Wow! eBook
The Pharaoh's Shadow First ediiton Edition
Author(s): Anthony Sattin (Author)
- Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
- Publication Date: 6 April 2000
- Edition: First ediiton
- Language: English
- Print length: 288 pages
- ISBN-10: 0575063971
- ISBN-13: 9780575063976
Book Description
In a ruined temple along the Nile, Anthony Sattin came across a woman praying to the gods of ancient Egypt to bless her with a child. Later the same day, a policeman stopped his taxi to ask if he had a mobile phone – he wanted to call his mother. These encounters encapsulated the Egyptian experience; while undoubtedly forward-looking, Egyptians are obsessed with their long and well-documented past. Europeans, Turks, Mamelukes, Arabs, Greeks, Romans, Persians, Jews, Christians and Muslims have all left their mark; but older than them all are the surviving customs from Ancient Egypt, from fertility rituals and funerary rites to the cult of saints, snake-charmers and magicians. Anthony Sattin has produced a ground-breaking work – a masterly synthesis of the best sort of travel writing and fascinating historical inquiry – which brings to life a country of perennial fascination.
Editorial Reviews
From the Publisher
Recent Reviews
‘This is a marvellous book, and one that any living travel writer would have been proud to write…it stands as one of the most fascinating and remarkable travel writing debuts to be published for many years.’ (William Dalrymple, The Spectator, 1 July 2000)
‘This is a marvellous book, and one that any living travel writer would have been proud to write…it stands as one of the most fascinating and remarkable travel writing debuts to be published for many years.’ (William Dalrymple, The Spectator, 1 July 2000)
‘…a great read that gets my vote for the first Thomas Cook Travel Award of the new millennium. If you read only one travel book this year, make it this one.’ (Robert Carver, Daily Mail, 9 June 2000)
‘From a long and intimate acquaintance with the country he has distilled a delightfully idiosyncratic exhibition of Pharaonic survivals in modern Egypt – half travel book, half Golden Bough. It is fun, enthralling and sometimes scary, rather like Egypt itself.’ (Jan Morris, The Independent, 29 April 2000)
About the Author
Anthony Sattin has been travelling in and writing about Egypt for 10 years and contributes frequently to the Sunday Times travel pages.
