The American archaeologist James H. Breasted (1865-1935) is best remembered for his 1906 four-volume Records of Egypt, which contains fresh readings and translations of almost all of the ancient Egyptian historical inscriptions available at the time, and remains an important resource. In this 1912 work, originally delivered as lectures, Breasted discusses the significance of the 'Pyramid Texts', preserved on fifth- and sixth-dynasty pyramids at Saqqara, and recently published in full, to the understanding of ancient Egyptian religious thought. He argues that mortuary practice as revealed by archaeology gives indications of the beliefs of a pre-literate society, but that by the time of the earliest inscriptions the Egyptian belief system was well established. He is particularly interested in the development of a moral sense in the context of the traditional pantheon with its multiple aspects of human/animal divinities, and in the influence of the developing Egyptian empire on its religion.

The American archaeologist James H. Breasted (1865-1935) published this history in 1906. His intention was to create a one-volume work which would be suitable for the increasing number of tourists visiting the Nile valley, for those interested in the rise of Greek and Roman civilisation, and for students of the Old Testament. Drawing on Breasted's own four-volume Records of Egypt, which contains fresh readings and translations of almost all of the ancient Egyptian historical inscriptions available at the time, the book follows the conventional chronology from 'earliest Egypt' to the Old Kingdom and the Middle Kingdom, characterised as a 'feudal age', the intermediate period of the Hyksos, and the New Kingdom, described here as 'the Empire'. The account ends with 'the Decadence', invasions by Libyans and Nubians, and the Persian conquest after the battle of Pelusium in 525 BCE. The book contains nearly 200 photographs and drawings.