Tales of Ancient Egypt

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The best introduction to Ancient Egyptian myths - Rated
Ancient Egypt is a a popular interest - as I write this, Amazon lists 3341 titles on the subject. So why read this book rather than any other?

Simply, this is a near perfect retelling of the Egyptian myths for nine year-olds and upwards. Understanding the myths helps us to get inside the soul of ancient peoples. Without that, history books and popular archaeology leave us only as outsiders looking in.

Roger Lancellyn Green makes the right decision to tell the myths in their own space. He leads the reader from the Egyptian creation story naturally onwards through the betrayal by Set and the rise of Osiris. He introduces key ideas like 'Ka' and 'Ba' which are completely unlike anything in our Western culture with stories that illustrate and explain them.

Reading this at the age of nine, it never occurred to me that this was difficult stuff, or academic or esoteric. Tales of Ancient Egypt tells it so well that it just became part of what I knew.

I would recommend this book to any child who likes myths. But I would especially recommend that you take a copy of this book with you when you walk round the Egyptian section of any museum, and especially if you walk round the British Museum in London. Putting the stories together with how the ancient Egyptians lived, the things they made, and how they died will cement the people of the old Nile in your mind forever.

One of the best mythology books around - Rated
My dad gave me this book when I was six and I became hooked on Egypt after reading the very first page. There's magic in this book, and having spent many years reading other Egyptian mythology books, this is the only one I'd ever recommend. It's divided up into three sections: tales of the Gods, of men and other stories, so it's not the continuous cycle of some of his other works. The writing style does try to mimic how the Egyptians wrote, and it's all the better for it; in fact in style it is very similar to the equally excellent King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table. That the previous reviewer didn't get it is very sad because I think this a fantastic book; and twenty odd (ahem) years on, it's just as beautiful as the first time.

Ra-ther boring, Bast left alone... - Rated
I've just started to reread this book at the ripe age of 28, and I still find it horribly dense. Roger Lancelyn Greens books are usually hugely enjoyable, but I found this one diffcult to get into, and confusing to read.

One of the problems is the style. The author seems to be trying to mimic the rather severe tones of the Eygptians themselves, but this means that a lot of the stories appear to list names and places without actually gonig anywhere. The font is also a very heavy one, making the eye drift around the page. The whole thing reminds me of a poor quality history book, and for the second time I have found myself struggling with what is usually an exciting and imaginative subject. Readers would be best advised to try Dreary's excellent "Awesome Eygptians", which although more historical has a far better pace and enthusiasm to it.