The Civilization Of Ancient Egypt

Передняя обложка
Harper Collins, 3 нояб. 1999 г. - Всего страниц: 240

A leading historian and bestselling author re-creates the growth, decline, and legacy of 3,000 Years of Egyptian civilization with an authoritative text splendidly illustrated with 150 illustrations in full color.

Ancient Egypt, with its legacy of pyramids, pharaohs and sphinxes, is a land of power and mystery to the modern world. In The Civilization of Ancient Egypt Paul Johnson explores the growth and decline of a culture that survived for 3,000 years and maintained a purity of style that rivals all others. Johnson's study looks in detail at the state, religion, culture and geographical setting and how they combined in this unusually enduring civilization. From the beginning of Egyptian culture to the rediscovery of the pharaohs, the book covers the totalitarian theocracy, the empire of the Nile, the structure of dynastic Egypt, the dynastic way of death, hieroglyphs, the anatomy of perspective art and, finally, the decline and fall of the pharaohs, Johnson seeks, through an exciting combination of images and analysis, to discover the causes behind the collapse of this, great civilization while celebrating the extra-ordinary legacy it has left behind.

Paul Johnson on Ancient Egypt and the Egyptians

"Egypt was not only the first state, it was the first country.... The durability of the state which thus evolved was ensured by the overwhelming simplicity and power of its central institution, the theocratic monarchy."

"The Egyptians did not share the Babylonian passion for astrology, but they used the stars as one of many guides to behavior. No Egyptian believed in a free exercise of will in important decisions: he always looked for an omen or a prophecy or an oracle."

"The development of hieroglyphics mirrors and epitomizes the history of Egyptian civilization. . . . No one outside Egypt understood it and even within Egypt it was the exclusive working tool of the ruling and priestly classes. The great mass of Egyptians were condemned to illiteracy by the complexities (and also the beauties) of the Egyptian written language."

"The affection the Egyptians were not. ashamed to display towards their children was related to the high status women enjoyed in Egyptian society."

"If we can understand Egyptian art we can go a long way towards grasping the very spirit and outlook on life, of this gifted people, so remote in time. The dynamic of their civilization seems to have been a passionate love of order (maat to them), by which they sought to give to human activities and creations the same regularity as their landscape, their great river, their sun-cycle and their immutable seasons."

Результаты поиска по книге

Другие издания - Просмотреть все

Часто встречающиеся слова и выражения

Популярные отрывки

Стр. 217 - Thou sayest, (but they are but vain words,) I have counsel and strength for the war. Now on whom dost thou trust, that thou rebellest against me ? Now, behold, thou trustest upon the staff of this bruised reed, even upon Egypt, on which if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt unto all that trust on him.
Стр. 136 - Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom: I am understanding ; I have strength. " By me princes rule, and nobles, even all the judges of the earth.
Стр. 36 - The chancellor of the king of Lower Egypt, the first after the king of Upper Egypt, administrator of the Great Palace, hereditary lord, the high priest of Heliopolis, Imhotep, the builder, the sculptor».
Стр. 86 - All gods are three : Amon, Re, and Ptah, and there is no second to them. 'Hidden' is his name as Amon, he is Re in face, and his body is Ptah. Their cities are on earth, abiding for ever : Thebes, Heliopolis, and Memphis unto eternity.
Стр. 117 - As I was going to St. Ives, I met a man with seven wives, Every wife had seven sacks, Every sack had seven cats, Every cat had seven kits — Kits, cats, sacks, and wives, How many were going to St. Ives?
Стр. 71 - I did four good deeds within the portal of the horizon. I made the four winds that every man might breathe thereof like his fellow in his time.
Стр. 25 - Ptah, who transmitted life to all gods, as well as to their ka's, through this heart, by which Horus became Ptah, and through this tongue by which Thoth became Ptah. Thus it happened that the heart and tongue gained control over every other member of the body, by teaching that he is in every body and in every mouth of all gods, all men, all cattle, all creeping things, and everything that lives, by thinking and commanding everything that he wishes.
Стр. 90 - But when thou risest again, Everything is made to flourish for the king, Since thou didst found the earth And raise them up for thy son, Who came forth from thy body: the King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Akhen-Aton, and the Chief Wife of the King, Nefert-iti, living and youthful forever and ever.
Стр. 91 - Read the words aloud to the king my lord, 'All the lands of the king my lord are being lost.
Стр. 86 - The solitary sole one, who made what exists, From whose eyes mankind came forth, And upon whose mouth the gods came into being.

Об авторе (1999)

Paul Johnson is a historian whose work ranges over the millennia and the whole gamut of human activities. He regularly writes book reviews for several UK magazines and newspapers, such as the Literary Review and The Spectator, and he lectures around the world. He lives in London, England.

Библиографические данные