In volume one, Crisis in Alamut, Dastan arrives in the holy city of Alamut, where he is wanted for a number of heinous crimes he did not commit.

The Walls of Babylon is a radically revisionist reading of the Revelation to John, offering startling insights into the historical roots of Gnosticism, the social dynamics of early Christianity, and the shattering impact of apocalyptic eschatology. Based on a careful analysis of the text, David Arthur argues that the motivating circumstance for Revelation was provided not by external Roman oppression but by a fierce internal dispute between gnostic and proto-orthodox factions within the early church. In the ensuing controversy, John did not side with ecclesiastical officials, as might be expected, but instead took up the cause of the persecuted outcasts. Following the precedent of the classical prophets, he speaks as a champion for the downtrodden and dispossessed––represented, for him, by the gnostic heretics. The book he has left us presents a fiery symbolic rebuke of proto-orthodox Christianity, and by extension, challenges normative religious paradigms at every level of belief and praxis.

Archaeological and scholarly investigation underlies a study of the cultural, political, architectural, social, and historical development and significance of the ancient metropolis

“A lively popular history of an oft-overlooked element in the development of human society” (Library Journal)—walls—and a haunting and eye-opening saga that reveals a startling link between what we build and how we live. With esteemed historian David Frye as our raconteur-guide in Walls, which Publishers Weekly praises as “informative, relevant, and thought-provoking,” we journey back to a time before barriers of brick and stone even existed—to an era in which nomadic tribes vied for scarce resources, and each man was bred to a life of struggle. Ultimately, those same men would create edifices of mud, brick, and stone, and with them effectively divide humanity: on one side were those the walls protected; on the other, those the walls kept out. The stars of this narrative are the walls themselves—rising up in places as ancient and exotic as Mesopotamia, Babylon, Greece, China, Rome, Mongolia, Afghanistan, the lower Mississippi, and even Central America. As we journey across time and place, we discover a hidden, thousand-mile-long wall in Asia's steppes; learn of bizarre Spartan rituals; watch Mongol chieftains lead their miles-long hordes; witness the epic siege of Constantinople; chill at the fate of French explorers; marvel at the folly of the Maginot Line; tense at the gathering crisis in Cold War Berlin; gape at Hollywood’s gated royalty; and contemplate the wall mania of our own era. Hailed by Kirkus Reviews as “provocative, well-written, and—with walls rising everywhere on the planet—timely,” Walls gradually reveals the startling ways that barriers have affected our psyches. The questions this book summons are both intriguing and profound: Did walls make civilization possible? And can we live without them? Find out in this masterpiece of historical recovery and preeminent storytelling.

This study presents the famous city of Babylon in its latest phase of occupation: from the end of the Achaemenid period (second half of the fourth century B.C.), during the reign of Alexander, the Successors, the Seleucid and Arsacid dynasty until the very end of cuneiform literature and other historical sources (around third-fourth century AD). It contains first of all a survey of the available Classical and Oriental sources (chapter 1), a topography of the city (chapter 2), an overview of political events and Babylon's role in the Empire (chapter 3). Furthermore Babylon's institutions (chapter 4), its social and economic (chapter 5), religious (chapter 6) and cultural (chapter 7) life are discussed. Finally, Babylon's legacy and its significance for later cultures appears in chapter 8.

"Identifies and locates one of the Ancient World wonders -- New description of a very early garden and the technology behind its water supply -- Identifies the early occurrence of the "Water-raising Screw" -- Links Assyrian texts and sculpture to later classical sources and explains legends surrounding the characters of Semiramis and Nebuchadnezzar -- Reassesses specific sculpture in the British Museum." --Publisher.

The north and the west and the south are good hunting ground, but it is forbidden to go east. It is forbidden to go to any of the Dead Places except to search for metal and then he who touches the metal must be a priest or the son of a priest. Afterwards, both the man and the metal must be purified. These are the rules and the laws; they are well made. It is forbidden to cross the great river and look upon the place that was the Place of the Gods-this is most strictly forbidden. We do not even say its name though we know its name. It is there that spirits live, and demons-it is there that there are the ashes of the Great Burning. These things are forbidden- they have been forbidden since the beginning of time.