Red Land, Black Land: Daily Life in Ancient Egypt - Softcover

Mertz, Barbara

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0872262227 ISBN 13: 9780872262225

Publisher: Peter Bedrick Books, 1990

Synopsis

A fascinating, erudite, and witty glimpse of the human side of ancient Egypt—this acclaimed classic work is now revised and updated for a new generation

Displaying the unparalleled descriptive power, unerring eye for fascinating detail, keen insight, and trenchant wit that have made the novels she writes (as Elizabeth Peters and Barbara Michaels) perennial New York Times bestsellers, internationally renowned Egyptologist Barbara Mertz brings a long-buried civilization to vivid life. In Red Land, Black Land, she transports us back thousands of years and immerses us in the sights, aromas, and sounds of day-to-day living in the legendary desert realm that was ancient Egypt.

Who were these people whose civilization has inspired myriad films, books, artwork, myths, and dreams, and who built astonishing monuments that still stagger the imagination five thousand years later? What did average Egyptians eat, drink, wear, gossip about, and aspire to? What were their amusements, their beliefs, their attitudes concerning religion, childrearing, nudity, premarital sex? Mertz ushers us into their homes, workplaces, temples, and palaces to give us an intimate view of the everyday worlds of the royal and commoner alike. We observe priests and painters, scribes and pyramid builders, slaves, housewives, and queens—and receive fascinating tips on how to perform tasks essential to ancient Egyptian living, from mummification to making papyrus.

An eye-opening and endlessly entertaining companion volume to Temples, Tombs, and Hieroglyphs, Mertz's extraordinary history of ancient Egypt, Red Land, Black Land offers readers a brilliant display of rich description and fascinating edification. It brings us closer than ever before to the people of a great lost culture that was so different from—yet so surprisingly similar to—our own.

About this title

About the Author

Barbara Mertz is the author of Red Land, Black Land, Daily Life in Ancient Egypt and of over fifty novels under her pseudonyms Barbara Michaels and Elizabeth Peters.

From AudioFile

Lorna Raver immerses herself in renowned Egyptologist Barbara Mertz's fascinating and exquisitely detailed account of daily life in ancient Egypt. In a pleasantly modulated voice, with plenty of high drama and frequent witticisms, and no hints of pedantry, Raver takes us back thousands of years and introduces us to Egyptians of many strata--pharaohs, queens, painters, slaves, scribes, temple builders--showing us their everyday ways of life with respect to marriage, birth, food, beer, wine, orgies, rituals, clothing, sexual practices, religion, the construction of magnificent temples and tombs, and beliefs regarding the afterlife. Be forewarned, this is a long production, but it's never boring. In fact, the time seems to fly by. M.T.B. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Edition details

• Publisher: Peter Bedrick Books
• Publication date: 1990
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0872262227
• ISBN 13: 9780872262225
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 385