The concept of pharaonic Egypt as a unified, homogeneous, and isolated
cultural entity is misleading. Ancient Egypt was a rich tapestry of
social, religious, technological, and economic interconnections among
numerous cultures from disparate lands. In fifteen chapters divided into
five thematic groups, Pharaoh's Land and Beyond uniquely examines
Egypt's relationship with its wider world. The first section details the
geographical contexts of interconnections by examining ancient Egyptian
exploration, maritime routes, and overland passages. In the next
section, chapters address the human principals of association: peoples,
with the attendant difficulties of differentiating ethnic identities
from the record; diplomatic actors, with their complex balances and
presentations of power; and the military, with its evolving role in
pharaonic expansion. Natural events, from droughts and floods to illness
and epidemics, also played significant roles in this ancient world, as
examined in the
third section. The final two sections explore the physical
manifestations of interconnections between pharaonic Egypt and its
neighbors, first in the form of material objects and second, in the
powerful exchange of ideas. Whether through diffusion and borrowing of
knowledge and technology, through the flow of words by script and
literature, or through exchanges in the religious sphere, the pharaonic
Egypt that we know today was constantly changing--and changing the
cultures around it. This illustrious work represents the first synthesis
of these cultural relationships, unbounded by time, geography, or
mode.
