Douglas J. Brewer

Sooner or later, every Egyptologist writes a “coffee table” book directed at the interested lay audience; this one is by Douglas Brewer of the University of Illinois and Emily Teeter of the University of Chicago. These are pretty standard; the geography and geology of Egypt; a quick summary of the history; society and everyday life; religion; art; architecture; the Pyramids and the Valley of the Kings. Still, every one I’ve read has some interesting insights. For example, Brewer and Teeter claim that two women held the office of vizier during Egyptian history; I’d never read that anywhere else. And they also comment that Egyptian women could serve on juries, something else I didn’t realize – I didn’t even know that there were “juries” in ancient Egypt, I’d thought all court cases were heard only by a single judge. I’ll have to do some more research. At any rate, this is as good as any of the other general books on Egypt.… (meer)