Historical Fictionistas discussion

Hi, everybody!

Well, I have been thoroughly infected by the Ptolemy bug. I am trying to put together a broad selection of nonfiction books to read on the Ptolemies or any related subjects that may touch on the Ptolemies. Mega bonus points if the book is also in audio format, since I do most of my "reading" while I'm driving these days.

I've already read The Rise and Fall of Alexandria: Birthplace of the Modern Mind (AMAZING, and the reason for my current obsession) and I am literally listening to Cleopatra: A Life right now.

Need more!!!

Good fiction is also welcome, but I'm especially keen on nonfiction right now. I know we're all Historical FICTIONistas here, but I figure most of you all enjoy reading historical nonfiction as much as I do, too. :)

Thanks!

Did you read or listen to the The Rise and Fall? It looks really interesting. Wondering if the audio is any good.

I listened to it. It's wonderful! Narrated by Simon Vance, one of my favorite audiobook narrators.

Cleopatra: A Life is a good biography of the last of the Ptolemys.

I'm really enjoying listening to it today at work. Wish I could speak nine languages fluently. I'd be happy with two. ;)

I love Simon Vance as a reader as well, L.M.! (Just as an off-topic aside, if you also enjoy modern thrillers, he reads Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy, and it's AMAZING.)

Regarding your request... What about these two? I haven't read either of them, but they look interesting!
A History of Egypt Under the Ptolemaic Dynasty by John Pentland Mahaffy

(ETA: I just found this one online for download free here: https://archive.org/details/ahistorye... )
or
The Last Pharaohs: Egypt Under the Ptolemies, 305–30 BC by J.G. Manning

Awesome -- I'll check them out! Thanks!

(Simon Vance doing whichever of the two Hilary Mantel Tudor books he does...OMG. The other narrator is also amazing and also named Simon, so I can't keep them straight in my head.)

Oh boy, ha, considering I'm doing my own extensive research on the Ptolemies right now you've come to the right place. I have a huge wishlist. Yes on J G Manning and Mahaffy, for starters. Also: Memphis Under the Ptolemies by Dorothy Thompson; The Ptolemaic Empire by Gunther Holbl; Dividing the Spoils by Robin Waterfield; Ptolemy of Egypt by Walter Ellis; Cleopatras by John Whitehorn; Crown of Arsinoe II by Maria Nilsson; The Legacy of Alexander by A Bosworth; The Ptolemies, the Sea, and the Nile by Kostas Buraselis; Egypt After the Pharaohs by Bowman; Ghost on the Throne by James Romm; Twilight of the Hellenistic world by Mike Roberts; Sunken Egypt by Franck Goddio; The Wars of Alexander's Successors volumes 1 and 2 by Bob Bennett; Egypt from Alexander to the Copts by Roger Bagnall; Hellenistic Egypt by Jean Bingen; Imagination of a Monarchy by R Hazzard... and that just scratches the surface - I'm also researching the Hellenistic world as a whole and biographies of the other diadochi who were the Ptolemies' rivals. I should warn you that much of this is seriously dry academic reading. If you're interested in primary sources, just say and I can list those too.

Now that's a list!

Wow Isis!

Oh, wow. Thanks, Isis! You're the bomb!

Lol, my full list is much longer but I realised I'd better curtail myself, as I'm reading anything and everything remotely to do with the Ptolemies, the Hellenistic world, and their rivals, and the above mentioned is way more than enough to get started with for anyone interested in the Ptolemies.