The book is devoted to the history of Egypt from ancient times to the end of the 20th century. BC e. (12000 - 2000 BC) including the period before the emergence of the state, the early dynastic era (I - III dynasties) and the Ancient Kingdom (IV - VIII dynasties). In the sections on the history of predynastic Egypt, the author pays great attention to the chronology of archaeological cultures, the description of burials and equipment, the reconstruction of life, the problem of the emergence of the state in Egypt at the turn of the 4th - 3rd millennium BC. e. Sections on the history of Egypt during the Early Kingdom and the heyday of civilization are devoted to complex issues of chronology, military and construction activities of kings, international relations. Claude Vandersleyen's book is dedicated to the long period of the history of Ancient Egypt, covering the reign of the VIII-XX dynasties. The main problems of chronology, culture, international relations, dynastic history, the administrative structure of the ancient state in the Nile Valley are investigated. The work of K. Vandersleyen goes far beyond the usual consistent presentation of the history of the royal dynasties, in fact being a fundamental reference publication on the political history and archeology of Ancient Egypt.