From 1827 Henry Rawlinson, fearless soldier, sportsman and imperial adventurer of the first rank, spent twenty-five years in India, Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan in the service of the East India Company. During this time he survived the dangers of disease and warfare, including the disastrous First Anglo-Afghan War. A gifted linguist, fascinated by history and exploration, he became obsessed with cuneiform, the world's earliest writing. An immense inscription high on a sheer rock face at Bisitun in the mountains of western Iran, carved on the orders of King Darius the Great of Persia over 2,000 years ago, was the key to understanding the many cuneiform scripts and languages. Only Rawlinson had the physical and intellectual skills, courage, self-motivation and opportunity to make the perilous ascent and copy the monument. Here, Lesley Adkins relates the story of Rawlinson's life and how he triumphed in deciphering the lost languages of Persia and Babylonia, overcoming his brilliant but bitter rival, Edward Hincks. While based in Baghdad, Rawlinson became involved in the very first excavations of the ancient mounds of Mesopotamia, from Nineveh to Babylon, an area that had been fought over by so many powerful empires. His decipherment of the inscriptions resurrected unsuspected civilizations, revealing intriguing details of everyday life and forgotten historical events. By proving to the astonished Victorian public that people and places in the Old Testament really existed (and, furthermore, that documents and chronicles had survived from well before the writing of the Bible), Rawlinson became a celebrity and assured his own place in history.

Empires of the Plain : Henry Rawlinson and the Lost Languages of Babylon

Arts & Photography

Adkins, Lesley

History & Criticism

Harpercollins

How 19th-century soldier, adventurer and scholar Henry Rawlinson deciphered cuneiform, the world's earliest writing, and rediscovered Iraq's ancient civilisations. This is the exciting, true adventure story of Henry Rawlinson, a fearless soldier, sportsman and explorer. From 1827 he spent twenty-five years in India, Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan. A brilliant linguist, fascinated by history, he became obsessed with cuneiform, the world's earliest writing. An immense inscription on a sheer rock face at Bisitun in Iran was the key to understanding the many cuneiform scripts and languages, and only Rawlinson had the skills to achieve the perilous ascent and copy the monument. In her gripping account, Lesley Adkins relates how Rawlinson triumphed in deciphering the lost languages of Persia and Babylonia, overcoming his bitter rival, Edward Hincks. While Rawlinson was based at Baghdad, incredible palaces with whole libraries of cuneiform clay tablets were unearthed in the ancient mounds of Mesopotamia, from Nineveh to Babylon - the great flood plain of the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers that had been fought over by so many powerful empires. His decipherment of the inscriptions resurrected these lost civilisations, revealing fascinating details of everyday life and forgotten historical events. By proving to the astonished Victorian public that people and places in the Old Testament really existed, Rawlinson assured his own place in history.

Empires of the Plain: Henry Rawlinson and the Lost Languages of Babylon

Biographies & Memoirs

HarperCollins Publishers, Ltd

Chronicles the twenty-year attempt of French linguist Jean-Francois Champollion to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphics despite poverty, ill health, competition by English physician Thomas Young, and political enemies.

The Keys of Egypt: The Obsession to Decipher Egyptian Hieroglyphs

Adkins, Roy

Science & Math

When Napoleon invaded Egypt in 1798, his troops were astonished to find countless ruins covered with hieroglyphs -- remnants of a language lost in time. Egyptomania spread throughout Europe with their return, and the quest to decipher the hieroglyphs began in earnest, for it was understood that fame and fortune awaited the scholar who succeeded. In rural France, Jean-Francois Champollion, the brilliant son of an impoverished bookseller, became obsessed with breaking the code of the ancient Egyptians. At sixteen years of age he decided that he would dedicate his life to the decipherment of hieroglyphs. Amid political turmoil in France caused by Napoleon's meteoric rise and catastrophic fall, Champollion was hounded, exiled, and even charged with treason, yet he continued to strive for the key to the ancient texts. In 1812, Champollion made the decisive breakthrough, beating his closest rival, English physician Thomas Young, to the prize and becoming the first person to be able to read the ancient Egyptian language in well over a thousand years. The Keys of Egypt is a true story of adventure, obsession, and triumph over extreme adversity.

The Keys of Egypt: The Race to Crack the Hieroglyph Code

History

Ancient Civilizations

Harper-perennial

A complete, accessible guide to the entire spectrum of archaeological discovery throughout the British Isles. Cross-referenced, with more than 500 drawings. Vast in scope and practical in style, this comprehensive and comprehensible guide to British archaeology is a valuable reference for students, professionals, and all who are interested in Britain's ancient past. Covering all types of archaeological finds, from bones to pottery, armor to jewelry, it offers a full and detailed picture of every major period from the Paleolithic to the medieval. It also provides explanations of such wide-ranging archaeological techniques as surveying, excavating, and dating, including clear definitions of every term used in modern archaeological study. This excellent handbook also features more than 500 drawings, cross-referencing, and a short bibliography with each entry. Lesley and Roy Adkins' many works include Archaeological Illustration, Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome, and Introduction to Archaeology. 319 pp 6 x 9 500+ line drawings

The Handbook of British Archaeology

Politics & Social Sciences

Adkins, Roy A.

Archaeology

Constable & Robinson Ltd.

A brutal, action-packed account of the sea battles of the Napoleonic War by the author of the bestselling Nelson’s Trafalgar and co-author of the forthcoming Gibraltar: The Greatest Siege in British History (March 2018) As he did with his much lauded Nelson’s Trafalgar, Roy Adkins (now writing with wife Lesley) again thrusts readers into the perils and thrills of early-nineteenth-century warfare. From its very first page, this is an adventure story--a superb account of the naval war that lasted from Napoleon’s seizure of power in 1798 to the War of 1812 with the United States. Providing a ringside seat to the decisive battles, as well as detailed and vivid portraits of sailors and commanders, press-gangs, prostitutes, and spies, The War for All the Oceans is “a rollicking, patriotic account of the Napoleonic wars that will go down well with Master and Commander fans” (The Telegraph).

The War for All the Oceans: From Nelson at the Nile to Napoleon at Waterloo

Americas

Penguin Publishing Group

An authoritative account of everyday life in Regency England, the backdrop of Austen’s beloved novels, from the authors of the forthcoming Gibraltar: The Greatest Siege in British History (March 2018) Nearly two centuries after her death, Jane Austen remains the most cherished of all novelists in the English language, incomparable in the wit, warmth, and insight with which she depicts her characters and life. Yet the milieu Austen presents is only one aspect of the England in which she lived, a time of war, unrest, and dramatic changes in the country’s physical and social landscape. Jane Austen’s England offers a fascinating new view of the great novelist’s time, in a wide-ranging and richly detailed social history of English culture. As in their bestselling book Nelson’s Trafalgar, Roy and Lesley Adkins have drawn upon a wide array of contemporary sources to chart the daily lives of both the gentry and the commoners, providing a vivid cultural snapshot of not only how people worked and played, but how they struggled to survive.

Jane Austen's England: Daily Life in the Georgian and Regency Periods

Literature & Fiction

British & Irish

Penguin??Books

This handy reference provides full access to the 1,200 years of Roman rule from the 8th century B.C. to the 5th century A.D., including information that is hard to find and even harder to decipher. Clear, authoritative, and highly organized, Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome provides a unique look at a civilization whose art, literature, law, and engineering influenced the whole of Western Europe throughout the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and beyond. The myriad topics covered include rulers; the legal and governmental system; architectural feats such as the famous Roman roads and aqueducts; the many Roman religions and festivals; the Roman system of personal names; contemporary poets and historians; even typical Roman leisure pursuits. Each chapter includes an extensive bibliography, as well as more than 125 site-specific photographs and line drawings. Maps chart the expansion and contraction of the territory from the foundation city of Rome itself to the Byzantine Empire and the ultimate decline of the West. Combining both archaeological and historical evidence, the Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome is perfect for anyone interested in Roman history, the classics, or an overview of the amazing period in which the Romans ruled.

Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome

Reference

Oxford University Press

Handbook to Life in Ancient Greece

This handy reference provides comprehensive access to over three millennia of ancient Greek history and archaeology, from the beginning of the Minoan civilization to the fall of the Greek states to the Romans by 30 BC. Clear, authoritative, and highly organized, the Handbook to Life in Ancient Greece provides an engaging look at a civilization that once stretched from what is now modern Greece, to Spain, India, and beyond; a civilization that has had an enormous and lasting influence on the development of myriad aspects of Western culture, from philosophy and medicine to democracy and town planning. The thematically arranged chapters cover an exhaustive range of topics: armies and weapons, rulers from Alexander the Great to Xerxes, the rise and fall of numerous city-states, notably Sparta and Athens, agriculture, architectural styles, craft industries, religious festivals, deities, travel and transport, mythological figures, even Greek concepts of the afterlife. The guide includes a wide-ranging bibliography for each chapter, as well as over 180 maps, photographs, and line drawings. Combining both archaeological and historical evidence, the Handbook to Life in Ancient Greece is essential reading for anyone interested in Greek history, the classics, or an overview of the Greek period.

Dictionary of Roman Religion

Long overshadowed by Greek mythology or treated peripherally in general texts on the ancient Roman world, Roman religion is finally accorded its due and set in its full context as no other reference source has done before. While perhaps most familiar in the context of Greek-influenced gods, Roman religious life in fact encompassed a tremendous variety of deities, rites, and belief systems. From the Celtic god Abandinus to the pagan historian Zosimus, Dictionary of Roman Religion contains more than 1,400 entries, covering topics such as festivals, sacrifices, temples, burial rites, deities and spirits, and historical religious events. The different religions are also covered: Mithraism, Druidism, Judaism, and Christianity, which were all part of the Roman religious world. Entries range from brief definitions to concise essays reflecting important aspects of religious practice, and most include suggestions for further reading in addition to a complete bibliography. Complete with illustrations and helpful cross-references, this dictionary is both comprehensive and essential for students and researchers. For those interested in ancient religions, myths and legends, Roman society, and classical studies, this dictionary is a welcome and novel edition to the vast library on ancient Roman life.

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