Description
Book SynopsisFrom the dawn of history to the death of Cleopatra, ancient Egypt was home to larger-than-life personalities. Across one hundred lives, Toby Wilkinson explores the true character and diversity of human experience in the ancient world's greatest civilization. Some of those profiled are famous: pharaohs and queens such as Akhenaten, Nefertiti, Ramesses II and Tiye. Others are lesser known but equally engaging: Imhotep, architect of the first pyramid; Perniankhu, the court dwarf; and the royal sculptor Bak. Equally illuminating are the lives of commoners, so rarely given their own voice: ordinary men and women who include a doctor, a dentist, a housewife, a musician and a serial criminal.
Table of Contents1. Foundations • 2. The Pyramid Age • 3. Civil War and Restoration • 4. A Golden Age • 5. The Great Heresy • 6. Imperial Egypt • 7. Twilight of the Gods • King-list and chronology, map, further reading
