Egypt as the land of the Pyramids is well enough known, but the story of Upper- and Lower Egypt before and during its unification is fascinating as well. What do we know of this period when literacy was still in its infancy and archaeological data are rare?

Theme: Egypt before the pyramids

• Sidney Dean, 'The emergence of Egypt'
• Marc DeSantis, 'Naqada. The first pan-Egyptian culture'
• Martin Uildriks, 'Sinking the boats'
• Sigrid van Roode, 'The birth of the hieroglyphs'
• Rebecca Batley, 'Khasekhemwy, Egypt’s unifier?'
• Jetty Boots, 'From pits to pyramids'
• Janko Duiker, 'The Pyramid Texts'

Features:

• Museum piece: Dirk Drijver, 'A message from the third century'
• Maura Andreoni, 'Lights on the sea'
• Rob van Gent, 'The eclipse of 585 BC'
• Michael Taylor, 'Druids'
• Kees Alders, 'Epicurus’ Moderate Hedonism'
• The Big Review: Jona Lendering, 'The quest for the historical Jesus'
• How do they know? 'Written and spoken language'