The Oracle Of Avaris

A search for answers from a mysterious Oracle has Sesha and her friends navigating intrigue and danger in this thrilling series finale. Leaving the oasis, Sesha and her friends set sail for Avaris, intent on stopping the Hyksos chieftain from claiming the throne and declaring war on Thebes. On the journey, Sesha learns that she and the scroll are at the centre of a pair of prophecies made by a famed oracle — ones with staggering implications for both her and the Hyksos people. But when the crew arrives in the bustling port city, they are stunned to discover the oracle is missing. With the prophecies now in doubt and their lives in danger, Sesha, Paser, and Reb must race to find a mysterious priestess sect and witness the third, and final, prophecy before the upcoming lunar eclipse. As the young scribes seek answers, Sesha must untangle her past and future while keeping war from erupting in the present. For there is one person she cannot bear to face across the Hyksos battlefield: her brother. Be sure to read Sesha’s earlier adventures, The Lost Scroll of the Physician and The Desert Prince.

Sesha, the daughter of the pharaoh’s royal physician, must find the precious scroll her father was transcribing before his death, not only to save the kingdom, but to also save her brother’s life.

Ancient Egyptian healer and scribe Sesha is ready for another role: spy. Be sure to read Sesha’s first adventure, The Lost Scroll of the Physician. Forced to flee Thebes or face death, Sesha and her friends, Paser and Reb, travel up the Nile and into the desert in search of a hidden oasis. Led by a freed spy, they plan to rescue Pharaoh’s daughter Princess Merat, given to a Hyksos chieftain against her will. Before they can get there, though, they have to battle lurking crocodiles, endless dunes, and blinding sandstorms. When the group finally straggles into the Hyksos camp, they find the rebels preparing for combat. But as Sesha and her friends spend time with the rival tribe, the lines in the sand begin to blur. When she takes on a dangerous secret mission and learns about a prophecy that could change the course of history, Sesha has to decide where her future — and the real danger — lies.

Summer romance meets a passion for the environment in this timeless young adult novel. When Julia’s mother announces that she might be selling the family’s campground to a real estate developer, Julia is crushed. How could she stand to leave her childhood home? Then Julia finds an unlikely ally — the developer’s son, Nick — who wants to help her family raise the money they need to keep the campground running. Can Julia trust him to conspire against his own father? And could she ever trust him with her heart? This tender story reminds readers of summer’s possibilities … and how sometimes love is written in the stars.

Ranging from Abai to Zeleia, from massive temples in Egypt to modest tombs in Turkey, oracles were a major feature of the religions of many ancient cultures until their demise under the Christian Roman emperors. This work is a guide to all the known oracles of the ancient world. The greater part of it is devoted to an alphabetical listing providing details of nearly 300 sites in more than 25 countries where oracles of one kind or another functioned in antiquity. The text is extensively cross-referenced and illustrated, and supplemented by indexes, a glossary, and a substantial introduction.

A gripping modern-day detective story about the scientific quest to understand the Oracle of Delphi Like Walking the Bible, this fascinating book turns a modern eye on an enduring legend. The Oracle of Delphi was one of the most influential figures in ancient Greece. Human mistress of the god Apollo, she had the power to enter into ecstatic communion with him and deliver his prophesies to men. Thousands of years later, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist William J. Broad follows a crew of enterprising researchers as they sift through the evidence of history, geology, and archaeology to reveal—as far as science is able—the source of her visions.

This collection of essays explores the rhetoric and practices surrounding views on life after death and the end of the world, including the fate of the individual, apocalyptic speculation and hope for cosmological renewal, in a wide range of societies from Ancient Mesopotamia to the Byzantine era. The 42 essays by leading scholars in each field explore the rich spectrum of ways in which eschatological understanding can be expressed, and for which purposes it can be used. Readers will gain new insight into the historical contexts, details, functions and impact of eschatological ideas and imagery in ancient texts and material culture from the twenty-fifth century BCE to the ninth century CE. Traditionally, the study of “eschatology” (and related concepts) has been pursued mainly by scholars of Jewish and Christian scripture. By broadening the disciplinary scope but remaining within the clearly defined geographical milieu of the Mediterranean, this volume enables its readers to note comparisons and contrasts, as well as exchanges of thought and transmission of eschatological ideas across Antiquity. Cross-referencing, high quality illustrations and extensive indexing contribute to a rich resource on a topic of contemporary interest and relevance. Eschatology in Antiquity is aimed at readers from a wide range of academic disciplines, as well as non-specialists including seminary students and religious leaders. The primary audience will comprise researchers in relevant fields including Biblical Studies, Classics and Ancient History, Ancient Philosophy, Ancient Near Eastern Studies, Art History, Late Antiquity, Byzantine Studies and Cultural Studies. Care has been taken to ensure that the essays are accessible to undergraduates and those without specialist knowledge of particular subject areas.

The Lords of Avaris is one man's journey in search of the legendary origins of the Western World. Our story begins in a small rock-cut tomb below the desolate ruin-mound of Jericho in the Jordan Valley. This is the start of an epic journey of discovery, in the Homeric mould, which ranges across the ancient lands and archaeological sites of the Mediterranean. From Joshua's Jericho to Romulus' Rome, the true chronicle of our pre-Christian past is uncovered revealing an extraordinary historical picture, previously unimagined by scholars. The epic legends of the West, which permeate the writings of Greece and Rome, appear to have been based on the exploits of genuine historical figures and actual events. There really was an 'Heroic Age' of brazen-clad warriors, the last of which fought before the walls of Troy, just as described in Homer's Iliad. At the beginning of the Middle Bronze Age - two thousand years before the assassination of Julius Caesar in the Roman Senate - a new people appeared on the stage of history to join the great civilisations of Mesopotamia and Egypt. These 'Indo-European'-speaking tribes were chariot-riding warriors from the northern mountains and plains. They became the Hittites, the Aryan kings of Mitanni, the Vedic heroes of the Indus, and the founders of the later empires of Greece, Persia and Rome. They had many legendary names - the Divine Pelasgians of Greece, the Luwians of Troy and western Anatolia, the Rephaim and Anakim of the Bible, and the Hyksos rulers of Avaris who suppressed Egypt for generations. Their heroes and heroines are legionary: Inachus, mythical king of Argos in the Peloponnese; his daughter the beautiful Princess Io who married an Egyptian pharaoh; Danaus, the Hyksos ruler who, fleeing from Egypt to Greece, founded the Mycenaean dynasty which culminated in Agamemnon's ill-fated Trojan War; Cadmus, the bringer of writing to the West; Minos, the Cretan high-king of Knossos who built the infamous Labyrinth; Mopsus, warrior and sage who led a vast Greek, Philistine and Anatolian army into the Levant in a daring attempt to seize Egypt in the time of Ramesses III. All these, and more, are the stuff of legend - but The Lords of Avaris reveals these Classical heroes as flesh-and-blood characters from our ancestral past.