Book Review: The Nubian Pharaohs

Bryn Mawr Classical Review

Charles Bonnet, Dominique Valbelle, The Nubian Pharaohs: Black Kings of the Nile. Translated by Deke Dusinberre. Cairo and New York: The American University in Cairo Press, 2006.

Reviewed by Anthony Spalinger, University of Auckland. Here's a short extract:

This sumptuous volume, replete with breath-taking and technically oriented photographs, is mainly the work of Prof. Charles Bonnet of Geneva University. As the primary excavator and organizer of the present archaeological work at Kerma, Bonnet has literally sifted through all of the stratigraphic levels of his site in order to give the reader an up-to-date analysis of this important region. With the indispensable assistance of Dr. Valbelle, to whom we owe the translations of the hieroglyphs and expert facsimiles of the texts, the various Kushite and Meroitic statues found in an unexpected cache at Kerma are introduced. This discovery was the impetus for the publication, in French, of the original 2005 edition.

Yet this study is far more than a mere compendium of ten or so statues. Quite to the contrary, Bonnet decided to offer the interested public a thorough analysis of the cultural history of Kerma, based upon his own work along with that of earlier researchers such as G. A. Reisner. Owing to this perspective, the reader will understand the development of Kerma over millennia before he or she, with anticipation, encounters these hitherto "hidden" statues. As a result, the entire work is well organized and does not suffer from too much concentration upon one solitary theme. Moreover, Bonnet and Valbelle complement each other in producing a remarkable volume, one that is of use to the educated layperson as well as to the specialist. Except for the somewhat amusing subtitle of the work and a few blemishes in translation -- see common errors in the use of the English definite article with place names (e.g., "in Sudan" for "in the Sudan") -- this book reads well, provides helpful chronological charts (pp. 210-11), and supplies an abbreviated bibliography for future consultation.

This book has also been reviewed by Jill Kamil on the Al Ahram Weekly website.