Ahmed Fakhry

There are, of course, a lot more books than these, generally dividing into woo-woo about the Great Pyramid and archeological reports on individual pyramids. The later, unfortunately, tend to be out of print and expensive - most of the archeological work was done in the latter part of the 19th century and the early part of the 20th. Early Egyptologists generally gravitated to the pyramids because they were, after all, pretty obvious; thus, there hasn’t been that much work on the pyramids proper since (although there’s been lots of effort on surrounding tombs, temples, etc.) The woo-woo books, alas, keep coming; as a result there are lots of people who are convinced that the blocks in the Great Pyramid fit so closely you can’t get a knife blade between them, that the ratio of the height of the pyramid to its perimeter is pi, that the Great Pyramid sits on the “center of gravity” of the continents, and on and on and on.


The Pyramids, Ahmed Fakhry


Fakhry was one of the first native Egyptologists to gain an international reputation. Much of his work was done at on the two pyramids of Sneferu at Dashur. As you might expect, these get a lot of attention in his book; however, all the pyramids known at the time are covered (including a brief description of the pyramids at Meroe in the Sudan). This is a book about the pyramids, not Egyptian history in general; the reader is expected to have a basic knowledge of Egyptian dynastic chronology. On the other hand, coverage of the archeological history of individual pyramids is quite good. Dr. Fakhry has a pleasant writing style, especially for someone whose native language is not English (as near as I can tell he wrote the English version himself; at least no translator is mentioned). Unfortunately, the book was published in 1961 and revised in 1972, and is thus now badly out of date. It also suffers (in comparison with later books) from a lack of flashy graphics; all the photographs are black and white and other illustrations and maps are amateurish (but reasonably accurate) line drawings. Certainly worth picking up if you find it cheap in a used book store, but it shouldn’t be your only reference.


The Pyramids of Egypt, I. E. S. Edwards



For years, this was the standard pyramid reference. It went through at least six revisions after its initial 1947 publication, and numerous reprintings. Although Dr. Edwards did some field archeology, his primary focus was as a linguist and historian rather than an excavator. Although Edwards provides some historical background in his first chapter, as with Fakhry you will need some basic Egyptian history. The discussion of monuments starts with prePyramid royal mastabas and continues to the Meroitic pyramids. Edwards follows the Europan practice of referring to pharaohs by their Greek names (Cheops for Khufu, Sesostris for Senusret, etc.) so it would be a good idea to brush up on your Herodotus. The photographic plates are all in the center section, black and white, and often seem to be chosen without much regard for relationship to the pyramids (why, for example, is there a photograph of a bust of the young Tutankhamen, who didn’t rule until centuries after the last pyramid was built?). The line drawings are almost all plan views of pyramid complexes as hypothetically reconstructed; they don’t give you much idea of the three-dimensional layout or of the way the pyramids look now. However, Edward’s text is densely packed and quite detailed; if you are going to take a book on the pyramids with you on a visit to Egypt, this is the one you want (unlike more recent works it will fit in a pocket).


The Egyptian Pyramids, J. P. Lepre


Something of a wild card in the deck. In his Introduction, Mr. Lepre (I assume it’s Mr.) says he’s been studying the pyramids for 15 years, including spending a year in Egypt. However, no Egyptologist I’ve spoken with has ever heard of him, and he hasn’t published anything (at least, anything I can find) before or since this book. He also depends heavily on classical sources, thus citing Herodotus and Manetho as evidence for the existence of several pharaohs most Egyptologists believe are spurious, and uses idiosyncratic names for some of the pharoahs (for example, “Eke” for the builder of the unfinished pyramid at Zawiayet el-Aryan; just about every other work names this pharaoh Nebka). These are all the signs of woo-woo, and there are some hints of that, but if read carefully the book isn’t all that bad. The book is organized as a series of encyclopedia-style entries on each “pyramid pharaoh” (not each pyramid) that appear to be transcriptions from Mr. Lepre’s personal notes. Mr. Lepre obviously spent a lot of time wandering around the Giza Plateau and inside the Great Pyramid; for example, his drawings of the King’s Chamber accurately show each individual stone in the floor, walls, and ceiling. Similarly, he notes that there’s a more or less regular variation in the thickness of masonry layers in the pyramid (possibly relating to the particular quarry the stones were coming from?). The photographs are black and white, usually small and poorly lighted; the line drawings, although sometimes showing things you are unlikely to see illustrated anywhere else, are amateurish. Interesting in places but not to be used as an authoritative reference. (I note there’s now a paperback version, but it doesn’t seem to be revised, just a different binding).

The Pyramids, Miroslav Verner


Dr. Verner is to Abusir what Ahmed Fakhry is to Dashur; he’s excavated there for decades with the Czech Archeological Mission. This book is more or less a replacement for Edwards; it has a similar style (although, laudably, the whole first third of Verner’s book is background, including discussion of Egyptian history, funerary practices, and construction techniques). Discussion of individual pyramids is excellent, and the Abusir section is, as might be expected, outstanding. (Abusir is my favorite pyramid site; it’s not one of the standard tourist sites and the pyramids there are pretty beat up - thus you are liable to have the place to yourself. It is the best place to get a feel for the entire suit of buildings that went with a pyramid - valley temple, causeway, mortuary temple, pyramid itself. The mortuary temple of Sahure is in the best condition of any, and you can still see the original paint on some of the reliefs.) Plans and other line drawings are accurate and detailed, and the photograph section is all color and relevant to the text. Dr. Verner concludes with a nice section debunking “pyramidology” claims, although he admits it’s probably a hopeless endeavor. (There’s a paperback version of this out now; however, it appears to have black and white instead of color photographs).



The Complete Pyramids, Mark Lehner


The definitive coffee-table pyramid book. Dr. Lehner is a pretty interesting guy; he got his start in Egyptology as a disciple of Edgar Cayce and his very first Egyptological work was an attempt to reconcile Cayce’s “prophecies” with the archeological record, a task which Lehner eventually and sadly acknowledges is hopeless. In this regard he resembles William Flinders Petrie, who went to Egypt to test “pyramidology” theories and ended up making archeology a formal science rather than a dignified looting expedition. Although Lehner now privately disavows Cayce’s Egyptian theories, he has refused thus far to publicly denounce them, for what I consider the praiseworthy reason that he remains a personal friend of many Cayce followers. This has gotten him some criticism from some professional archeologists, but the quality of his scientific work is unimpeachable. At any rate, Dr. Lehner is now the recognized expert on the Giza Plateau. Most of his research has focused on subsidiary buildings - notably the “workman’s village” along the edge of the Giza Escarpment. Dr. Lehner’s book, like Verner’s, starts with an extensive background section, which includes an outline of Egyptian history and funerary customs, then follows with a history of pyramid exploration. The meat of the book illustrates the pyramids themselves. The text can be a little sparse - for written description, you’re better off with Edwards or Verner - but the illustrations are outstanding. Dr. Lehner was a pioneer of computer rendering in Egyptology, and it shows - almost every pyramid is not only shown in plan and section, but also as an isomorphic drawing, which gives a much better feel for how the monuments actually look. The book is too bulky to actually use as a guidebook, but if you want one book on pyramids this is probably your best choice.


Die ägyptischen Pyramiden, Rainer Stadelmann


My German is just barely good enough to get through this with a bilingual dictionary at hand, and even then I often have to translate a sentence several times before I can figure it out. There’s no background at all; the book dives right into the development of pyramids from Early Dynastic mastaba tombs, so you better have a good background in Egyptian history or you’ll get lost quickly. As you might expect from a German book, there are meticulously detailed maps and plans, including some of the Second Dynasty tombs at Saqqara and their relationship to the Step Pyramid complex that I’ve never seen anywhere else, but otherwise this is pretty similar to Edwards or Verner and you’re better off with them unless you want to practice your academic German.
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