Pharaoh

Condition remarks:
Book: Very good
Jacket: No dust jacket
Pages: Good
Condition remarks: Condition as shown in image

At the intersection of myth, power, and divine sovereignty stands the Pharaoh — a figure so singular in human history that even millennia of study have not exhausted the wonder surrounding ancient Egypt's supreme rulers. Pharaoh, edited by Marie Vandenbeusch, is a richly assembled exhibition catalogue produced in conjunction with a landmark collaboration between the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) and The British Museum, presenting an authoritative survey of pharaonic kingship through art, artefact, and scholarly insight. Drawing on the world-class collections of the British Museum, the volume chronicles the evolving image of the pharaoh across centuries of ancient Egyptian civilisation, from the earliest dynasties to the Ptolemaic era, illuminating how these god-kings shaped religion, architecture, and cultural identity on an unprecedented scale. Vandenbeusch brings together contributions from leading Egyptologists and curators, weaving a narrative that is both academically rigorous and visually stunning, illustrating how the concept of divine rulership permeated every facet of Egyptian life and artistic expression. The work argues that the pharaoh was not merely a political ruler but a cosmological necessity — a living embodiment of Ma'at, or divine order — whose image was carefully constructed and perpetually reinvented across statuary, tomb painting, and royal regalia. For those captivated by the ancient world's most enduring civilisation, this volume raises a provocative question: if the pharaoh's power was as much an act of sacred theatre as governance, what does that reveal about the nature of power itself?