The book offered to the reader by Egyptologist W. B. Emery is a “pocket encyclopedia” on the history, religion, life, development of production, crafts and agriculture of Ancient Egypt during the period of its formation as a single state, i.e. during the era of the Early Kingdom or the first two Dynasties. The book was written taking into account the vast material and experience of the author himself. The language of the narrative is extremely easy, but the work itself is by no means easy and has not lost its scientific significance to this day. The appendices placed at the end should contribute to a deeper penetration into the content of individual passages of this book and point the interested reader to a real range of problems still awaiting solution. The translation of this book, published here for the first time, perfectly complements the book by Yu. Ya. Perepelkin “The History of Ancient Egypt”, recently published in the same series. CONTENTS: From the translator 3 Preface to the first edition M. E. L. Mallowan. Walter Brian Emery 5From the author 9Introduction. Discovery of the archaic period in the history of Ancient Egypt 10Chapter I. Unification 36Chapter II. State 73Chapter III. Organization of the army 125Chapter V. Art 190Chapter VII. Language 227Chapter VIII. Trade 242Chapter IX. Production 247Chapter X. Plowing and hoeing 287Chapter XI. Food and drink 296 Bibliography 304 Appendix I Manetho's account of the First and Second Dynasties according to Africanus 308 Appendix II. V. Cherezov. The most ancient chronicle “Palermo Stone” and documents of the Ancient Kingdom of Egypt 310Ancient Egyptian Chronicle (“Palermo Stone”). Translation by N. S. Petrovsky 331A. S. Chetverukhin. Problems in the study of Early Egypt 354Index of names 379