This new and completely revised edition of The Ancient Egyptians traces the origins of the Egyptian civilization through the rise and fall of the Old Kingdom, in light of contemporary theories and the many recent discoveries made in the field of Egyptology. Two main themes are explored in order to explain the particular success of the Old Kingdom: that ancestor worship lay at the root of ancient Egyptian religious beliefs, and that carefully established cult centers created both a common religious and cultural tradition and a reciprocal service relationship between the central government and distant communities. The book then looks at the lives of the Old Kingdom Egyptians. How did they live, work, travel, spend their leisure time? What was the role of women? What do we know of childhood and education? How were the masses recruited for large-scale building works? What was the cause of the remarkable homogeneity and continuity of the ancient civilization? These are some of the many questions that continue to intrigue us, and Jill Kamil draws on the latest research to give us the answers.