Beyond the Nile

Egypt, the most ancient of the Mediterranean civilizations, inspired neighboring cultures with its art, religion, and learning. Already by around 3000 BC, cultural and artistic exchanges between Egypt and Crete were taking place, and contacts expanded greatly over the centuries with the arrival of Greek merchants, artists, and soldiers in Egypt. The complex interconnections between Egypt and the Classical World over the course of nearly 2,500 years-from the Bronze Age to the late Roman Empire-have never been comprehensively explored in a major publication or museum exhibition in the United States. It is precisely this aspect of Egypt's history that this groundbreaking publication aims to uncover. Renowned scholars have come together to provide compelling analyses of the constantly evolving dynamics of cultural exchange, first between Egypt and the civilizations of the Bronze Age Aegean, then during the Archaic and Classical periods of Greece (Egypt's Late Period), followed by the conquest of Alexander the Great and the nearly 300-year period of Ptolemaic rule in Egypt, and finally the defeat of Cleopatra VII and the incorporation of Egypt into the Roman Empire. With sixteen essays and more than 200 illustrations of rare objects-including pottery, coins, papyri, jewelry, frescoes, statues, and obelisks-Beyond the Nile: Egypt and the Classical World promises to be a seminal publication that invites the reader to move beyond traditional views of Egypt as an insular region and toward an expanded understanding of the ancient Mediterranean as a place of dynamic interaction. - from bookjacket.