Valerio Massimo Manfredi est un historien, écrivain et archéologue italien qui se consacre au monde antique. Ses œuvres, souvent situées dans des contextes historiques, s'appuient sur sa connaissance approfondie de l'histoire et de l'archéologie. À travers ses romans, il redonne vie à d'anciennes civilisations, explorant les destins humains dans le contexte du passé. Les lecteurs sont attirés par sa capacité à les immerger dans des mondes remplis d'aventure, de mystère et de résonance historique.
Il meurt à 33 ans après avoir changé le cours de l'Histoire et réalisé son rêve : conquérir le Monde. Le rêve d'Alexandre est en train de s'accomplir. Darius vaincu, plus rien ne s'oppose à sa volonté de puissance et à son désir d'unifier le monde. Tyrans et satrapes orientaux se rendent un à un. En 328, il épouse Roxane. Ivre de conquêtes il se lance à l'assaut de l'Inde, sans prendre garde aux complots qui se trament derrière lui. Insensible à la peur de ses soldats, il marche sur le Gange.
Quelle malédiction relie l'anéantissement mystérieux d'une cohorte de légionnaires romains, au cœur des déserts d'Afrique, sous César, et la disparition, au début de notre siècle, de l'anthropologue Desmond Garrett, après sa découverte d'une Bible noire dans la bibliothèque du Vatican ? Courant à sa recherche, de Pompéi à Jérusalem, de Pétra à Antioche, son fils Philip saura-t-il le retrouver et le sauver ? Et qui, surtout, de la belle Arad, héritière des antiques reines noires, de l'implacable Selznick, ou du mythique peuple des Blemmis, détient le secret qui lui permettra d'affronter la tour de la solitude ?
THE BESTSELLING EPIC OF GLORY AND GRANDEUR, INTRIGUES AND PASSIONS OF ANCIENT GREECE...AND THE WARRIOR KING WHOSE CONQUESTS BUILT AN ETERNAL LEGEND. Who bloodied the Star of the Argeads? Who killed my father? Continuing the epic saga of Alexander the Great, The Sands of Ammon brilliantly describes Alexander's quest to conquer Asia, the limitless domain ruled by Darius, the Great King of Persia. A thousand years after Agamemnon fought the Trojan War, Alexander, the king of Macedonia and descendant of Achilles, follows in the footsteps of Greek legend. In a seemingly impossible venture, the Macedonians storm Anatolian and Persian fortresses and harbours, liberating the Greek cities of Asia, from legendary Sardis and Miletus to Halicarnassus. But the Island City of Tyre and the Towers of Gaza prove to be formidable obstacles. Undeterred, Alexander's war machine surges forth over land and sea to the mysterious land of Ægypt. And there, in the sands, lies the Oracle of Ammon, waiting to reveal an amazing truth to Alexander.
L'an 476 marque officiellement la fin de l'Empire romain mais il y a longtemps déjà que Vandales, Huns et Wisigoths ravagent et occupent la Gaule et l'Italie. Alaric a pris Rome et Constantin a choisi Byzance pour capitale. En détrônant l'enfant Romulus Augustule, le chef goth Odoacre met à mort l'Empire disloqué. Le Barbare épargne néanmoins la vie du dernier des Césars adolescents. C'est l'exil, et la fuite vers les confins septentrionaux, sous la protection d'Aurélius, commandant d'une légion décimée. Une extraordinaire découverte, une épée à l'inscription mystérieuse, oriente alors le voyage : cette arme légendaire semble leur indiquer les brumes du pays breton... Une prodigieuse rencontre entre deux civilisations menacées, entre le légionnaire romain et le chevalier celte, entre les survivants du Capitole et la cour du roi Arthur. Notre civilisation occidentale a peut-être commencé à cet instant-là.
March, 44 BC. Rome, in all her glory, has expanded her territories beyond the wildest dreams of her citizens, led by Caius Julius Caesar -- Pontifex Maximus, dictator perpetuo, invincible military leader and only fifty-six years old. He is a man in command of his destiny, who wields enormous power throughout the vast empire. However his god-given mission - to end the blood-splattered fratricidal wars, reconcile implacably hostile factions and preserve Roman civilization and world order - is teetering dangerously close to collapse... His power is draining away. None of his supporters can stop the inexorably evolving plot against him and prophecy will explode into truth on the Ides of March and the world will change forever. This is political thriller laced through with all the intrigue and action surrounding one of the most crucial turning points in the history of western civilization.
The first novel in Manfredi's outstanding trilogy of brutal passion and grand adventure in ancient Greece.
The 4th century BC. A village in Syria. A woman, dressed in rags and covered in blisters and sores, is seen approaching on the road coming from the north. Suspicious of her, the villagers shout and throw rocks at her. She is struck and falls. She seems dead. Her story encompasses one of the great collective acts of heroism of the ancient world
The first title in the epic following the life of Odysseus - adventure, passion and battle in ancient Greece.
In ancient Greece, two sons are born to a noble Spartan family. One is strong and healthy, the other lame and feeble. Cruel Spartan law decrees that the crippled baby must be killed and his father reluctantly abandons him to the wolves of Mount Taygetus. But by chance, and unbeknown to his grieving parents, the child is found and saved by a Helot - the once proud race of men now enslaved by Sparta.
This title is set in Southern Anatolia, 260 AD. The town of Edessa, a Roman outpost, is on its last legs, besieged by the Persian troops of Shapur I. Roman Emperor Licinius Valerianus agrees to meet his adversary to draw up a peace treaty, but it is only a trap and the Emperor and his twelve guards are chained and dragged away to work as prisoners in a solitary Persian turquoise mine. After months of forced labour, the Emperor dies, but his guards make a daring escape lead by the heroic and enigmatic chief, Marcus Metellus Aquila. They meet a mysterious, exiled Chinese Prince, Dan Qing, and agree to safeguard his journey home to reconquest his throne from his mortal enemy, a eunuch named Wei. Thus, begins the adventures of the Romans and the Prince as they journey to China. There, they will discover that they aren't the first of their kind to arrive in they were preceded centuries before by the survivors of the 'lost legion'.
