Temples, Tombs, and Hieroglyphs, by Barbara Mertz

This is an engaging popular history of ancient Egypt, from the ancient pre-Dynastic period up to the Roman conquest.

It’s a bit hard to categorize the book. It covers all the major milestones of Egyptian history; Menes, Khufu and the Great Pyramid, Ahmose and the Hyksos, Akhenaton and the like, but makes no effort to be systematic. Instead, the book reads a lot like a long college lecture given by a professor with a thorough knowledge of and love for her subject. Mertz is quite a charming writer.

Of course, her opinions shine through the book; she really likes Hatshepsut, the woman who ruled Egypt as pharaoh for decades, and has rather a lower opinion of Ramses II. Still, unlike most writers, she is quite upfront about her opinions, presenting them as opinion rather than as irrefutable fact.

She is also candid about how much we don’t know about ancient Egypt, how much is speculation and guesswork. After all, Khufu, the pharaoh who built the Great Pyramid, died almost 4500 years ago. (Assuming the Martians didn’t build the Pyramid, of course.) How much is it possible to know about a man who died so long ago? After all, the only thing left of Khufu is his pyramid; he built it to achieve immortality, but the pyramid has outlived its maker by far.

Unlike some of the other pharaohs. The mummies of Ramses II, Thutmose III, and other pharaohs still lie in the Cairo Museum. For a human body to have survived for over three thousand years is astonishingly, really, and a credit to the skill of the ancient embalmers. The Egyptians tried so very hard to achieve immortality – but all that remains are the ancient mummies, and the ruins in the desert.

A good light history of ancient Egypt, all in all.

-JM