INTRODUCTION

This volume is intended to fill a gap in the extensive literature on ancient Egypt,by presenting an authoritative, up-to-date, single-volume work on pharaonic civilization, organized along thematic lines. By eschewing the usual chronological approach, the book has been able to concentrate instead on exploring each individual topic from a variety of angles. In this way, it is hoped that readers will gain a broader understanding of ancient Egyptian society in all its complexity, liberated from the rather artificial chronological divisions that we impose on pharaonic history.