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Akhenaten: History, Fantasy and Ancient Egypt

Amazon.com Price:  $32.52 (as of 03/05/2019 05:34 PST- Details)

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Description

The pharaoh Akhenaten, who ruled Egypt in the mid-fourteenth century BCE, has been the subject of more speculation than another character in Egyptian history. Ceaselessly known as the originator of monotheism and the world’s first recorded individual, he has fascinated and inspired both scholars of Egyptology and creative talents as diverse as Sigmund Freud and Philip Glass.
This provocative biography examines both the true Akhenaten and the myths which have been created around him. It scrutinises the history of the pharaoh and his reign, which has been continually written in Eurocentric terms inapplicable to ancient Egypt, and the archaeology of Akhenaten’s capital city, Amarna. It goes on to explore the pharaoh’s abnormal cultural afterlife, and the way he has been invoked to validate ideas as diverse as psychoanalysis, racial equality and fascism. Dr Montserrat makes the point that our view of Akhenaten has never been based purely on historical or archaeological knowledge, but is a cultural hallucination, influenced by western desires about ancient Egypt and up to date struggles for legitimation and authority.
Combining up-to-date historical synthesis with extensive new archival research, Akhenaten: History, Fantasy and Ancient Egypt is the first book to assess critically why the archaeology of ancient Egypt continues to fascinate. Theoretically astute and engagingly written, and illustrated with many striking images never prior to now published, it is going to appeal to any person with an interest in Akhenaten or in the archaeology of ancient Egypt.

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