The story of the world's greatest civilization spans 4,000 years of history that have shaped the world. It is full of spectacular cities and epic stories—an evolving society rich in inventors, heroes, heroines, villains, artisans, and pioneers. Professor Joann Fletcher pulls together the complete story of Egypt, charting the rise and fall of the ancient Egyptians while putting their whole world into a context to which we can all relate.Fletcher uncovers some fascinating revelations: new evidence shows that women became pharaohs on at least ten occasions; and that the ancient Egyptians built the first Suez Canal and then circumnavigated Africa. From Ramses II's penchant for dying his grey hair to how we know that Montuhotep's chief wife bit her nails, Fletcher brings alive the history and people of ancient Egypt as nobody else can.

Professor Joann Fletcher is based in the Department of Archaeology at the University of York, where she teaches world mummification and funerary archaeology. She is the author of eight books, including The Search for Nefertiti and Cleopatra the Great. Among her many television appearances, the follow-up program to The Search For Nefertiti won a BAFTA, a Royal Television Society Award, and an Association for International Broadcasting Award. Most recently, she wrote and presented Life and Death in the Valley of the Kings for BBC2, and is now working on the four-part series The Story of Egypt for the BBC and PBS.