A hundred years after Tutankhamun's tomb was rediscovered, leading Egyptologist Joyce Tyldesley shares 10 unique perspectives on his enduring legacy. In the Valley of the Kings a near-complete royal burial, an ancient mummy, and golden riches beyond imagination were discovered by archaeologists. The lost tomb of Tutankhamun ignited a media frenzy, and propelled into overdrive rumours of a deadly ancient curse. The book takes a familiar tale and turns on its head. Tyldesley rediscovers the teenage pharaoh and his family, ancient embalmers and tomb robbers, famous Western explorers and forgotten Egyptian archaeologists. It's a journey that spans from ancient Thebes in 1336BCE, when a young king on a mission to restore his land met an unexpected and violent end, to modern Luxor in 1922CE, as the tomb's discovery led to a fight over ownership that continues to this day. Tutankhamun knew that death did not have to be the end, but in order to achieve an afterlife, he had to be remembered. Throughout his reign he worked to impose his presence on his land so that his story might be remembered by generations to come. Each section is a straightforward chronological narrative split into chapters with titles like The King's Tale: Tutankhamun the Restorer, and The Queen's Tale: Tutankhamun's Sister-Wife Ankhesenpaaten, The Waterboy's Tale: Seeing Tutankhamun Through Different Eyes and The Bishop's Tale: Investigating the Dead. Tyldesley revisits the 1968 and 2005 surveys, pointing our discrepancies between these findings and the results of later DNA investigation. Nicholas Reeve's theory that Nefertiti is buried in a hidden room in KV62 'seems a step too far' and declares that the King was 'the most influential man in the Bronze Age Mediterranean world'. 293pp, eight pages of colour and archive photos.

Winner of the 2024 Somerset Maugham Award, in the words of The Times: 'An anecdote-stuffed tour of lost cities that ruled the ancient world, then collapsed.' Its name means 'centre of the world', and since the dawn of history the Mediterranean Sea has formed the shared horizon of innumerable cultures. Of the many cities that dot this ancient coastline, Tyre, Carthage, Syracuse, Ravenna and Antioch are among the oldest and most intriguing. All are beautifully situated, and for layers of history and cultural riches they are rivalled only by their sister cities of Rome, Istanbul and Jerusalem. Yet their fates have been remarkably different. Once major power centres, all five have declined into relative obscurity. Nevertheless, their entwined history takes in Alexander the Great, Nebuchadnezzar, Archimedes and the Roman, Byzantine, Arab and Norman conquests, and their greatness still lingers for those who seek it out. Combining on the ground research with spellbinding storytelling skills, here is a revelatory new story and a powerful reflection on the sometimes fleeting glory of empires. It takes in Hannibal to Lord Byron and Dante, and you will enjoy the story of the foundation of Antioch by Seleucus, one of Alexander's generals, who planned the city by positioning his war elephants around the edges and ordering a tower built where each elephant stood. 288 page paperback, photos and drawings and eight pages of colour plates.