‘The Penguin Book of Myths & Legends of Ancient Egypt’ by Joyce Tyldesley Reading Begins/Context Post

Today (Sunday June 14^(th)) we are starting our second Egyptian read of 2026: ‘The Penguin Book of Myths & Legends of Ancient Egypt’ by Joyce Tyldesley. We will be reading this book over the next four weeks, covering around 50-75 pages per week.

Reading Schedule:

• Start Date/Context Post: 14/06/26
• Week 1: Introduction to end of Chapter 2 'Alternative Creations' 20/06/26
• Week 2: Chap 3 'Sunset' to end of Chap 5 'The Contendings of Horus and Seth' - 27/06/26
• Week 3: Chap 6 'At the end of time' to end of chap 10 'Divine Kings' section 'The Third Story: The Magic Occurring in the Time of King Snefru, told by Prince Bauefre' - 04/07/26
• Week 4: Chap 10 'Divine Kings' section 'The Fourth Story: The Magic Occurring in the Time of King Khufu, Told by Prince Hardjedef' to End of Book. - 11/07/26

Once we finish this book, we will be taking a weeklong break before we start our next read, ‘The Tale of Sinuhe: And Other Ancient Egyptian Poems 1940-1640 B.C’ by R. B. Parkinson.

The Penguin Book of Myths & Legends of Ancient Egypt:

Due to the ravages of time, most of the mythology we have from Ancient Egypt is fragmented. Additionally, the ancient Egyptians had a lot of gods (possibly thousands), and they tended to like to have lots of alternative versions of the myths. As such, it is hard pin down a single canon narrative. ‘The Penguin Book of Myths & Legends of Ancient Egypt’ aims to give an overview of the ‘core’ stories within the mythology, as much as it is possible to do so. The book also investigates some of the most popular gods within the mythology. Tyldesley goes into more detail on the fragmented nature of Egyptian mythology in her introduction, which we are reading in week 1.

Ancient Egypt was a civilisation that endured for thousands of years, and this is also shown in the fragments of mythology we have today. This book covers how the gods and myths evolved over time, from the earliest writings to the time of the Greek Pharaohs, like Cleopatra. The book is mainly myth focused, with the inclusion of legends in the final section.

Dr Joyce Tyldesley:

Tyldesley is an Archaeologist and Egyptologist from the UK. She studied at Oxford and lectures at the University of Manchester. Alongside being a respected academic, she’s also a documentary maker, writer and broadcaster. Her main specialisation is the role of women in ancient Egypt. She’s written some great books on the different pharaohs of Egypt, such as ‘Hatshepsut: The Female Pharaoh’, ‘Nefertiti: Egypt's Sun Queen’ and ‘Ramesses: Egypt's Greatest Pharaoh’. Her books sound fascinating and come with a lot of good reviews. She’s also, on a less academic note, been interviewed by Philomena Cunk aka Diane Morgan for the iconic mockumentary ‘Cunk on Earth’.