The Complete Valley of the Kings: Tombs and Treasures of Egypt's Greatest Pharaohs

This is a wonderfully-illustrated, updated and more accessible version of Reeves' hard-to-find, hard-to-read and hard-to-afford Valley of the Kings: Decline of a Royal Necropolis. In other words, it's the only book you'll ever need on the Valley of the Kings in general.

This book fully delivers on it's titled promise of being complete - every aspect of the Valley and its tombs is covered, and if there's something missing here, I can't find it.

Packed with maps, illustrations and photographs, this book is as much a joy to look at as it is to read. Nicholas Reeves has a real passion for the Valley of the Kings and had produced a brilliant and detailed work on its history, excavation, tombs and abandonment.

Read it from cover to cover, use it as a (reliable) reference work, dip into it from time to time...however you use this book, you'll enjoy it.

In my opinion this is one of the very best generally-available books on Ancient Egypt at the moment.


THE COMPLETE ARMCHAIR TRAVELLER   May 21, 2002
Mr. M. A. Bowles (Lincolnshire, England)
57 out of 59 found this review helpful

Nicholas and Richard have come up trumps yet again. This dynamic duo has put together a superb piece of work that acts as your passport to "The Valley". With this book in your hands you can almost be there and certainly take in fact after fact without heat, flies and sand. However, for anybody visiting The Valley this has got to be in your rucksack as an aide memoire while you seek out the tombs, burial pits and much more. These well-seasoned writers (Nicholas has written a similar book in this series, The Complete Tutankhamun and Richard the Complete Temples of Ancient Egypt) provide plans of tombs, photographs and have gone into fine detail. For those of you who need a reference work I suggest you take a look, I did and I am very happy thank you. This masterpiece has plenty of detail on the finds in each tomb with oodles of background information. The authors also provide you with guidance on which tombs to visit if you have time constraints. For those of you who like to hear and see another point of view, consider reading 'Guide to the Valley of the Kings' by Alberto Siliotti. Alberto captures the bigger picture with a touch more visual emphasis on tomb layout and wall detail. Both of these books are excellent and I would find it difficult to choose one over the other and resulted in my obtaining both!


Best guide to the Valley   November 5, 2002
M. Allen (Exeter, UK)
27 out of 28 found this review helpful

I have been to the Valley of the Kings now about 15-20 times, and for me it is still one of the most powerful and impressive places in the world. When you consider that some of the most powerful men and women were buried here, in a short period, it leaves you in awe.
Previous to reading this book, I had used the John Rohmer book, Valley of the Kings. This is also a good book, but it is not a guide, it is more a historic introduction to the Valley.
For anyone with not a great knowledge of Luxor or ancient Egypt, this is the perfect guide. It assumes no previous knowledge of the history of the area, and explains it well.
The maps and plans are usful, as they can give you an idea of what is there.


A Walk in the VALLEY   June 28, 2009
Gina Sergent (Glasgow, Scotland)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful

I have had this book since, about, 2000. And it lives up to the title of this review. For persons like me with a considerable interest but unable to get to the place this is the next best thing. It's not simply a "cattylog" of tombs but gives s short general history and description of contemporary life and after-life, the various excavetors and the (then)current situation. A fascinating read - and an excellent source book!!


valley of the kings*   July 25, 2009
G. I. Forbes (edinburgh)
0 out of 2 found this review helpful

Although this book has the word "complete" in the title the author admits that other tombs could be found.
The Valley of the Kings is in southern Egypt and has two branches -east and west.The vast majority of the tombs of which there over 80 are found in the east valley.The tombs are the resting places of Egyptian royalty from thec 18 to the 21 dynastys (1550BC to 945BC)
After a useful introduction the book is divided into four a)preparations for the afterlife dealing with planning,construction,location and the workforce b)agents of discovery covering tourists,explorers,architects and expeditions c)the tombs and d)decline of the Royal Necropolis due to robbers plus a separate issue-deciphering heirigliphics.
For each tomb there is a history,an account of excavation,architecture and decoration,funnery equipment and remains if found.These are accompanied by excellent pictures and diagrams.
Abook to be highly recommended.