Eternal Egypt

by Pierre Montet

The overall aim of this study of Ancient Egypt is to portray the development and relevance of aspects of life in Egypt. Religion, art, politics, subsistence and other issues are discussed in detail. Problems of dynastic succession, histories of individual pharaohs and Egyptian conventions are all discussed. A readable and entertaining introduction, this books is a welcome diversion from other accounts that utilise the framework provided by dynastic succession to discuss only ancient Egyptian history.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Mythology, Ancient History

338 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1964

About the author

Montet first began his studies under Victor Loret at the University of Lyon.

He excavated at Byblos (modern Jbail) in Lebanon between 1921 and 1924, excavating tombs of rulers from Middle Kingdom times. Between 1929 and 1939, he excavated at Tanis, Egypt, finding the royal necropolis of the Twenty-first and Twenty-second Dynasties — the finds there almost equalled that of Tutankhamun's tomb in the Valley of the Kings.

In the 1939-1940 Egypt excavation season, he discovered the completely intact tombs of 3 Egyptian pharaohs at Tanis: Psusennes I, Amenemope, and Shoshenq II along with the partially plundered tomb of Takelot I in Lower Egypt at Tanis. The latter tomb contained a gold bracelet of Osorkon I, Takelot's father, as well as a heart scarab. He also found the fully plundered tomb of Osorkon II as well as the partly plundered tomb of this king's son, Prince Hornakht. The start of World War II in Western Europe in May 1940 stopped all excavation work at Tanis. However, after the war, Montet resumed his activities at Tanis and proceeded to uncover the intact tomb of General Wendebauendjed, (literally the Commander-in-Chief of the Army) who served under Psusennes I, in 1946.

During his academic career, he served as Professor of Egyptology at the University of Strasbourg from 1919 to 1948 and then at the Collège de France, Paris between 1948 and 1956.

Reviews

[Callum's Column · Rating 3 out of 5]

In 'Eternal Egypt', Pierre Montet offers a glimpse into Ancient Egyptian civilisation prior to the Greek and Roman conquests. The book examines a variety of subjects, including art, linguistics, politics and warfare, agriculture, and theology. However, given the vast expanse of Ancient Egypt's history, which spans 3,000 years, the book provides only a superficial overview of politics and warfare. Readers may also find themselves confused as Montet haphazardly draws evidence from different dynasties that existed millennia apart. The book consequently falls short of providing a comprehensive and chronologically cohesive understanding of Ancient Egypt.

[Michał Hołda · Rating 4 out of 5]

"After the king of Zahi(Phoenicia), the Asiatics, the Easterners, the Westherners, the Sea-People, the Poples of the Islands, the Tehenu, the People of the End of the Earth and the People of the Begining and, finally,the Barbarians from the south, were all to be crushed in turn. To each people the Pharaoh would appear in the shape of their own gods, or in the form of avanging hero; the people of the Islands saw him as bull, the Tehenu as a lion."

Of Ramesses II, the Great

[Massimo Penazzi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bel saggio di storia egiziana, che prende in esame anche gli usi e costumi e la religione.

[Shaikh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Does not include Narmer. Expected from a book this antique. Blech!