History Of Egypt, Chaldæa, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, Volume 1

Gaston MasperoProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 4.2

Word count: 553K words
Chapters: 56

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.History Of Egypt, Chaldæa, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, Volume 1 (of 12)Author: Maspero, G. (Gaston), 1846-1916,Language: English, Class: DS: History: General and Eastern Hemisphere: Asia, Release Date: Sep 28, 2006

Editor's review

This is the first volume of Gaston Maspero's twelve-volume history of the ancient East, covering Egypt, Chaldæa, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria. A major product of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Orientalist scholarship, it devotes considerable space to the political development, social institutions, and religious ideas of early civilizations. The narrative is systematic and densely documented, reflecting the ambition and methods of European scholars of the period as they organized the history of the ancient Near East. For today's readers its value lies not only in the knowledge it contains but also in what it reveals about the narrative frameworks and historical limitations of early Orientalism. Readers should note that some of its archaeological conclusions and chronological judgments have been revised by later research and should not be treated as current authoritative findings. It is well suited as supplementary reading in ancient Near Eastern history and as a sample of the history of scholarship, and works best when read alongside modern general histories and archaeological findings.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers with a basic knowledge of ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilizations who want to expand systematically
Readers studying the history of historiography or the development of Orientalism and interested in early scholarly texts
Readers who enjoy reading large-scale general histories and can tolerate dense chronologies and place names
University history students who need English primary sources for reference

Not a good fit for

Readers seeking the latest archaeological conclusions and contemporary scholarly consensus
Readers who want only light introductory reading and lack patience for lengthy accounts of institutions
Readers unwilling to question the nineteenth-century Eurocentric perspective and prone to accepting it wholesale

Reading tips

Read a modern general history of the ancient Near East first to build a framework, then return to this book to situate it in its scholarly context.
Keep a map and a chronology at hand for reference, and mark place names and dynastic changes as you go.
Pay attention to the author's sources and methods of inference, distinguishing between presentation of evidence and personal judgment.
Compare with other volumes or modern research and note which conclusions have been revised by later archaeology.

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

Can this volume be read on its own?

Yes. The volume has a relatively self-contained scope, but it is the opening of a twelve-volume history, and many threads are developed in later volumes. Reading it alone gives a partial picture; reading the whole series is more complete.

Are the historical conclusions in this book still reliable today?

The book was written long ago, and some of its chronological judgments, archaeological interpretations, and accounts of ethnic relations have been revised by later research. It is better treated as material for the history of scholarship and as supplementary reading; specific historical facts should be checked against contemporary research.

Is the English difficult?

As a scholarly general history, it is dense with proper names, dates, and institutional terminology, and its sentences are fairly formal. It suits readers with a good foundation in English who are willing to read slowly alongside maps and chronologies.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Gaston Maspero Author · French · 1846–1916

Gaston Maspero (1846–1916) was a French Egyptologist born in Paris. He directed the Egyptian Antiquities Service and the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, carried out excavations at Saqqara, and organized the royal mummies, laying a foundation for modern Egyptology. The library holds 13 of his works, chiefly the multi-volume History of Egypt, Chaldæa, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, along with A Manual of Egyptian Archaeology and Guide to the Study of Antiquities in Egypt and L'archéologie égyptienne. Grounded in material and textual evidence, his writing is clear and well organized, combining scholarship with readability, and remains a valuable reference for the study of ancient Egypt and the ancient Near East.