The History of Ancient Egypt

By: Bob Brier, The Great Courses

Narrated by: Bob Brier

Length: 24 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's summary

Ancient Egyptian civilization is so grand our minds sometimes have difficulty adjusting to it. It lasted 3,000 years, longer than any other on the planet. Its Great Pyramid of Cheops was the tallest building in the world until well into the 19th century and remains the only Ancient Wonder still standing. And it was the most technologically advanced of the ancient civilizations, with the medical knowledge that made Egyptian physicians the most famous in the world.

Yet even after deciphering its hieroglyphs, and marveling at its scarabs, mummies, obelisks, and sphinxes, Egyptian civilization remains one of history's most mysterious, as "other" as it is extraordinary. This chronological survey presents the complete history of ancient Egypt's three great Kingdoms: the Old Kingdom, when the pyramids were built and Egypt became a nation under the supreme rule of the pharaoh and the rules of Egyptian art were established; the Middle Kingdom, when Egypt was a nation fighting to restore its greatness; and the New Kingdom, when all the names we know today-Hatshepsut, Tutankhamen, Ramses the Great, Cleopatra, and others-first appeared. Professor Brier's 48 lectures glisten with the kind of vivid anecdotes and human glimpses that make this ancient world breathe again.

"The fun of history is in the details," he notes. "Knowing that Ramses the Great was crippled by arthritis for the last decade of his long life makes us more sympathetic to the boastful monarch who fathered more than 100 children. If we understand what it was like to be a miner sent to the turquoise mines in the Sinai mountains in the summer, we will feel a kinship with our long-dead counterparts."

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©1999 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)1999 The Great Courses

Amazing

One of the best!! Great course, great lecturer. More interested in Egyptology than I ever was before. I highly recommend it.

So interesting!

This professor doesn't excellent job keeping things simple but getting lots of good information across to the listener. He has a great voice for lecturing which is easy to listen to, possibly my favorite of the great courses so far. If you like ancient history this is the listen for you.

Excellent Overciew

As a person who's always been interested I history and particularly the ancient world, I loved this. I was able to listen during breaks at work and driving and honestly learned quite a bit of new information. I would definitely recommend this to anyone wanting to learn more about Egypt.

One of the best things you can do

This book is amazing. One of the things that I have enjoyed so much. I am sure that you will love it too. It go through a 3,000 years of history in a great journey in the banks of the Nile.

Loved it!

This was fantastic, very interesting subject. He spoke about history, myths, misconceptions, even a little bit about Egypt in pop culture. One of my favorite great courses.

Go Egypt

I feel like I learned a new subject to binge on. The teacher taught the subject in a manner that kept my attention.

Disappointing

The rich and diverse history of Ancient Egypt reduced to contemporary American street speech, full of metaphors of football, and referring to the great pyramid builders as "Snefaru my man". If this is your thing, complete with a Brooklyn accent, and if you have never visited Egypt, then go for it.

After reading all the glowing reviews about this book, and already having visited Egypt and its marvels, it was disappointing to find the information given very basic.

In addition, it was tough to listen to the halting speech of the narrator, which to me sounded a lot like Donald Trump. Coupled with the phoney applause and pompous music in the beginning of each chapter all adding to make it a rather unpleasant experience.

Overall, a disappointment.

This is so good I listened to it twice.

If you could sum up The History of Ancient Egypt in three words, what would they be?

Entertaining disertation of the history of Egypt. Full of information but still very intertaining.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Bob is a great teacher it was fun all the way.

Of 250 books I've heard on audible, this is the best narrator

Also enjoyed the 30 minute or so segments... Nice way to break up listening into sections or groups of sections. And the story is very interesting, better than any of the college courses I took.

Enteraining and exciting histoyry!

Amazing and humbling story of ancient Egypt - simply astounding how they dominated for milenium. I can warmly recommend this audio program