Abu Simbel and the Nubian Temples: A New Traveler's Companion

If you should be lucky enough to visit this awesome ancient site you will surely ponder....what? and why here? as this monument fills your eyes with nothing left to spare. This book tells you more than any others I have seen about what you are really looking at and walking through. When you return home I am sure you will want to know more about what you just saw. This book is packed with great photos and loads of understandable stories and history. Its great value too for a book with so much content.

The author’s avowed aim is to explain the Abu Simbel temples within the context of the time of their construction and the life of their creator, Ramesses II, using as little technical jargon as possible. He has largely succeeded, producing a well-illustrated accessible book which fills the gap in popular Egyptological literature left by MacQuitty’s out-of-print Abu Simbel.The history of the rediscovery of Abu Simbel includes accounts by Burckhardt, Belzoni and Champollion, and its rise as a tourist attraction charted from the establishment of Thomas Cook’s passenger steamer service from Aswan to Wadi Halfa (1875), to the travels of Amelia Edwards and Agatha Christie. The temples are described in some detail with useful plans and explanations of the imagery and hieroglyphic texts. The chapter on the ‘Gods of Abu Simbel’ neatly lists the deities alphabetically, explaining where in the temples each might be found.The next two chapters deal with Ramesses himself, his family and military exploits, and this is where the book strays from its principal subject to cover other Ramesside sites.Chapter seven covers the 1960s salvage project. The final chapter is left for the Nubian Temples promised in the title and this is where I felt rather short-changed. The temples on the regular trail around Lake Nasser, such as Philae, Kalabsha and Beit el-Wali, receive very cursory treatments and the book finishes with a list of the shrines gifted to museums worldwide.Review by ancientegyptmagazine dot com

This beautiful book is filled with lots of valuable information about the Nubian temples including more than 80 drawings, illustrations, photographs, maps, diagrams and even an illustrated list of the numerous gods depicted at Abu Simbel and where to find them at the temple when you come to visit. There is also information on many of the other lesser known temples in lower Nubia such as Kalabsha, Gerf Hussein and the temple of Wadi al-Sebua.The book is also written very well with lots of fascinating insights and information into Abu Simbel's creation more than 3,000 years ago, it's historical context during the late Bronze age of Rameses II, it's discovery in the early 19 century and also the internationally supported effort in the 20th century to save the temples from the rising waters behind the Aswan Dam.I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants to learn more about these structures and the ancient civilization that built them.

Thanks for the great service. Book is pristine!!