Asked by @Sepherd to create The Best #booksreviews On The Ancient #Mediterranean #Classics Beyond The Usual! The Books I Picked & Why...

No. 1 is Language of Amarna - Better known as Amarna Heresy, a philosophical discussion from Ancient Egypt's #Babylon about Monotheism and Trinity written 3,000 years ago.

My No. 2 is The Secret History of Egypt at the Time of the Exodus by Osman, a British #Egyptologist born in Cairo who says that Moses was born in Egypt and that Tut-Ankh-Amun had a very similar “story” to Jesus.

My personal favourite of Ancient Mediterranean classics, printed more than 5,000 years ago is Inanna, Lady of Largest Heart: Poems of the Sumerian High Priestess Enheduanna Enheduanna (who wrote in Sumerian), dating to around 2400 BC. Enheduanna is the earliest known Female Poet. She was the High Priestess of the goddess Inanna and the moon god Nanna (Sin). She lived in the Sumerian city-state of Ur in Syria.

#4 is The Derveni Papyrus: #Cosmology, #Theology found in Macedonia now in Thessaloniki Museum, Greece.

Published in 340 BC it is an Orphic book of mystical initiations. The scroll was carefully unrolled and the fragments joined together, thus forming 26 columns of text. which was used in the mystery cult of #Dionysus by the 'Orphic initiators'. It is a philosophical treatise written as a commentary on an Orphic poem, a Theogony concerning the birth of the gods, compiled in the circle of the #philosopher AnaXagoras.

The scroll contains a philosophical treatise on a lost poem describing the birth of the gods and other beliefs focusing on Orpheus, the mythical musician who visited the underworld to reclaim his dead love. The Orpheus cult tells us of a single creator god, of the trinity, of resurrection, of a virgin's child, back in the Macedonian region of Ancient Greece that was the Ancient Europe during 400 BC... Both Orpheus and Heraclitus compose allegories about the secrets of nature and of God. In the Orphic cosmogony, he was writing only for the "pure in hearing". 

I think I love this book even more than Death by Silver.

Same quality writing (still, there are a few pesky typos, but who cares, they are just that - typos), with amazing characters. Take Dolly Hall, for example. He dies in the very beginning of the book, but his presence is palpable all the way through the end. Challice, the poor soul. Stuck in a straight marriage, thinking himself an abomination at the same time longing for family and kids. There is not much of him in this story, either, but I couldn't help worrying about him and his wife.
Magic. Spells. Curses. Sex magic. Forbidden magic. Evil creatures. Half House. No, literally, Half House :) Yeah... pretty cool!
London. I was attached to both my ipad and my phone, following the streets on Google Maps and checking out the landmarks while reading. I only visited all the usual tourist traps for the most part when I was there, but it made it easier for me to orient myself. London is one of the most spectacular cities I've ever seen (step aside, Paris!) and one of my favorites.
Evil sorcerer. Well, not quite a sorcerer, but he used some pretty weird messed up magic. This time he was much harder to pin. In Death by Silver the murderer was very predictable and it caused me a lot of frustration. Every time the said criminal was on page, I couldn't help but yell at the boys: Right there! See? How can you be so blind! Figure it out already!
I could not put the book down and didn't want it to end. If you love KJ Charles, you will like this, too.
The MCs are under much pressure where their affection for each other is concerned (those were the times *sign*), so don't expect prolonged or explicit sex scenes. But the tenderness is there.

Very much recommended.

The House of Dionysus is a new group on Goodreads for the discussion of m/m set against the backdrop of the Greco-Roman world.

Lisa Henry, JP Kenwood and I are open to questions about our stories and the ancient world, Classical History in particular. Please drop by and chat.