A History of Egypt
From the Earliest Times to the Persian Conquest

This highly illustrated 1906 work presents a history of Egypt from earliest times to the Persian conquest in 525 BCE.

James Henry Breasted (Author)

9781108082426, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 19 February 2016

808 pages, 109 b/w illus. 1 colour illus. 13 maps
23 x 15.3 x 5 cm, 1.24 kg

The American archaeologist James H. Breasted (1865–1935) published this history in 1906. His intention was to create a one-volume work which would be suitable for the increasing number of tourists visiting the Nile valley, for those interested in the rise of Greek and Roman civilisation, and for students of the Old Testament. Drawing on Breasted's own four-volume Records of Egypt, which contains fresh readings and translations of almost all of the ancient Egyptian historical inscriptions available at the time, the book follows the conventional chronology from 'earliest Egypt' to the Old Kingdom and the Middle Kingdom, characterised as a 'feudal age', the intermediate period of the Hyksos, and the New Kingdom, described here as 'the Empire'. The account ends with 'the Decadence', invasions by Libyans and Nubians, and the Persian conquest after the battle of Pelusium in 525 BCE. The book contains nearly 200 photographs and drawings.

Preface
Part I. Introduction: 1. The land
2. Preliminary survey, chronology and documentary sources
3. Earliest Egypt
Part II. The Old Kingdom: 4. Early religion
5. The Old Kingdom
6. The pyramid builders
7. The sixth dynasty
Part III. The Middle Kingdom: 8. The decline of the north and the rise of Thebes
9. The Middle Kingdom
10. The twelfth dynasty
Part IV. The Hyksos: 11. The fall of the Middle Kingdom
12. The expulsion of the Hyksos
Part V. The Empire: First Period: 13. The new state
14. The consolidation of the kingdom
15. The feud of the Thutmosids and the reign of Hatshepsut
16. The consolidation of the empire
17. The empire
18. The religious revolution of Ikhnaton
19. The fall of Ikhnaton and the dissolution of the empire
Part VI. The Empire: Second Period: 20. The triumph of Amon and the reorganization of the empire
21. The wars of Ramses II
22. The empire of Ramses II
23. The final decline of the empire
Part VII. The Decadence: 24. The fall of the empire
25. Priests and mercenaries
26. The Ethiopian supremacy and the triumph of Assyria
Part VIII. The Restoration and the End: 27. The restoration
28. The final struggles
Chronological table of kings
Index.

Subject Areas: Egyptian archaeology / Egyptology [HDDG]