From the dawn of history to the death of Cleopatra, ancient Egypt was home to larger-than-life personalities. Across the lives of one hundred men and women, Toby Wilkinson explores the true character and diversity of human experience in the ancient world’s greatest civilization. Some of those profiled are famous: pharaohs and queens such as Akhenaten, Nefertiti, Ramesses II and Tiye. Others are lesser known but equally engaging: Imhotep, architect of the first pyramid; Perniankhu, the court dwarf; and the royal sculptor Bak. Equally illuminating are the lives of commoners, so rarely given their own voice: ordinary men and women who include a doctor, a dentist, a housewife, a musician—and a serial criminal. Lavishly illustrated with spectacular works of art and scenes of daily life, Lives of the Ancient Egyptians offers unique and remarkable insights into the history and culture of the Nile Valley, treating the reader to very personal glimpses of a vanished world, and a fresh perspective on a bewitching civilization.