Texts from the Pyramid Age

Ancient Egypt is well known for its towering monuments and magnificent statuary, but other aspects of its civilization are less well known, especially its written texts. Now Texts from the Pyramid Age provides ready access to new translations of a representative selection of texts ranging from the historically significant to the repetitive formulae of the tomb inscriptions from Old Kingdom Egypt (ca. 2700–2170 B.C.). These royal and private inscriptions, coming from both the secular and religious milieus and from all kinds of physical contexts, not only shed light on the administration, foreign expeditions, and funerary beliefs of the period but also bring to life the Egyptians themselves, revealing how they saw the world and how they wanted the world to see them. Strudwick’s helpful introduction to the history and literature of this seminal period provides important background for reading and understanding these historical texts. Like other volumes in the SBL’s Writings from the Ancient World series, this work will soon become a standard with students and scholars alike.

Nigel C. Strudwick is Assistant Keeper, Department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan, at The British Museum. He has worked in Egypt since 1979, since 1984 in the “Tombs of the Nobles” at Luxor. He is the co-author, with Helen Strudwick, of Thebes in Egypt: A Guide to the Tombs and Temples of Ancient Luxor, and co-editor, with Helen Strudwick, of The Encyclopedia of Ancient Egyptian Architecture.