Early Dynastic Egypt

Toby Wilkinson examines the formative centuries of pharaonic Egypt, from the emergence of kingship and political unification to the threshold of the Old Kingdom and the age of the great pyramids. Covering roughly the first five centuries of dynastic rule, he explores how a distinctive Egyptian state, ideology and material culture were created and how royal authority came to shape communities throughout the Nile Valley.

Drawing together archaeological discoveries, inscriptions and decades of Egyptological scholarship, Wilkinson considers government, kingship, religion, economy, settlement and regional change while also explaining how Early Dynastic Egypt itself was rediscovered by modern archaeology. Richly illustrated and more detailed than a general survey, the book is a major study of the period in which many of the institutions and cultural forms associated with ancient Egypt first took recognisable shape.