You are a soldier named Marcus who just joined the Roman Army at the age of 18. You take an oath and receive your training in Rome. There you learn to fight. You train by running, wrestling, riding horses, and swimming. You have victorious moments, but there are hard times as well. This commitment to your country involves a lot of travel and some downright disgusting living conditions. You just might decide that You Wouldn't Want to be a Roman Soldier.

    But was he a real person, and if so, when did he live?

    The nature of myth and its importance to ancient Greece in terms of storytelling, music, poetry, religion, cults, rituals, theatre, and literature are viewed through works ranging from Homer's Illiad and Odyssey to the writings of Sophocles and Aeschylus. These lectures are an entertaining guide to Greek mythology and a fascinating look into the culture and time that produced these eternal tales.

    Cleopatra, the third of the pharaoh's six children, is the one that her father has chosen to be the next queen of Egypt. But when King Ptolemy is forced into exile, Cleopatra is left alone to fend for herself in a palace rife with intrigue and murder. Smart, courageous, ambitious and sensuously beautiful, she possesses the charm to cause two of history's most famous leaders to fall in love with her. But as her cruel sisters plot to steal the throne, Cleopatra realizes there is only one person on whom she can rely--herself.In Cleopatra Confesses, award winning author Carolyn Meyer writes the story of the teenage girl who would become Egypt's most unforgettable queen, from her early years to her her ultimate destiny.

    . . Mummy Cat prowls his pyramid home, longing for his beloved owner. As he roams the tomb, lavish murals above his head display scenes of the cat with his young Egyptian queen, creating a story-within-a-story about the events of centuries past. Hidden hieroglyphs deepen the tale and are explained in an informative author’s note.         Marcus Ewert and Lisa Brown’s smart, beautiful book is a marvel of sophisticated simplicity, infinitely engaging to examine in detail, and complete with a sweetly surprising plot twist sure to delight young cat-lovers and budding Egyptologists alike.

    She claimed the police had inserted a stick inside her… Swaranpreet realised that she had been cruelly violated; He spoke a single sentence but repeated it twice in chaste Punjabi: ‘Please give me a turban? I want nothing else…’ These are voices begging for deliverance in the aftermath of Indira Gandhi’s assassination in October-November 1984 in which 2,733 Sikhs were killed, burnt and exterminated by lumpens in the country. Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay walks us through one of the most shameful episodes of sectarian violence in post Independent India and highlights the apathy of subsequent governments towards Sikhs who paid a price for what was clearly a state-sponsored riot. Poignant, raw and most importantly, macabre, the personal histories in the book reveal how even after three decades, a community continues to battle for its identity in its own country.

    Elizabeth Clare Prophet traces the history of reincarnation in Christianity--from Jesus and early Christians through Church councils and the persecution of so-called heretics. Using the latest scholarship and evidence from the Dead Sea Scrolls and Gnostic texts, she also argues persuasively that Jesus was a mystic who taught that our destiny is to unite with the God within. Your view of Jesus--and of Christianity--will never be the same.

    Fustel de Coulanges' 1864 masterpiece, La Cité antique, drew upon physical evidence as well as ancient documents rather than the usual post-Classical histories. The result is a fresh, accurate, and detailed portrait of the religious, family, and civic life of Periclean Athens and Rome during the time of Cicero.This fascinating sociological account reveals the significance of kinship and the cult of the family hearth and ancestors to ancient Hellenic and Latin urban culture. It chronicles the rise of family-centered pagan belief systems, tracing their gradual decline to the spread of Christianity. Fustel cites ancient Indian and Hebrew texts as well as Greek and Roman sources. The ingenuity of his interpretations, along with his striking prose style, offer readers a vital and enduring historic survey.

    The timeless wisdom of India is expressed in the Vedas, ancient Sanskrit texts that touches upon all fields of human knowledge. Originally preserved through oral tradition, the Vedas were first put into writing by Srila Vyasadeva, the "literary incarnation of God." After compiling the Vedas, Srila Vyasadeva was inspired by his spiritual master to present their profound essence in the form of Srimad-Bhagavatam. Known as "the ripened fruit of the tree of Vedic literature," Srimad-Bhagavatam is the most complete and authoritative exposition of Vedic knowledge.After writing the Bhagavatam, Vyasa taught it to his son, Shukadeva Goswami, who later spoke the Bhagavatam to Maharaja Parikshit in an assembly of sages on the bank of the sacred Ganges River. Although Maharaja Parikshit was a great rajarshi (saintly king) and the emperor of the world, when he received notice of his death seven days in advance, he renounced his entire kingdom and retired to the bank of the Ganges to seek spiritual enlightenment. The questions of King Parikshit and Shukadeva Goswami's illuminating answers, concerning everything from the nature of the self to the origin of the universe, are the basis of Srimad-Bhagavatam.This edition of Bhagavatam is the only complete English translation with an elaborate and scholarly commentary, and it is the first edition widely available to the English-reading public. This work is the product of the scholarly and devotional effort of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the world's most distinguished teacher of Indian religious and philosophical thought. His Sanskrit scholarship and intimate familiarity with Vedic culture combine to reveal to the West a magnificent exposition of this important classic.

    Above all else, Cleopatra was a shrewd strategist and an ingenious negotiator.Though her life spanned fewer than forty years, it reshaped the contours of the ancient world. She was married twice, each time to a brother. She waged a brutal civil war against the first when both were teenagers. She poisoned the second. Ultimately she dispensed with an ambitious sister as well; incest and assassination were family specialties. Cleopatra appears to have had sex with only two men. They happen, however, to have been Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, among the most prominent Romans of the day. Both were married to other women. Cleopatra had a child with Caesar and–after his murder–three more with his protégé. Already she was the wealthiest ruler in the Mediterranean; the relationship with Antony confirmed her status as the most influential woman of the age. The two would together attempt to forge a new empire, in an alliance that spelled their ends. Cleopatra has lodged herself in our imaginations ever since.Famous long before she was notorious, Cleopatra has gone down in history for all the wrong reasons. Shakespeare and Shaw put words in her mouth. Michelangelo, Tiepolo, and Elizabeth Taylor put a face to her name. Along the way, Cleopatra’s supple personality and the drama of her circumstances have been lost. In a masterly return to the classical sources, Stacy Schiff here boldly separates fact from fiction to rescue the magnetic queen whose death ushered in a new world order. Rich in detail, epic in scope, Schiff ‘s is a luminous, deeply original reconstruction of a dazzling life.

    But it is Stella’s voice, the amazing way that she tells her story, that makes this Holocaust story so unique, powerful and endearing. The reader listens to Stella’s stunning simplicity of expression, her use of Polish and Yiddish phrases, her humor, her all-so-frequent grammatical errors – and is charmed. It is a story that only Stella Yollin can tell, and it can only be told in Stella’s sweet and incomparable way.

    Yet fear and incorrect teachings continue to surround this topic. Rabbi Jonathan Bernis, by contrast, offers with warmth and clarity a unique and surprising perspective on the end times.Many see explosive turmoil in the Middle East and the mark of the beast as signs of the return of the Messiah. Bernis points out an even clearer and more immediate sign: the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies regarding the restoration of the land of Israel and the regathering of the Lost Tribes of Israel--which is happening in record numbers right now. This book unpacks surprising and life-changing insights on Israel, the last days, and the Messianic hope of every believer.

    This timeless and enlightening information is explained in a clear and concise way and is essential for all who want to increase their spiritual understanding and awareness. This is a book that can give you a new perspective of who you are and where you fit into the scheme of things. Is This Book For You? Yes,if you want to understand: the science of the soul and the eternal characteristics of your real spiritual identity; the scientific evidence that indicates consciousness is separate from, but interacts with, the body; how to attain the highest happiness and freedom from the cause of suffering; the real unity between us all which is beyond bodily identification; reincarnation and how to determine what your next life will be by the actions you perform and the consciousness you develop; reincarnation found in Christianity; life after death--heaven, hell, or beyond; the law of karma and how you accumulate good or bad karma that will affect your future; how residents of a country collectively create national karma; what is the spiritual realm as described in the Vedic texts; the nature of the Absolute Truth--personal God or impersonal force; how to recognize the existence of the Supreme; why we exist at all; and much more. There is also an explanation of what the Vedas are, how they were compiled, and how they have influenced Western culture for many years. This book supplies the straightforward answers to questions that are not resolved in other religions or philosophies, and condenses information from a wide variety of sources that would take a person years to assemble. It also uses many quotations from numerous Vedic texts that will show you the lofty insight and wisdom they have held for thousands of years.

    From politics to the media, from education to the arts, liberals seem to be completely in control. It's no wonder, then, that so many prominent conservative traditionalists are hopelessly pessimistic about the future of Western Civilization. But what if this is just one side of the equation? What if it turns out that brewing beneath the surface, a renewed Christian age is rising? In this thought-provoking book, Dr. Steve Turley argues that there is in fact two revolutions concurrently taking place: a demographic revolution and a political revolution, both of which suggest a significant conservative Christian resurgence. HERE’S A PREVIEW OF WHAT YOU’LL LEARN ………. Why scholars believe that the fertility discrepancy between conservative Christians and secularists means a far more conservative future How Europe is already reversing its demographic decline with a nationalist baby boom How conservative Christianity is on the rise in the US Why scholars believe there is a resurgence of Christianity in Europe How these demographic and religious trends are already reshaping much of European society And much, much more! Drawing from scholarly studies and current events, Dr. Turley's study will inspire you to reject the naysayers predicting the twilight of the West, and instead embrace a hopeful vision of cultural renewal and the coming Christian majority. Get your copy today!

    As he rises into the sky he spreads light and warmth all over the world. The great Ganga king, Narasimha Rao, commissioned 1200 artisans to recreate this scene in stone. The Konark Sun Temple is a place where the lines between fact, fiction and folklore have blurred over time. Amar Chitra Katha interweaves the history of the 13th century monument with some of the mythology associated with it.