The author of the acclaimed Gods, Graves, and Scholars tells the dramatic tale of the Hittites, an Indo-European people who became a dominant power in the Middle East. Their struggle in Egypt with Ramses II for control of Syria led to one of the greatest battles of the ancient world. The fall of the Hittite empire was sudden, and historical records were scarce--until the discovery of cuneiform tablets yielded a rich store of information on which this work is based. "...a saga richly charged with dramatic twists and with enthralling accounts of scholarly detective work."--The Atlantic.

"The author of the acclaimed Gods, Graves, and Scholars tells the dramatic tale of the Hittites, an Indo-European people who became a dominant power in the Middle East. Their struggle in Egypt with Ramses II for control of Syria led to one of the greatest battles of the ancient world. The fall of the Hittite empire was sudden, and historical records were scarce--until the discovery of cuneiform tablets yielded a rich store of information on which this work is based. "...a saga richly charged with dramatic twists and with enthralling accounts of scholarly detective work."--The Atlantic."

The Hittites, one of the most powerful peoples of the ancient Near East, successfully challenged all other nations, including almighty Egypt, from their Anatolian stronghold. Then, their empire collapsed, was consigned to oblivion, and lay forgotten. Three thousand years later, a motley group of scholars, archaeologists, and adventurers rediscovered the Hittites in an enterprise spanning a century and weaving through the worlds of German kaisers, Turkish sultans, and even the Nazis. This is the history of the rediscovery of the Hittites, a story packed with intrigue and played out against a compelling historical backdrop. It involves colorful characters like an explorer fluent in 29 languages and an archaeologist who slept in royal tombs, along with Victorian historians, cuneiform experts, code-crackers, and grave robbers. These unlikely sleuths uncovered the very roots of the Hittite Empire.

Lost to history for millennia, the Hittites have regained their position among the great civilizations of the Late Bronze Age Near East, thanks to a century of archaeological discovery and philological investigation. The Hittites and Their World provides a concise, current, and engaging introduction to the history, society, and religion of this Anatolian empire, taking the reader from its beginnings in the period of the Assyrian Colonies in the nineteenth century B.C.E. to the eclipse of the Neo-Hittite cities at the end of the eighth century B.C.E. The numerous analogues with the biblical world featured throughout the volume together represent a comprehensive and up-to-date survey of the varied and significant contributions of Hittite studies to biblical interpretation.

The spear used by Longinus, the Roman centurion, to pierce the side of Christ as he hung on the cross has long been believed to be an object of great supernatural and occult power, with the capacity for good or evil. It has been sought by the most powerful figures in history, who have believed that its power, as the Spear of Destiny, can change history. The spear's history from the Dark Ages to the Twentieth century is a dark one, of mystery and death. Alec Maclellan tracks the spear from mention in the Bible through sagas of the Middle Ages to its last known resting place, as a prized possession of Adolf Hitler