Mysterious Lands covers two kinds of encounters. First, encounters which actually occurred between Egypt and specific foreign lands, and second, those the Egyptians created by inventing imaginary lands. Some of the actual foreign lands are mysterious, in that we know of them only through Egyptian sources, both written and pictorial, and the actual locations of such lands remain unknown. These encounters led to reciprocal influences of varying intensity. The Egyptians also created imaginary lands (pseudo-geographic entities with distinctive inhabitants and cultures) in order to meet religious, intellectual and emotional needs. Scholars disagree, sometimes vehemently, about the locations and cultures of some important but geographically disputed actual lands. As for imaginary lands, they continually need to be re-explored as our understanding of Egyptian religion and literature deepens. Mysterious Lands provides a clear account of this subject and will be a stimulating read for scholars, students or the interested public.

"This is a comprehensive reference to the world of unexplained sites, symbols, cities and landscapes. An extensive guide, the book details 40 places and their particular mysteries. A six-page gazetteer at the end of the book includes a further 54 places of mystery throughout the world. Scattered over the planet are the curious ruins of cities, temples and tombs, puzzling earthworks and inscriptions on the land, sacred sites where civilizations have sought communion with the supernatural, and the remnants of lost lands with a proud and prosperous past."--Amazon.com

The Emerald Isle of Ireland has inspired a vast number of legends about lost or sunken lands and cities. These legends predate Roman and Christian influences. This book examines the intriguing nature of these legends and reviews anthropological and geological evidence supporting them. Was these indeed a Tir-fo-Thuin, the Land Under Wave, a combination of the dead and a paradise? Reviewed in Ireland of the Welcomes , Vol. 50, No. 6, November - December 2001, p.54 by Mary OSullivan Stories of sunken cities, monasteries, churches and royal palaces are scattered hither and yon across the broad landscape of Irish folklore. The fishermen of Lough Neagh believe that their huge lake conceals the proud remains of palaces and temples more firmly than the inhabitants of Scotland accept the existence of the Lough Ness monster. Hy Brazil or Hy Breasail, the legendary sunken paradise island is, of course, somewhere off the western seaboard, and thanks to its frequent reappearances on the surface, it persists on maps into the sixteenth century. The great Thomas Westropp reports personal sightings, one evening after sunset in 1887 off the Clare coast and again in 1910, this time on the Mayo coast! There are persistent stories of the image of a stately city clearly visible set in the sky above Galway bay, usually during spells of warm calm sunny weather`Come over next summer with an open mind. You never know your luck!

Rich in the unique metaphor that the desert inspires, enhanced by the author's exquisite line drawings, this book is a delightful and endlessly informing piece of work.

The Earth, its wonders, its secrets. The Earch is dotted with sites that stir the imagination, from sacred grounds and strange landscapes to lost cities and realms steeped in the supernatural. Discover the places that continue to capture our curiousity.

WINNER OF THE PRESIGIOUS ETISALAT AWARD AN ADVENTURE-FILLED HISTORICAL-FOLKLORIC NOVEL ABOUT A PALESTINIAN GIRL WHO DEVELOPS GREAT HEALING SKILLS AND TRAVELS AROUND THE REGION, SOMETIMES DRESSED AS A MAN Sonia Nimr’s award-winning Wondrous Journeys in Strange Lands is a richly imagined feminist-fable-plus-historical-novel that tells an episodic travel narrative, like that of the great 14th century Moroccan traveler Ibn Battuta, through the eyes of a clever and irrepressible young Palestinian woman. The story begins hundreds of years ago, when our hero—Qamr—is born as an outcast, at the foot of a mountain in Palestine, near her father’s strange, isolated village. Qamr’s mother must solve the mystery of why only boys are born in this odd, conservative village. Then, in 1001 Nights style, this tale moves into another. Qamr’s parents die and a prince with many wives wants to marry her. Qamr takes her favorite book, Wondrous Journeys in Strange Lands, and flees through Gaza, to Egypt, where she is captured, enslaved, and sold to the sister of the mad king in Egypt. After escaping, she flees to study with a polymath in Morocco. But when it’s discovered she’s a girl, she must leave again, disguising herself as a boy pirate to sail the Mediterranean. Through all her fast-paced battles, mysteries, and adventures, Qamr never finds a home, but she does manage to create a family.