"Beginning with the stories of three great decipherments Egyptian hieroglyphs, Minoan Linear B and Mayan glyphs Lost Languages moves on to dissect the most well-known and enigmatic undeciphered scripts from around the world. They include the Etruscan alphabet of Italy, the Indus Valley seal script, Rongorongo from remote Easter Island, the Zapotec script of Mexico (probably the first writing system in the Americas), and the unique Phaistos disc of...

"The bestselling author of Seven Brief Lessons on Physics illuminates the nature of science through the revolutionary ideas of the Greek philosopher Anaximander Over two millennia ago, the prescient insights of Anaximander paved the way for cosmology, physics, geography, meteorology, and biology, setting in motion a new way of seeing the world. His legacy includes the revolutionary ideas that the Earth floats in a void, that animals evolved, that...

This edition includes a modern introduction and a list of suggested further reading. Plato's ambitious dialogue Timaeus and the unfinished Critias were meant to be part of a trilogy that would outline a proper and sufficiently detailed natural philosophy and cosmology. The Timaeus is Plato's spirited response to the cosmogony and physics of the "atheist" Atomist philosophers Leucippus and Democritus. The Critias presents what might be a famous Platonic...

"It's time to get off the beaten path. Inspiring equal parts wonder and wanderlust, Atlas Obscura celebrates over 700 of the strangest and most curious places in the world. Talk about a bucket list: here are natural wonders-- the dazzling glowworm caves in New Zealand, or a baobob tree in South Africa that's so large it has a pub inside where 15 people can drink comfortably. Architectural marvels, including the M.C. Escher-like stepwells in India....

Describes the everyday life of ancient Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Aztecs, and Incas, including transportation, clothing, food, homes, shopping, and monuments.

Widely considered the most famous work of the professional soldier and writer Xenophon, "Anabasis" is a true tale of dangerous adventure in ancient Greece. Though advised not to join the army of 10,000 by his friend Socrates, Xenophon does set out with Cyrus the Great in that man's attempt to gain the empire of Persia from his brother. When this leader is killed in battle, however, the army loses cause and direction, and the result is a 'marching...

In ancient Egypt, the scarabaeus was already the symbol of an elevated religious idea, embracing a human soul's future life, its resurrection from the grave, and, most likely, its reward or punishment in the next life, based on its conduct in life. As far as we have determined, the use of scarabaeus models as symbols of new life and the future eternal life of the triumphant or justified dead pre-existed in the earliest historical knowledge we have...

The Civil Wars (c. 150) is a work of political and military history by Appian. Written toward the end of his career as a leading advocate in Rome, The Civil Wars is comprised of books 13-17 of The Roman History, Appian's 24-book study of the Roman Republic and Empire. Appian's work has long been considered essential by classical scholars and historians alike, providing an effective and largely objective overview of the most turbulent period in the...

Best known for moving elephants through high mountain passes in wintertime to the classic application of the double envelopment maneuver to surround and destroy a Roman army on the battlefield at Cannae, Hannibal’s achievements have rarely been equaled and never surpassed. Not only did he grasp the importance of each of the elements of a military campaign, he mastered all of them to achieve the kinds of victories which soldiers still seek to emulate. Despite...