Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs: Official Companion Book to the Exhibition sponsored by National Geographic

Customer Reviews:

Golen Age of the Pharaohs: offical Book of the Exhibition .......2007-09-09

Fantastic book; saved money by purchasing it through Amazon. Shows all the exibits. Very pleased with the book. A fine edition to anyones collection.

Very good book.......2007-09-09

I bought the book before seeing the tour in Philly. The book is very well done, and very good representation of the tour. Beautiful photographs, plus good rich text around the history of the 18th dynasty.

Other reviews talk about the tour, which isn't really what the book is about. The tour was rather crowded, and I was somewhat disappointed that all the objects were small, and no Tut sarcophagus. Very little explanation of the layout, so my son was complaining about the lack of Tut objects; they included many from the 18th dynasty.

I recommend the official DVD, its great; bought it at the show.

yasangel.......2007-08-31

Beautiful book, great pictures. Great to have with you if you get to see exhibit.

Gollden Age of the Pharaohs.......2007-07-16

Purchased in anticipation of the opening of the exhibition in London in November, the book is a mine of information. Not only does Zahi Hawass describe the objects on display, but he places them in context and gives a vivid picture of life in Egypt at the time of Tutankhamun and before his accession to the throne. Not only a great read, a reference for future use and up to Dr Hawass usual enthusiastic and vivid style. A must-have book for anyone interested in Egypt.

absolutly stunning....a once in a life time chance...........2007-07-04

First and formost DO NOT miss the King Tut tour.....the artifatcs are absoutely astounding and incredibly beautiful beyond words..It it truly extremely hard to wrap your mind around that every peice is wll over 3000 yers old. As for the book itself it is nithing short of amazing...caputring the exibit almost in its entirety....but NOTHING compares to seeing the absoultly stunnig tour live...a truly once in a life time experience...after the US tour concludes it it will never leave Cairo again...The book is worth its weight in gold...the awsome photography and articles by renowned archiloghits and her HRH the Queen of Egypt her self...THis tour the book by National Geographic and the Official DVD are some of the greatest gifts ever bestowed opon the world. A gift from the heart of Egypt to the world that will never be go on tour again...A humbling experience live and most interesting reading a msater work indeed...Bravo!!!

History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)

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Calculations are only as good as your numbers
Pants on fire?
Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed.
Very Interesting
History as Science Fiction

History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
Anatoly Fomenko
Manufacturer: Mithec
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 2913621058

Book Description

Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.

Customer Reviews:

Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03

Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.

Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19

Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.

Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09

There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.

For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.

Very Interesting.......2007-03-07

It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.

History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10

Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.

I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.

Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.

Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.

I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.

This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.

History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 2 (Chronology)

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Check and see
Suprise! Suprise!
Prescient St Augustine?
Something of a disappointment
Romulus courts Helen, Paris founds Rome, Moses goes to Troy..

History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 2 (Chronology)
Anatoly T Fomenko
Manufacturer: Delamere Resources LLC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 2913621066

Product Description

`History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 2` is the second volume of the most explosive and astounding tractate on history ever written - however, every theory it contains, no matter how unorthodox, is backed by rock solid scientific data. The book is easy and pleasant to read; it is well-illustrated, contains hundreds of charts, graphs and illustrations, copies of ancient manuscripts, and countless facts attesting to the falsity of the chronology used nowadays. You will be amazed to discover: - That the chronology universally accepted today and taken for granted is simply wrong; - That ALL methods of dating of ancient sources and artefacts known today are erroneous or non-exact; - That there is not a single document that could be reliably dated earlier than the XIth century; The Author refers to the Middle Ages as the Antiquity and proves mutual superimposition of the Second and the Third Roman Empire, both of which become identified as the respective kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Furthermore, he asserts that the famous reform of the Occidental Church in the XI century by Pope Gregory Hildebrand was the reflection of the XII century reforms of Byzantine emperor Andronicus who in his turn identifies with Jesus Christ. The Trojan war counted by Homer happened only as late as of the XIII century A.D. and the great poet actually lived in XIV century A.D. No stone in history of Antiquity is left unturned. Literally. This book is the beginning of a major correction to the chronology we live with.

Customer Reviews:

Check and see.......2007-06-21

I don't care what other people say of this book. Those affirmig it's fake, they hadn't ever read it. Or have some special reasons to do so. "Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see..." This book won't make you feel comfortable. It'll make you feel free. It'll make you feel you're "not the only one" to feel you'd been lied to for centuries.

Suprise! Suprise!.......2007-03-22

Here is a serie of books which turns "the whole world" upside down. I learned a lot of it and I hope that a new book from A.T. Fomenko will follow very quick. A absolute must for everybody who is interested in history or even a little bit from it.

Prescient St Augustine?.......2006-02-05

We can so far divide the New Chronology into the following three parts:

a) The verifiable theory that proves consensual chronology wrong with the aid of astronomy, statistics and mathematics;

b) The new chronology hypothesis based on a new understanding of known historical facts and the most likely logical explanation of the most obvious inconsistencies inherent in the official version of history;

c) The history conjectures, that is experimental historical reconstructions based on assumptions that the authors believe to make sense in the light of their research and linguistic parallels - void of ironclad factual support to date.

Fomenko's theory complies with the most rigid scientific standards as a whole:

It gives a coherent explanation of what we already know.

- It is consistent: independent lines of inquiry all lead to the same conclusion.

- The predictions it makes are confirmed empirically.

Fomenko goes by the following axioms:

- Chronology is the basis of history;

- Human evolution has always been linear, gradual and irreversible;

- The "cyclic" nature of human civilization is a myth, likewise all the gaps, duplicates, "dark ages" and "renaissances" that we know from consensual history;

- The accumulation of geographical knowledge as reflected in cartography is a gradual and irreversible process;

- The chronological distance between a given manuscript and the events described therein is proportional to the amount of distortions it contains;

- There is no "useless" information in authentic ancient sources.

Why the mainstream historians do not shower mathematician Academician Dr.Prof Fomenko with thanks and laurels?

The Russians:

Because Fomenko asserts that there was no such thing as the Tartar and Mongol invasion followed by three centuries of slavery, providing a formidable body of documental evidence to prove his assertion. The so-called "Tartars and Mongols" were the actual ancestors of the modern Russians, living in a bilingual state with Arabic spoken as freely as Russian. The ancient Russian state was governed by a double structure of civil and military authorities. The hordes were actually professional armies with a tradition of lifelong conscription (the recruitment being the so-called "blood tax"). Their "invasions" were punitive operations against the regions that attempted tax evasion. Fomenko proves that Russian history as we know it today is a blatant forgery concocted by a host of German scientists brought to Russia by the usurper dynasty of the Romanovs, whose ascension to the throne was the result of coup d'état, charged with the mission of making their reign look legitimate. Fomenko proves Ivan the Terrible to be a collation of four rulers, no less. They represented the two rival dynasties - the legitimate rulers and the ambitious upstarts. The winner took it all! Over some 30 years of controversy, Russian historians have made a most remarkable transition - they were initially accusing the young mathematician Fomenko of anticommunist dissident activity and attempts to deface the historical legacy of Soviet Russia; nowadays the middle-aged mathematician is accused of adhering to "pro-communist Russian nationalism" and defacing the proud historical legacy of Great Russia.

The Westerners:

Because Fomenko blows consensual Russian history to smithereens, successfully removing a crucial cornerstone from underneath the otherwise impeccable edifice of World History. Fomenko adds insult to injury, wiping out one by one the Ancient Rome (the foundation of Rome in Italy is dated to the XIV century A. D.), the Ancient Greece and its numerous poleis, which he identifies as the mediaeval crusader settlements on the territory of Greece, and the Ancient Egypt (the pyramids of Giza become dated to the XI-XV century A. D. and identified as the royal cemetery of the Global "Mongolian" Empire, no less). The civilization of the Ancient Egypt is irrefutably dated to the XII-XV century A. D. with the aid of the ancient Egyptian horoscopes cut in stone. He was the first one to decipher and date all such horoscopes, coming up with mediaeval dates in every case. English historians rage at the suggestion that the history of Ancient England was de facto a Byzantine import transplanted to the English soil by the fugitive Byzantine nobility. To reward the English historians who consider themselves the true scribes of World History, the cover of the present book portrays Tintoretto's Jesus Christ crucified on the Big Ben.

The Chinese:

Because Fomenko wipes out the Ancient History of China outright. No such thing. Full point. The compilation of the so-called Ancient Chinese History is reliably datable to the XVII-XVIII century only. It is perfectly recognizable as the Ancient European history, reworked and transcribed in hieroglyphs as yet another historical transplantation, this time performed on the Chinese soil by the loving Jesuit hands. The Chinese are the next in line to go berserk. Chinese history is inevitably bound to get both more ancient and more eventful, proportionally to the growing involvement of China in the world affairs. Chinese historians will keep on finding valid proof of prehistoric Chinese spaceflights until the Politburo orders them to shut up.

The Arabs:

Too bad. Islam with all its key figures is datable to XV-XVI century A. D. Arabic historians may find consolation in the crucial historical role of the Ottoman Empire in the XVI-XVII century. The trouble is that this empire was initially a Christian state, with Hagia Sophia identifiable as Temple of Solomon, according to Fomenko! We can only guess if the acquisition of Alexander the Great (a Macedonian and a Christian) as the founder of the Muslim World Empire will make Fomenko's theories more acceptable to the Arabic mainstream. He certainly does not spare any holy cows at all, claiming The Stone of Qa'Aba in Mecca to contain the lost Arch of the Covenant.

The Divinity:

Despite of reiterated statement that his theory is all about chronology and not Religion, Fomenko stirs up a whole condominium of wasp nests. His collection of anathemas, fatwa, and other condemnations from all parties concerned is already considerable. Little wonder, considering that the history of religions à la Fomenko looks as follows: the pre-Christian period (before the XI century and JC), Bacchic Christianity (XI-XII century, before and after JC), JC Christianity (XII-XVI century) and its subsequent mutations into Orthodox Christianity, the Catholicism, Islam, Buddhism, and so on.

According to Fomenko we know strictly NOTHING about the events that predate the X century A. D.

St Augustin was prescient when he spoke unto us: "be wary of mathematicians, particularly when they speak the truth."

Something of a disappointment.......2005-09-09

After having read the first volume of this expected series of 7 volumes I was triggered by the thesis of these authors that ancient Greek and Roman history did in fact take place in the Middle Ages. So I started studying medieval history of the Middle East - also known as Islamic history - to find out if the opponents of the ancient Greeks and Romans - the Acheamenid Persians, Sassanids, Scythians, Egyptians, etc. - also have their duplicates in medieval history. My search was disappointing: none of the many medieval Islamic dynasties seemed to correspond to the ancient middle eastern rulers.

However, I did find a close correspondence between Herodotus' Persian kings and medieval events:

- the defeat and capture of an Anatolian king - the Lydian Croesus - by the Persian conqueror Cyrus is identical to the defeat and capture of another Anatolian king - sultan Bayezid - by the Asian/Mongol conqueror Tamerlane;
- the Persian conquest of Egypt by the cruel tyrant Cambyses reds almost exactly as the Ottoman conquest of Egypt by Selim the Grim (note the nickname!);
- Darius the Lawgiver of the Persian Empire looks very much alike to Sulayman the Magnificent, the Lawgiver in Islamic history;
- Xerxes, whose main claim to fame is to be defeated by the Greeks at the naval battle of Salamis, looks like Selim II (the Sot) whose main claim to fame is to be defeated by a Spanish-Italian alliance at the naval battle of Lepanto.

I should have expected Fomenko et al. to arrive at similar conclusions, however, they claim that the Persian kings are the alter egos of the Angevin kings of Sicily whose biographies do not contain the exploits of the Persian kings.

The similiarities I indicate lead to the conclusion that Herodotus must have written his Histories at the close of the 16th century. But this is extremely late, given that Herodotus is "the Father of History", so therefore all other "ancient" histories must have been fabricated even later. Yet, the founders of modern chronology - Scaliger and Petavius - laid their foundations also at the close of the 16th century and had the full corpus of ancient histories already at their disposal.

It seems to me that Fomenko has to address these inconsistencies, maybe in the forthcoming 5 volumes?

Another critique of their book is that the correspondencies between different rulers are often based on a superficial comparison of the biographies; upon a more thorough comparison many details appear that do not correspond at all.

Finally, the authors rely heavily on the works of Gregorovius (1821-1891!!) - his medieval histories of Rome and Athens - as the source of medieval history; these works are - at least in the West - hoplessly outdated and have been superceded by more up-to-date works (for instance, Julius Norwich's trilogy on Byzantine history is not even cited).

Romulus courts Helen, Paris founds Rome, Moses goes to Troy.........2005-07-30

If you agree with Fomenko that Roman chronology is basically the foundation of the entire edifice of global chronology; you would also certainly agree that despite its numerous gaps and inconsistencies, Roman history is the best-documented field of ancient history, and thus a reference scale. But how well is the actual date of the Eternal City's foundation known?

Firstly, Rome is supposed to have been founded by the Trojans who had to flee after the fall of Troy. Some claim Rome to have been founded by Aeneas and Ulysses shortly after Troy had fallen; others are of the opinion that there was an entire dynasty that ruled for 500 years between the fall of Troy and the foundation of Rome.

Well, that's just an innocent 500 years long misunderstanding compared with what heretic Fomenko says, asserts, proves in his second volume: Second Roman Empire, Third Roman Empire, Biblical Kingdom of Israel, Biblical Kingdom of Judah, Holy Roman Empire are stories about basically same events, written from different points of view at different times. The underlying events have actually taken place during xii-xv cy. These histories have been written and perfected by multitude of highly talented humanist and clerical writers of xiii-xvi cy disguised as "ancients" with glorious names like Homer, Pluto, Thucydides etc..Chronology 2.0 beta..

Historians are kindly invited to report the bugs.

Imagination of a Monarchy: Studies in Ptolemaic Propaganda (Phoenix Supplementary Volume)

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Imagination of a Monarchy: Studies in Ptolemaic Propaganda (Phoenix Supplementary Volume)
R.A. Hazzard
Manufacturer: University of Toronto Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Book Description

Scholars have long known that the Egyptian Ptolemaic monarchy underwent a transformation between 323 and 30 BC. The queens of that dynasty started as subordinates of the kings but ended as their superiors. Exactly when and how this change occurred has proven problematic for modern scholars. R.A. Hazzard argues that this change was put in motion by Ptolemy II, who glorified his sister ArsinoT and made acceptable a civilian style of kingship based on piety towards his real and mythical ancestors. Ptolemy's support and elevation of his sister inspired the queens of the line to assert themselves at the expense of their male associates. The process culminated in the absolute rule of Kleopatra VII after 47 BC.

Book Description

Around the turn of the last century, James Breasted took on the challenge of assembling all the available historical documents of ancient Egypt and translating them into English. This prodigious undertaking involved traveling to the monuments extant in the Nile valley and in outlying areas of Egyptian conquest, as well as to museums throughout Europe where Egyptian relics were housed. Breasted made his own copies of hundreds of Egyptian records inscribed on papyrus or leather or carved in stone and engaged in a thorough study of the published records of Egyptian history in conjunction with his own transcription of the documents themselves. This five-volume compendium is the result.

Breasted's monumental work, originally published from 1906 to 1907, encompasses twenty-six dynasties spanning more than three millennia: from ca. 3050 B.C. to 525 B.C. For each document, Breasted provides information on the location, condition, historical significance, and content. Beginning with the earliest known official annals of Egypt, the Palermo Stone, Breasted catalogs the realm's official activities, including royal succession, temple construction, property distribution, and foreign conquest. He tracks the careers of scores of kings, queens, government officials, military leaders, powerful statesmen, and influential courtiers, reproducing their autobiographies, letters of favor, paeans, mortuary gifts, and tomb inscriptions. Clearly annotated for the lay reader, the documents provide copious evidence of trade relations, construction activities, diplomatic envoys, foreign expeditions, and other aspects of a vigorous, highly organized and centrally controlled society.

Breasted's commentary is both rigorously documented and accessible, suffused with a contagious fascination for the events, the personalities, the cultural practices, and the sophistication these records indicate. A herculean assemblage of primary documents, many of which have deteriorated to illegibility in the intervening century, Ancient Records of Egypt illuminates both the incredible complexity of Egyptian society and the almost insuperable difficulties of reconstructing a lost civilization.

This first paperback edition of Ancient Records of Egypt features a new introduction and updated bibliography by Peter A. Piccione. Setting Breasted's work in the context of the development of American Egyptology, Piccione discusses Breasted's establishment of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, with corporate support by John D. Rockefeller and other benefactors, and surveys the ambitious body of publications with which Breasted laid the foundation for future Egyptian studies.

Customer Reviews:

excellent.......2001-09-15

These volumes, written by a distinguished American Egyptologist, were first published in 1906 and 1907. In his introduction to this re-edition, Egyptologist Peter Piccione provides a short biography of the author as well as a historical account of the 5 tomes. Volume 1 discusses the First through the Seventeenth Dynasties; Volume 2, the Eighteenth Dynasty; Volume 3, the Nineteenth Dynasty; and Volume 4, the Twentieth through Twenty-Sixth Dynasties. Volume 5 contains supplementary bibliographies and indices for the previous volumes; Piccione has added a more recent bibliography that proves to be quite useful. Each book offers a description of texts along with comments on historicity and significance, before continuing onto easy-to-understand translations. Many of the texts included are never-before-seen passages, while others are quite popular: the Palermo Stone, Letter of Pepi II, Tale of Sinuhe, Tomb of Rekhmire, Capture of Kadesh, Papyrus Harris, Adoption Stela of Nitocris, and so on. This is the most complete, easy-to-consult translation of Egyptian historical texts ever available in the field of Egyptology. A highly recommended ressource for students and scholars.

A good place to start........2001-08-31

This collection is - as Dr. Piccione points out - somewhat dated, assembled as it was - almost 100 years ago (hence only 4 stars). At the time of its original publication it was the pinnacle of its kind and collected together all extant memorials with new translations.
More material - much more - has been garnered since and some of the historical perspectives of Breasted will have - perforce - been pushed off the mark. Still and all - this series gathers togther all of that earlier material that laid the foundation for the egyptology today. Much of that material was then (and is likely still) available only in obscure articles, locations, manuscripts. Here it all is.
By all means, adjust the dates of certain epochs in the light of modern 'knowledge'; but that adjustment is just gravy. Here's the meat.

Ancient Records of Egypt: VOL. 2: THE EIGHTEENTH DYNASTY

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excellent

Ancient Records of Egypt: VOL. 2: THE EIGHTEENTH DYNASTY

Manufacturer: University of Illinois Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0252069749

Customer Reviews:

excellent.......2001-09-15

Ancient Records of Egypt: The Twentieth Through the Twenty-Sixth Dynasties, Vol. 4

Average customer rating:

excellent
wonderful reference book

Ancient Records of Egypt: The Twentieth Through the Twenty-Sixth Dynasties, Vol. 4

Manufacturer: University of Illinois Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Egypt | Ancient | History | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0252069765

Customer Reviews:

excellent.......2001-09-15

wonderful reference book.......2001-08-04

James Henry Breasted, is the founder of American Egyptology. Any Questions you may have regarding the translation of ancient Egyptian text on reliefs will be answered in this five volume set.If by any chance your question is not answered refer to the university of Chicagos Oriental institutes epigraphic survey volumes.

Nefertiti: Unlocking the Mystery Surrounding Egypt's Most Famous and Beautiful Queen

Average customer rating:

A very good book to plunge into ancient Egypt
Egypt's most beautiful queen
The Mysterious Queen
Can we get some new theories?
The Mysterious Queen

Nefertiti: Unlocking the Mystery Surrounding Egypt's Most Famous and Beautiful Queen
Joyce A. Tyldesley
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0141017244

Amazon.com

She was the beloved wife of "heretic king" Akhenaton, who defied ancient custom by practicing monotheism and by elevating Nefertiti far above the role of subservient consort previously played by Egyptian queens. Her image has ravished Western viewers ever since a magnificent limestone bust unearthed at the royal retreat of Amarna went on display in Berlin in 1924. But frustratingly few facts are known about this woman who lived more than three millennia ago. As she did in Hatchepsut: The Female Pharaoh, British archeologist Joyce Tyldesley makes a virtue of necessity by writing a book that is as much a cultural history as a biography. As Akhenaton swept away the plethora of old gods, dismaying many of his subjects, he needed a strong female figure to soften the abstract austerity of Aten, the sun deity; his beautiful queen was celebrated in official art and inscriptions that focused on the domestic life of the royal family. Tyldesley meticulously analyzes this iconography to evaluate Nefertiti's position in Egypt and her importance to her husband, who clearly cherished her beyond the demands of propriety or political necessity. The author cannot give readers a strong sense of Nefertiti's personality--the evidence simply isn't there--but she paints a wonderfully evocative picture of life at the civilized heart of the ancient world. --Wendy Smith

Book Description

The classic account of EgyptÂ's most famous queenÂ—now fully revised

For over a decade, Nefertiti, wife of the heretic king Akhenaten, was the most influential woman in the Bronze Age world: a beautiful queen blessed by the sun god, adored by her family, and worshipped by her people. Her image and her name were celebrated throughout Egypt and her future seemed golden. Suddenly Nefertiti disappeared from the royal family, vanishing so completely that it was as if she had never been. No record survives to detail her death, no monument serves to mourn her passing, and to this day her end remains an enigmaÂ—her body has never been found. Fully revising her classic biography of EgyptÂ's sun queen, historian Joyce Tyldesley draws on a wealth of scholarly and archeological evidence to investigate the truth behind the life, times, and mysterious disappearance of the legendary Nefertiti.

Customer Reviews:

A very good book to plunge into ancient Egypt.......2007-06-16

In my opinion, Joyce Tyldesley accomplishes an excelent recopilation of all science currently knows and theorizes about this queen and about the "Amarna" period in Ancient Egypt. What is excelent about it is that she does it in a very readable prose, explaining the nature of family relations, religion, social mobilization, and power during this period of Egyptian history. I loved this book and recommend it to any one who wonders what daily life was back in Egypt 3 to 4 thousand years ago!
R-Egypt in the Age of Cleopatra: History and Society Under the Ptolemies

Egypt's most beautiful queen.......2006-05-07

One of the most famous faces in the world, and perhaps one of the most well-known pieces of sculpture, is the exquisite bust of the Egyptian queen, Nefertiti, which is currently housed in the Berlin museum. She's also widely regarded as Egypt's most beautiful queen (I wonder what Cleopatra would have to say about that?). But what do we really know about her? Not a lot, as Joyce Tyldesley's book, Nefertiti, shows us. In fact, so little is known that a book that is rather short to begin with takes a lot of side trips talking about her husband and the unusual monotheistic religion that he formed. Thankfully, Tyledesley never claims to have all of the answers. Unfortunately, that didn't stop the publishers from advertising that she did. Yes, bad cover copy once again leads the reader astray, and while the book is interesting enough despite that, I still have to knock it down some for that. Many of the questions that the back cover asks ("Did she ever rule Egypt as king? When did she die?") don't actually have answers within the book. Tyledesley gives her best estimate, and refutes some of the common theories, but she admits that there's no way to tell.

Tyldesley has certainly given us an interesting book, however. She begins by giving an overview of Nefertiti's father-in-law, Amenhotep III, and his rule. She goes into great detail about Amenhotep's mother, Tiy, and examines some of the questions about them. It takes almost fifty pages before Nefertiti comes on the scene, and Tyldesley introduces her with the question of her parentage. No record has ever been found of her birth and only one relative has come to the fore. Some believe she was a foreigner come to Egypt, perhaps a Nubian princess? Tyldesley effortlessly deflects most of these theories, even as she does admit that they could be true. I was very glad to see that Tyldesley rarely assumes anything, giving the reader all sides of the story, even as she provides evidence that supports what she believes is the case.

The book then moves on to examine the reign of her husband, Akhenaten, and the religion that he founded (and which, subsequently, was pretty much wiped from history by subsequent pharaohs). Nefertiti does figure in this at times, as it has been proposed that she was a goddess figure much like Akhenaten was the god. Some images that date from this period show Nefertiti acting similar to what high priests would do in the previous religion, smiting enemies or leading religious ceremonies. For the most part, however, the chapter is about Akhenaten's rule, and subsequent chapters give us more detail, even as they examine Nefertiti's role in the whole thing. In fact, one of the chapters (called "Queen, King, or Goddess?") brings up the question of whether or not Nefertiti ever ruled in her husband's place, perhaps after he died. Once again, Tyldesley deals with that by giving us as much information as is known, stating that it's most likely that she never served as king and detailing why the other hypotheses aren't very credible.

I found these chapters especially interesting because, while I had heard of Akhenaten and his replacing of all the Egyptian gods with his own divinity, I didn't really know much about it. Tyldesley does a wonderful job giving the reader as much information about this period as she can, detailing all the references that Egyptologists have discovered about this period. She sets the scene wonderfully too, so clearly that I almost felt like I was walking the streets of ancient Amarna (what archeologists now call the city Akhenaten founded, though I don't think she ever explains why this is).

When Tyldesley begins discussing the "sunset" of Akhenaten's reign, that's when the book really begins to take a side trip. Nefertiti disappears from the narrative, and we must assume that she died at this point (Tyldesley does bring up some people's theory that she fell out of favour and was wiped from the record, but she quickly discounts it after explaining what evidence these theorists use for it). She then discusses the fall of Akhenaten, the birth of Tutankhamen, and the gradual erasure of the Amarna era as subsequent monarchs move back to the original capital and bring the old gods back. Another of Akhenaten's wives is believed to be Tut's mother, so we have a great many pages where the supposed thrust of the book is completely off screen. While this was interesting, I do believe that the book may have been tighter if it had remained centered on Nefertiti. Perhaps Tyldesley just takes too long to summarize what happened to Akhenaten after she disappears?

The book ends on a wonderful note, however, as Tyldesley gives a rundown of how Nefertiti came back to prominence with the discovery of the sculpture and further archeological research that brings Nefertiti back to the forefront. For the longest time, archeologists thought that Queen Tiy was the main inspiration for Akhenaten's religious reforms (as Tyldesley notes, a book on the Queen's of Egypt written in 1908 only gave Nefertiti six pages), but subsequent findings have restored Nefertiti to her rightful place. I love reading about archeology, so this was probably my favourite chapter in the book, and it's a fitting conclusion to it.

As Tyldesley says in her introduction, "We simply do not have the information to write the definitive 'warts and all' biography which we have come to expect of more modern subjects." However, she has definitely given us the closest thing possible to it. She demonstrates the mystique Nefertiti had (and still has), presents us with her theories, and even gives credence to other, more conflicting ones (sometimes before demolishing them). This is a great book, marred only by a tendency to drift away from the subject occasionally. Those with an interest in Egyptology should lap this up.

David Roy

The Mysterious Queen .......2005-10-07

In the world of Egyptology, Queen Nefertiti is probably the most interesting female figure. Not much is known about the queen making her that much more fascinating. Finding an extended book about Nefertiti is hard to find due to the fact that her history is so vague. This book is probably one of the best about the queen and the book is relatively recent, so the information and new "discoveries" about her are pretty accurate. Not the whole book is about Nefertiti because we don't really know that much about her. The book also describes Amenhotep III and Queen Tiy, the parents of the fascinating Akhenaten. Akhenaten is the other major person besides Nefertiti in the book. He was the husband of Nefertiti as well as the first prominent monotheistic figure in history. One does get the idea of Nefertiti's almost goddess-like presence in Egypt as well as her high status in society often ruling equally beside her husband in the book. Tyldesley does a great job with Nefertiti. This is probably a must have book for Nefertiti as well as Akhenaten.

Can we get some new theories?.......2004-10-10

All in all, this is a pretty good book, in a textbook-y way. In my opinion, it was mainly a rehash of the popular theories of Nefertiti, and not really anything new and exciting for us to read.

Side note to reviewer Ma Ra: If you are so ticked off at Nefertiti looking more Middle Eastern than African, there's a sculptor that's been dead for 3000 years that you'll have to take it up with. Anyone with eyes who has seen Ancient Egyptian art knows that they depicted themselves as more Middle Eastern looking than what modern people consider "African". Sounds to me like you're pushing a sterotype.

The Mysterious Queen.......2004-06-01

Nefertiti was the most influential woman in ancient Egypt. Her entire life, where she came from and how she died, in shrouded in mystery. She married in her early teens to Amenhotep IV who may have been sixteen or seventeen. After marrying she became a mother to six daughters and became a member of the Royal Court of Amarna. She was the first queen to be equal with the king. They lived at Thebes where they ruled the upper and lower kingdoms.

The one thing I did not like about this book was how it seemed to go into more detail about Amenhotep IV and his family than Nefertiti. That was probable do to the fact that we know so little about her. Nothing of her life is know before she was married and very little is know after Amenhotep IV dies. The book gave Amenhotep IV inter family line and went on for too long. It took you away from the central topic.

The best thing is the attention to detail. Every little factor, from family history to the culture is given. It gives the reader a since of what life was like and makes you feel as if you were actually there. The artier takes evidence from archeological remains to make this God like queen more like a real person. This was a book that you could get in to.

Average customer rating:

Gill writes the wrongs with this 'first detective'

City of the Dead: The Third Egyptian Mystery (Egyptian Mysteries)
Anton Gill
Manufacturer: Trafalgar Square
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0747514860

Customer Reviews:

Gill writes the wrongs with this 'first detective'.......2004-04-04

Anton Gill, a prolific author clearly in his own "write," continues his series set in Egyptian times (18th Dynasty) in "City of the Dead."

Tutankhamun meets his (inevitable) untimely death and, of course, the "dance of the succession" begins, violently. Only the scribe Huy (billed as the "world's first detective") can decipher the code of this historic miasma. And Gill presents a credible, albeit, of course, fictional accounting. Along the way, Gill's writing skill and succinct plot development accompanied by clearly defined and skillfully developed characters make reading this short novel a treat.

Customer Reviews:

excellent.......2001-09-15

AGED BUT STILL USEFUL TRANSLATIONS OF EGYPTIAN TEXTS.......2000-12-01

This is the reprint of the 5 volumes originally printed in 1906, so that all these translations are in need of checking with other, more recent interpretations of them. None the less, the impressive task undertook by late Dr. Breasted has not diminished its value with the pass of time, since this is a collection of texts, otherwise accesible only in a wide range of out of print or really inaccesible papers and books. Price is salty, but remember that there are over a 1,000 pages of valuable data on every aspect of ancient Egypt. Worthy and basic!

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