Since it was first published in 1980, this book has become recognized as a classic work and has yet to be replaced as the best and most comprehensive introduction there is to the civilization of ancient Egypt. The authors, two distinguished Egyptologists, have comprehensively revised and updated the text for this new edition. Every map has been redigitized, new photographs have been added, and there is a completely new bibliography, enhancing the book’s value as an indispensable reference work for scholars. Far more than an atlas in the traditional sense of the word, the many detailed maps, informative text, and numerous color photographs, drawings, and plans illuminate every aspect of ancient Egypt. The book is divided into three parts. The first establishes the cultural setting of ancient Egypt, with chapters on its geography, archaeology, history, art, and architecture. The central section of the book takes the reader on a journey down the Nile, calling at some 90 sites where significant discoveries have been made or spectacular monuments stand. From the rock-cut tombs of Aswan to the pyramids at Giza, from the treasures of Tutankhamun to the shifting sands of the Delta, the reader is transported effortlessly by means of maps, photographs, site plans, and descriptive accounts of the visible remains. A further journey takes the intrepid traveler into Nubia and to the temples of Abu Simbel, rescued from the waters of Lake Nasser. The third part considers important aspects of Egyptian society and daily life. Throughout the book, special features look more closely at selected themes such as the construction of the pyramids, hieroglyphic writing, Egyptian gods, and the influence of Egypt on Western art. There is a helpful checklist of museums with Egyptian collections. Other important reference features include a chronological table, list of kings and dynasties, glossary, bibliography, gazetteer, and index.

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.