The Pharaohs Master-Builders [Paperback]

Henri Stierlin (Author), Anne Stierlin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1995

For three millennia, the Valley of the Nile, from the Delta to Nubia, was an immense construction site. Stierlin shows how all these colossal edifices--pyramids, temples, tombs, palaces, storerooms, and fortresses--were endowed with a moving spiritual quality that made them unique. 170 color illustrations.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Terrail (May 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 2879390206
• ISBN-13: 978-2879390208
• Product Dimensions: 11.9 x 9.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,365,641 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The Pharaohs: Master-Builders, April 9, 2004

By 

Michael Gunther (Maryland, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Pharaohs Master-Builders (Paperback)

A reader might expect from its title that this book would be a history of Pharaonic architecture. Really, though, it is more of a standard history of Egypt that is illustrated with photographs and descriptions of the usual variety - pyramids, Sphinx, temples, tombs. Both the history and the photographs are competently done, but there isn't much here that is new, or that hasn't been covered as well or better in other surveys.

For me, the best part of the book is its generous selection of 19th century copies, of ancient tomb paintings, by the likes of Rosellini, Champollion, and Belzoni. This is a great idea! The copies were made when the ancient paintings were still fresh, vivid, and undamaged. The meticulous copies give us an impression of how lively and vivid the originals must once have been, before their current and unfortunate exposure to moisture, air, and tourists.

The book contains some quite annoying errors. For example, on p. 115, a painting of Isis in Horemheb's tomb is misidentified as Hathor, in spite of her speech formula that reads, "words spoken by Isis!" On page 118, the same goddess is misidentified as Nut. On p. 80, Amun is characterized as a "sun god." On p. 148, the name of Ramesses II is both transliterated and translated incorrectly.

In spite of these problems, I wound up keeping the book for its selection of tomb scenes. The publisher also deserves credit, for bringing out such a well-produced and well-illustrated book at a very reasonable price.