Customer Reviews

Voices from Ancient Egypt: An Anthology of Middle Kingdom Writings (Oklahoma Series in Classical Culture)

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This anthology is unique in that it includes not only tales, biographies, and wisdom literature, but also contains samples of medical texts, letters, and even "cartoons." By providing such a mixture of writings from ancient Egypt, Parkinson's book is able to offer us a glimpse into the lives of individuals from a wide spectrum of Egyptian society. His translations are accurate, yet he succeeds in capturing the flavor of the time as well. This is that rare combination of a scholarly yet entertaining work. I would recommend it for anyone's library!

I have used this book several times for world and western history courses, and my students have really enjoyed it. The collection has the advantage of having a wide variety of types of sources that portray all aspects of Egyptian life during this period. The selections are lively and very readable. They are also fairly short (sometimes a bonus in students' opinions) but long enough to get a sense of the genre and subject matter of each text. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in ancient Egyptian society in general, and for anyone looking for a good primary source reader in this area for both general, freshmen courses and for upper level courses on Egyptian history.

I really enjoyed reading this selection of ancient Egyptian writings from the Middle Kingdom. Parkinson did an excellent job in editing and writing those opening introductions to each section. I really loved the one on the Maat and the king, though all of them were equally interesting. It's great to read ancient Egyptian writings. It really gives you a feel for what these people thought was important. Lots of small tidbits you would never have thought exixted. An excellent book for all to read, a must for the Egyptologist!