City of the Ram-Man

Donald Redford's City of the Ram-Man will interest specialists and armchair archaeologists alike. Redford looks at even the most complex archaeological and historical data with the eye of a storyteller. He constantly weaves interesting and often little-known details into the warp of his story, and his work is a rare thing--a consummate fusion of solid scholarship and truly readable history. -- Richard H. Wilkinson, author of "The Complete Temples of Ancient Egypt" This interesting and engaging book shows how one major archaeological field project--the excavations at Mendes--illuminates nearly the entire sweep of ancient Egyptian history. One of the major Egyptologists of his generation, Donald Redford is a giant, and this book plays on a giant stage. It is also a great read. -- John S. Holladay Jr., professor emeritus, University of Toronto

Tells the story of the ancient Egyptian city of Mendes, home of the mysterious cult of the 'fornicating ram who mounts the beauties'. This book describes the discoveries of the great temple of the ram and the 'Mansion of the Rams', where the embalmed bodies of the avatars of the god were buried.In this richly illustrated book, renowned archaeologist Donald Redford draws on the latest discoveries--including many of his own--to tell the story of the ancient Egyptian city of Mendes, home of the mysterious cult of the "fornicating ram who mounts the beauties." Excavation by Redford and his colleagues over the past two decades has cast a flood of light on this strange center of worship and political power located in the Nile Delta. A sweeping chronological account filled with photographs, drawings, and informative sidebars, City of the Ram-Man is the first history of Mendes written for general readers. Founded in the remote prehistoric past, inhabited continuously for 5,000 years, and abandoned only in the first-century BC, Mendes is a microcosm of ancient Egyptian history. City of the Ram-Man tells the city's full story--from its founding, through its development of a great society and its brief period as the capital of Egypt, up to its final decline. Central to the story is millennia of worship dedicated to the lascivious ram-god. The book describes the discoveries of the great temple of the ram and the "Mansion of the Rams," where the embalmed bodies of the avatars of the god were buried. It also discusses ancient Greek reports that these ram-gods occasionally ritually fornicated with women. Vividly written and informed throughout by Redford's intimate knowledge of the remains of Mendes, City of the Ram-Man is a unique account of a long-lost monument of Egyptian history, religion, and culture.