Tutankhamen by Christine Hobson el-Mahdy

At the start, I did find it a bit too casual and fond of exclamation marks, but that feeling disappeared as I read on. I was a little confused about how El Mahdy envisioned the pyramids being built from outside-in, but that probably comes down to me needing to see it visually.Įl Mahdy writes a popular history, her writing style seemed to me ideal for the casual reader. That said, I did find it a worthwhile read because El Mahdy did tackle some of the most common assertions and theories about pyramid-building, such as the ramp theory. For example, there's a 100 pages dedicated to figuring out how they build the pyramids, but it was a bit old-hat to me: I wanted to read about Khufu, not how the pyramids were built for the nth time. I expected this to be the case, but was a little disappointed all the same. This isn't, strictly speaking, a biography of Khufu but an exploration of pyramid building in the Old Kingdom which uses Khufu as a jumping off point. It was a surprise to me, though – I wasn't aware there was enough material to pad out a biography of Khufu without resulting to fiction.Īnd I was right. Now, for the first time, Christine El Mahdy can tell the full and gripping story knowing that her theory of Tutankhamen's natural death is completely supported by the results of the recent CT scan.I was happy enough to stumble upon Christine El Mahdy's The Pyramid Builder, a book that posits itself as a biography of Khufu, the pharaoh of the Great Pyramid. But the fabulous riches in his tomb have largely eclipsed the extraordinary details of his life and death, and the political infighting and bitter struggles for power which characterised the period. Suddenly the young King achieved a fame he had never attained in life. After a hasty and secretive burial, and a botched attempt at grave robbery, Tutankhamen lay in peace until 1922, when Howard Carter reopened the tomb. Three and a half thousand years ago in Egypt, a little boy of around seven years old was crowned Pharaoh.

But the fabulous riches in his tomb have largely eclipsed the extraordinary details of his life and death, and the political infighting and bitter struggles for power.

Tutankhamen by Christine Hobson el-Mahdy