The Ancient Egyptian World

by Cline, Eric H.; Rubalcaba, Jill

• ISBN13: 9780195173918
• ISBN10: 0195173910
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-05-12
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Taking readers back 4,000 years, to the fertile land around the Nile River, The Ancient Egyptian World tells the stories of the kings, queens, pharaohs, gods, tomb builders, and ordinary citizens who lived there. Using papyri, scarabs, tomb inscriptions, mummies, and a rich variety of other primary sources, Eric H. Cline and Jill Rubalcaba uncover the fascinating history of ancient Egypt. Scarabs, which scholars call "imperial news bulletins," record important moments in a pharaoh's reign. The Edwin Smith Papyrus details the injuries sustained by the builders of the great pyramids, and the remedies used to treat them. For a worker who has had a stone fall on his head, it suggests: &ldbind it with fresh meat ... and treat afterward with grease, honey and lint." A complex recipe for a top-of-the-line mummy describes a process that could take 70 days and involved drawing the brain out through the nose with a crooked piece of iron. These primary sources also tell the stories of the people of ancient Egypt: Pepi II, the six-year-old boy king who commanded armies; Ramesses II, whose mortuary temple boasts of his expertise in battle against the Hittites; Queen Hatshepsut, the only woman to rule Egypt as pharaoh; and Cleopatra, who courted Roman statesman Mark Antony as part of her quest to extend the Egyptian empire. The Ancient Egyptian World honors the history of a civilization whose monuments and tombs still capture the imagination of the world thousands of years later. Book jacket.

Author Biography

Eric H. Cline is Associate Professor of Classics and Chair of the Department of Classical and Semitic Languages and Literatures at The George Washington University.
Jill Rubalcaba began her working life as a college- and high-school mathematics teacher, all the while continuing to go to school to study more math, writing, and business. Later she worked as an engineer on the Patriot Missile. Ms. Rubalcaba is grateful to her children, Kelly and Dan, for showing her the joys of writing for children. Jill Rubalcaba is the author of several books for young adults, including The Wadjet Eye, Place in the Sun, and The Early Human World.

Table of Contents

Cast of Characters	9	(3)
Map of the Ancient Egyptian World	12	(2)
You Rule: The Geography of Egypt	14	(7)
The Hymn to the Nile
Inscriptions on the tomb of Harkhuf
Written in Stone: The First King	21	(6)
Narmer Palette
Stairway to Heaven: The Old Kingdom	27	(7)
Inscriptions at Sehel
Edwin Smith Papyrus
Thank You, Rosetta Stone: Hieroglyphs	34	(7)
Clay tablets and pottery from Abydos
Satire of the Trades
Inscription from Wadi Hammamat
The Rosetta Stone
It's a God-Eat-God World: Egyptian Religion	41	(9)
Animal remains at Saqqara
Great Abydos Stela
Plutarch
Pyramid Texts
It's a Wrap: Mummies and the Afterlife	50	(7)
Pyramid Texts
Book of the Dead
Herodotus
Tomb Builders: The Pyramid Age	57	(7)
Tomb graffiti at Giza pyramid complex
Pyramid Texts
Dream Stela
From Monarchy to Anarchy and Back Again: The First Intermediate Period and the Middle Kingdom	64	(6)
Admonitions of Ipuwer
Ankhtyfy's tomb inscriptions
Herodotus
Dialogue Between a Man Tired of Life and His Ba
The Tale of Sinuhe
Take Two Mice and Call Me in the Morning: Medicine and Magic	70	(5)
Homer
Diodorus Siculus
Herodotus
Ebers Papyrus
Tomb paintings and engravings
Edwin Smith Papyrus
Hands Off: The Second Intermediate Period	75	(6)
Manetho
Papyrus Sallier I
Tomb inscriptions of Ahmose
Josephus
A Tale of Two Deities: Hatshepsut and Thutmose III	81	(7)
Government records
Hatshepsut's tomb inscriptions
Tomb inscription of an army scribe
Inscriptions at Karnak
In Style Along the Nile: Daily Life	88	(7)
Love poems and song lyrics
Ehers Papyrus
Lady Naunakhte
The Tale of a Shipwrecked Sailor
The Story of the Eloquent Peasant
Herodotus
Name that Tomb: Amenhotep III and the Government of Egypt	95	(6)
Commemorative scarabs
Tomb inscription from vizier of the First Intermediate Period
Amenemhet's tomb
Diodorus Siculus
Diplomacy Makes Good Fertilizer: Foreign Relations during the New Kingdom	101	(6)
Amarna Letters
Tablet from Lachish
Sun Worshipping: The Amarna Period	107	(8)
Proverb
Amarna Letters
Homer
The Great Hymn to the Aten
Only Tomb Will Tell: Tutankhamen	115	(7)
Howard Carter
Tutankhamen's mummy
Surviving Childhood: Growing Up in Ancient Egypt	122	(6)
Strabo
Berlin Papyrus
Delivery sayings
Prophecy
Registration declaration
Scribal advice
Healing spell
Song of the Harpist
War and Peace: Ramesses II and the Battle of Qadesh	128	(7)
Ramesses II royal inscriptions
Hittite Egyptian peace treaty
Scratch and Sniff: Village Life	135	(6)
Ebers Papyrus
Notes on ostraca at Deir el-Medina
Oath taken in court
Battle Stations: The Sea Peoples	141	(4)
Inscription from Ramesses Ill's mortuary temple
Happily Ever After: The Arts	145	(5)
Strabo
King for a Day: Kush, Nubia, and the Third Intermediate Period	150	(7)
The Tale of Wenamun
Stela of Piye
Great Expectations: The Greek Period	157	(7)
Plutarch
Homer
Arrian
The Last Chapter: Graeco-Roman Rule	164	(9)
Letter of Aristeas
Pliny the Elder
Inscription on the Pharos Lighthouse
Plutarch
Shakespeare
Galen
Ptolemy
Timeline	173	(3)
Further Reading	176	(6)
Websites	182	(2)
Index	184	(4)
Text Credits	188