This revised Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt has been designed to increase historical information about the civilization of the Nile Valley from the predynastic period until the annexation of Egypt by the Romans around 30 B. C.E. During the 1,000 years following the collapse of the Ramessids and the New Kingdom in 1070 B. C.E. and the Roman occupation of the Nile Valley, Egypt experienced the invasion of several foreign armies and the clash of new people and ideas. The Libyans, Nubians, Assyrians, and Persians ruled the nation, and Alexander the Great bequeathed the lands and a new capital, Alexandria, to the Greeks, who remained in power during the Ptolemaic Period (304-30 B. C.E.).
Individuals from these cultures are included in this book, as well as the military, social, and religious aspects of their presence on the Nile. Each culture arrived in Egypt seeking its own purpose, eventually losing its grip on the land. The native Egyptians, meanwhile, maintained their own cultural imperatives and survived the changes in their world. Their temples, courts, monuments, and deities continued to serve the land as foreigners arrived and disappeared. The Chronology will provide an overview of these historical eras.
Specific topics are keyed to historical eras or designed to provide details about particular customs, practices, or traditions. Major subjects, such as agriculture, gods and goddesses, mortuary rituals, the military, pharaohs, queens, and religion, span the different dynasties in order to offer an overview of the evolution of such matters.
Sites and personalities from the various eras are included, with reference to their importance or their role in the development of the nation. The dates of these individuals are provided, and their Greek name is included in many cases. In all instances the kings are recorded with their prenomens (“first cartouche” or throne names) given in parentheses.
Anyone wishing to begin learning about this period of ancient Egyptian history should read EGYPT, an entry that provides geographical and historical material about the nation. The chronology provided at the front of the book also gives information concerning Egypt’s development and relationship to other lands. If interested in a particular subject, begin with that entry and then read the cross-referenced entries concerning the same subject matter. For instance, if the reader is interested in the Eighteenth Dynasty and Tut’ankhamun, the section on historical periods under the entry on EGYPT will place that royal line and that king in the proper chronological and political setting. Tut’ankhamun is listed separately, and in the entry concerning his life one will discover other relatives or issues of significance to his reign.
If interested in the religious life of the ancient Egyptians, the reader can start with the entry on religion and then read the cross-references to the gods and goddesses, temples, priests, mortuary rituals, cosmogony, and eternity. Additional entries on the Per Ankh (House of Life), solar cult, barks of the gods, and cult centers will offer further details and new avenues of exploration on the subject.
If the reader is interested in pyramids, the entry on that subject will lead to others, such as mastabas, sarcophagus, cartonnage (coffins), liturgy, the Judgment Halls of Osiris, valley temples, and mummies (which are discussed in detail in the entry on mortuary rituals).
Once the book has become familiar to the reader, he or she can begin to explore unique aspects of Egyptian life that have survived over the centuries in the various art forms and in the stunning architecture found along the Nile. Individuals are included alongside customs or
Traditions so that the spirit of the various eras can come to life. Other entries on literature, art and architecture, astronomy, and women’s role will add details about the various aspects of day-to-day existence so many centuries ago. Photographs and art work (adaptations of reliefs, paintings, or statues) have been included, and maps provide clarification of the geographic aspects of Egypt. The names of some rulers have been altered to follow new trends in the field.
World History
