From Slave to Pharaoh: The Black Experience of Ancient Egypt

by Donald B. Redford

Overview

Selected by Choice Magazine as an Outstanding Academic Title

In From Slave to Pharaoh, noted Egyptologist Donald B. Redford examines over two millennia of complex social and cultural interactions between Egypt and the Nubian and Sudanese civilizations that lay to the south of Egypt. These interactions resulted in the expulsion of the black Kushite pharaohs of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty in 671 B.C. by an invading Assyrian army.

Redford traces the development of Egyptian perceptions of race as their dominance over the darker-skinned peoples of Nubia and the Sudan grew, exploring the cultural construction of spatial and spiritual boundaries between Egypt and other African peoples. Redford focuses on the role of racial identity in the formulation of imperial power in Egypt and the legitimization of its sphere of influence, and he highlights the dichotomy between the Egyptians' treatment of the black Africans it deemed enemies and of those living within Egyptian society. He also describes the range of responses—from resistance to assimilation—of subjugated Nubians and Sudanese to their loss of self-determination. Indeed, by the time of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty, the culture of the Kushite kings who conquered Egypt in the late eighth century B.C. was thoroughly Egyptian itself.

Moving beyond recent debates between Afrocentrists and their critics over the racial characteristics of Egyptian civilization, From Slave to Pharaoh reveals the true complexity of race, identity, and power in Egypt as documented through surviving texts and artifacts, while at the same time providing a compelling account of war, conquest, and culture in the ancient world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780801885440
Publisher:	Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date:	10/16/2006
Pages:	232
Sales rank:	728,250
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.49(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Donald B. Redford is a professor of classics and ancient Mediterranean studies at the Pennsylvania State University. Among his many books are (as editor) The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt and The Oxford Essential Guide to Egyptian Mythology, and (as author) Akhenaten, the Heretic King and Egypt, Canaan, and Israel in Ancient Times.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations
Preface
Introduction
1. Egyptians and Nubians
2. The Problem of Frontiers
3. Nubia: Egypt's Primary Sphere of Influence
4. "Plotting in Their Valleys": The Unruly Tribesmen
5. From Chiefdom to State and Back Again: The Final Conquest of Kush
6. The Egyptian Empire in Kush
7. The Silent Years: The Abandonment of Lower Nubia and the Rise of Napata
8. The Sudan Invades Egypt
9. The Invasion of Piankhy
10. The Twenty-fourth Dynasty
11. The Resistance to Assyrian Expansion
12. "Taharqa the Conqueror"
13. Egypt of the "Black Pharaohs"
14. Thebes under the Twenty-fifth Dynasty
15. The End of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty in Egypt
Epilogue
List of Abbreviations
Notes
Index

What People are Saying About This

Mary Lefkowitz

This engrossing narrative takes us away from the modern racial politics into a world strikingly different from our own, where war and conquest were a present reality, and Egyptians and Nubians regarded each other as foreigners. Donald Redford shows us why historical writing, if it is to be truly informative, must always be based directly on ancient documents and accurate understanding of the archaeological evidence.

Ogden Goelet

Donald Redford is one of the few scholars in Egyptology blessed with the ability to convey complex ideas in a lively manner that engages the attention of lay readers. At the same time, his historical insights and depth of knowledge are widely respected in the field, and in his new work, he shows why.

From the Publisher

Donald Redford is one of the few scholars in Egyptology blessed with the ability to convey complex ideas in a lively manner that engages the attention of lay readers. At the same time, his historical insights and depth of knowledge are widely respected in the field, and in his new work, he shows why.
—Ogden Goelet, New York University

This engrossing narrative takes us away from the modern racial politics into a world strikingly different from our own, where war and conquest were a present reality, and Egyptians and Nubians regarded each other as foreigners. Donald Redford shows us why historical writing, if it is to be truly informative, must always be based directly on ancient documents and accurate understanding of the archaeological evidence.
—Mary Lefkowitz, author of Not Out of Africa and co-editor of Black Athena Revisited

Editorial Reviews

The first full-scale study in English of relations between Egypt and Nubia in antiquity . . . Trenchant and illuminating observations abound.
—Choice

A welcome addition . . . Professor Redford has demonstrated that more obscure material can be presented in a way that is fresh, exciting and accessible.
—Chris Naunton, Egyptian Archaeology

A detailed but spirited account of a theme that has often been marred by tendentiousness and partial thinking.
—John Ray, American Historical Review

From Slave to Pharaoh presents a lively account of this period of Nubian rule during Egypt's 25th Dynasty.
—Mariam Ayad, Odyssey

A timely contribution to the rapidly growing literature on Nubian and Sudanese studies.
—Richard A. Lobban, Jr., International Journal of African Historical Studies

A well-argued synthesis for this period, its politics, administration, and building activity.
—Arthur Verhoogt, Bulletin of the American Society of Papryologists

An easily readable volume that offers considerable insight into a convoluted period of Egyptian history.
—Jacke Phillips, Journal of African History

A welcome addition . . . There is much that should stimulate interest in this fascinating area.
—David Edwards, Chronique d'Égypte

The first example in history in history of reverse colonization!
—Peter J. Brand, Patterns of Prejudice

From the Publisher

A detailed but spirited account of a theme that has often been marred by tendentiousness and partial thinking.

American Historical Review - John Ray

A timely contribution to the rapidly growing literature on Nubian and Sudanese studies.

International Journal of African Historical Studies - Richard A. Lobban

An easily readable volume that offers considerable insight into a convoluted period of Egyptian history.

Journal of African History - Jacke Phillips

A welcome addition . . . There is much that should stimulate interest in this fascinating area.

Chronique d'Égypte - David Edwards

"The first full-scale study in English of relations between Egypt and Nubia in antiquity... Trenchant and illuminating observations abound."

Choice

The first example in history in history of reverse colonization!

— Peter J. Brand

Patterns of Prejudice

A welcome addition... There is much that should stimulate interest in this fascinating area.

— David Edwards

Chronique d'Egypte

An easily readable volume that offers considerable insight into a convoluted period of Egyptian history.

— Jacke Phillips

Journal of African History

A well-argued synthesis for this period, its politics, administration, and building activity.

— Arthur Verhoogt

Bulletin of the American Society of Papryologists

A timely contribution to the rapidly growing literature on Nubian and Sudanese studies.

— Richard A. Lobban, Jr.

International Journal of African Historical Studies

From Slave to Pharaoh presents a lively account of this period of Nubian rule during Egypt's 25th Dynasty.

— Mariam Ayad

Odyssey

A detailed but spirited account of a theme that has often been marred by tendentiousness and partial thinking.

— John Ray

American Historical Review

A welcome addition... Professor Redford has demonstrated that more obscure material can be presented in a way that is fresh, exciting and accessible.

— Chris Naunton

Egyptian Archaeology

"The first example in history in history of reverse colonization!"

Patterns of Prejudice - Peter J. Brand

"A well-argued synthesis for this period, its politics, administration, and building activity."

Bulletin of the American Society of Papryologists - Arthur Verhoogt

"From Slave to Pharaoh presents a lively account of this period of Nubian rule during Egypt's 25th Dynasty."

Odyssey - Mariam Ayad

"A welcome addition... Professor Redford has demonstrated that more obscure material can be presented in a way that is fresh, exciting and accessible."

Egyptian Archaeology - Chris Naunton

"A welcome addition... There is much that should stimulate interest in this fascinating area."

Chronique d'Egypte - David Edwards