Daily Life in Ancient Egypt
1. Edition December 2007
256 Pages, Hardcover
Wiley & Sons Ltd
Using the life of a young girl and her family as a model, this book
recreates the daily life of the middle-class residents of the
ancient town of Lahun during Egypt's Middle Kingdom period.
This perfect snapshot in time has been painstakingly recreated
using recently published textual data and archaeological findings.
* Provides an illuminating and engaging re-construction of what
daily life was like in ancient Egypt
* Describes the main issues of everyday life in the town - from
education, work, and food preparation to religious rituals, healing
techniques, marriages, births, and deaths
* Authentically recreated through the use of recently published
textual data and archaeological findings directly from the
settlement of Lahun and other sites
* Includes photographs and illustrations of actual artifacts from
the settlement of Lahun
Preface.
Acknowledgements.
1 The Setting.
2 Birth.
3 Close to Home.
4 The Stuff of Life.
5 Crafts and Trades.
6 Learning Earning and Leisure.
7 Religion.
8 Sickness.
9 Death.
10 Love.
Bibliography
culture." (Journal of World History, March 2010)
"The author brings a contemporary academic understanding of
ancient Egyptian society and culture to a general audience,
successfully overturning widely-held preconceptions and offering
new research and methodologies in an accessible and lucid manner.
As such, it will serve both general interest readers and students
of the subject." (Egyptian Archaeology, Spring 2009)
"The book will be attractive to anyone who wishes to read an
appealing and original introduction to the Egyptian mind."
(Scholia Reviews, 2009)
"Books dealing with the daily lives of the ancient Egyptians
abound ... .I'd not gotten far into Szpakowska's contribution when
I realized that hers was something special, and needful. Each
chapter begins with a brief introduction ... which the author
fleshes out with a highly detailed and readable survey. This
approach brings the mundane world ... to life in a way real and
vital, and is sure to appeal to Szpakowska's intended audience:
university students, the general public, and scholars. Daily
Life is at once a good read and an excellent reference book."
(KMT: A Modern Journal of Ancient Egypt, December 2008)
"In this interesting addition to the growing body of scholarship
on the social and cultural history of ancient Egypt, Szapkowska
treats in succession birth, home life, personal possessions, crafts
and trades, learning and related topics, religion, sickness, death,
and love. What sets her book apart from other similar works is its
restriction to the Middle Kingdom town of Lahun and the author's
reliance primarily on material from that site. The focus on Middle
Kingdom Lahun ... does allow readers to get a clearer sense of life
in a particular place than other similarly titled works provide.
Recommended." (CHOICE, December 2008)
"Szpakowska's book is well-written, and a valuable addition to
books on the topic of daily life in ancient Egypt. It tells a
wonderful story of life in an ancient Egyptian town." (Bryn Mawr
Classical Review, September 2008)
"A magnificent undergraduate textbook, because of the focus on
the actual record." (Times Higher Education Supplement)
"Szpakowska's lively, well-crafted account not only
gives a sense of the lives of the people behind the ancient texts
and representations, but shows the reader how to construct a
narrative which is both engaging and scholarly."
-Deborah Sweeney, Tel Aviv University
"Kasia Szpakowska's engaging, localized
account of life during Egypt's Middle Kingdom draws upon the
material culture and inscriptions produced by the people of Lahun
to produce a rich portrait that will interest general readers,
students, and Egyptologists alike."
-Ellen Morris, Columbia University
