Pharaoh
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
Valerio Massimo Manfredi's Pharaoh is a thrilling archaeological mystery.
Jerusalem, 586 BC. The kingdom of Judah is on the verge of annihilation by the Babylonians. In the chaos, the prophet Jeremiah saves the sacred Ark of the Covenant and hides it in a cave. He returns terrified, having made a discovery that appears to have sent him mad.
The Middle East, early in the second millennium. Professor William Blake, renowned Egyptologist, has a surprising visit from representatives of an American mining corporation. They have discovered a strange Egyptian tomb, which risks exploding the powder keg of Middle Eastern geopolitics.
Blake finds himself facing the most mysterious case of his life. The tomb of the Pharaoh lies in the middle of the desert, miles from the Nile and the Valley of the Kings. As he starts to unravel the Pharaoh's story, a disturbing theory forms in Blake's mind as to the identity of this mysterious ruler - a theory that could destroy the balance of the modern world.
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Manfredi, author of a trilogy about the life of Alexander the Great (Alexander), here tells an epic tale of Sparta and its rivalry with other Greek city-states in the face of repeated Persian invasions in the fifth century B.C. Two Spartan brothers, sons of a famous Spartan warrior, are separated as babies. One boy, Brithos, is healthy and strong, destined to become a soldier like his father. The other baby boy, Kleidemos, has a crippled foot and is left on a mountainside to die, in accordance with Spartan law. However, Kleidemos is found by an old man, a Helot (serf), and is raised as a Helot shepherd. As years pass, both boys grow into men, neither knowing of the other. Brithos becomes a Spartan warrior, and Kleidemos the shepherd (renamed Talos by his Helot family) learns a powerful and mysterious secret from his Helot grandfather. The paths of the two brothers cross in several unexpected ways as wars with Persia and conflicts and intrigues between Sparta and Athens inflame all of Greece. As master and slave, the two brothers fight alongside King Leonidas and the 300 Spartans at the battle of Thermopylae, and they develop a bond neither can explain or understand. Brithos's fate is tied to Kleidemos, but the cripple's future is determined by the disturbing secret revealed by his grandfather. When Kleidemos finally learns that he is both a Spartan and a Helot, he is tormented by his divided loyalties. Manfredi is a masterful storyteller, carefully weaving in political and military history, realistically describing the brutality of hoplite warfare and vividly depicting the treachery and betrayal of kings.
