The latter part of the fifteenth century bc saw Egypt’s political power reach its zenith, with an empire that stretched from beyond the Euphrates in the north to much of what is now Sudan in the south. The wealth that flowed into Egypt allowed its kings to commission some of the most stupendous temples of all time, some of the greatest dedicated to Amun-Re, King of the Gods. Yet a century later these temples lay derelict, the god’s images, names, and titles all erased in an orgy of iconoclasm by Akhenaten, the devotee of a single sun-god. This book traces the history of Egypt from the death of the great warrior-king Thutmose III to the high point of Akhenaten’s reign, when the known world brought gifts to his newly-built capital city of Amarna, in particular looking at the way in which the cult of the sun became increasingly important to even ‘orthodox’ kings, culminating in the transformation of Akhenaten’s father, Amenhotep III, into a solar deity in his own right.
Amarna Sunrise
Egypt from Golden Age to Age of Heresy
Aidan Dodson
15 November 2016
280 pp.
122 b/w illus., 6 maps
15X23cm
ISBN 9789774167744
For sale worldwide
$24.95
Also available by this author
Monarchs of the Nile
New Revised Edition
Aidan DodsonFor over three thousand years, the ancient Egyptian monarchy lasted in a recognizable form, with the king as its central figure, the supreme head of the administrative, religious, political, and military state. Not merely a worldly leader, he was the chief link between the human and the divine, himself the physical offspring of a divine god. Monarchs of the Nile is a vivid and engaging account of the lives and times of some of the more significant occupants of the Egyptian throne, from the unification of the country around 3000 BC to the extinction of native rule just under three millennia later. Some, such as Thutmose III, had a major impact on their time, and were remembered by their own people until the very civilization collapsed. Others, such as Tutankhamun, were soon forgotten by the Egyptians themselves, only to burst into popular culture thousands of years after their deaths, as a result of the labors of modern archaeologists. Still more remain unknown outside the small circle of professional archaeologists, but led lives that call out for wider dissemination. Drawing on two further decades of research since Monarchs of the Nile was first published in 1995, Aidan Dodson provides a mix of all three categories, bringing together in highly readable form a compelling view of Egyptian kings and all their range of achievements.
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27 January 2016
Paperback
248 pp.68 b/w illus. and 3 maps
15X23cm
$19.95
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