Theban Tomb 188 is the sole archaeological site in the ancient Theban necropolis securely dated to the reign of the "heretic pharaoh" Akhenaten (1353-1336 BCE). The result of several years of clearance and recording by Dr. Susan Redford, director of the Akhenaten Temple Project's Theban Tomb Survey, this richly illustrated book provides a detailed description of the remaining wall scenes and texts of this historically important ancient monument. In the fourteenth century BCE, Pharaoh Akhenaten attempted to institute a radical religious reform and moved his capital city to Amarna. This book publishes important evidence related to the Amarna period in ancient Egypt, specifically the plans, reliefs, and inscriptions of Theban Tomb 188, belonging to Parennefer, the tutor and butler of the king. Dr. Redford's detailed archaeological study traces the rapid evolution of ideology, iconography, and iconoclasm, as revealed in Parennefer's tomb. The decoration kept pace with the momentous changes in the king's thinking, so that, when dovetailed with the pictorial evidence from the excavations of the great Gem-pa-aten temple at Karnak, it becomes possible to chronicle these rapid changes. This definitive study of the tomb of Parennefer will appeal to archaeologists, Egyptologists, historians of religion, and art historians working on the ancient Near East.

This publication looks at the mysterious events surrounding the death of Rameses III, something that has puzzled historians, archaeologists, and Egyptologists. Now archaeologist Susan Redford investigates the circumstances of the ancient pharoah's death - and discovers among the women of his harem the threads of a murder conspiracy. Evidence is accumulated from ancient papyri and careful readings of temple carvings and a theory involving divisions between clans and rival lineages culminating in a murder plot, is put forward. The work gives insights into ancient Egypt's highly refined legal and judicial systems, which merge abstract notions of equity with mutilation and death. This new eplanation of the harem conspiracy casts new light on crime, punishment, and the role of women in Egyptian society. It further interprets the legacy of the assassination as a contribution to the decline of Egyptian power. A text that aims to ignite interest in both students and the general public, as well as challenging specialists in this field.

For more than three thousand years, the mysterious events surrounding the death of Ramesses III have puzzled historians and students of ancient Egypt. Now, archaeologist Susan Redford investigates the circumstances of the ancient pharaoh's death and discovers among the women of his harem the threads of a murder conspiracy. From new translations of ancient papyri and careful readings of temple carvings, Redford identifies the suspects in the assassination-wives, concubines, and attendants. She evaluates the evidence against them and outlines a possible murder plot that turns upon a shocking revelation about the pharaoh's immediate family. On the basis of new discoveries relating to the identity of Ramesses III's queens and their sons, she uncovers a primary motive for regicide and presents persuasive evidence of a palace revolt. Divisions between clans and rival lineages, she argues, gave rise to a plot to murder the king. Richly illustrated with thirty photos and diagrams, Redford's groundbreaking investigation of the plot to murder "the last of the great pharaohs" offers an extraordinary vision of the ancient Egyptian world.