John Romer

I don't understand how this still is possible: the publisher, Thomas Dunne Books, touts the various volumes of John Romer's work as the definitive historical study on Ancient Egypt. Anyone who knows anything about historical research knows that 'definitive' simply does not exist. And the bold claim is all the more surprising, since the author himself constantly emphasizes the gaps in our knowledge of ancient Egypt. Mind you, what Romer brings certainly is some of the best that has been published in recent decades on the civilization of the Nile Valley. In this part he takes a closer look at the period from just after the construction of the great pyramids to the end of the Middle Kingdom, covering no less than 800 years. As in the previous part, Romer is very thorough, perhaps a bit too thorough for the ordinary layman. For example, he discusses in some detail how our view of ancient Egypt still is too much determined by the work of the 19th century archaeologists and decipherers of hieroglyphics. Very fascinating, of course, and relevant, but I suspect that many readers here will drop out, as well as at the detailed discussion of more recent archaeological excavations.
So this is not a real synthesis. But Romer offers very valuable insights into ancient Egyptian history scattered throughout the chapters, with distinct accents based on his decades of fieldwork, study, and reflection. Rating 3.5 stars. More on that in the review in my History account on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5459464315.… (more)

This is a solid and rather comprehensive introduction to the earliest history of Ancient Egypt. John Romer (° 1941) is one of Britain's best-known Egyptologists and has earned his spurs in popularizing scientific information. From this book he clearly appears to be someone who adheres fairly strictly to what the archaeological finds say, and also makes an effort to imagine what a particular find says about the real life of the ancient Egyptians. So this book is absolutely creditable for its systematic exploration of how the civilization of ancient Egypt developed in a relatively short period of time. But perhaps Romer's approach is still a bit too in-depth for the average reader. For example, he dwells for quite some time on the development of pottery in the prehistoric period. He remains very vague about the connections with the Mesopotamian civilization: according to him there has certainly been influence, for example from the Uruk culture, but then rather indirectly. Anyway, Romer does not have much good to say about the earliest archaeologists, in the 19th and even the 20th century; they acted so boldly that they destroyed an awful lot of material; only the British primeval Egyptologist Petrie still finds favor in his eyes. In short, this is a very interesting, solid but sometimes a bit too extensive work, which in any case also makes it very clear how much we still don't know about Ancient Egypt. More on that in my History account on Goodreads : https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5376628522… (more)