Aidan Dodson

"During the half-millennium from the eleventh through the sixth centuries BC, the power and the glory of the imperial pharaohs of the New Kingdom crumbled in the face of internal crises and external pressures, ultimately reversed by invaders from Nubia and consolidated by natives of the Nile Delta following a series of Assyrian invasions. Much of this era remains obscure, with little consensus among Egyptologists. Against this background, Aidan Dodson reconsiders the evidence and proposes a number of new solutions to the problems of the period. He also considers the art, architecture, and archaeology of the period, including the royal tombs of Tanis, one of which yielded the intact burials of no fewer than five pharaohs. The book is extensively illustrated with images of this material, much of which is little known to non-specialists of the period."--Publisher's website.

"In this copiously illustrated book, Aidan Dodson provides a concise digest, largely based on primary source material, of all that is known about the various sepulchres of the rulers of Great Britain down to the present day. Entries include a very brief biographical note on the tomb's owner, the circumstances of death, the architecture and decoration of the tomb, and its post-interment history. The book also includes summary details of the burials of royal consorts, of the Stuarts in exile, and of foreign monarchs buried in Great Britain. A final appendix lists and describes the principal chapels, churches and mausolea that contain royal tombs."--BOOK JACKET.

In spite of their significance as part of the burial equipment, canopic items have hitherto received relatively little attention in the literature of Egyptology. This book now documents and discusses all equipment made or used to contain the embalmed internal organs of the kings of ancient Egypt. While some containers were simple stone jars, many were objects of great artistic attainment, the high point perhaps being reached with the solid gold coffinettes of Tutankhamun and the gilded shrine that sheltered them, adorned by the exquisite figures of the four guardian goddesses. Such royal canopics are also of some historical import, one set of jars being key evidence of the existence of a new pharaoh of the Third Intermediate Period. . The book is divided into two parts. The first traces the morphological development of the various forms of container employed in kingly burials, with frequent reference to comparative material from the tombs of lesser members of the royal family and private individuals. The architectural arrangements made for the equipment are also commented upon and illustrated: In doing so, certain points of history and archaeology relating to royal burials are discussed in detail. The arrangement of the section is chronological, individual chapters being devoted to each of the principal eras of ancient Egyptian history. That dealing with the New Kingdom is co-authored by Dr Otto Schaden and Mr Edwin Brock, the latter presenting some of the results of his researches in the Valley of the Kings. The second part catalogues all known canopic items belonging to kings of Egypt, the earliest dating to the Fourth Dynasty, the latest to the Twenty-sixth. Full details of material, dimensions, provenance, present location and bibliography are given. Photographs or drawings are provided for all significant pieces. Hand copies of all hieroglyphic texts are accompanied by translations prepared in collaboration with Dr Mark Collier and Dr Schaden. A full concordance with museum and excavators' numbers is given, before concluding with a bibliography and indexes.

"After the death of Rameses II, the Nineteenth Dynasty soon fell into decline and familial conflict, culminating in a final civil war that ended with the accession of a new dynasty. Sethy I and Rameses II's promotion of a concept of a wider 'royal family' may have sown the seeds for the conflict among their descendants. Aidan Dodson explores the mysteries of the origins of the usurper-king Amenmeses and the career of the 'king-maker' of the period, the chancellor Bay. Having helped to install at least one pharaoh on the throne, Bay's life was ended by his abrupt execution, ordered by the woman with whom he had shared the regency of Egypt for the young and disabled King Siptah. Finally, the author considers how that woman, Towosret, became the last true female pharaoh, and how she finally lost her throne to the founder of the Twentieth Dynasty, Sethnakhte."--Jacket.

This study, drawing on the latest research, tells the story of the decline and fall of the pharaoh Akhenaten's religious revolution in the 14th century BCE.

"This book illuminates the lives of some 1,300 kings, queens, princes and princesses of ancient Egypt, unravelling family relationships and exploring the parts they played in politics, cultural life and religion. It ranges from the dawn of Egyptian history, when only isolated glimpses are available of the royal family, through the vast progeny of Ramesses II, and ends with the fiendishly complicated - and blood-soaked - interconnections of the Ptolemies and Cleopatras."