After the death of Rameses II, the Nineteenth Dynasty soon fell into decline and familial conflict, culminating in a final civil war that ended with the accession of a new dynasty. Sethy I and Rameses II’s promotion of a concept of a wider ‘royal family’ may have sown the seeds for the conflicts among their descendants. Aidan Dodson explores the mysteries of the origins of the usurper-king Amenmeses and the career of the ‘king-maker’ of the period, the chancellor Bay. Having helped to install at least one pharaoh on the throne, Bay’s life was ended by his abrupt execution, ordered by the woman with whom he had shared the regency of Egypt for the young and disabled King Siptah. Finally, the author considers how that woman—Tawosret—became the last true female pharaoh, and how she finally lost her throne to the founder of the Twentieth Dynasty, Sethnakhte.
Poisoned Legacy
The Fall of the Nineteenth Egyptian Dynasty: Revised Edition
Aidan Dodson
1 May 2016
222 pp.
127 b/w photographs
15X23cm
ISBN 9789774167522
For sale worldwide
$19.95
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.
...read more
27 January 2016
Paperback
248 pp.68 b/w illus. and 3 maps
15X23cm
$19.95
Related products
Ancient Egypt
An Introduction
Salima IkramThis book provides an introduction to one of the greatest civilizations of all time – ancient Egypt. Beginning with a geographical overview that explains the development of Egypt’s belief systems as well as Egypt’s subsequent political development, it examines methodology, the history of the discipline of Egyptology, religion, social organization, urban and rural life, and death. It also includes a section on how people of all ranks lived. Lavishly illustrated, with many unusual photographs of rarely seen sites that are seldom illustrated, this volume is suitable for use in introductory-level courses on ancient Egypt. It offers a variety of student-friendly features, including a glossary, a bibliography, and a list of sources for those who wish to further their interest in ancient Egypt.
...read more
Paperback
356 pp.102 b/w illus., 48 color illus.
17X24cm
$27.50
Amarna Sunset
Nefertiti, Tutankhamun, Ay, Horemheb, and the Egyptian Counter-Reformation
Aidan DodsonThis new study, drawing on the latest research, tells the story of the decline and fall of the pharaoh Akhenaten’s religious revolution in the fourteenth century bc. Beginning at the regime’s high-point in his Year 12, it traces the subsequent collapse that saw the deaths of many of the king’s loved ones, his attempts to guarantee the revolution through co-rulers, and the last frenzied assault on the god Amun. The book then outlines the events of the subsequent five decades that saw the extinction of the royal line, an attempt to place a foreigner on Egypt’s throne, and the accession of three army officers in turn. Among its conclusions are that the mother of Tutankhamun was none other than Nefertiti, and that the queen was joint-pharaoh in turn with both her husband Akhenaten and her son. As such, she was herself instrumental in beginning the return to orthodoxy, undoing her erstwhile husband’s life-work before her own mysterious disappearance.
...read more
15 November 2009
Hardbound
192 pp.100 illus.
15X23cm
$29.95
Annales du Service des Antiquités de l’Egypte
Vol. 83
Supreme Council of AntiquitiesFor centuries, Egyptian civilization and its antiquities have inspired passionate interest. Archaeologists, engineers, astronomers, poets, painters, people of different cultures, and travelers have been riveted by Egypt’s ancient monuments. How much do we really know about these awe-inspiring wonders of the ancient world? This publication provides an up-to-date account of archaeology in the land of the pharaohs, including new discoveries and recent studies. This authoritative volume remains the definitive source for the findings of the various archaeological excavations undertaken in Egypt. For more than a hundred years, the Annales du Service has been studied by Egyptologists, students, and laypersons alike. Published under the auspices of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, its contributors include some of the most well-known Egyptologists in the world covering a broad range of archaeological disciplines and spectrums.
...read more
15 September 2010
Paperback
360 pp.21X29cm
$39.50
Annales du Service des Antiquités de l’Egypte
Vol. 84
Supreme Council of AntiquitiesThis authoritative publication remains the definitive source for the findings of the various archaeological excavations undertaken in Egypt. Published under the auspices of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, its contributors include some of the most well-known Egyptologists in the world, covering a broad range of archaeological disciplines and spectrums. Volume 84 includes reports from Egyptian, Spanish, Polish, British, German, Swiss, French, American, Belgian, and Japanese archaeological missions working in Egypt. Included in this volume are reports on a video exploration of the Queen’s Chamber in the Great Pyramid at Giza; an examination of an ostracon with notations about bread in Demotic script; excavations at North Saqqara, Siwa Oasis, Abydos, the Temple of Thutmosis III at Luxor, Elephantine, Syene and Queen Tausert’s temple in Western Thebes; the recording of rock inscriptions in Wadi Nag el-Birka on an important ancient road leading from Thebes; and documentation and fieldwork at a late Roman fort at Nag al-Hagar, near Kom Ombo.
...read more
15 September 2011
Paperback
488 pp.Illustrated
21X29cm
$49.50