The Legacy of Ancient Egypt (Facts on File's Legacies of the Ancient World) [Hardcover]

Charles Freeman (Author), Charles Freeman (Author)

Book Description

Series: Facts on File's Legacies of the Ancient World | Publication Date: April 1997

To its neighbors, Egypt was a land of "gold as plentiful as dust" - a kingdom to be admired and envied, but too powerful to be taken. Other kingdoms rose and fell; Egypt endured. To the early Greeks - who arrived late in Egypt's long history - it was the home of an almost unimaginably ancient written language and equally ancient, mysterious religious traditions that were rumored to hold the secrets of the gods. To the Romans, Egypt was the granary that fed their empire, and a source of strange gods and exotic objects that fascinated everyone from slave to emperor. Only the Arabs, who arrived nearly 1,000 years after the fall of the last Egyptian dynasty, found a nearly clean slate on which to inscribe their history with little reference to the old. Over the course of the last 400 years, our picture of the land of the pharaohs has been built up piece by piece, leaving plenty of gaps for the imagination to fill in. Paradoxically, in the twentieth century - when most of Egypt's past has finally been well documented - the more familiar and everyday it becomes, the more there is a desire to cling to the exotic, the mysterious, the impenetrable. This comprehensive and lavishly illustrated book unwraps the layered shroud of history to reveal both Egypts: the real land of kings and queens, officials and craftsmen, archaeologists and tomb-robbers; and the Egypt of the imagination, which has had a hold on Western culture since its origins in classical Greece - a hold that shows no sign of diminishing.

Editorial Reviews

Review

The Legacy Of Ancient Egypt is a completely new, stunningly illustrated presentation of the facts and legends behind one of the world's most fascinating civilizations of antiquity -- Egypt. This ancient middle-eastern civilization on the banks of the Nile continues to shape our culture more than 2,500 years later. The Legacy Of Ancient Egypt utilizes a unique approach that reveals unexpected influences behind familiar ideas and objects, including 14 fully illustrated, in-depth special features; more than 360 illustrations (20 artworks, 20 maps, and 320 photographs); timecharts, a glossary, a bibliography, and a complete index. The Legacy Of Ancient Egypt is far more than just a beautifully illustrated coffee-table art book, it is a serious, entertaining, fascinating treatise that will engage the reader with a new appreciation for an ancient wonder. -- Midwest Book Review

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Checkmark Books (April 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 081603656X
• ISBN-13: 978-0816036561
• Product Dimensions: 12.1 x 9.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,048,760 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book!, October 25, 2000

By 

Kurt A. Johnson (North-Central Illinois, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Legacy of Ancient Egypt (Facts on File's Legacies of the Ancient World) (Hardcover)

This is one of the most interesting books on ancient Egypt that I have ever seen. The book begins with an excellent history of Egypt from prehistoric times through its conquest by the Macedonians. Along the way, there are many subsections on subjects from Aten through zoological gardens. Later chapters cover ancient Egypt's rediscovery at the end of the Eighteenth Century, and its influence on western civilization up to today.

This book has many excellent color pictures and maps, a good glossary and list of Egyptian gods, and an interesting list of all of the kings of Egypt. This is an excellent introduction to ancient Egypt, and an interesting look at a wrinkle in modern Western civilization. I highly recommend this fascinating book.

5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars i thought it was fairly good, May 21, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Legacy of Ancient Egypt (Facts on File's Legacies of the Ancient World) (Hardcover)

it would be good for the reader who wants to learn more about egypt without reaaly getting too deep into the history & geography of ancient egypt