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Pharaoh's Land and Beyond

Ancient Egypt and Its Neighbors

Richard H Wilkinson editor Pierce Paul Creasman editor

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Oxford University Press Inc

Published:31st Aug '17

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Pharaoh's Land and Beyond cover

The concept of pharaonic Egypt as a unified, homogeneous, and isolated cultural entity is misleading. Ancient Egypt was a rich tapestry of social, religious, technological, and economic interconnections among numerous cultures from disparate lands. This volume uniquely examines Egypt's relationship with its wider world through fifteen chapters arranged in five thematic groups. The first three chapters detail the geographical contexts of interconnections through examination of ancient Egyptian exploration, maritime routes, and overland passages. The next three chapters address the human principals of association: peoples, with the attendant difficulties differentiating ethnic identities from the record; diplomatic actors, with their complex balances and presentations of power; and the military, with its evolving role in pharaonic expansion. Natural events, too, played significant roles in the pharaonic world: geological disasters, the effects of droughts and floods on the Nile, and illness and epidemics all delivered profound impacts, as is seen in the third section. Physical manifestations of interconnections between pharaonic Egypt and its neighbors in the form of objects are the focus of the fourth set: trade, art and architecture, and a specific case study of scarabs. The final section discusses in depth perhaps the most powerful means of interconnection: ideas. Whether through diffusion and borrowing of knowledge and technology, through the flow of words by script and literature, or through exchanges in the religious sphere, the pharaonic Egypt that we know today was constantly changing-and changing the cultures around it.

At all times, and often against its 'Egyptocentric' self-representation, ancient Egypt was dependent on manifold interconnections with the world around. While such interconnections- especially diplomatic or trade relations- have been explored previously, many ways in which the ancient Egyptians were entangled with their neighbours still need investigating. This book does exaclty that... The intended audience are lay enthusiasts interested in interconnections in the Bronze and Iron Age Mediterranean, yet the theoretical approach of some chapters; the choice of topics , written by specialists in their field; and the comprehensive bibliographies for each entry open this volume up and make it a very useful tool for students and academic researchers as well. * Katharina Zinn, World Archaeology *
Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students and faculty. * G. Emeagwali, CHOICE *
Accompanied by a comprehensive bibliography and illustrated with colour and black-and-white images and line drawings, this accessible volume will be equally useful for academic researchers, students and readers enthusiastic to learn more about the complexities of ancient Egypt's foreign relations. * Anna Garnett, Ancient Egypt *
Pharaoh's Land and Beyond succeeds in presenting a com-pelling picture of how deeply entangled ancient Egypt and its neighbours were. It ought to be embraced by students and scholars alike who are looking for a concise and current non-Egyptocentric analysis of intercu1- tural contact both within and beyond the Nile Valley. * Matthew J .S. Jarlett, Ancient Near Eastern Studies *

ISBN: 9780190229078

Dimensions: 157mm x 236mm x 28mm

Weight: 699g

376 pages