Introduction

I owe m u c h to my teachers and colleagues, the men and women whose vis ion led me to pursue the course I d i d , a l though I came to Egyptology by choice, not by accident as so many of my colleagues and contemporaries d id . Bu t more than to my teachers do I owe a debt to the people i n whose lands I had the privilege and pleasure of work ing — the A r a b s , the Egypt ians , the Greeks, the T u r k s - without w h o m the work wou ld have been impossible and wi th w h o m it was both a pleasure and a joy .