In the middle of the night, Princess Theti leaves the palace like a sleepwalker and rides to the Great Sphinx. Papyrus follows her to protect her, but when he finds her, she is the prisoner of the Sphinx, who is angry at the royal line for breaking their covenant and letting the sands cover the great statue. The Sphinx wants her life as sacrifice. Opposed by the evil Storm Man, Papyrus must journey to the Sacred Island to beg the gods for mercy.
Drawn by strange cries coming from the necropolis at the foot of the pyramids, Papyrus comes face to face with Anubis, the god of the dead. The jackal-headed god, angered by a rash of grave robbing, orders the young Egyptian to enter the Great Pyramid and retrieve there the heart scarab of Kheops. But the pyramid is already 1000 years old to Papyrus, and robbers have long ago desecrated it. The young boy will have to search it from top to bottom.
How to invoke Anubis and release the dead . . . how to divine with a lamp . . . how to conjure up a damned spirit . . . how to have dream visions . . . how to make magic ointments . . . how to blind or kill your enemies . . . how to use the charm of the ring . . . how to invoke Thoth and bring good fortune . . . These are among the many topics of practical magic contained in the so-called Leyden Papyrus, an ancient Egyptian manuscript that dates from around the beginning of the Christian era. Probably the textbook of a practicing sorcerer in Egypt, this remarkable work contains scores of spells which the writer firmly believes will work: sex magic of various sorts, occult information, evoking visions, working evil, healing, removing evil magic--and all the other tasks that a sorcerer might have to undertake. Discovered at Thebes in the middle of the 19th century, assembled from fragments at Leiden and London, this fifteen-foot strip of papyrus is still one of the most important documents for revealing the potions, spells, incantations, and other forms of magic worked in Egypt. In addition to purely native elements involving the gods, the manuscript shows the influence of Gnostic beliefs, Greek magic, and other magical traditions. A transliteration of the demotic script is printed on facing pages with a complete translation, which is copiously supplied with explanatory footnotes. The editors supply an informative introduction and a classification of the types of magic involved. As a result, this publication is of great importance to the Egyptologist, student of magic, and the reader who wishes to judge the efficacy of Egyptian magic for himself.
E. H. Gombrich's Little History of the World, though written in 1935, has become one of the treasures of historical writing since its first publication in English in 2005. The Yale edition alone has now sold over half a million copies, and the book is available worldwide in almost thirty languages. Gombrich was of course the best-known art historian of his time, and his text suggests illustrations on every page. This illustrated edition of the Little History brings together the pellucid humanity of his narrative with the images that may well have been in his mind's eye as he wrote the book. The two hundred illustrations—most of them in full color—are not simple embellishments, though they are beautiful. They emerge from the text, enrich the author's intention, and deepen the pleasure of reading this remarkable work. For this edition the text is reset in a spacious format, flowing around illustrations that range from paintings to line drawings, emblems, motifs, and symbols. The book incorporates freshly drawn maps, a revised preface, and a new index. Blending high-grade design, fine paper, and classic binding, this is both a sumptuous gift book and an enhanced edition of a timeless account of human history.
Yoko responds to a 40 year old SOS! During a glider flight training course, Yoko makes a landing near an important telecommunication centre, and there meets a mysterious English Lord. A fortuitous encounter that will propel the young woman and her friends into an incredible adventure--her combined skills as a pilot and an electronic engineer make her the ideal candidate for an insane project: land a glider clandestinely inside a crater at the border of China, Russia and Afghanistan.
An insightful volume delving into the enduringly compelling art of ancient Egypt, from a new historical perspective The art and architecture of Egypt during the age of the pharaohs continue to capture the imagination of the modern world. Among the great creative achievements of ancient Egypt are a set of constant forms: archetypes in art and architecture in which the origins of concepts such as authority, divinity, beauty, and meaning are readily discernible. Whether adapted to fine, delicate jewelry or colossal statues, these forms maintain a human face—with human ideas and emotions. These artistic templates, and the ideas they articulated, were refined and reinvented through dozens of centuries, until scenes first created for the earliest kings, around 3000 BCE, were eventually used to represent Roman emperors and the last officials of pre-Christian Egypt. Bill Manley’s account of the art of ancient Egypt draws on the finest works through more than 3,000 years and places celebrated masterpieces, from the Narmer palette to Tutankhamun’s gold mask, in their original contexts in the tombs, temples, and palaces of the pharaohs and their citizens.
A young peasant in ancient Egypt, Papyrus is a mischievous boy, crafty and courageous. Protected by a magic sword, he saves the princess Theti-Cheri, whose protector and confidant he becomes. He will be extremely busy protecting his friend from the plots woven by the priests of Amon or by cheating princes trying to make her disappear... On the way to Abou-Simbel, Theti-Cheri and Papyrus will have to face two bands of plunderers who want to seize a treasure that is guarded by the four colossi of the temple of Ramses. This series tells the tribulations of a young fisherman, Papyrus, and the princess Theti-Cheri, daughter of the Pharaoh Merenptha, in a very precise reconstruction of old Egypt (the XIXth dynasty).
