{"product_id":"the-rise-and-fall-of-ancient-egypt-9780553805536","title":"The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt","description":"\u003cp\u003eNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER  In this landmark work  one of the worlds most renowned Egyptologists tells the epic story of this great civilization  from its birth as the first nation-state to its final absorption into the Roman Empirethree thousand years of wild drama  bold spectacle  and unforgettable characters.  Award-winning scholar Toby Wilkinson captures not only the lavish pomp and artistic grandeur of this land of pyramids and pharaohs but for the first time reveals the constant propaganda and repression that were its foundations. Drawing upon forty years of archaeological research  Wilkinson takes us inside an exotic tribal society with a pre-monetary economy and decadent  divine kings who ruled with all-too-recognizable human emotions.  Here are the years of the Old Kingdom  where Pepi II  made king as an infant  was later undermined by rumors of his affair with an army general  and the Middle Kingdom  a golden age of literature and jewelry in which the benefits of the afterlife became available for all  not just royaltya concept later underlying Christianity. Wilkinson then explores the legendary era of the New Kingdom  a lost world of breathtaking opulence founded by Ahmose  whose parents were siblings  and who married his sister and transformed worship of his family into a national cult. Other leaders include Akhenaten  the heretic king  who with his wife Nefertiti brought about a revolution with a bold new religion; his son Tutankhamun  whose dazzling tomb would remain hidden for three millennia; and eleven pharaohs called Ramesses  the last of whom presided over the militarism  lawlessness  and corruption that caused a crucial political and societal decline.  Riveting and revelatory  filled with new information and unique interpretations  The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt will become the standard source about this great civilization  one that lastedso farlonger than any other.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45648093904949,"sku":"ByrdShop_0553805533","price":60.96,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780553805536.jpg?v=1781709269","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/the-rise-and-fall-of-ancient-egypt-9780553805536","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}