouldn't purchase this if you needed to know anything in depth. But you definitely get a feel for life in ancient Egypt, and the pictures are wonderful.
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Reads like a dictionary: informative, but flavorless and without nuance by Robert J. Crawford (Balmette Talloires, France)  3 Stars
April 12, 2009
This book took me back to 7-10th grade, a period during which I developed an intense dislike of history. In books like this, facts were dished up without much context, there was no narrative (stories, personalities, evolution of war, architecture, etc.), and the prose while clear was as interesting as lead. It was not until I got to college that I realized more sophisticated histories could make the subject really live.
I suppose I should have expected this from so basic an introduction. It covers thousands of years in a few paragraphs. Indeed, each page is formulaic with a single subject (e.g. Houses of the Gods) and two inserts to break up two or three paragraphs of crude description. That makes for an exceptionally dull and elementary read, really about the 9th grade level.
You get a description of the grand outlines. There were 3 kingdoms in Ancient Egypt, with 2 in-between periods during which authority broke down due to the centrifugal forces of strong local governors. Art was not aesthetic, but an expression of religious belief and ritual, incorporated into every object. Their mythology was similar to that of the Greeks, some would say they influenced each other; the sky was seen as water because it was blue. In addition to maintaining security, Pharoahs acted as priests to maintain balance in the universe; mummified, they went to the next life as rich men. The language was "related" to Arabic and Hebrew, though further explanation is frustratingly omitted. Much of the space in the book is taken up by listings of names of people and places, which are meaningless.
While the basics are there, as a reading experience this is worse than dull. It can kill the reader's interest in a subject. Not recommended, except as a dictionary. While I have not yet found a good history of Egypt, there must be better ones out there somewhere.
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Informative for a coffee table book by Emily Taylor (Northern Utah)  4 Stars
September 27, 2008
Silverman provides a basic introduction to all the Egyptian essential through thorough articles and lots and lots of vivid pictures and illustratrions. This book is an excellent way to be introduced into the world of the heyday of Egypt, with lots of information, seemlessly organized.
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If you can buy only one book on the entire history of ancient Egypt this is it! by gilly8 (Mars, the hotspot of the U.S.) 5 Stars
July 11, 2007
This is a very thorough book, delving deep into the entire histoy of Egypt, starting with their earliest history as a nation, and going through all of the aspects of their history up through the Roman conquest.
It covers the various dynasties, an overview of the entire history (4000+ years of it) and special sections on religious belief, the importance of the belief in the afterlife, their language, written (hieroglyphs and demotic (demotic is more like short hand and almost looks like our cursive writing...much easier and simpler than hieroglyphs!) Mathematics, astronomy, medicine, the building of the pyramids--- every aspect is thoroughly discussed by an expert in the field of Egyptology.
Each chapter (there are 15) is written by a different specialist in the field of Egyptology. Their credentials are listed in the dust jacket cover. They hold many different titles, are professors, university and museum curators, and all are experts in their given field. (Such as Dr Ian Shaw, editor of the Oxford History of Ancint Egypt who wrote the chapter called "The Settled World".) Or Dr Zahi Hawass, the head of the Cairo Museum and of Egyptian antiquities in Egypt, who wrote the chapter on the Pyramids.
The chapter headings include "The Celestial Realm", "Egyptian Art", "Women in Egypt", "Egypt and the World Beyond", and many more. Aside from the wealth of knowledge, every single page two or more beautful illustrations and photographs of the best of the artwork, tomb painting, statuary, jewelry, etc to illustrate what is being discussed.
This may be the one book on ancient Egypt to have if you have to have just one.
This book is NOT just a pretty coffee table book of the typical type, with more photographs than writing, and litle or no explanation of what you're seeing.
Professor Silverman as well as being the editor is also one of contributors, and wrote the chapters on "Belief and Ritual" and "Signs, Symbols and Language".
I can't recommend this book more highly. Highly accessable and readable. There is a glossary at the end and a good index. Useful for the interested amateur like myself, or someone already involved in the study of ancient Egypt.
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