In addition to works by writers already well-known in the West such as Idwār al-Kharrāṭ, Fu’ād al-Takarlī and Nobel Prize-winning Najīb Maḥfūẓ , the collection includes stories by key authors whose fame has hitherto been restricted to the Middle East.This bilingual reader is ideal for students of Arabic as well as lovers of literature who wish to broaden their appreciation of the work of Middle Eastern writers. The collection features stories in the original Arabic, accompanied by an English translation and a brief author biography, as well as a discussion of context and background. Each story is followed by a glossary and discussion of problematic language points.Ronak Husni is a senior lecturer at Heriot-Watt University where she teaches Arabic language, literature and translation.Daniel L. Newman is Course Director of the MA in Arabic/English Translation at the University of Durham. He also published An Imam in Paris (Saqi Books).

    This comprehensive survey of Egyptian society and history transforms our understanding of this remarkable civilisation.

    They may wonder how, when and where did writing evolve? Do alphabets function better than hieroglyphs? And are we today, in the computer age, moving towards a universal language of signs and symbols?

    Egyptomania spread throughout Europe with their return, and the quest to decipher the hieroglyphs began in earnest, for it was understood that fame and fortune awaited the scholar who succeeded. In rural France, Jean-Francois Champollion, the brilliant son of an impoverished bookseller, became obsessed with breaking the code of the ancient Egyptians. At sixteen years of age he decided that he would dedicate his life to the decipherment of hieroglyphs. Amid political turmoil in France caused by Napoleon's meteoric rise and catastrophic fall, Champollion was hounded, exiled, and even charged with treason, yet he continued to strive for the key to the ancient texts. In 1812, Champollion made the decisive breakthrough, beating his closest rival, English physician Thomas Young, to the prize and becoming the first person to be able to read the ancient Egyptian language in well over a thousand years. The Keys of Egypt is a true story of adventure, obsession, and triumph over extreme adversity.

    Along the way, he introduces us to mysterious and fabled characters-the gods, godlike pharaohs, emperors and empresses, who joined their fate to the Nile and gained immortality; the adventurers, archaeologists, and historians who have all fallen under its spell. With matchless erudition and storytelling skill, through a lens equal to both panoramas and close-ups, Wilkinson brings millennia of history into view.

    Despite the many sensational discoveries in the last century, such as the tomb of Tutankhamun, the tombs of some of the most famous individuals in the ancient world—Imhotep, Nefertiti, Alexander the Great, and Cleopatra—have not yet been found.Archeologist Chris Naunton examines the famous pharaohs, their achievements, the bling they might have been buried with, the circumstances in which they were buried, and why those circumstances may have prevented archeologists from finding these tombs.In Searching for the Lost Tombs of Egypt, Naunton sheds light on the lives of these ancient Egyptians and makes an exciting case for the potential discovery of these lost tombs.

    Illustrated with both color photos and black-and-white drawings, this groundbreaking study goes back more than 3,000 years to a village where the workers who created the tombs of the Pharaohs and the Valley of the Kings resided. "John Romer is an archeologist with a genius for raising the busy ghosts of ancient Egypt."--Sunday Times

    Reprint.

    Budge gives the history of hieroglyphic writing, its evolution into hieratic and demotic scripts, and the fascinating tale of its decipherment by Young, Champollion, Åkerblad, and others.

    An archaeological and linguistic monograph on the origins and expansion of the Indo-European

    In this new version of the introduction to Arabic letters and sounds, English-speaking students will find an innovative integration of colloquial and formal (spoken and written) Arabic. Together, the book and new companion website provide learners with all the material necessary to learn the sounds of Arabic, write its letters, and begin speaking Arabic, including interactive, self-correcting exercises to enhance learning. The companion website also gives instructors additional online grading options.FEATURES- Four-color design throughout the book features over 100 illustrations and photographs- Gives learners and instructors color-coded options for the variety of language they wish to learn in speaking: Egyptian, Levantine, or formal Arabic (MSA)- Introduces over 200 basic vocabulary words in all three forms of spoken and written Arabic side by side, including expressions for polite social interaction, and activates them in interactive homework exercises and classroom groupwork- Includes video dialogues in Egyptian and Levantine, filmed in Cairo and Damascus- Includes video footage of an Arabic calligrapher, capsules on Arabic culture, and images of street signs from Morocco, Egypt, and Lebanon- Includes new English-Arabic and Arabic-English glossaries, searchable in the companion website- Textbook includes a convenient DVD with the basic audio and video materials (no interactive exercises) for offline study that will play in iTunes and compatible MP3 players- New companion website (sold separately)--alkitaabtextbook.com--features a fully integrated set of interactive exercises with all the video and audio materials and additional online course management and grading options for teachersAlif Baa provides the essential first 20-25 contact (classroom) hours of the Al-Kitaab program, accompanied by 40-50 homework hours. Students who complete Alif Baa should reach a novice-intermediate to novice-high level of proficiency.Companion Website Minimum System Requirements: WindowsOS: Microsoft Windows 98, NT, 2000, ME, XP, Vista, 7CPU: 233MHz Pentium BasedRAM: 128MBDISPLAY:1024x768, color displayBROWSER: Microsoft Internet Explorer 7.0 or higher, or Firefox version 3.0 or higherCONNECTION SPEED: A high-speed connection with throughput of 256 Kbps or more is recommended to use audio and video components.EQUIPMENT: You will need speakers or a headset to listen to audio and video components.PLUG-INS: You must have the latest version of Adobe Flash Player.MacintoshOS: Mac OSXCPU: 233MHz Power MacintoshRAM: 128MBDISPLAY:1024x768, color displayBROWSER: Firefox version 3.0 or higher, or Sarari 3.0 or higherCONNECTION SPEED: A high-speed connection with throughput of 256 Kbps or more is recommended to use audio and video components. EQUIPMENT: You will need speakers or a headset to listen to audio and video components.PLUG-INS: You must have the latest version of Adobe Flash Player.

    The Jewish kingdom, composed of ethnic Arabs who had converted to Judaism more than a century before, had launched a bloody pogrom against Christians in the region. The ruler of Ethiopia, who claimed descent from the union of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba and even was rumored to possess an object no less venerable than the Ark of the Covenant, aspired both to protect the persecuted Christians and to restore Ethiopian control in the Arabian Peninsula. Though little known today, this was an international war that involved both the Byzantine Empire, who had established Christian churches in Ethiopia beginning in the fourth century, and the Sasanian Empire in Persia, who supported the Jews in a proxy war with Byzantium. Our knowledge of these events derives mostly from an inscribed throne at the Ethiopian port of Adulis seen and meticulously described by a Christian merchant known as Cosmos in the sixth century. Trying to decipher and understand this monument takes us directly into religious conflicts that occupied the nations on both sides of the Red Sea in late antiquity. Using the writings of Cosmas and archaeological evidence from the period, historian G. W. Bowersock offers a narrative account of this fascinating but overlooked chapter in pre-Islamic Arabian history. The extraordinary story told in Throneof Adulis provides an important and much neglected background for the rise of Islam as well as the collapse of the Persian Empire before the Byzantines.

    In the vivid and lucid style that we expect from the author of the popular Akhenaten, Redford presents a sweeping narrative of the love-hate relationship between the peoples of ancient Israel/Palestine and Egypt.

    This civilization is single-handedly responsible for some of the most major innovations in nearly every field relevant to maintaining a civilized society - this includes religion, lawmaking, architecture, schooling, art, literature, and even entertainment. Naturally, most of what we see as negative aspects of society were established in Ancient Sumer as well. There wasn’t an aspect of Sumerian life that wasn’t plagued with corruption or devastation of one form or another. In other words, the Sumerians gave us both the sublimeness of faith and the rigidness of religious thought coupled with a desire for political supremacy. They gave us both the benevolent, caring monarchs and cruel, punishing tyrants; the educated child and the spoiled brat; the hard-working agrarian and the drunken reveler; and the epic empires as well as the pathetic remnants of them. The Sumerians did it all, and they did it first. Some of the topics and questions covered in this book include: The Ancient Sumerians In a Nutshell The Social Structure of Ancient Sumerians The Religion and Mythology of Ancient Sumerians The Sumerian Kingdoms Chronology The Everyday Life of Ancient Sumerians Sumerian Innovations Sumerian Culture Sumerian “Foreign Policy”: Relations with Other Nations And a Great Deal More that You don't Want to Miss out on! Scroll to the top and download the book now for instant access!

    The pharaoh's army and navy defeated them, but the victory so weakened Egypt that it soon slid into decline, as did most of the surrounding civilizations. Eric Cline tells the gripping story of how the end was brought about by multiple interconnected failures, ranging from invasion and revolt to earthquakes, drought, famine, and the cutting of international trade routes. Bringing to life a vibrant multicultural world, he draws a sweeping panorama of the empires of the age and shows that it may have been their very interdependence that hastened their dramatic collapse. Now revised and updated, 1177 B.C. sheds light on the complex ties that gave rise to, and eventually destroyed, the flourishing civilizations of the Late Bronze Age--and set the stage for the emergence of classical Greece and, ultimately, our world today.