Author Description

Originally published in two volumes in 1957, this is the second volume devoted to the rich history of the ancient Egyptian city of Alexandria and focuses on the time of Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt, "whose magic enthralled two of the most eminent Romans of their times and brought one of them to ruin." "[For] one will find in the chronicles of Alexandria every form of human passion. He will see a procession of kings both good and evil. He will become acquainted with emperors of lofty vision and with others whose degradation of mind and action surpasses belief. He will view periods in which human happiness reaches one of its higher points, when the arts and sciences flourish in a golden age. He will witness the rapid change to eras of tumult and civil war when storms of incredible human brutality sweep across the scene. And through these changing patterns of human happiness and human woe he may be able to understand more easily the reasons why the world is so often shaken by evil forces. And he may also derive the hope that these storms like others finally pass away and more benevolent periods emerge at last from the rack and ruin of the past." Richly illustrated throughout with maps, pictures and figures.