Bøger af Joann Fletcher

The story of the world's greatest civilisation spans more than 4000 years of history that has shaped the world. It is full of spectacular sites and epic stories, an evolving society rich in heroes and villains, inventors and intellectuals, artisans and pioneers. Now Professor Joann Fletcher pulls together the complete Story of Egypt - charting the rise and fall of the ancient Egyptians while putting their whole world into a context that we can all relate to.Joann Fletcher uncovers some fascinating revelations, from Egypt's oldest art to the beginnings of mummification almost two thousand years earlier than previously believed. She also looks at the women who became pharaohs on at least 10 occasions, and the evidence that the Egyptians built the first Suez Canal, circumnavigated Africa and won victories at the original Olympic games. From Ramses II's penchant for dying his greying hair to how we know Montuhotep's wife bit her nails and the farmer Baki liked eating in bed, Joann Fletcher brings alive the history and people of ancient Egypt as nobody else can.

Joann Fletcher, presenter of BBC2's 'Ancient Egypt: Life and Death in the Valley of the Kings' has written an enthralling account of Nefertiti, one of Egypt's most compelling and mysterious figures. Wife of the controversial pharaoh Akhenaten, she lived through perhaps the most tumultuous period in the country's long history. The so-called Amarna Period has long held a fascination - not just for the enormous changes it brought to the religion, art and administration of Egypt, but for the many mysteries which surround it. Mysteries, that is, until now. Leading Egyptologist Dr Joann Fletcher has taken a fresh eye to the evidence and arrived at one of the most dramatic discoveries in recent times. Working with a team of leading experts, she has identified a long-forgotten mummy as the body of a female pharaoh of the Amarna Period, whom she believes is Nefertiti herself. Lying for over three thousand years in an unused side chamber of Tomb KV.35 in the Valley of the Kings, it tells a story which will forever change the way in which we view Nefertiti - and indeed women throughout Egyptian history. Now at last we see the full significance of her role as co-regent and later Pharaoh of Egypt, as well as understanding the astonishing luxury and decadence of her life in Amarna - a life she led as the country around her began to disintegrate.

Taking an eye-opening new approach to Egyptian history, Chronicle of a Pharaoh presents a unique and intimate portrait of Amenhotep III, the man and self-proclaimed god who presided over the zenith of Egypt's greatness. Through an unprecedented wealth of details--from the day-to-day running of a huge empire to his clothes, cats, and bedroom habits--the private and public faces of a pharaoh are vividly brought to life as never before. Joann Fletcher explores Amenhotep's private and public life in a compelling year-by-year account, drawing on firsthand and previously unpublished material. Among the many subjects covered are his daily schedule, such as bedchamber ceremonies and meetings with ministers; his relations with rulers of other ancient superpowers, recorded in a lively correspondence covering topics from new wives to the price of silver; his family life, including the remarkable role of his wife, Queen Tiy; the superlative art of the reign; and his monumental construction projects--among them the great temple of Luxor. Amenhotep III also established the cult of Aten, the sun disk, and after Amenhotep's death his son, the rebel pharaoh Akhenaten, became fanatically obsessed with the god. Illustrated with spectacular full-color photographs, maps, and artifacts, many of which are published here for the first time, Chronicle of a Pharaoh provides the full context for understanding the monarch who presided over the magnificent flowering of Egyptian civilization.

The subject of myth for more than two millennia, Cleopatra has long been obscured by Roman propaganda, Shakespearean tragedy, and Hollywood glamour. Yet Cleopatra was a woman of passion, magnetism, and political genius, the last and perhaps the greatest Egyptian pharaoh. In Cleopatra the Great, world-renowned Egyptologist Joann Fletcher draws on a wealth of newly discovered information and research to reveal this vital woman as she truly was?a polymath monarch; a potent combination of traditionalist and innovator; an astute futurist; and a ruthless opportunist who would let nothing stand in her way. Cleopatra the Great tells the story of a turbulent time and the extraordinary woman at its center. Intelligent and compulsively readable, this is an unparalleled biography worthy of one of history's most fascinating leaders: politician, mother, and goddess, the legendary Cleopatra.