There are times when I receive a press release that really peaks my interest. A while back I got one that talked about a multimedia company from France that was releasing a new interactive product. I thought that the product was worth taking a look at. The name of the company is Montparnasse Multimedia and they are based in Paris, France. The product from Montparnasse Multimedia that I looked at is Egypt, Voyage To The Land Of The Pharaohs.

In the last couple of years there has been a renewal in the public's interest about places in the Middle East, specifically Egypt. There have been numerous books and films, one such being The Prince Of Egypt. This interest has driven a demand for information about ancient Egypt. This new CD-ROM, Egypt, The Land Of The Pharaohs, explores various aspects of the history of this ancient land.

The program has four areas that you can access from the main menu. The access areas are Civilization, History, Film and Map. Each of these areas has different aspects of Egypt, from some of its most ancient history to some of the people and events of the recent past.

Click on the History label in the menu and you are sent to one of the areas in the program that has video clips. Here there are video clips that take you though Egyptian history periods such as the Arab Conquest and both the Old and New Kingdoms. Learn about the birth of the Christianity and how Constantine allowed freedom of religion about 100 A.D. This area has several video segments.

The Civilization area of the program also provides some excellent video clips of the Egyptian past. You will learn about the Chief of the Armies, people and places along the Nile River and the importance of gold in the social and economic structure of Egypt.

The Film area of the program takes you to yet another sequence of videos. This sequence is called The Pursuit Of Eternity. The different segments in this sequence deal with the Sun God Re and Tutankhanen, better known as King Tut. It also covers things like the pyramids at Snefru and Djoser.

The last item in the main menu is the Map. Here you can visit specific areas in Egypt by clicking on a part of the map. There are four specific areas to visit on this map. You can learn about Aswan, Luxor, Alexandria or Cairo. Each area has different things and places for you to look at. Click one of the boxes in the Alexandria map and find out all about the Greco-Roman museum there. There are a number of still pictures that show different items in the museum. There is even a detailed floor plan to show where all the exhibits are.

There are a whole lot of still pictures that are a part of the program. There are links to still pictures on just about any screen in the program. These provide supplemental information about an item or subject of that part of the program. There are over 500 of these pictures in the program. Each one has a detailed description and commentary.

Other things in this program include a Travelog, Geography, Chronology and an Index. Chronology has a chart that goes from 5500BC to the current year. The headings for the chart are Period, Dynasty, Civilization and Pharaoh (Statesman). From this chart you can link to a specific part of the program. The Geography section takes you to a map where you can link to pictures relating to places like Suez, Mt. Saint Catherine and the Baharyia Oasis. The Travelog lets you set up an itinerary of places and things to see on your journey in the program.

The Index has three different parts to it. Themes has items such as Amulet and Poetry. Places list locations like Punt and Memphis. And Personages lists people and deities like Geb and Satis. Click on any if the Index items and you link to the specific area in the program that covers that item.

You can also connect to an Internet web site from within the program. This site has been set up by Montparnasse Multimedia to give you a source for additional information about Egypt. From travel agencies and airlines that go to Egypt to web sites for kids about the Pyramids, there is a whole bunch of links to other sites. The only downfall of this site is that the text is in French. But clicking on the links to find where they lead is a lot of fun.

To run this program, you will need a Pentium II 266 PC with 48 MB of RAM. You'll also need a SVGA monitor and an 8x CD-ROM drive. You will also need either Windows 95 or 98. And if you want to utilize the web site, an Internet connection is a must.

You can find Egypt, Voyage To The Land Of The Pharaohs at major software retailers. For more details on this program or other titles from Montparnasse Multimedia, visit their web site. It can be found at www.montparnasse.net/

If you want a great visual history of Egypt, then Egypt, Voyage To The Land Of The Pharaohs is one program that you should have on your computer. It has a wealth of information about the history of the great land of the Pharaohs.

Copyright © 2000 Bruce E. Von Stiers