Weitzman, David. Pharaoh’s Boat.

Weitzman, David. Pharaoh’s Boat.
Houghton Mifflin/Clarion/Graphia/Kingfisher 2009 unp 18.00 978-0-547-05341-7 all ages

During the excavation of the Great Pyramid of Cheops in the 1950’s, the great Sun Boat that was to ferry the Pharaoh Cheops to his eternal life was discovered. Weitzman offers an eloquently described and vividly illustrated account of its excavation and reconstruction. During the excavation of the Great Pyramid of Cheops in the 1950’s, an unusual wall was found that disturbed the perfectly geometric plans of the pyramid. It would lead Egyptian archeologist Ahmed Youssef Moustafa to a spectacular discovery, the Great Boat of Re built to ferry the Pharaoh across the river of the sky to his eternal afterlife. Weitzman smoothly moves between vivid descriptions of the time of Cheops and the careful plans his son Djedefre made to facilitate his father’s safe passage and eloquently portrays the construction and rebuilding of Pharaoh’s boat. After the boat was completed, it was taken apart and set so that Cheops could reassemble it for his journey. When it was uncovered, Moustafa would join local boat builders and piece together the puzzle of the ancient boat. The lively and informative text is greatly enhanced by the vibrant, labeled cross-sections, supplemental sidebars and resplendent hieroglyphics, and magnificent stylized color illustrations of the Egyptian workmen and their tools presented just as if they could be found on the walls of the pyramid. These include greatly detailed pictures, drawings, and cutaway diagrams that support the information perfectly. The book ends with an afterword and map . This well-balanced, succinct, and lucid treatment of the topic is sure SO
Egypt-History