Alexandria - The Quest for the Lost City

**Chosen as a Book of the Year by the Spectator, Listener and Sydney Morning Herald**

'This is a jewel of a book' - Sunday Times

'One of the great stories of archaeology, exploration and espionage' - William Dalrymple

'Immensely enjoyable' - BBC History Magazine
_______________________

For centuries the city of Alexandria Beneath the Mountains was a meeting point of East and West. Then it vanished. In 1833 it was discovered in Afghanistan by the unlikeliest person imaginable: Charles Masson, an ordinary working-class boy from London turned deserter, pilgrim, doctor, archaeologist and highly respected scholar.

On the way into one of history's most extraordinary stories, Masson would take tea with kings, travel with holy men and become the master of a hundred disguises; he would see things no westerner had glimpsed before and few have glimpsed since. He would spy for the East India Company and be suspected of spying for Russia at the same time, for this was the era of the Great Game, when imperial powers confronted each other in these staggeringly beautiful lands. Masson discovered tens of thousands of pieces of Afghan history, including the 2,000-year-old Bimaran golden casket, which has upon it the earliest known face of the Buddha. He would be offered his own kingdom; he would change the world, and the world would destroy him.

This is a wild journey through nineteenth-century India and Afghanistan, with impeccably researched storytelling that shows us a world of espionage and dreamers, ne'er-do-wells and opportunists, extreme violence both personal and military, and boundless hope. At the edge of empire, amid the deserts and the mountains, it is the story of an obsession passed down the centuries.

'Impressive ... Masson has at last found the intrepid biographer he has so long deserved' - John Keay

'A brilliant and evocative biography, written with consummate scholarship, great style and wit' Daily Telegraph

About the author

Edmund Richardson is Associate Professor of Classics at Durham University. Before coming to Durham, he studied for his PhD in Classics at Cambridge, then crossed the Atlantic for a postdoctoral fellowship at Princeton. In 2016, he was named one of the BBC/AHRC New Generation Thinkers.

Richardson is fascinated by characters on the edge of most histories. He tells tales that seem a little too strange to be true. But in their truth, they change the way you see the world.

Summary

**Chosen as a Book of the Year by the Spectator, Listener and Sydney Morning Herald**

'This is a jewel of a book' - Sunday Times

'One of the great stories of archaeology, exploration and espionage' - William Dalrymple

'Immensely enjoyable' - BBC History Magazine
_______________________

For centuries the city of Alexandria Beneath the Mountains was a meeting point of East and West. Then it vanished. In 1833 it was discovered in Afghanistan by the unlikeliest person imaginable: Charles Masson, an ordinary working-class boy from London turned deserter, pilgrim, doctor, archaeologist and highly respected scholar.

On the way into one of history's most extraordinary stories, Masson would take tea with kings, travel with holy men and become the master of a hundred disguises; he would see things no westerner had glimpsed before and few have glimpsed since. He would spy for the East India Company and be suspected of spying for Russia at the same time, for this was the era of the Great Game, when imperial powers confronted each other in these staggeringly beautiful lands. Masson discovered tens of thousands of pieces of Afghan history, including the 2,000-year-old Bimaran golden casket, which has upon it the earliest known face of the Buddha. He would be offered his own kingdom; he would change the world, and the world would destroy him.

This is a wild journey through nineteenth-century India and Afghanistan, with impeccably researched storytelling that shows us a world of espionage and dreamers, ne'er-do-wells and opportunists, extreme violence both personal and military, and boundless hope. At the edge of empire, amid the deserts and the mountains, it is the story of an obsession passed down the centuries.

'Impressive ... Masson has at last found the intrepid biographer he has so long deserved' - John Keay

'A brilliant and evocative biography, written with consummate scholarship, great style and wit' Daily Telegraph

Foreword

'Not all lost cities are real, but this one was.'

The extraordinary story of Alexander the Great's lost city, and a quest to unravel one of the most captivating mysteries in ancient history

Additional text

Flashman meets Indiana Jones in this rollicking biography of Charles Masson

Product details

• Authors: Dr Edmund (Lecturer in Classics Richardson, Edmund Richardson
• Publisher: Bloomsbury
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 31.05.2021
• EAN: 9781526603784
• ISBN: 978-1-5266-0378-4
• No. of pages: 352
• Dimensions: 160 mm x 240 mm x 35 mm
• Subjects: Non-fiction book; Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900, British Empire, General & world history, Ancient history: to c 500 CE