Pharaohs of the Sun: How Egypt’s Despots and Dreamers Drove the Rise and Fall of Tutankhamun’s Dynasty
The familiar image of the glory of ancient Egypt includes Cleopatra, the Pyramids, the temples of Karnak, and the treasures of King Tutankhamun. But how was this done? It was a system that allowed its people to willingly—for most times—obey a ruler who was held by everyone to be a manifestation of God. The pinnacle of the civilization is its 18th Dynasty, starting with the brutal operations of Ahmose to the hard Horemheb, who was a practical and pragmatic man to recover a nation. It involved a heretic king and the most famous pharaoh in the world!
From the start, the author admits the problems with such a subject. After all, the further in the past situations happen, the harder it is to find evidence. Every expert has their theories, they have something to prove. But from then on, the book becomes an excellent guide. In a work that is fully sourced, with intelligent appendices, de la Bédoyère has provided an intelligent primer/reference to the 18th Dynasty of Egypt—the pinnacle of its obscene wealth and creativity and its downfall in nepotism and blind ignorance.
