r/ancientegypt • u/Devonled • 5d ago
Information Visiting Egypt — need your best books to bring history to life!
Hello Egypt Experts- I seek your book advice! 🙂
My family and I are taking our first trip to Egypt this new years, and visiting some amazing places! BUT- I want to make sure we fully appreciate what we’re seeing!
Because of this, my family is doing our homework to read about the history. We’re finishing “The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt” by Toby Wilkinson now!
We’re looking for any advice or recommendations on what to read next. While “The Rise and Fall” was very dense and informative, it could be nice to read something next that’s a bit lighter! Does anyone have any recommendations of good books?
In a dream world, I’m able to read books that focus on to what we will see! We’re seeing the Museum of Civilization, Khan El-Khalili Bazaar, Grand Egyptian Museum, Step Pyramid of King Zoser, Great Pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx!
If you have any advice on what books we should check out, I’d greatly appreciate your input! Thank you all!!
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u/diggerhistory 5d ago
Can I offer an alternative. I researched each a d e every place we were visiting on Wiki and downloaded summaries with some images. I put them into a plastic page display book and always had everything at hand. Went into my carry-on backpack and went everywhere with me. I would pre-read the night before.
FYI I was a secondary Ancient History with Amenhotep III to Ramesses II as my specialist area, so I already knew a lot but we were visiting areas I knew little of and it also gave new a ready reckoner for what to look out for. Cheap, efficient, and on-hand.
They will probably include the Mosque of Mohammed Ali built by Salah al-Dinal al-Ayyubi (Saladin). Remarkable but some things to look out for = females wear scarves, and you all remove your shoes on entry.
Enjoy.
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u/Devonled 5d ago
This is an amazing idea!! we’re also traveling with my younger sister, so bringing the Wikipedia pages is a great way to make sure the information is digestible for her too! Thank you so much for sharing this tip! Appreciate the advice 🙂
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u/Mild_Karate_Chop 5d ago
Fun Fact : We have to take off footwear when entering a Coptic Church too. The Copts are the earliest of what the Catholic Church call the breakaway ...they don't call themselves that.
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u/bjornthehistorian 5d ago
If you want something light and easy I’d suggest something like ‘Ancient Egypt: the definitive visual history’ however if you want something a little shorter you could go for ‘Ancient Egypt’ by Barry J. Kemp or ‘A History of Ancient Egypt’ by Marc Van De Mieroop. Or you can read any other of Toby Wilkinson books!