A Word Only a Word

Nineteenth century novel from the German Egyptologist and novelist who discovered the Egyptian medical papyrus at Luxor. Ebers early conceived the idea of popularizing Egyptian lore by means of historical romances. His first novel, An Egyptian Princess was published in 1864 and obtained great success. His subsequent works of the same kind Uarda (1877), Homo sum (1878) - of which the scene is laid in Egypt at the time of Hadrian - Serapis (1885) and Cleopatra (1894), were also well received, and did much to make the public familiar with the discoveries of Egyptologists. Ebers also turned his attention to other fields of historical fiction-especially the 16th century (The Burgomaster's Wife, 1882) without, however, attaining the success of his Egyptian novels.