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The Long River: From Narmer to Cleopatra
Overview

The Long River: From Narmer to Cleopatra

Three Thousand Years of the Pharaohs

The full arc of ancient Egypt — from the first hieroglyphs and the unification under Narmer, through the pyramid builders, the New Kingdom empire, and the heretic Akhenaten, to the collisions with Persia, Alexander, and Rome that ended the age of the pharaohs.
Invoking the sacred fire...

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The Epic of Gilgamesh

The Oldest Story in the World: Gilgamesh, Death, and the Flood

The oldest epic on earth — the king of Uruk and his wild brother, the Cedar Forest, the Bull of Heaven, and the quest that ends with a serpent stealing immortality — recovered from broken tablets in 1872.

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Alexander of Macedon

From Macedon to the Ends of the Earth

The twenty-year-old who broke Persia in three battles, faced the war elephants of Porus at the Hydaspes, was stopped only by his own army, and died at thirty-two in Babylon — told from Arrian, the most reliable ancient source.

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Arthashastra

The Whole Story in 15 Minutes

Kautilya's 150-chapter manual of statecraft — saptanga, mandala theory, danda, and a six-chapter reading guide.

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