Cleopatra is one of the greatest romantic figures in history, the queen of Egypt whose beauty and allure is legendary. We think we know her story, but our image of her is largely gleaned from the film starring Elizabeth Taylor or from Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra. Shakespeare himself was inspired by Plutarch, who was only sixteen years old when Cleopatra died. So her story was never based purely on fact. In the middle of the first century BC, Cleopatra caught the attention of Rome by...

The lives of Egyptian women were free of the restraints normally placed upon women in the rest of the ancient world, allowing them to exercise a full part in society, recognised as equal with men under the law. Using evidence gleaned from written records, monuments, sculpture, tombpaintings and the material found in tombs, including objects and human remains, Barbara Watterson has built up a fascinating picture of the often overlooked contributions made by women of all classes to the socia...

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...

Love history? Know your stuff with History in an Hour.Learn about the Egyptian gods, mummification and how the Egyptians built the only wonder of the ancient world still standing – the Pyramids of Giza.Exploring the historic rise of Egyptian civilizationand its continued influence on the world today, Ancient Egypt in an Hour is an excellent companion to a mysterious and enthralling period of history.Know your stuff: discover ancient Egypt in just one hour.

What really happened to Dr. David Livingstone? The New York Times bestselling coauthor of Survivor: The Ultimate Game investigates in this thrilling account.With the utterance of a single line—“Doctor Livingstone, I presume?”—a remote meeting in the heart of Africa was transformed into one of the most famous encounters in exploration history. But the true story behind Dr. David Livingstone and journalist Henry Morton Stanley is one that has escape...

Primary Accounts of African Civilization: The Meroe, Kush, and Axum is a collection of accounts about African civilizations written by some of the oldest and most prominent historians of antiquity, including Herodotus, also known as the Father of History, who lived in the 5th century B.C. (c.484 BC c.425 BC) and was the first historian known to collect his materials systematically, test their accuracy to a certain extent and arrange them in a well-constructed and vivid narrative. The collect...

At the very first step the student takes into the hidden pathway of Nature’s mysteries, he is met face to face with this startling fact, that all his preconceptions, all his education, all his accumulation of materialistic wisdom are unable to account for the most simple phenomena that transpire in the action and inter-action of the life forces of the planet on which he lives. As a chemist, he may pursue the atoms of force until they become lost within the realms of the imponderable, “the ...

The Egyptologist acclaimed for re-dating the Great Sphinx at Giza sets his sights on one of the true mysteries of antiquity: the Great Pyramid of Giza.What is the Great Pyramid of Giza? Ask that basic question of a traditional Egyptologist, and you get the basic, traditional answer: a fancy tombstone for a self-important pharaoh of the Old Kingdom. This, Egyptologists argue, is the sole finding based on the data, and the only deduc...

Primary Accounts of the Ancient Civilizations of North Africa is a collection of accounts about African civilizations written by some of the oldest and most prominent historians of antiquity, including Herodotus, also known as the Father of History, who lived in the 5th century B.C. (c.484 BC c.425 BC) and was the first historian known to collect his materials systematically, test their accuracy to a certain extent and arrange them in a well-constructed and vivid narrative. The collection al...

The world-renowned Egyptologist explores the reality behind her bestselling historical fiction in this "stunning" look at a remarkable civilization ( Publishers Weekly ).From the author of the Amelia Peabody novels written under the name Elizabeth Peters, this is a fascinating chronicle of an extraordinary people—from the first Stone Age settlements through the reign of Cleopatra and the Roman invasions. Temples, Tombs...

The Egyptians created a world of supernatural forces so vivid, powerful and inescapable that controlling one's destiny within it was a constant preoccupation. In life, supernatural forces manifested themselves through misfortune and illness,and after death were faced for eternity in the Otherworld, along with the divine gods who controlled the universe. The Book of the Dead empowered the reader to overcome the dangers lurking in the Otherworld and to become one with the gods who governed. ...

Includes pictures of historic artwork depicting Nefertiti and important people, places, and events. Discusses the mysteries and controversies surrounding Nefertiti's life, death, and place of burial.Includes a Bibliography for further reading.Includes a Table of Contents. A lot of ink has been spilled covering the lives of history's most influential figures, but how much of the forest is lost for the trees? In Charles River Editors' Legends of the Ancient World series, readers can get caught ...