Ancient Records of Egypt: vol. 1: The First through the Seventeenth Dynasties
By
Paperback
In Stock
Quantity
Description
Around the turn of the last century, James Henry Breasted took on the challenge of assembling all the available historical documents of ancient Egypt and translating them into English. This prodigious undertaking involved traveling to the monuments extant in the Nile valley and in outlying areas of Egyptian conquest, as well as to museums throughout Europe where Egyptian relics were housed. Breasted made his own copies of hundreds of Egyptian records inscribed on papyrus or leather or carved in stone and engaged in a thorough study of the published records of Egyptian history in conjunction with his own transcription of the documents themselves. This five-volume compendium is the result.
Breasted's monumental work, originally published from 1906 to 1907, encompasses twenty-six dynasties spanning more than three millennia: from ca. 3050 B.C. to 525 B.C. For each document, Breasted provides information on location, condition, historical significance, and content. Beginning with the earliest known official annals of Egypt, the Palermo Stone, Breasted catalogs the realm's official activities, including royal succession, temple construction, property distribution, and foreign conquest. He tracks the careers of scores of kings, queens, government officials, military leaders, powerful statesmen, and influential courtiers, reproducing their autobiographies, letters of favor, paeans, mortuary gifts, and tomb inscriptions. Clearly annotated for the lay reader, the documents provide copious evidence of trade relations, construction activities, diplomatic envoys, foreign expeditions, and other aspects of a vigorous, highly organized, and centrally controlled society.
Breasted's commentary is both rigorously documented and accessible, suffused with a contagious fascination for the events, the personalities, the cultural practices, and the sophistication these records indicate. A herculean assemblage of primary documents, many of which have deteriorated to illegibility in the intervening century, Ancient Records of Egypt illuminates both the incredible complexity of Egyptian society and the almost insuperable difficulties of reconstructing a lost civilization.
This first paperback edition of Ancient Records of Egypt features a new introduction and supplementary bibliographies by Peter A. Piccione. Setting Breasted's work in the context of the development of American Egyptology, Piccione discusses Breasted's establishment of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, with corporate support by John D. Rockefeller and other benefactors, and surveys the ambitious body of publications with which Breasted laid the foundation for future Egyptian studies. CPSIA choking or other US hazard warning - No California Proposition 65 hazard warning necessary
About the Author
James Henry Breasted (1865-1935), the first American scholar to hold a professorship in Egyptology, was the author of The Battle of Kadesh, A History of Egypt, Development of Religion and Thought in Ancient Egypt, Ancient Times: A History of the Early World, and The Conquest of Civilization.Peter A. Piccione is an Egyptologist and professor of comparative ancient history at the University of Charleston, South Carolina, and director of the University of Charleston Serapis Research Institute Theban Tombs Publication Project.
More Details
- Contributor: James Henry Breasted
- Imprint: University of Illinois Press
- ISBN13: 9780252069901
- Number of Pages: 400
- Packaged Dimensions: 152x229x28mm
- Format: Paperback
- Publisher: University of Illinois Press
- Release Date: 2001-05-17
- Binding: Paperback / softback
- Biography: James Henry Breasted (1865-1935), the first American scholar to hold a professorship in Egyptology, was the author of The Battle of Kadesh, A History of Egypt, Development of Religion and Thought in Ancient Egypt, Ancient Times: A History of the Early World, and The Conquest of Civilization.Peter A. Piccione is an Egyptologist and professor of comparative ancient history at the University of Charleston, South Carolina, and director of the University of Charleston Serapis Research Institute Theban Tombs Publication Project.
Delivery Options
Home Delivery
Store Delivery
Free Returns
We hope you are delighted with everything you buy from us. However, if you are not, we will refund or replace your order up to 30 days after purchase. Terms and exclusions apply; find out more from our Returns and Refunds Policy.