Who Were the Pharaohs?: A Guide to Their Names, Reigns and Dynasties

This is an accessible and informative guide to the major pharaohs of Ancient Egypt, their names and their cartouches. It is a concise guide arranged chronologically. It is illustrated with colour photographs for the first time. It is a perfect reference for beginners and scholars alike. In Ancient Egypt, a name did more than express ones identity; it incorporated it, forming a profound element of it. Names of kings were especially important as the king of Egypt acted as the earthly counterpart to the sun-god. At his accession to the throne, a pharaoh would take five names to distinguish him from ordinary human beings; the first being his birth name and the remaining four composed specially for the coronation. The first four chapters of this book are divided by period, covering 3000 years of history from the dawn of Egyptian writing to the use of royal names under the Roman emperors in Egypt. With the help of ancient hieroglyphic texts and modern research, they give an indepth but accessible history of Ancient Egyptian royalty and society. The final chapter provides an extensive list of royal names and displays the principal cartouches for all the major kings of Ancient Egypt as well as some lesser-known but equally intriguing pharaohs. It also details the key events and characteristics of each reign. This book is an indispensible guide to the identity of the Egyptian pharaohs for people of all levels of knowledge. The Author Stephen Quirke was formerly a Curator in the Department of Egyptian Antiquities in the British Museum. He is now Curator of the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology in the Institute of Archaeology at UCL.