In 1922, the British archaeologist Henry Carter opened King Tutankhamun’s tomb, illuminating the glories of an ancient civilization. And while the world celebrated the extraordinary revelation that gave Carter international renown and an indelible place in history, by the time of his death, the discovery had nearly destroyed him. Now, in a stunning feat of narrative nonfiction, Daniel Meyerson has written a thrilling and evocative account of this remarkable man and his times. Carter began his career inauspiciously. At the age of seventeen–unknown, untrained, untried–he was hired as a copyist of tomb art by the brash, brilliant, and boldly unkempt father of modern archaeology, W. F. Petrie. Carter struck out on his own a few years later, sensing that something amazing lay buried beneath his feet, waiting for him to uncover it. But others had the same idea: The ancient cities of Egypt were crawling with European adventurers and their wealthy sponsors, each hoping to outdo the others with glittering discoveries–even as growing nationalist resentment against foreigners plundering the country’s most treasured antiquities simmered dangerously in the background. Not until Carter met up with the risk-taking, adventure-loving occultist Lord Carnarvon did his fortunes change. There were stark differences in personality and temperament between the cantankerous Carter and his gregarious patron, but together they faced down endless ridicule from the most respected explorers of the day. Seven dusty and dispiriting years after their first meeting, their dream came to astonishing life. But there would be a price to pay for this partnership, their discovery, and the glory and fame it brought both men–and the chain of events that transpired in the wake of their success remains fascinating and shocking to this day. An enthralling story told with unprecedented verve, In the Valley of the Kings is a tale of mania and greed, of fame and lost fortune, of history and its damnations. As he did in The Linguist and the Emperor, Daniel Meyerson puts his exciting storytelling powers on full display, revealing an almost forgotten time when past and present came crashing together with the power to change–or curse–men’s lives. From the Hardcover edition.

In November 1922 a momentous discovery - unlike any other before or since - was to change our understanding of the ancient world. Until now, however, the marvellous story of Carter's quest for Tutankhamun and its culmination in his unearthing of the intact, treasure-filled tomb has been told without a reliable account of the man behind the discovery and the myths that have surrounded it. Howard Carter's career was a remarkable one: he had arrived in Egypt 30 years earlier as a 17-year old 'tracer' with rudimentary education, and progressed to become the first Chief Inspector of Antiquities in Upper Egypt. An improbable but auspicious partnership with the 5th Earl of Carnarvon developed in which the young Carter acted as assistant and 'learned man' to the aristocrat's excavations in the Theban necropolis. But it was the legendary discovery in the Valley of the Kings and Carter's painstaking clearance of the intact royal burial that was to secure his place in history. He became an international celebrity, simultaneously honoured and vilified wherever he went, but he was also a sad, disillusioned man whose success never brought any reward of happiness. T. G. H. James' definitive biography is both the story of perhaps the most renowned archaeologist of all time and of an essentially tragic human being.

Howard Carter is often remembered for the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun in 1922, but his legacy in the field of Egyptology spreads far further than this single discovery. The youngest of 11 children, Howard Carter began his career as an artist working for the Egypt Exploration Fund in 1891. Despite his young age, he pioneered new techniques in archaeological recording and used those skills to create beautiful, accurate images of tomb and temple scenes preserved on the monuments of Egypt. Carter's largest known watercolour painting (EES.ART.224) is a full- scale reproduction of a scene from the shrine to Anubis in Hatshepsut's temple at Deir el-Bahari. This work, actually comprised of six pieces of paper combined together to create the scene, is testament to his expertise as an artist. It shows Tuthmosis I and his mother Senseneb before an offering table laden with food dedicated to the god Anubis, a jackal-headed god of embalming. Very little is known about queen Senseneb, and this scene represents one of the few known depictions of her. By shining a spotlight on the painting, Carl Graves provides context to it while uncovering the life and legacy of one of Egypt's greatest archaeologists.

A collection of short stories and fairy tales for the young and the young at heart... The "Tao te Ching" is a collection of ancient Chinese writings, said to have been written by Lao Tzu some 2,500 years ago. Lao Tzu (meaning "old master") was a contemporary of Confucious, and although the authorship of the Tao (Meaning "the Way") is sometimes disputed, the text itself is incredibly insightful and just as relevant to the human journey now as it was 2,500 years ago. For each of the stories in The Softness of Water one favourite verse was taken from the Tao as its inspiration, and a tale was woven to embody the meaning of that verse. The title, "The Softness of Water" comes from the 78th verse of the Tao which says, "Nothing in the world is softer and weaker than water, but for attacking the hard, unyielding, nothing can surpass it. There is nothing like it. The weak overcomes the strong. The soft surpasses the hard."

The second edition of the Historical Dictionary of Ancient Egypt expands upon the information presented in the first with a chronology, an introductory essay, appendixes, a bibliography, and hundreds of cross-referenced dictionary entries on Egyptian rulers, bureaucrats, and commoners whose records have survived, as well as ancient society, religion, and gods.

First published in 1992. This book includes research and excavation in the Royal Necropolis at Thebes presented a meeting to mark seventy fifth anniversary of 1915 when the Earl of Carnarvon and Howard Carter had embarked upon their search for Tut'ankhamiin, a search destined to be crowned with such stunning success eight years later. What has happened in the Valley of the Kings since that discovery was the theme of our meeting, a theme addressed over the following two days by an international panel of leading Egyptologists.

A lively new biography of Tutankhamun--published for the hundredth anniversary of his tomb's modern discovery The discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922 sparked imaginations across the globe. While Howard Carter emptied its treasures, Tut-mania gripped the world--and in many ways, never left. But who was the "boy king," and what was his life really like? Garry J. Shaw tells the full story of Tutankhamun's reign and his modern rediscovery. As pharaoh, Tutankhamun had to manage an empire, navigate influential courtiers, and suffer the pain of losing at least two children--all before his nineteenth birthday. Shaw explores the boy king's treasures and possessions, from a lock of his grandmother's hair to a reed cut with his own hands. He looks too at Ankhesenamun, Tutankhamun's wife, and the power queens held. This is a compelling new biography that weaves together intriguing details about ancient Egyptian culture, its beliefs, and its place in the wider world.

The never-before-told story of the women Egyptologists who paved the way of exploration in Egypt and created the basis for Egyptology. The history of Egyptology is often told as yet one more grand narrative of powerful men striving to seize the day and the precious artifacts for their competing homelands. But that is only half of the story. During the so-called Golden Age of Exploration, there were women working and exploring before Howard Carter discovered the tomb of King Tut. Before men even conceived of claiming the story for themselves, women were working in Egypt to lay the groundwork for all future exploration. In Women in the Valley of the Kings: The Untold Story of Women Egyptologists in the Gilded Age, Kathleen Sheppard brings the untold stories of these women back into this narrative. Sheppard begins with some of the earliest European women who ventured to Egypt as travelers: Amelia Edwards, Jenny Lane, and Marianne Brocklehurst. Their travelogues, diaries and maps chronicled a new world for the curious. In the vast desert, Maggie Benson, the first woman granted permission to excavate in Egypt, met Nettie Gourlay, the woman who became her lifelong companion. They battled issues of oppression and exclusion and, ultimately, are credited with excavating the Temple of Mut. As each woman scored a success in the desert, she set up the women who came later for their own struggles and successes. Emma Andrews’ success as a patron and archaeologist helped to pave the way for Margaret Murray to teach. Margaret’s work in the university led to the artists Amice Calverley’s and Myrtle Broome’s ability to work on site at Abydos, creating brilliant reproductions of tomb art, and to Kate Bradbury’s and Caroline Ransom’s leadership in critical Egyptological institutions. Women in the Valley of the Kings upends the grand male narrative of Egyptian exploration and shows how a group of courageous women charted unknown territory and changed the field of Egyptology forever.