A History of Ancient Egypt

This may well be the best history of Ancient Egypt ever written. I bought it in 5th grade, when we studied Egypt for the first time, and I will always use it. I used my first copy so much that it fell apart, and I had to buy a new one. If you can only read one history of Egypt, make it this one.

A History of Ancient Egypt, a translation from the original French, is an excellent and readable introduction to Egyptian History. It provides an overview of the major political and social events in Egypt beginning with a brief survey of prehistory and ending with the conquest by Alexander the Great. The book covers the old, middle, and new kingdoms as well as the intermediate periods and ends with two chapters on the Nubian/Saite and Persian/Greek periods. It also includes a chapter on the "invasion" of the Hyksos as well as chapter describing the religious changes made by Akhenaten. The book's great strength is its readability and continuity. While other histories of Egypt often get bogged down in archeological details, Grimal's work connects the dots in a smooth and engaging narrative style. It may be that he occasionally glosses the fine points to provide continuity, but having read more detailed texts (Oxford History of Ancient Egypt), I believe his book provides a clearer picture for the beginner. This is not to say that the book lacks accuracy but scholars of Egyptian history will no doubt have their difficulties with some of Grimal's details. The book was first published in 1988 and, as such, is slightly out of date. Grimal also tends to use Greek names for most pharaohs as well many place names ie. Cheops instead of Khufu for the builder of the great pyramid. This can be a little confusing to the inexperienced reader if they have previously encountered other variants. While the book covers the major political events in ancient Egypt, the inclusion of chapters explaining the Egyptian system of religious beliefs, funerary practices and a long description of the temple complexes at Karnak provide much needed background. The plates (all black and white) in the book are adequate, although often the maps lack detail. For the interested reader I would recommend "Le Description de L'Egypte", put out by Benedikt Taschen Verlag. This book, a beautiful collection of paintings, architectural drawings and maps, produced by a team commissioned by Napoleon, fills in many of the visual details missing in Grimal's work. I would strongly recommend "A History of Ancient Egypt" to the casual reader, interested in Egyptian history, who does not want to be swamped with details. For the more scholarly it includes a brief glossary, a chronology of dynasties, an extensive bibliography, annotated suggestions for further reading and a fairly detailed index. Because of this it might also be useful as an introductory text in Egyptology, but given its age and narrative style, it will likely not be the first choice of experienced Egyptologists.

This is one of the textbooks we used in a class at Columbia University. It is rather older than I'd ideally like an introductory textbook to be, but until I see a better and more accessible book this may have to do. I think Grimal (and Shaw) do a good job of interweaving economics, culture, and political history together; a rather difficult thing to do at times and there are moments of confusion in the text. However, many other books on Egyptian history focus on one particular issue or use one historical approach and those are just not appropriate for introductory texts in either the classroom or for the layperson. I think that if a teacher were to use other information in lecture or assignments this particular textbook is just fine for the college level.

While a little dry, this work does manage to span the whole of Egyptian history--Archaic period to Graeco-Roman times--which is a feat in itself, especially when all possible facts are squeezed in wherever possible. While this last factor does become a little overwhelming in places, it still shows why "A History of Ancient Egypt" finds a place in many of the bibliographies of its successors. The chapters in the new Kingdom--particularly the XVIIIth Dynasty--are a wonderful source of knowledge pertaining to the pharaohs within. The plates are fine, although some are a bit grainy. For those of you who wonder, I make a habit of commenting on the quality of the plates because they make up part of any book's price. What few faults this book has are mostly in readability, not scholarly details, so nevermind the one or two fuzzy plates and indulge. While not the first thing I would recomend, it beats Kent Week's take on KV5 without trying and has no such petty and careless mistakes as miscounting the number of Akhenaten and Nefertiti's daughters (six, not five, Kent).