Ancient Egypt

George RawlinsonProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.8

Word count: 585K words
Chapters: 59

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Ancient Egypt by Arthur Gilman and George RawlinsonAuthor: Rawlinson, George, 1812-1902,Language: English, Class: DT: History: General and Eastern Hemisphere: Africa, Release Date: Apr 20, 2005

Editor's review

Co-authored by George Rawlinson and Arthur Gilman, this is a nineteenth-century general history of ancient Egypt written for the ordinary reader. Rawlinson had long engaged with ancient Near Eastern sources, and his narrative emphasizes dynastic succession, political events, and key figures, with the orderliness and moral judgments characteristic of Victorian historical writing. For today's readers its value lies not in offering the latest archaeological conclusions but in showing how one era understood ancient Egypt and how early popular history organized its material and narrated the rise and fall of civilizations. Its descriptions of the pyramids, religion, and kingship can serve as an entry point to ancient Egyptian topics, but passages concerning chronology, archaeological findings, and ethnic interpretation should be read against modern scholarship. It is suitable as material for the history of historiography and for reading as an edition, not as a sole authority.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in ancient Egyptian history who want to understand early general-history writing
Students of world history or Near Eastern civilizations who need supplementary English historical sources
Researchers concerned with nineteenth-century historiography and popular history publishing
Adult readers with some English reading ability who enjoy grand narratives

Not a good fit for

Specialist researchers who need the latest archaeological findings and precise chronological frameworks
Readers seeking a Chinese-language introduction who do not wish to deal with long English sentences
Readers who want only illustrated, travel-guide-style introductions

Reading tips

Read the table of contents and chapter introductions first to establish a chronological and thematic framework of dynasties before going into details.
Mark claims concerning chronology and archaeological evidence as you read, and later check them against modern general histories.
Record the book's interpretations of kingship and religion separately as material for analyzing historiographical viewpoints.
The English sentences are often long; read chapter by chapter and use maps and chronological tables to aid understanding.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is the historical information in this book still reliable today?

As a nineteenth-century popular general history, it retains reference value in its basic framework, but specific dates, archaeological evidence, and some ethnic interpretations have been updated as research has progressed. Read it as an early historiographical text, and check factual conclusions against modern scholarship; it should not be treated as a sole authority.

Can I read this book without any background in ancient Egypt?

Yes, but it requires some patience. The author writes for the ordinary reader and the narrative is orderly, but the English is somewhat old-fashioned and dense with names of people and places. It is much smoother if you first learn the main periods of ancient Egypt and a few key terms, then read alongside maps and chronological tables.

What are the main differences between this and modern general histories of ancient Egypt?

The differences lie mainly in the evidentiary basis and interpretive framework. Modern works draw extensively on archaeological excavations, decipherment of inscriptions, and scientific dating, and treat ethnic and chronological questions more cautiously; this book relies more on the sources and travel accounts available at the time, and its narrative carries the stances of its era, allowing readers to observe changes in historical thinking.

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About the author

George Rawlinson Author · English · 1812–1902

George Rawlinson (1812–1902) was a British scholar, historian and Christian theologian who served as Camden Professor of Ancient History at Oxford from 1861 to 1889. He devoted himself to the study of the ancient East, and his best-known work, The Seven Great Monarchies of the Ancient Eastern World, treats the history of Chaldaea, Assyria, Babylon, Media, Persia, Parthia and Sassanian Persia in successive volumes. He also wrote histories of ancient Egypt and Phoenicia. With his brothers he translated Herodotus's Histories, a version that circulated widely. Rawlinson's writing is distinguished by careful use of sources and attention to political and institutional change, and it helped general readers in the English-speaking world understand the ancient Near East and Egypt.