Book II of Herodotus’s Histories, commonly published as An Account of Egypt, is the most detailed description of ancient Egypt left by any Greek writer. Herodotus visited Egypt around 450 BC and recorded everything he saw and was told — the pyramids, the Nile flood, mummification, the customs of the priests, the animals, and the landscape — with a mixture of genuine observation, traveller’s tales, and credulity that makes the text endlessly fascinating.
This free EPUB is cleanly formatted for e-readers. A primary source of the first importance, An Account of Egypt is also a delight to read — Herodotus at his most curious and most digressive, in the land that fascinated the Greeks above all others.