Ebook: The political situation in Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period c. 1800-1550 BC

This is a work of meticulous scholarship carried out to a very high standard of historiography and philology and characterized by well and clearly reasoned analyses that lay bare fundamental problems for critical consideration. While its ostensible purpose is to study the political situation in Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period (SIP), a period fraught with thorny problems and controversial solutions, in its execution it is a study in fundamentals of source criticism and analysis exemplified and given substance with reference to issues arising from a close scrutiny of the SIP. The book is a "completely revised and much enlarged version" — in six parts with chronological tables, combined abbreviations and bibliography, and indicesof a M.A. thesis accepted at the Carsten Niebuhr Institute of Near Eastern Studies of the University of Copenhagen in 1993. Parts Ito V (pp. 1-327) constitute the text of the study, while pp. 331-405 comprise a catalogue raisonne of the kings of the SIP, and pp. 407-410 summarize the author's absolute chronology for the kings of the period, tabulated by dynasty. The distribution of these dynasties is conveniently visualized in a two dimensional table (time by geography) on p. 6 at the end of the introduction (pp. 1-6). This succinct introduction is true to the content of what follows. It defines the author's aims and standards of interpretation, presents the sources he exploited, accurately summarizes the contents of his book, and "anticipates" his conclusions.