Alan B. Lloyd attempts to define, analyse, and evaluate the institutional and ideological systems which empowered and sustained one of the most successful civilizations of the ancient world for a period in excess of three and a half millennia.

• List of colour plates


• List of maps


• List of figures


• Acknowledgements


• List of abbreviations


• Chronological table


• Introduction


• 1: The Historical Context


• 2: Genesis of a Society


• 3: Kingship


• 4: Violence and the State


• 5: Government of the Kingdom


• 6: The Dialogue with Environment


• 7: The Conceptualized Environment


• 8: Affirmation of a Concept


• 9: Dialogue and Transition


• Bibliography


• Index

Alan B. Lloyd is Professor Emeritus in the Department of History and Classics at Swansea University, and President of the Egypt Exploration Society.