Review of Immortal Egypt (2016)
Seen in 2018.
It’s got what Meet the Romans with Mary Beard (2012) does not: Chronological order. The focus here is on the dynasties, but it’s all in a sane perspective with moments of history from below. I learned the most from the first episode, on prehistory. The last episode is particularly good, demonstrating how the Nubians and Ptolemaics allowed themselves to be influenced by the local religion, while the Assyrians ignored it and had to leave quickly, in contrast to Cambyses’s Persians—similar to the Assyrians in rapaciousness and willingness to commit heresy—who ruled for 200 years.