[PDF] A World Beneath The Sands eBook

Author : Toby Wilkinson
Publisher : Pan Macmillan
Page : 485 pages
File Size : 26,81 MB
Release : 2020-10-15
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 1509858717

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'It is a story full of drama, with the Nile, the pyramids and the Valley of the Kings as backdrop. That A World Beneath the Sands is also a subtle and stimulating study of the paradoxes of 19th-century colonialism is a bonus indeed.' – Tom Holland, Guardian What could be more exciting, more exotic or more intrepid than digging in the sands of Egypt in the hope of discovering golden treasures from the age of the pharaohs? Our fascination with ancient Egypt goes back to the ancient Greeks. But the heyday of Egyptology was undoubtedly the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This golden age of scholarship and adventure is neatly book-ended by two epoch-making events: Champollion's decipherment of hieroglyphics in 1822 and the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb by Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon a hundred years later. In A World Beneath the Sands, the acclaimed Egyptologist Toby Wilkinson tells the riveting stories of the men and women whose obsession with Egypt's ancient civilisation drove them to uncover its secrets. Champollion, Carter and Carnarvon are here, but so too are their lesser-known contemporaries, such as the Prussian scholar Karl Richard Lepsius, the Frenchman Auguste Mariette and the British aristocrat Lucie Duff-Gordon. Their work – and those of others like them – helped to enrich and transform our understanding of the Nile Valley and its people, and left a lasting impression on Egypt, too. Travellers and treasure-hunters, ethnographers and epigraphers, antiquarians and archaeologists: whatever their motives, whatever their methods, all understood that in pursuing Egyptology they were part of a greater endeavour – to reveal a lost world, buried for centuries beneath the sands.

Author : Donald P. Ryan
Publisher : Harper Collins
Page : 306 pages
File Size : 28,63 MB
Release : 2011-07-12
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 0061732834

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Ancient Egypt, with its spectacular temples and tombs, its history, gods, and legends, has enticed the human imagination for centuries. This fascination—and the irresistible drive to unearth the buried secrets of a lost civilization—have been the life work of archaeologist Donald P. Ryan. Beneath the Sands of Egypt is the gripping first-person account of a real-life “Indiana Jones” as he recalls a career spent delving into the remains of Egypt’s past—including his headline-making rediscovery of a lost tomb in the Valley of the Kings containing the mummy of the famous female pharaoh Hatshepsut. Infused with the irrepressible curiosity and the incomparable wonder of discovery that have fueled Ryan’s lifelong journey, Beneath the Sands of Egypt is the extraordinary story of a man who has always embraced adventure whenever—and wherever—he finds it.

Author : Toby Wilkinson
Publisher : Thames & Hudson
Page : 259 pages
File Size : 41,49 MB
Release : 2007-11-17
Category : History
ISBN : 0500771634

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100 biographies reveal the true character and diversity of the ancient world's greatest civilization The biographies included here give voice not only to ancient Egypt's rulers but also to the people who built the great monuments, staffed government offices, farmed, served in the temples, and fought to defend the country's borders. Spanning thousands of years of ancient Egyptian history, the book offers a fresh perspective on an always fascinating civilization through the lives of: The god-kings, from great rulers like Khufu and Ramesses II to less famous monarchs such as Amenemhat I and Osorkon Egypt's queens: the powerful Tiye, the beautiful Nefertiti, Tutankhamun's tragic child-bride Ankhesenamun, and the infamous Cleopatra The officials who served the pharaoh: the architect Imhotep who designed the first pyramid, the court dwarf Perniankhu, and the royal sculptor Bak Ordinary women who are often overlooked in official accounts: Hemira, a humble priestess from a provincial Delta town, and Naunakht, whose will reveals the trials and tribulations of family life Commoners and foreigners such as the irascible farmer Hekanakht, the serial criminal Paneb, and Urhiya, the mercenary who rose to the rank of general in the Egyptian army. Profusely illustrated with works of art and scenes of daily life, Lives of the Ancient Egyptians offers remarkable insights into the history and culture of the Nile Valley and very personal glimpses of a vanished world.

Author : Martin Windrow
Publisher : Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Page : 995 pages
File Size : 48,85 MB
Release : 2010-04-29
Category : History
ISBN : 0297858416

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The gripping true story of the French Foreign Legion in the Sahara. Ever since the 1920s the popular legend of the French Foreign Legion has been formed by P.C. Wren's novel BEAU GESTE - a world of remote forts, warrior tribes, and desperate men of all nationalities enlisting under pseudonyms to fight and die under the desert sun. As with all clichés, the reality is far richer and more surprising than this. In this book Martin Windrow describes desert battles and famous last stands in gripping detail - but he also shows exactly what the Foreign Legion were doing in North Africa in the first place. He explains how French colonial methods there actually had their roots in the jungles of Vietnam, and how the political pressures that kept the empire expanding can be traced to battles on the streets of Paris itself. His description of the Berber tribesmen of Morocco also reveals some disturbing modern parallels: the formidable guerrillas of the 1920s were inspired by an Islamic fundamentalist who was adept at using the world's media to further his cause. Martin Windrow's previous book THE LAST VALLEY received fabulous reviews across the English-speaking world. This unique book, which is the first to examine the 'golden age' of the Foreign Legion has followed suit.

Author : Toby Wilkinson
Publisher : Random House Trade Paperbacks
Page : 658 pages
File Size : 42,97 MB
Release : 2013-01-08
Category : History
ISBN : 0553384902

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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “Magisterial . . . [A] rich portrait of ancient Egypt’s complex evolution over the course of three millenniums.”—Los Angeles Times NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The Washington Post • Publishers Weekly In this landmark volume, one of the world’s most renowned Egyptologists tells the epic story of this great civilization, from its birth as the first nation-state to its absorption into the Roman Empire. Drawing upon forty years of archaeological research, award-winning scholar Toby Wilkinson takes us inside a tribal society with a pre-monetary economy and decadent, divine kings who ruled with all-too-recognizable human emotions. Here are the legendary leaders: Akhenaten, the “heretic king,” who with his wife Nefertiti brought about a revolution with a bold new religion; Tutankhamun, whose dazzling tomb would remain hidden for three millennia; and eleven pharaohs called Ramesses, the last of whom presided over the militarism, lawlessness, and corruption that caused a political and societal decline. Filled with new information and unique interpretations, The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt is a riveting and revelatory work of wild drama, bold spectacle, unforgettable characters, and sweeping history. “With a literary flair and a sense for a story well told, Mr. Wilkinson offers a highly readable, factually up-to-date account.”—The Wall Street Journal “[Wilkinson] writes with considerable verve. . . . [He] is nimble at conveying the sumptuous pageantry and cultural sophistication of pharaonic Egypt.”—The New York Times

Author : Margaret S. Drower
Publisher : Univ of Wisconsin Press
Page : 577 pages
File Size : 45,69 MB
Release : 1995-06-01
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 0299146235

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Flinders Petrie has been called the “Father of Modern Egyptology”—and indeed he is one of the pioneers of modern archaeological methods. This fascinating biography of Petrie was first published to high acclaim in England in 1985. Margaret S. Drower, a student of Petrie’s in the early 1930s, traces his life from his boyhood, when he was already a budding scholar, through his stunning career in the deserts of Egypt to his death in Jerusalem at the age of eighty-nine. Drower combines her first-hand knowledge with Petrie’s own voluminous personal and professional diaries to forge a lively account of this influential and sometimes controversial figure. Drower presents Petrie as he was: an enthusiastic eccentric, diligently plunging into the uncharted past of ancient Egypt. She tells not only of his spectacular finds, including the tombs of the first Pharaohs, the earliest alphabetic script, a Homer manuscript, and a collection of painted portraits on mummy cases, but also of Petrie’s important contributions to the science of modern archaeology, such as orderly record-keeping of the progress of a dig and the use of pottery sherds in historical dating. Petrie's careful academic methods often pitted him against such rival archaeologists as Amélineau, who boasted he had smashed the stone jars he could not carry away to be sold, and Maspero and Naville, who mangled a pyramid at El Kula they had vainly tried to break into.

Author : Leonid Yuzefovich
Publisher : Archipelago
Page : 241 pages
File Size : 10,51 MB
Release : 2018-10-30
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 1939810094

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Two novellas from one of the most exciting writers in contemporary Russia. Horsemen of the Sands gathers two novellas by Leonid Yuzefovich: "Horsemen of the Sands" and "The Storm." The former tells the true story of R.F. Ungern-Shternberg, also known as the "Mad Baltic Baron," a military adventurer whose intense fascination with the East drove him to seize control of Mongolia during the chaos of the Russian Civil War. "The Storm" centers on an unexpected emotional crisis that grips a Russian elementary school on an otherwise regular day, unveiling the vexed emotional bonds and shared history that knit together its community of students, teachers, parents, and staff.

Author : Katherine L. Bichler
Publisher :
Page : 294 pages
File Size : 41,91 MB
Release : 2021-11-16
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9780578324487

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Growing up in the caverns underneath the colosseum is anything but ordinary for a Roman teenager like Noemi. Helping her father train wild beasts for the emperor's extravagant shows and being feted with romantic gifts from her noble fiancé, hers is a life few girls could imagine. But despite her good fortune, Noemi is beginning to doubt her upcoming wedding, which could threaten what she desires most-to train as a gladiator. While Noemi loves the lions beneath the colosseum and the bloody shows above, her sister, Livia, is a contrast in extremes. If Livia can't be an enviable Vestal Virgin in a garden temple, she'll do the next best thing and use her charms to climb the social ladder, as high as the emperor's palace on Palatine Hill. While Livia will stop at nothing to improve her social life, Noemi can't stop her secret desires, nor her stealth training with swords. And then there's Cato, a top-ranked gladiator who is keeping a risky secret of his own. Against Noemi's better judgement, she finds herself drawn to this mysterious fighter, who has both a temper and an imperious reputation. Soon, Noemi, Livia and Cato find that keeping secrets is not just child's play, but dangerous games with deadly consequences. Can they all fool the emperor long enough to avoid a date with the executioner?

Author : Rachel Neumeier
Publisher : Orbit
Page : 252 pages
File Size : 47,98 MB
Release : 2010-06-01
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 0316088870

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Gereint Enseichen of Casmantium knows little and cares less about the recent war in which his king tried to use griffins and fire to wrest territory from the neighboring country of Feierabiand. . .but he knows that his kingdom's unexpected defeat offers him a chance to escape from his own servitude. But now that the griffins find themselves in a position of strength, they are not inclined to forgive and the entire kingdom finds itself in deadly peril. Willing or not, Gereint will find himself caught up in a desperate struggle between the griffins and the last remaining Casmantian mage. Even the strongest gifts of making and building may not prove sufficient when the fiery wind of the griffins begins to bury the life of Casmantium beneath the burning sands . . .

Author : Toby Wilkinson
Publisher : A&C Black
Page : 406 pages
File Size : 26,61 MB
Release : 2014-02-13
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 1408839938

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From Herodotus's day to the present political upheavals, the steady flow of the Nile has been Egypt's heartbeat. It has shaped its geography, controlled its economy and moulded its civilisation. The same stretch of water which conveyed Pharaonic battleships, Ptolemaic grain ships, Roman troop-carriers and Victorian steamers today carries modern-day tourists past bankside settlements in which rural life – fishing, farming, flooding – continues much as it has for millennia. At this most critical juncture in the country's history, foremost Egyptologist Toby Wilkinson takes us on a journey up the Nile, north from Lake Victoria, from Cataract to Cataract, past the Aswan Dam, to the delta. The country is a palimpsest, every age has left its trace: as we pass the Nilometer on the island of Elephantine which since the days of the Pharaohs has measured the height of Nile floodwaters to predict the following season's agricultural yield and set the parameters for the entire Egyptian economy, the wonders of Giza which bear the scars of assault by nineteenth-century archaeologists and the modern-day unbridled urban expansion of Cairo – and in Egypt's earliest art (prehistoric images of fish-traps carved into cliffs) and the Arab Spring (fought on the bridges of Cairo) – the Nile is our guide to understanding the past and present of this unique, chaotic, vital, conservative yet rapidly changing land.