Templum Knight Trilogy

"A triumph of fantasy!" (Journal of Always) "Derek Prior always produces masterpieces of storytelling, with great characters full of life, relentless plots, and gripping and intense fight scenes." (Mitchell Hogan) The entire classic trilogy in one volume! Includes: 1. Sword of the Archon 2. Best Laid Plans 3. The Unweaving (Originally published as Shader: Against the Unweaving, Templum Knight Trilogy is a totally revised new edition) An exemplary knight and veteran of a horrific battle against the undead armies of the Lich Lord, Deacon Shader must compete for his Order's highest office and attempt to become the Keeper of the Sword of the Archon. Succeed or fail, he plans to desert the Order and become a contemplative monk on the far side of the world. The transition is not a smooth one, and Shader, a deserter, is hunted by the religious authorities he used to serve. When a powerful artifact is stolen from the abbey he joins as a novice, Shader, the only fighting man among the monks, is sent to retrieve it. But events have already spiraled out of control: plague spreads across the land, the dead rise from their graves, and an ancient evil has awakened. As Creation itself hangs by a thread, Shader must confront the contradiction that defines him: Either he is a man of prayer with a wavering faith, Or the deadliest warrior of his generation. The fate of all the worlds will be decided by his answer.

A knight in the Holy Land. A woman in the frozen north. A war that kept them apart... Among the last bastion of God's holy warriors determined to save Jerusalem from the Muslims, Arn Magnusson of the Knights Templar is renowned as a man of compassion, strength, and faith, even among the enemy Saracens–Saladin and his Muslim followers. Yet, neither time nor distance can lessen Arn's pain of separation from his beloved Cecilia; confined to a cloister back home in western GÖtaland, his betrothed, the mother of their newborn son, is a pawn in a war between clans vying for control of the crown. And when an accident of fate brings together Arn and Saladin, an unlikely friendship is forged that will alter the course of the Templar knight's life, and the history of Jerusalem itself.

Given that Islam predominates in over thirty countries around the world, the history of the Islamic world requires a broad perspective. This in-depth look at the history of the religion and culture of Islam and the Muslim people covers the extreme breadth of the topic while still maintaining a detailed focus on the key people and events of the long and fascinating history of the Islamic World.

A long, often fractious history has shaped relations between present-day Israel and the emerging Palestinian autonomous areas. This area of the MIddle East has a significant role as the cradle of two of the world’s major monotheistic religions and as well as a home to ancient sacred monuments and relics. This penetrating volume traces the history of land that is beloved and claimed by two cultures that share a common past and have been inexorably linked for centuries, based primarily on their love for—and claim to—a common homeland.

The combination of portrait statue, monumental support, and public lettering was considered emblematic of Roman public space even in antiquity. This book examines ancient Roman statues and their bases, tombs, dedicatory altars, and panels commemorating gifts of civic beneficence made by the Augustales, civic groups composed primarily of wealthy ex-slaves. Margaret L. Laird examines how these monuments functioned as protagonists in their built and social environments by focusing on archaeologically attested commissions made by the Augustales in Roman Italian towns. Integrating methodologies from art history, architectural history, social history, and epigraphy with archaeological and sociological theories of community, she considers how dedications and their accompanying inscriptions created webs of association and transformed places of display into sites of local history. Understanding how these objects functioned in ancient cities, the book argues, illuminates how ordinary Romans combined public lettering, honorific portraits, emperor worship, and civic philanthropy to express their communal identities.

A guide to the religions of the world and to the concepts, movements, people, and events that have shaped them. It includes features such as: entries on religious movements and concepts, historical and legendary figures, divinities, religious sites and ceremonies; images that show sacred places, vestments, rituals, objects, and texts; and more.