The Golden Dice – A Tale of Ancient Rome

Author: Elisabeth Storrs

Published: Cornelian Press (December 10, 2013)

Summary

During a ten year siege between two age-old enemies, three women follow very different paths to survive: Caecilia, a young Roman woman, forsakes her city by marrying the Etruscan Vel Mastarna, exposing herself to the enmity of his people and the hatred of the Romans who consider her a traitoress… Semni, a reckless Etruscan girl, becomes a servant in the House of Mastarna, embroiling herself in schemes that threaten Caecilia’s children and her own chance for romance… Pinna, a tomb whore, uses blackmail to escape her grim life and gain the attention of Rome’s greatest general, choosing between her love for him and her loyalty to another… Historical Fiction at its best, this second volume in the Tales of Ancient Rome series explores the lives of women in war while giving a glimpse into the sexuality, religion, and politics of Roman and Etruscan cultures, two great civilizations in ancient history.

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A History of Ancient Egypt: From the First Farmers to the Great Pyramid

Author: John Romer

Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books (August 20, 2013)

Summary

The ancient world comes to life in the first volume in a two book series on the history of Egypt, spanning the first farmers to the construction of the pyramids. Famed archaeologist John Romer draws on a lifetime of research to tell one history’s greatest stories; how, over more than a thousand years, a society of farmers created a rich, vivid world where one of the most astounding of all human-made landmarks, the Great Pyramid, was built. Immersing the reader in the Egypt of the past, Romer examines and challenges the long-held theories about what archaeological finds mean and what stories they tell about how the Egyptians lived. More than just an account of one of the most fascinating periods of history, this engrossing book asks readers to take a step back and question what they’ve learned about Egypt in the past. Fans of Stacy Schiff’s Cleopatra and history buffs will be captivated by this re-telling of Egyptian history, written by one of the top Egyptologists in the world.

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The Riddle of the Labyrinth: The Quest to Crack an Ancient Code

Author: Margalit Fox

Publisher: Ecco (May 14, 2013)

Summary

In the tradition of Simon Winchester and Dava Sobel, The Riddle of the Labyrinth: The Quest to Crack an Ancient Code tells one of the most intriguing stories in the history of language, masterfully blending history, linguistics, and cryptology with an elegantly wrought narrative. When famed archaeologist Arthur Evans unearthed the ruins of a sophisticated Bronze Age civilization that flowered on Crete 1,000 years before Greece’s Classical Age, he discovered a cache of ancient tablets, Europe’s earliest written records. For half a century, the meaning of the inscriptions, and even the language in which they were written, would remain a mystery. Award-winning New York Times journalist Margalit Fox’s riveting real-life intellectual detective story travels from the Bronze Age Aegean—the era of Odysseus, Agamemnon, and Helen—to the turn of the 20th century and the work of charismatic English archeologist Arthur Evans, to the colorful personal stories of the decipherers. These include Michael Ventris, the brilliant amateur who deciphered the script but met with a sudden, mysterious death that may have been a direct consequence of the deipherment; and Alice Kober, the unsung heroine of the story whose painstaking work allowed Ventris to crack the code.

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Invisible Armies: An Epic History of Guerrilla Warfare from Ancient Times to the Present

Author: Max Boot

Publisher: Liveright; 1 edition (October 7, 2013)

Summary

Invisible Armies presents an entirely original narrative of warfare, which demonstrates that, far from the exception, loosely organized partisan or guerrilla warfare has been the dominant form of military conflict throughout history. New York Times best-selling author and military historian Max Boot traces guerrilla warfare and terrorism from antiquity to the present, narrating nearly thirty centuries of unconventional military conflicts. Filled with dramatic analysis of strategy and tactics, as well as many memorable characters—from Italian nationalist Guiseppe Garibaldi to the “Quiet American,” Edward Lansdale—Invisible Armies is “as readable as a novel” (Michael Korda, Daily Beast) and “a timely reminder to politicians and generals of the hard-earned lessons of history” (Economist). 70 illustrations; 8 maps.

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Ancient Egypt: Everyday Life in the Land of the Nile

Author: Bob Brier & Hoyt Hobbs

Publisher: Sterling (October 15, 2013)

Summary

A vivid view of life in ancient Egypt. More than 5,000 years ago, the ancient Egyptians founded one of the world’s oldest civilizations. We know of its pyramids, art, and pharaohs. But what was life really like then? Ordinary citizens in ancient Egypt lived and worked in much the same ways as the average European of the eighteenth century, but ate better, had more practical clothing and lived more comfortably, in houses with patios, latrines, and cooling systems. Through deep investigative research, the authors explore the social and material existence in ancient Egypt-from what people ate and drank to how they worked, lived, played, and prayed. Features color and black-and-white images throughout, along with maps.

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