Four thousand years before the birth of Christ, ancient Egypt was the cradle of modern civilization. Pharaohs built great cities on the fertile banks of the River Nile, and employed thousands of labourers to create lavish tombs and temples such as Thebes and the pyramids of the Giza plateau. Today the exceptional beauty and scale of the antiquities is legendary, drawing millions of visitors to Egypt?s monuments each year. But the nation is much more than even that. From the beaches on the Red Sea to the Nile, from the markets in Cairo and Alexandria to the country?s Roman, Coptic and Sassanid history, and Arab and Ottoman culture, Egypt is spectacular. Ranging from desert monasteries to the trade on the Suez Canal, from mausoleums hidden for centuries to medieval souks to urban life today, Egypt takes the reader from the mountains to the sea, from the desert to the city, from the ancient to the modern. Featuring 200 colour photographs and captions explaining the fascinating stories behind each image, Egypt is a stunning portrait of an ancient and modern land.