Is it possible to trace the footprints of the historical Sokrates in Athens? Was there really an individual named Romulus, and if so, when did he found Rome? Is the tomb beneath the high altar of St. Peter’s Basilica home to the apostle Peter? To answer these questions, we need both dirt and words—that is, archaeology and history. Bringing the two fields into conversation, Artifact and Artifice offers an exciting excursion into the relationship between ancient history and archaeology and reveals the possibilities and limitations of using archaeological evidence in writing about the past. Jonathan M. Hall employs a series of well-known cases to investigate how historians may ignore or minimize material evidence that contributes to our knowledge of antiquity unless it correlates with information gleaned from texts. Dismantling the myth that archaeological evidence cannot impart information on its own, he illuminates the methodological and political principles at stake in using such evidence and describes how the disciplines of history and classical archaeology may be enlisted to work together. He also provides a brief sketch of how the discipline of classical archaeology evolved and considers its present and future role in historical approaches to antiquity. Written in clear prose and packed with maps, photos, and drawings, Artifact and Artifice will be an essential book for undergraduates in the humanities.

High-quality color photographs in a portable, appealing format are accompanied by detailed captions describing the treasures of Egyptian heritage.

Scipio, Caesar, Augustus, Nero, Marcus Aurelius ... what was the secret to their power? And the famous Republic, was it really democracy? How were the legions structured? Who exactly were the slaves, the gladiators and the barbarians? What caused the mighty Empire to finally fall? The Handbook is a comprehensive summary of ancient Rome’s history, organized in a totally new format that makes it understandable and easy to scroll. It is the compelling story of Rome from its humble beginnings to the fall of a dominant empire. The book is made up of brief paragraphs with a clear focus on events put into their political and social context. With more than 500 photographs all linked to Google Maps, "A History of Ancient Rome - Handbook for Travelers" couples the historical facts to the places where they actually occurred, making it a truly unique historical guide. The Handbook is an especially useful tool for an archaeological exploration of Rome. Using the internal links in the text you can quickly return to key passages, characters, clarify unfamiliar words and deepen political, military and social aspects of events. There is no shortage of curiosities and anecdotes. The Handbook never veers from the facts and is always reliably historical. The date abbreviations BC (before Christ) and AD (anno domini) are used throughout the book as they are most familiar to the author. The author apologizes for she is well aware of the modern terms BCE (Before Common Era) and CE (Common Era) used by the academic community and NASA. These modern terms actually reflect historical correctness given that Christ’s birth date should be around 6 BCE. And why is that? Well, you’ll just have to check it out in the Handbook.

"Wonderful…a thoughtful discussion of what made [the Greeks] so important, in their own time and in ours." —Natalie Haynes, Independent The ancient Greeks invented democracy, theater, rational science, and philosophy. They built the Parthenon and the Library of Alexandria. Yet this accomplished people never formed a single unified social or political identity. In Introducing the Ancient Greeks, acclaimed classics scholar Edith Hall offers a bold synthesis of the full 2,000 years of Hellenic history to show how the ancient Greeks were the right people, at the right time, to take up the baton of human progress. Hall portrays a uniquely rebellious, inquisitive, individualistic people whose ideas and creations continue to enthrall thinkers centuries after the Greek world was conquered by Rome. These are the Greeks as you’ve never seen them before.

I'm good at two things: finding treasure and killing demons. Lying low is a close third-but not because I want to be good at hiding. I have to be. I'm a FireSoul, one of the unlucky few to inherit a piece of the dragon's soul. Being born with the dragon's covetousness should be a sweet gig - I have the power to find and steal any type of treasure, including the powers of other supernaturals. But it doesn't come without a price - stealing powers requires that I kill, and others would destroy me if they discover what I am. In a world full of magic, hiding my species is the only way to survive. Finding magical artifacts is the only way to pay the bills. It's a dangerous job when you can barely use your magic, but that's one of the things I like about it. When Aidan Merrick, the most powerful shifter in the city, hired me to find an ancient scroll, I didn't want to take the job. His immense amount of power reminds me of too much of murky memories from a past I can't remember. But I don't have a choice. The scroll reveals what I am. And if anyone finds out, I'm dead.

This volume offers a survey about what is known about the Ancient Egyptians' vision of the afterlife and an examination of these beliefs that were written down in books that were later discovered in royal tombs. The contents of the texts range from the collection of spells in the Book of the Dead, which was intended to offer practical assistance on the journey to the afterlife, to the detailed accounts of the hereafter provided in the Books of the Netherworld. The author looks closely at these latter works, while summarizing the contents of the Book of the Dead and other widely studied examples of the genre. For each composition, he discusses the history of its ancient transmission and its decipherment in modern times, supplying bibliographic information for any text editions. He also seeks to determine whether this literature as a whole presents a monolithic conception of the afterlife. The volume features many drawings from the books themselves.

A collection of ancient Egyptian magic spells and road maps to assist individuals through the underworld and into the afterlife.