Name: Genesis of the Pharaohs
ISBN: 9780500051221

Toby A. H. Wilkinson

Traces the history of Egyptian civilization, which began in the Eastern Desert over six thousand years ago.

Dramatic New Discoveries Rewrite the Origins of Ancient Egypt

Genesis of the Pharaohs

Tim Pendry

This makes a very plausible case for the indigenous origins of high Egyptian culture in the semi-nomadic Badarian and Naqada I cultures that both farmed and hunted in the Nile Valley and herded and hunted in the savannah before desertification started to take hold. Based on his own research into the rock art of the Eastern savannah, Wilkinson easily knocks down the Aunt Sally of 'alien invasion' from Mesopotamia (not that he needed to) but also establishes the very long continuity of Egyptian ideas about divinity, kingship and the afterlife. From this perspective, the book is almost a must-read for anyone interested in the origins of Egyptian civilisation. The motifs of the royal tombs certainly now look as if they are drawn from a complex cattle-herding culture with one foot in the Nile and one in the mountains. Where he overstates his case (possibly because he is rather enthusiastic about getting funding diverted for the protection of the rock art and for more expeditions) is in giving the lead role to the savannah rather than emphasising the essential symbiosis involved. It is reasonable to suppose that a tribe of a few interconnected families would play all the resources available within a 30-, then a 50- and then a 100-mile radius to ensure survival and there was a clock-like regularity about inundation that encouraged flexibility. Nevertheless, this professional bias notwithstanding, the book is a relatively easy non-academic and well illustrated read that will help contextualise key themes underlying Egyptian iconography and show how the First Dynasty did not 'come out of the blue' but grew out of its environment.

Genesis of the Pharaohs Dramatic New Discoveries Rewrite the Origins of Ancient Egypt

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