A brand-new Egyptian novel from the master of adventure fiction, Wilbur Smith.

In the heart of Egypt, under the watchful eye of the gods, a new power is rising.

In the city of Lahun, Hui lives an enchanted life. The favoured son of a doting father, and ruler-in-waiting of the great city, his fate is set. But behind the beautiful façades a sinister evil is plotting. Craving power and embittered by jealousy, Hui's stepmother, the great sorceress Isetnofret, and Hui's own brother Qen, orchestrate the downfall of Hui's father, condemning Hui and seizing power in the city. Cast out and alone, Hui finds himself a captive of a skilled and powerful army of outlaws, the Hyksos. Determined to seek vengeance for the death of his father and rescue his sister, Ipwet, Hui swears his allegiance to these enemies of Egypt. Through them he learns the art of war, learning how to fight and becoming an envied charioteer.

But soon Hui finds himself in an even greater battle - one for the very heart of Egypt itself. As the pieces fall into place and the Gods themselves join the fray, Hui finds himself fighting alongside the Egyptian General Tanus and renowned Mage, Taita. Now Hui must choose his path - will he be a hero in the old world, or a master in a new kingdom?

THE SECOND INSTALLMENT IN THE HOUSE OF SHADOWS DUOLOGY, A GRIPPING FANTASY INSPIRED BY GREEK MYTH. Return to the Underworld... Deina has finally found what matters most to her in all the world. And lost it. To save the one she loves, she's bound herself to the Underworld and an endless future of darkness. But not even her sacrifice is enough to secure Theron or her friends' safety in the mortal realm. Aristaeus has seized power in Thebes and his tyrannical reign is a constant, looming threat to their lives. So when Deina is offered the chance to destroy him and the gods altogether, she sets out on a new quest. But to succeed, she must turn away from everything she holds true. In a game with the gods, the rewards are infinite . . . but the punishments are eternal. Be prepared for a nail-biting race for survival in this breathtaking sequel to Daughter of Darkness. PRAISE FOR DAUGHTER OF DARKNESS: 'Everything I want in a fantasy and more' - Mary Watson, author of Blood to Poison 'A book of smart, savage beauty' - Josh Winning, author of The Shadow Glass 'Deliciously dark, dangerously exciting, absolutely immersive fantasy from two goddesses of storytelling' - Sinéad O'Hart, author of The Eye of the North 'Rich with mythology, this twisty adventure spins a new story from old - one that will leave you breathless, broken and begging for more' - Bex Hogan, author of the Isles of Storm and Sorrow trilogy 'A beautiful breath-taking adventure' - Holly Race, author of Midnight's Twins

Thomas O'Loughlin focuses on such issues as the immanence and transcendence of God, the notion of creation, the relation between the individual and community, the heroic ideal of Christian life, and notions of death and resurrection.

The Ancient Egyptians continue to fascinate people from all walks of life. Of all the knowledge we have of their culture, the rituals connected to death and the afterlife are the most compelling.

An A-Z of some of the most celebrated creatures in Greek mythology, from the lizard-like Centaur, Abas, to Zeus, tyrannical king of the Olympian gods, and including Alcyoneus, Bia, the Chimaera, Damysus, Echidna, Fear and Famine, Geryon, the Hydra, Ixion, Jealousy, Kourotrophus, Ladon, Medusa, the Nemean Lion, Orthrus, Peace and Quiet, Rhoetus, Sisyphus, Thanatos, Udaeus, Violence, War, Xanthus, Yearning and the zealous Zelus. Also featured are the Aloadae, baleful Boars, Corybantes and Curetes, Dactyls, Erinyes, the three Fates, Gasterocheires, Gorgons, Graeae, Harpies, the Ichthyocentauroi, the torments of Jason, the death-dealing Keres, the man-eating Laestrygones, Maenades, the Neikeai, the Olympians, Prayers and Entreaty, Quarrels, River-Gods, Sirens, Telchines, Unicorns, Vice and Virtue, Wind Gods and the twelve spirits of the Zodiac.

The Roman cult of Mithras was the most widely-dispersed and densely-distributed cult throughout the expanse of the Roman Empire from the end of the first until the fourth century AD, rivaling the early growth and development of Christianity during the same period. As its membership was largely drawn from the ranks of the military, its spread, but not its popularity is attributable largely to military deployments and re-deployments. Although mithraists left behind no written archival evidence, there is an abundance of iconographic finds. The only characteristic common to all Mithraic temples were the fundamental architecture of their design, and the cult image of Mithras slaying a bull. How were these two features so faithfully transmitted through the Empire by a non-centralized, non-hierarchical religious movement? The Minds of Mithraists: Historical and Cognitive Studies in the Roman Cult of Mithras addresses these questions as well as the relationship of Mithraism to Christianity, explanations of the significance of the tauroctony and of the rituals enacted in the mithraea, and explanations for the spread of Mithraism (and for its resistance in a few places). The unifying theme throughout is an investigation of the 'mind' of those engaged in the cult practices of this widespread ancient religion. These investigations represent traditional historical methods as well as more recent studies employing the insights of the cognitive sciences, demonstrating that cognitive historiography is a valuable methodological tool.

Examining the theme of child sacrifice as a psychological challenge, this book applies a unique approach to religious ideas by looking at beliefs and practices that are considered deviant, but also make up part of mainstream religious discourse in Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. Ancient religious mythology, which survives through living traditions and transmitted narratives, rituals, and writings, is filled with violent stories, often involving the targeting of children as ritual victims. Christianity offers Abraham's sacrifice and assures us that the "only begotten son" has died, and then been resurrected. This version of the sacrifice myth has dominated the West. It is celebrated in an act of fantasy cannibalism, in which the believers share the divine son's flesh and blood. This book makes the connection between Satanism stories in the 1980s, the Blood Libel in Europe, The Eucharist, and Eastern Mediterranean narratives of child sacrifice.

A Feminist Mythology takes us on a poetic journey through the canonical myths of femininity, testing them from the point of view of our modern condition. A myth is not an object, but rather a process, one that Chiara Bottici practises by exploring different variants of the myth of "womanhood" through first- and third-person prose and poetry. We follow a series of myths that morph into each other, disclosing ways of being woman that question inherited patriarchal orders. In this metamorphic world, story-telling is not just a mix of narrative, philosophical dialogues and metaphysical theorizing: it is a current that traverses all of them by overflowing the boundaries it encounters. In doing so, A Feminist Mythology proposes an alternative writing style that recovers ancient philosophical and literary traditions from the pre-Socratic philosophers and Ovid's Metamorphoses to the philosophical novellas and feminist experimental writings of the last century.

Gorgeous Collector's Edition. India, one of the great, ancient civilizations, spawned a fascinating canon of myths and legends. With multiple gods, and a riot of colour and character, this fantastic new book, Indian Myths & Legends, explores the themes and landscapes that created the tales, and reveals the boundless energy that brought us the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, retelling the stories of Krishna, Buddha and Shiva, and some of the many different versions of creation. Flame Tree Collector's Editions present the foundations of speculative fiction, authors, myths and tales without which the imaginative literature of the twentieth century would not exist, bringing the best, most influential and most fascinating works into a striking and collectable library. Each book features a new introduction and a Glossary of Terms.

Moving away from focusing on wisdom as a literary genre, this book delves into the lived, embodied and formative dimensions of wisdom as they are delineated in Jewish sources from the Persian, Hellenistic and early Roman eras. Considering a diverse body of texts beyond later canonical boundaries, the book demonstrates that wisdom features not as an abstract quality, but as something to be performed and exercised at both the individual and community level. The analysis specifically concentrates on notions of a 'wise' person, including the rise of the sage as an exemplary figure. It also looks at how ancestral figures and contemporary teachers are imagined to manifest and practice wisdom, and considers communal portraits of a wise and virtuous life. In so doing, the author demonstrates that the previous focus on wisdom as a category of literature has overshadowed significant questions related to wisdom, behaviour and social life. Jewish wisdom is also contextualized in relation to its wider ancient Mediterranean milieu, making the book valuable for biblical scholars, classicists, scholars of religion and the ancient Near East and theologians.