From the Great Pyramid to the Fall of the Middle Kingdom

A History of Ancient Egypt, Volume 2

This definitive, multi-volume history of the world's first known state reveals that much of what we have been taught about Ancient Egypt is the product of narrow-minded visions of the past 
 
Drawing on a lifetime of research, John Romer chronicles the history of Ancient Egypt from the building of the Great Pyramid through the rise and fall of the Middle Kingdom: a peak of Pharaonic culture and the period when writing first flourished. He reveals how the grand narratives of nineteenth and twentieth-century Egyptologists have misled us by portraying a culture of cruel monarchs and chronic war. Instead, based in part on discoveries of the past two decades, this extraordinary account shows what we can really learn from the remaining architecture, objects and writing: a history based on physical reality.

Evocative and passionate ... [Romer] has a command of material and of language that makes this a fascinating tale ... Magisterial

Drawing on a lifetime of research, John Romer chronicles the history of Ancient Egypt from the building of the Great Pyramid through the rise and fall of the Middle Kingdom: a peak of Pharaonic culture and the period when writing first flourished. He reveals how the grand narratives of nineteenth and twentieth-century Egyptologists have misled us by portraying a culture of cruel monarchs and chronic war. Instead, based in part on discoveries of the past two decades, this extraordinary account shows what we can really learn from the remaining architecture, objects and writing: a history based on physical reality.

From the First Farmers to the Great Pyramid

A History of Ancient Egypt

'A stunning, clear-sighted history of ancient Egypt' Sunday Times 
 
The extraordinary history of Ancient Egyptian civilization - from its earliest origins to the creation of its greatest monument - from specialist John Romer 
 
This exceptional book draws on a lifetime of research and thought to recreate the previously untold story of how a civilization which began with handfuls of semi-itinerant fishermen settled, spread and created a rich, vivid, strange civilization that had its first culmination in the pharaoh Khufu building the Great Pyramid. 
 
The book immerses the reader in the fascinating world of archaeological evidence, the process by which this long vanished world has gradually re-emerged and the rapidly changing interpretations which these breathtaking but entirely enigmatic remains have been subjected to. Whether he is writing about the smallest necklace bead or the most elaborate royal tomb, John Romer conveys to the reader a remarkable sense of how to understand a people so like ourselves and yet in so many ways eerily different.

Scholarly, passionate and exquisitely written ... a stunning, clear-sighted history of ancient Egypt

It is not easy to enliven prehistory while simultaneously respecting limited archaeological evidence and avoiding novelistic pitfalls. But Romer manages it ... After a long wait, we have an up-to-date, stimulating account of the birth of what may turn out to be the world's oldest civilization

His physical descriptions are superb ... a book to be read and thought about

Romer carries the reader along effortlessly on a lengthy, complex yet immensely satisfying journey

The Egyptian Book of the Dead

New to Classics, with a new introduction by one of the best known Egyptologists of our time

The Book of the Dead is a unique collection of funerary texts from a wide variety of sources, dating from the fifteenth to the fourth century BC. Consisting of spells, prayers and incantations, each section contains the words of power to overcome obstacles in the afterlife. The papyruses were often left in sarcophagi for the dead to use as passports on their journey from burial, and were full of advice about the ferrymen, gods and kings they would meet on the way. Offering valuable insights into ancient Egypt, The Book of the Dead has also inspired fascination with the occult and the afterlife in recent years.

John Romer

Magisterial... Vividly conjured... This is not just lyrical writing, it is a deeply knowledgeable writer trying imaginatively to inhabit a far-distant culture on the basis of the best evidence... Romer does not peel back accreted myths about Egypt, he sandblasts them away... As an antidote to conventional narrative histories of Egypt this is salutary

Romer has woven an intricate tapestry of ancient evidence from the bottom up, accessible to the general reader without losing academic rigour or sensationalising the past for dramatic effect... A high-quality introduction for those orienting themselves with the period

Romer is a seasoned field archaeologist, accomplished researcher, and canny observer. This book, the third and final of a series, synthesises Romer&rsquo;s dynamic take on pharaonic culture through more than five decades of work in Egypt&hellip; Fresh, detailed, and often unexpected... A genuine pleasure to read&hellip; Romer&rsquo;s essential point &ndash; that pharaonic culture simply cannot be fully comprehended in modern Western terms or ways of thinking &ndash; is valid and needs shouting from the rooftops. This sterling volume may be the best way of doing that for some time to come

From the Shepherd Kings to the End of the Theban Monarchy

Archaeologist John Romer has spent a lifetime chronicling the history of Ancient Egypt, and here he tells the epic story of an era dominated by titans of the popular imagination: the radical iconoclast Akhenaten, the boy-king Tutankhamun and the all-conquering Ramesses II. But 'heroes' do not forge history by themselves. This was also a time of international trade, cultural exchange and sophisticated art, even in the face of violent change. 
 
Alongside his visionary new history of this, the most famous period in the long history of Ancient Egypt, Romer turns a critical eye on Egyptology itself. Paying close attention to the evidence, he corrects prevailing narratives which cast the New Kingdom as an imperial state power in the European mould. Instead, he reveals - through broken artefacts in ruined workshops, or preserved letters between a tomb-builder and his son - a culture more beautiful and beguiling than we could have imagined. 
 
Romer carefully reconstructs the real story of the New Kingdom as evidenced in the archaeological record, and the result - the final volume of a life long project - secures his status as Ancient Egypt's finest chronicler.

John Romer

Praise for A History of Ancient Egypt, Volume 3

Magisterial... Vividly conjured... This is not just lyrical writing, it is a deeply knowledgeable writer trying imaginatively to inhabit a far-distant culture on the basis of the best evidence... Romer does not peel ...

Romer has woven an intricate tapestry of ancient evidence from the bottom up, accessible to the general reader without losing academic rigour or sensationalising the past for dramatic effect... A high-quality introd ...

Deeply informed

Magisterial... Vividly conjured... This is not just lyrical writing, it is a deeply knowledgeable writer trying imaginatively to inhabit a far-distant culture on the basis of the best evidence... Romer does not peel ...

Romer has woven an intricate tapestry of ancient evidence from the bottom up, accessible to the general reader without losing academic rigour or sensationalising the past for dramatic effect... A high-quality introd ...

Deeply informed

Magisterial... Vividly conjured... This is not just lyrical writing, it is a deeply knowledgeable writer trying imaginatively to inhabit a far-distant culture on the basis of the best evidence... Romer does not peel ...

Romer has woven an intricate tapestry of ancient evidence from the bottom up, accessible to the general reader without losing academic rigour or sensationalising the past for dramatic effect... A high-quality introd ...

Deeply informed

Books by John Romer

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