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Nile and Egyptian Civilization

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This lucid, admirably written, and fully illustrated study by a noted French scholar and Egyptologist surveys the rise and decline of Egyptian culture through thirty centuries. Divided into three sections, the 1927 classic presents the history of Egypt in an absolutely new light, focusing in Part I on the country itself?early social organization, dynasties and divine kingdoms, nomes (or provinces) of the delta, and more. Part II covers kinship and society, including the protohistoric monarchy, the earliest royal institutions, the feudal period and social revolutions, the rule of just laws, and other topics.
Part III is devoted to a vigorous summary of intellectual life, including religion, art, and science, with detailed discussions of the growing complexity of Egyptian religion and the position of such gods as Ra and Osiris in the Egyptian pantheon; the practice of magic; morality and personal piety; the design and construction of temples and tombs; geometry and mathematics; medicine; astronomy; literature; and much else.
Enlivened with picturesque details and quotations that take readers into the heart of a glorious civilization, this profusely illustrated, comprehensive, and perceptive view of ancient Egypt remains "an excellent study, thorough, careful, intelligent, and above all, readable."?New Republic. It will appeal to general readers as well as scholars.