The Great Pyramid
Ancient Egypt Revisited
Out of Print
- Author: John Romer, Independent scholar
- Date Published: March 2007
- availability: Unavailable - out of print July 2017
- format: Hardback
- isbn: 9780521871662
Out of Print
Hardback
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The Great Pyramid's eerily precise architecture has for centuries both astounded and puzzled archaeologists and has given rise to numerous modern fantasies concerning the so-called 'Mystery of the Pyramids'. Sweeping away centuries of myth and confusion, John Romer describes for the first time exactly how the Great Pyramid was designed and built. He argues that the pyramid makers worked from a single plan whose existence has long been doubted and even denied by scholars. Moreover, the Great Pyramid's unique architecture is integral to the way it was built, and for its builders the tasks of construction and design were not separate as they are now. By placing this awesome monument in its genuine contemporary context, this book underlines the extraordinary talents and the originality of the ancient Egyptians at the time of King Khufu.
Read more- Describes for the first time exactly how the Great Pyramid was designed and built
- A product of the most recent research and decades of personal study by an author who is very well known in media and Egypt circles
- Illustrated throughout with unusual images of the Great Pyramid and its interior, in many cases taken from old photographs
Reviews & endorsements
"A vast amount has been published on the pyramids, but this book offers a refreshing and distinctive approach based on sound scholarship and written in a style that often strikes a spark in the reader's imagination. One comes away reminded what an astonishing building the Great Pyramid is, out on its own in the realm of ancient Egyptian architecture, and therefore something that does not fit into the generalizations that we tend to seek." Barry Kemp, Professor of Egyptology, University of Cambridge and author of Ancient Egypt: Anatomy of a Civilization
See more reviews"If you read only one pyramid book this year, read archaeologist Romer's, a winner both in size and in substance. Romer (Ancient Lives: The Story of the Pharaoh's Tombmakers) does a fabulous job of breaking down our preconceived notions of the Great Pyramid (completed c.2500 B.C.E.). He reexamines all the old ideas, myths, and legends and washes away years of misinterpretation and misinformation. For example, he reassesses the scarce evidence about King Khufu (a.k.a. Cheops to the Greeks) and presents a revised profile of the pyramid workers' lives, families, and culture. He delves into the Great Pyramid's plan (he stipulates that there was one consistent plan throughout its building), materials, construction, shafts, ramps, burial chamber, and grand gallery. Scholarly yet written for a general audience, this title will be coveted in all public and academic libraries. Highly recommended."
Melissa Aho, Metropolitan State Univ., St. Paul, MN, Library Journal"Compellingly written and judiciously illustrated, this authoritative book will appeal to both scholars and the general public. Highly recommended." --Choice
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×Product details
- Date Published: March 2007
- format: Hardback
- isbn: 9780521871662
- length: 586 pages
- dimensions: 252 x 194 x 37 mm
- weight: 1.811kg
- contains: 194 b/w illus. 40 colour illus.
- availability: Unavailable - out of print July 2017
Table of Contents
Part I. Visions of the Pyramid:
1. Introduction
2. Making the mystery
3. Surveying Giza
4. Excavating Giza
5. The pyramid's plan
6. The pyramid's timetable
Part II. The Pyramid-Makers: The Ghosts in the Cemetery:
7. At the court of the King
8. The adventures of the Vizier
9. The new Egyptians
10. The social contract
Part III. The People on the Plateau:
11. Working the stone
12. The Giza quarry
13. Fire and the pyramid
14. Entrepôt and accommodation
15. The living city
16. Coda: thinking with stone
Part IV. The Land and the Pyramid:
17. Prospecting Egypt
18. Desert copper
19. Aswan granite
20. Tura limestone
21. The river
22. The Giza ramps
23. Coda: the commanding landscape
Part V. The Great Inheritance: The First Pyramid:
24. The spirit and the tomb
25. Mud to stone
26. To make a pyramid
27. Accommodating Djoser
Part VI. The Pyramids of Sneferu:
28. The Meidum pyramid
29. The failed pyramid
30. The jubilee pyramid
31. The long journey of the spirit
32. The dark interior
33. Two last works
34. Coda: the legacy
Part VII. Planning the Pyramid:
35. Choosing Giza
36. Levelling the site
37. The plan inside the pyramid
38. The plan beside the pyramid
39. Numbers
40. Stars
41. Coda: considering the architecture
Part VIII. Building the Pyramid:
42. In the beginning
43. Setting the lines
44. The miniature shafts
45. The grand gallery
46. The burial chamber
47. To the top
48. After the pyramid
49. The rites of death
50. Coda: after Khufu
51. Stone
52. Spirit.
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