Reviewed by Norrie Sanders
Egyptian dynasties began about 5,000 years ago and humans had been there more than 30,000 years by that time. This was not just one of the longest lasting civilisations on earth, but perhaps the pinnacle for architectural grandeur.
Maria Golia is the most recent writer to complete the challenge of shortening a country’s history into 200 pages. Another author might have given us a line-by-line account of its greatest buildings and conquests. But hers is an entertaining story of Egypt and its people. She skates over parts of the history that are familiar in favour of bringing to life some of the lesser known, but more interesting, human dramas.
Of course, drawing on ancient sources can be tricky: Practically everything the ancients wrote about themselves was flattering [p70]. And the architectural monuments are part of that same self-aggrandisement. Much has been written about the importance of the afterlife to Egyptians and the pains that the wealthy and powerful went to take their wealth with them.
Yet outside of the elites, lesser people found ways to redistribute the vast wealth. In a country in which tombs and temples are international icons amongst the wonders of the world, they could be treated as underground banks:
A recurrent crime in the New Kingdom was tomb-raiding, an assault on the belief that a well-equipped tomb was a ticket to paradise. Temples, with their gilded accessories in precious woods, were likewise targeted for theft [p70].
The avowed sanctity of the tomb was clearly up for grabs. The elite invested heavily in eternal life, but the populace was more concerned with this one [p74]. This contrast between the mortality of individual leaders and the resilience of long-suffering citizens is a recurrent theme in this narrative. For a populace used to millennia of authoritarian rulers, resilience is the key to survival.
In modern times, poor governance, expansive urban growth and mega-dams on the Nile have changed the face of Egypt:
Just as the Nile flood determined the fate of kings, affordable and plentiful water and energy are essential to forestall today’s potentially explosive tensions. No one can say what the future holds, but it’s a safe bet that the real arbiters of our fate, the availability of water and land, will decide it, a truth Egypt has been telling us for ages [p183].
Like many civilisations, the achievements have often come at a cost, particularly in terms of imperious leaders exercising absolute power. Modern Egypt is a major country by any standards, but one of the few remnants of its former greatness has been a slew of political leaders who view power and suppression as their right.
This Shortest History is a fascinating journey through a country that helped shape the modern world. Its greatness can be seen in monuments along the length of the Nile and it reminds us that nothing is forever. Sic transit gloria mundi.
Maria Golia is a long-time resident of Cairo and social commentator for a variety of publications. She is the author of diverse non-fiction books including Cairo: City of Sand, Photography and Egypt, and A Short History of Tomb-Raiding.
by Maria Golia
(Jun 2026)
Black Inc
ISBN: 978 1 7606 4492 5
$27.99 (Paperback); 240pp