Ruling Egypt for more than 3000 years, the pharaohs have exercised a profound fascination over the generations. Some were fearless warriors who extended Egypt’s borders through force of arms, others were prodigious builders whose mighty pyramids still stand as symbols of wealth and power; one was rumored to have prostituted his daughter, another was condemned as a heretic and his reign erased from social history; at least two were murdered. All considered themselves semi-divine beings; and all expected to live beyond death as fully divine gods. Dr. Joyce Tyldesley traces the history of Pharaonic Egypt from the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt in the Early Dynastic Period, through the pyramid-building era of the Old Kingdom and the imperial expansion of the New Kingdom, to the period of decline and invasion that culminated in Egypt’s annexation by the Roman Empire in 30 BC. She offers compelling profiles of such rulers as the pyramid-builder Khufu, the female pharaoh Hatshepsut, the warrior-pharaohs Tuthmosis III and Ramesses II, the ‘heretic’ Akhenaten and the celebrated boy-king Tutankhamen. Sumptuously illustrated, accessibly but authoritatively written The Pharaohs is an essential guide to the kings and civilization of Egypt from a scholar who is steeped in knowledge of the period.
