“Splendors of Ancient Egypt”, by William H. Peck, Judith A. Ruskin and Samuel Sachs II

 

 

88 pages, Abbeville Press, ISBN-13: 978-0789204516

 

Splendors of Ancient Egypt is a very, very basic history about the land of the Nile, as readers learn some very basic facts, like the pyramids typically took about twenty years to build, or that Egyptians developed the 365-day calendar, or that scribes existed back at least around 2500 B.C. and used papyrus, or that the Egyptian language evolved to incorporate about 700 hieroglyphs, then added thousands more before becoming cursive, or that women were able to inherit property and attain rank in religious circles, sometimes also in government, as well…and many other factoids, besides. But that’s the point: this is not a detailed history of Ancient Egypt, but rather a very thin coffee-table book, full as it is with detailed photographs and illustrations of Egypt’s Pharaohs, scads of animal-headed gods and goddesses, the common people and their lives, the thousands upon thousands of artifacts that are floating around the world, the pyramids of Giza, the Sphinx, animals, tombs of different rulers, utensils, pottery, jewelry…dang. A history of this fascinating civilization, from ancient to modern Egypt, is included, as well as reconstructions of tombs, an index for fast information. But buy it for the pictures.