Queen - or, as she would prefer to be remembered King - Hatchepsut was an astonishing woman. Brilliantly defying tradition she became the female embodiment of a male role, dressing in men's clothes and even wearing a false beard. Forgotten until Egptologists deciphered hieroglyphics in the 1820's, she has since been subject to intense speculation about her actions and motivations. Combining archaeological and historical evidence from a wide range of sources, Joyce Tyldesley's dazzling piec...

Everyone has heard of Ramesses the Great - but what is the truth behind the legend? Joyce Tyldesley's lively book explores the life and times of Egypt's greatest king. Ramesses II was the archetypal Egyptian pharoah: a mighty warrior, an extravagant builder and the father of scores of children. His momuments and image were to be found in every corner of the Egyptian empire. This is his amazing story.

In a companion book to the best-selling Stories from Ancient Egypt, Joyce Tyldesley re-tells some of the most interesting and entertaining myths and legends from the Classical world. These stories tell us how the spider spun the first web, how a simple ball of string defeated the fearsome minotaur, and how Romulus founded the mighty city of Rome. The “this book belongs to” introductions teaches the reader how to write their name using ancient Greek letters, and their age using Roman numera...

Pharaoh.Icon.Enigma.Lost for three thousand years, m****isunderstood for a century.A hundred years ago, a team of archaeologists in the Valley of the Kings made a remarkable discovery: a near-complete royal burial, an ancient mummy, and golden riches beyond imagination. The lost tomb of Tutankhamun ignited a media frenzy, propelled into overdrive by rumours of a deadly ancient curse. But amid ...

Jean-François Champollion broke the code of the hieroglyphs on 14 September 1822. But this didn't yet mean understanding how old the culture of the pharaohs was, or any of its details. This next milestone Champollion achieved six years later when he embarked on a two-year expedition to Egypt and became the first person to read the hieroglyphs on the monuments that had been built along the Nile for three thousand years. Single-handedly he paved the way for the scientific expeditions that wo...

From Herodotus to The Mummy, Western civilization has long been fascinated with the exotic myths and legends of Ancient Egypt but they have often been misunderstood. Here acclaimed Egyptologist Joyce Tyldesley guides us through 3000 years of changing stories and, in retelling them, shows us what they mean. Gathered from pyramid friezes, archaological finds and contemporary documents, these vivid and strange stories explain everything from why the Nile flooded every year to their b...

The Romans regarded her as "fatale monstrum" -- a fatal omen. Pascal said the shape of her nose changed the history of the world. Shakespeare portrayed her as an icon of tragic love. But who was Cleopatra, really?We almost feel that we know Cleopatra, but our distorted image of a self-destructive beauty does no justice to Cleopatra's true genius. In Cleopatra, Egyptologist Joyce Tyldesley offers an unexpectedly vivid portrait of a skillful Egyptian ruler. Strippin...

For over a decade Nefertiti, wife of the heretic king Akhenaten, was the most influential woman in the Bronze Age world; a beautiful queen blessed by the sun-god, adored by her family and worshipped by her people. Her image and her name were celebrated throughout Egypt and her future seemed golden. Suddenly Nefertiti disappeared from the royal family, vanishing so completely that it was as if she had never been. No record survives to detail her death, no monument serves to mourn her passin...

For nearly two thousand years after the last pharaoh ruled Egypt the wonders of this ancient culture remained hidden, seemingly lost and forgotten for ever. Then, in the late eighteenth century, Napoleons invasion of the country sparked an explosion of interest in ancient Egypt that burns as strongly today as ever. The obsession with anything and everything Egyptian has inspired many to dedicate their lives to the search for treasure in Egypts sands. All of these explorers, collectors and ...

The discovery of King Tutankhamen's tomb in 1922 was perhaps the world's most important archaeological find. The only near-intact royal tomb to be preserved in the Valley of the Kings, it has supplied an astonishing wealth of artifacts, spurred a global fascination with ancient Egypt, and inspired folklore that continues to evolve today. Despite the tomb's prominence, however, precious little has been revealed about Tutankhamen himself. In Tutankhamen, acclaimed Egyptologist Joyce...

Little is known about Nefertiti, the Egyptian queen whose name means “a beautiful woman has come.” She was the wife of Akhenaten, the pharaoh who ushered in the dramatic Amarna Age, and she bore him at least six children. She played a prominent role in political and religious affairs, but after Akhenaten’s death she apparently vanished and was soon forgotten.Yet Nefertiti remains one of the most famous and enigmatic women who ever lived. Her instantly recognizable face adorns a var...

In ancient Egypt women enjoyed a legal, social and sexual independence unrivalled by their Greek or Roman sisters, or in fact by most women until the late nineteenth century. They could own and trade in property, work outside the home, marry foreigners and live alone without the protection of a male guardian. Some of them even rose to rule Egypt as ‘female kings’. Joyce Tyldesley’s vivid history of how women lived in ancient Egypt weaves a fascinating picture of daily life – marriage and t...