Customer Reviews

The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt (Oxford Histories)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I cannot praise this book enough. Unfortunately in academic areas, introductions and overviews to various fields, particularly broad histories, tend to reflect the opinions and suppositions of the authors much more than render the actual environment they are working in. This book proves to be a rare exception to this sad fact and sets a standard of scholarship to be emulated by all researchers of the ancient world. Never in egyptology, assyriology, or biblical studies have I found a history that did such a wonderful job of laying out the textual and archaeological finds that scholars base their judgments upon. This is important to me, as I am in disagreement with many scholarly communities about issues of chronology. This book, rather than simply laying out tables and dates, supplements those tables with actual references to the texts and archaeological items that have lead scholars to date things the way they have, pointing out inconsistancies and uncertainties along the way.

After reading this book, I have become convinced that the history of Egypt is not as well known as most books on Egypt would have us believe.

The book is a mammoth undertaking, attempting to chronicle the history of Egypt from prehistory until 311 BC. Introductory sections on the state of research and certainty of chronolology are extremely enlightening. I was particularly impressed with the chapters on prehistory and the naqada culture, in which the archeological evidence and its interpretation were expressely explained to the reader, allowing the reader to agree or disagree with the authors as they wish. My only complaint is that the book, being an anthology of essays by a variety of scholars, shows some inconsistancy in its thoroughness. The chapter on the 18th dynasty reads a little like standard books on the subject, that is, the reader is kept from the evidence to support the author's view and the author seems to have trouble distinguishing his own suppositions from the facts of history, at times appearing a little tendentious.

Overall, this book is the best history of an ancient culture that I have yet read.

As a quote expresses on the back of this book, "If you only want to read one book on Egypt, then read this one." Ian Shaw's history of ancient Egypt is a beautifully constructed volume that is at once densely packed with information and high in its level of scholarship, and aesthetically appealing and fairly accessible. The book surveys Egyptian history from 700,000 years before the present through the Roman period (ending in AD 395). This is an enormous task, and one might assume that the book could only be very summary and superficial in its treatment of each period. However, every member of Shaw's team of scholars manages to describe his or her period of expertise in a good amount of detail, discussing not only historical events but also art, religion, economics, and material culture. The book thus very successfully follows current trends in history of approaching periods from myriad points of view. Equally importantly, each author discusses the current problems and debates in the scholarship of his or her field. The multi-author approach allows the reader insight into the nature of research for each stage of Egyptian history: the reader gets a sense of the way in which research is conducted, the modes of analysis applied, and the style and terms of discussion. This book serves as an introduction to Egyptian historiography and to the nature of the study of ancient history almost as much as it serves as an introduction to ancient Egypt itself. Thus, The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt manages a high level of scholarship while remaining a useful survey of a huge span of time and culture. Readers who are unfamiliar with archaeological language might find some of the articles in this volume slightly more difficult than others, but there is a decent glossary in the back, and it is more the scholarly tone than the actual material that needs getting used to. Any reader who is genuinely interested in the topic will be able to read through this entire book without much trouble. My only reservation is this: the highly dense nature of the text means that it is occasionally a bit of a slow read. I read the book for a graduate class with Egyptologist David O'Connor (excavator of Abydos; you will see him mentioned several times in the book) and it took me about a week of constant focus. On the whole, though, this is a remarkable book and probably the best existing introduction to ancient Egypt. With a publication date of 2002, it is also the most up-to-date.

The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt is really more of an encyclopedia than a narrative history. Each of its 15 chapters is written by a different author, presumably an expert in the particular time period under study. This lends itself to a disjointed style as each author presents an overwhelming welter of archeological facts in an effort to deal with their own view of the controversies in the assigned area. While no doubt providing the experienced Egyptologist with fine details is important, the casual reader will find the book a dense and confusing read. The details of stone-age arrowhead manufacture or the various types of thrown pottery in the First Intermediate Period tend to obscure the bigger picture. As a prerequisite for reading this book I would recommend something lighter and more cohesive such as "A History of Ancient Egypt" by Grimal.

That said, the book is definitely a significant resource for anyone interested in Egyptian history. It covers the Egyptian state from prehistory through its incorporation into the Roman empire. Three chapters cover the pre-dynastic period including one on the Paleolithic period, one on the Naqada period and one entitled "Emergence of the Egyptian State" (Dynasties 0-2). Subsequent chapters for the Old, Middle and New Kingdoms (2 chapters for the last of these) and the Intermediate Periods follow. A rather strange and slightly redundant chapter, entitled "Egypt and the Outside World" is located just prior to the article on the Third Intermediate period. Its insertion here seems an afterthought as it covers the material of several preceding chapters using a topical, rather than chronologic, approach. Finally, several shorter chapters cover the Late Period, the Ptolemaic Period and the Roman Period. The book has a substantial further reading list and glossary as well as a tabular chronology, and index. It is well illustrated, with many black and white pictures, extensive maps and approximately 40 colour plates. Unfortunately, there is often a disconnect between the written material and the plates and pictures, leaving the reader confused as to their purpose.

I would definitely recommend this book as a scholarly or reference resource due to its detailed approach but I would suggest it not be the first book you read if you are a casual reader, interested in understanding the sweep of Egyptian history.

I am admittedly not a specialist in Egyptology; a fairly thorough survey is all I was looking for. However, I do read a lot of history (as well as law, philosophy, literature), so it is not out of lacking experience that I say this book fell a little flat. It does its job well, but as a narrative, it is about as boring as one can imagine. It is a dry read even compared to the typical college textbook. In fact, there is nothing approaching a "narrative" in this book; it is more of a concatenation of descripitive facts with no concomitant analysis, little or no derivation of the many contentious claims made, and no continuity whatsoever from section to section. Even the writing style varies by section. As a somewhat avid linguist, I also observed with dismay quite a number of grammatical errors that are not normally befitting of an academic text.

Again, I must emphasize that I am not writing this review within a relative context that includes other history books specifically on Egyptology; rather, it is in a much broader context covering a rather broad swath of academic disciplines. It may be the case that this is a very good book in its specific field. I merely observe that other respected surveys I have read that touch upon Ancient Egypt seem to do a far better job illuminating the actual cultural and material experience of various parts of this history. One gets very little sense of daily life and cultural evolutions / revolutions from the many general, high-level, descriptive statements offered here.

In the final analysis, this book is sufficient for ascertaining some generally-accepted facts about Ancient Egypt, but it would not appear to be excellent.

The work in this book is presented in a thorough and detailed manner, covering the whole fascinating history of ancient Egyptian civilization. My one complaint is that the style is very dry, making it tough going for a non-specialist (even one used to academic treatise in another field). That said, if you are willing to stick with it, or wish to have a reliable reference work on the subject, this would be an asset on your bookshelf.

Starting, as I did, with the most superficial knowledge of Ancient Egypt, this book was an incredibly useful review. As mentioned earlier, the style may be a bit dry for the casual reader. There are two areas in which I would have liked to see more details:

Throughout the book, there are only passing mentions of what is going on elsewhere in the world at the same time. I usually find these "synchronizations" very useful in a history book.

The final two chapters (about the Ptolemaic period and the Roman period) are not nearly as well written or as thorough as the rest. It is as if they were written as an addendum. Hopefully, a later edition might address these issues.

If you are a general reader interested in getting an overview of the history of Egypt from pre-historic through Roman times, you would be hard pressed to do better than this book. It has fifteen chapters. Each is devoted to a range of history or change in culture. This segmentation is quite useful in keeping aspects of the history straight in one's mind.

While I knew that Egypt wasn't a single culture through time, I never had a clear sense of who was doing what where and when. This book provides a wonderful cure for that problem. Obviously, there are lifetimes to be spent by specialists in the endless aspects of these cultures. However, there is a lot to be gained by having a better overview and some understanding of these things by generalists. I am glad to have this book on my shelf.

Each chapter is loaded with interesting pictures, drawings, color plates, and maps. Each chapter has a section for further reading in the back of the book. There is also a glossary, a chronology, a list of sources for the illustrations, and an index.

This book is a collection of essays by various authors, and the quality of them varies tremendously from chapter to chapter. While it covers all of Egyptian history from prehistoric times to the Roman era, this book is not a particularly good introduction. Here's a typical sentence from the first chapter: "The Nubian Middle Paleolithic is characterized by the Nubian Levallois technique and by bifacial foliates and pendunculates." If you know what the Levallois technique and pendunculates are, great. If, like me, you have no idea what this means, you have a problem because there is a maddening lack of definition throughout. For me, the book's major drawback is that it fails to balance the larger picutre of historical development with this kind of astonishingly particular language. The main problem is that the editor has not sought any consistency among the various contributions. For example, the chapter on the Ptolemeic period spends an inordinate amount of time examinging the Egyptian military, a topic only fleetingly touched on in earlier chapters and ignored completely in the following chapter on the Roman period. The final Roman essay almost completely ignores the political structure of Egypt, even though that topic is central to almost all earlier contributors. Finally, anyone interested in Egyptian religion will find little information in this book. Some chapters touch on the topic, often pointing out that religious ideas evolved significantly over long periods of time. Other chapters ignore it altogether or merely present religious ideas as if the reader fully understood them. There is, however, an excellent array of maps and high quality pictures of art and architecture.

This is a first rate book on the General History of Ancient Egypt from Pre-Historic times until the end of the Roman Empire. The 13 various contributors--Betsy Bryan, Gae Callendar, Janine Bourriau, Jaromir Malik and Ian Shaw among others--give an excellent overview of Egypt's long and distinguished History. The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt is a good update on Alan Gardiner's classic 1963 Egypt of the Pharaohs and Nicolas Grimal's more recent 1988 book, A History of Ancient Egypt. While one might diagree with a contributors take on certain topics such as Ms. Callenders complete rejection of the institution of any coregencies in the Middle Kingdom which are accepted by most scholars(they are certainly documented between Senusert I/Amenemhet II, Amenemhet II/Senusert II and Amenemhet III & IV based on the Inscription at Konosso in Nubia for the latter; rather, it is the coregency of Amenemhet I/Senusert I which is currently contested), they are more than made up for by these scholars careful and balanced coverage and interpretation of all the latest archaeological evidence. These contributors certainly know their areas of expertise well.

Especially impressive were the various contributors inclusion and analysis of much of the latest studies on Egypt's various Periods of History such as Kim Ryholt's 1997 book on the Second Intermediate Period and Luc Gabolde's important 1987 SAK paper on the length of the reigns of Tuthmose I and II, based on their attested scarabs. One of the most invaluable parts of the book is its exhaustive catalogue of all the best books, publications and journal articles on Egypt's various historical eras.

My only regret was that John Taylor's coverage of the end of Third Intermediate Period is rather short and fails to examine the Libyan Period in any great detail after Sheshonq I's reign. He briefly mentions this period's history of severe political fragmentation with 3 kings alone ruling simultaneously in the Delta Region(Tefnakht of Sais, Osorkon IV at Tanis and Iuput II of Leontopolis) which is documented in Piye's Year 20 Victory stela--and does not mention the recent(1993) discovery of a completely new Tanite king namely Sheshonq IV, who reigned between Sheshonq III and Pami. Finally, no reference was made to the discovery of an Annal document for Pami in Heliopolis which shows that this king's Highest Year date was his 7th Year.

Taylor, however, rightly emphasizes the feudal nature of the Libyan 22nd Dynasty where several king's sons were apppointed to the Highest state offices throughout the land--especially at Memphis, Herakleopolis and Thebes. This was a break from New Kingdom practices where the younger sons of the king were denied offices and the privileges of state power to ensure that they did not pose a threat to the authority of the king. In times of strong central government from Sheshonq I through to Osorkon II, the state remained secure and many significant monuments were constructed but afterwards, the Libyan king's practise of sharing their authority with other members of the royal family in important political offices contributed to the gradual weakening of the Tanite 22nd dynasty's power and its ultimate fragmentation. Taylor also notes that the Libyans adopted the trappings of Egyptian kingship without understanding their real meaning: many of their kings repetitiously employed the same prenomen as their predecessors such as Hedjkheperre Sheshonq I and IV, Hedjkheperre Takelot I and II and Usimare Setepenre for a grand total of 5 rulers--Osorkon II, Pimay, Osorkon III, Takelot III and Rudamun. In contrast, in New Kingdom times, each king's royal name or prenomen was unique and different from a previous ruler's name in order to highlight a new reign and royal program.

This has got to be one of the most boring history books that I have read in years, and I read a lot of them. While it competently covers the grand outlines of Egyptian history, it gets mired in the details of how archaeologists go about piecing together their clues, that is, the deductions behind how an artifact is interpreted by whom at what unrecognizable excavation site. Now this can certainly be interesting if a story is told, but in this book it comes across as the driest of exercises in academic rigor. Of course, this kind of detail, particularly regarding their methods, should be of great interest to serious university students who are wondering about the cutting edge in their field. But it is most emphatically not for the interested amateur.

If you want to get an idea of what the book is like, take a look at the introduction, which is available in the "excerpts" on the amazon onlinereader. It is 15 pages of a kind of lecture on how chronologies should be compiled, what kinds of artifacts are available in what period, what problems there are in interpretation of them, who pioneered what method, etc. It is so boring that it is akin to eating cardboard. And the rest of the book is hardly any better.

In addition, because each chapter is written by an expert, the overall book loses a coherence of voice that is available only in works by a single author. The chapters thus feel rather disjointed, and of course, there is no narrative momentum. As such, I got little sense of why so much attention is lavished on certain archaeological details while events about which much is known, such as the reign of the various Ramses (think Moses, etc.) receive at most passing mention. I also barely got any sense of the religion or mythology. Even the religious schism caused by Tutankhamen's father (Akhenaten) is so poorly explained that I had to search elsewhere for details.

All that I got was the gist of Egyptian history. It was one of the first centralized kingdoms to exist, which enabled its rulers to embark on their extraordinary building projects from 3100 BC. In a geographically rich and protected region, they gained time free from invaders to experiment and develop a truly unique society. However, by delegating power to local governors or priests (often through inter-marriage with the royal family), local strongmen began to fight civil wars, leading to the three "intermediate periods" of fragmented rule and breakdowns of order. Only after centuries of struggle in each case did a new leader emerge to reunite the country. The book then concludes with descriptions of the various foreign powers to conquer Egypt, from the Libyans and Persians to the Macedonians and finally the Romans; until the very end, invaders were seduced by Egyptian culture, much as was the case with the Chinese. While there is much interesting detail here, it is recounted again from long interpretations of their artifacts and textual sources, which makes it a lugubrious reading experience.

This book errs on the side of analysis: it is highly technical and singles out the contributions and controversies generated by various academics (all of whom are named and discussed at some length, regardless of their obscurity with non-Egyptologist readers). The reader gets virtually no feel for what the society was like, with its unusual mix of religion and political power and its reverence for peculiar gods, or what the personalities of some of its great leaders were like. To be sure, the empire is so ancient that only towards its end do written sources emerge that offer details beyond the propaganda recorded in tombs or commemorative stellae. But I think it could have had much more narrative with flavor.

I would recommend this book for academics, whom it should rightfully please and whose discipline I certainly respect, but not for history buffs seeking a fun introduction to an incredible empire. It is a book to be studied, but it cannot be read for pleasure.