From renowned underwater archaeologist David Gibbins comes an exciting and rich narrative of human history told through the archaeological discoveries of twelve shipwrecks across time.

The Viking warship of King Cnut the Great. Henry VIII's the Mary Rose. Captain John Franklin's doomed HMS Terror. The SS Gairsoppa, destroyed by a Nazi U-boat in the Atlantic during World War II.

Since we first set sail on the open sea, ships and their wrecks have been an inevitable part of human history. Archaeologists have made spectacular discoveries excavating these sunken ships, their protective underwater cocoon keeping evidence of past civilizations preserved. Now, for the first time, world renowned maritime archeologist David Gibbins ties together the stories of some of the most significant shipwrecks in time to form a single overarching narrative of world history.

A History of the World in Twelve Shipwrecks is not just the story of those ships, the people who sailed on them, and the cargo and treasure they carried, but also the story of the spread of people, religion, and ideas around the world; it is a story of colonialism, migration, and the indominable human spirit that continues today. From the glittering Bronze Age, to the world of Caesar's Rome, through the era of the Vikings, to the exploration of the Arctic, Gibbins uses shipwrecks to tell all.

Drawing on decades of experience excavating shipwrecks around the world, Gibbins reveals the riches beneath the waves and shows us how the treasures found there can be a porthole to the past that tell a new story about the world and its underwater secrets.

From renowned underwater archaeologist David Gibbins comes an exciting and rich narrative of human history told through the archaeological discoveries of twelve shipwrecks across time.

The Viking warship of King Cnut the Great. Henry VIII's the Mary Rose. Captain John Franklin's doomed HMS Terror. The SS Gairsoppa, destroyed by a Nazi U-boat in the Atlantic during World War II.

Since we first set sail on the open sea, ships and their wrecks have been an inevitable part of human history. Archaeologists have made spectacular discoveries excavating these sunken ships, their protective underwater cocoon keeping evidence of past civilizations preserved. Now, for the first time, world renowned maritime archeologist David Gibbins ties together the stories of some of the most significant shipwrecks in time to form a single overarching narrative of world history.

A History of the World in 12 Shipwrecks is not just the story of those ships, the people who sailed on them, and the cargo and treasure they carried, but also the story of the spread of people, religion, and ideas around the world; it is a story of colonialism, migration, and the indominable human spirit that continues today. From the glittering Bronze Age, to the world of Caesar's Rome, through the era of the Vikings, to the exploration of the Arctic, Gibbins uses shipwrecks to tell all.

Drawing on decades of experience excavating shipwrecks around the world, Gibbins reveals the riches beneath the waves and shows us how the treasures found there can be a porthole to the past that tell a new story about the world and its underwater secrets.

How far would you go for Rome?

Carthage, 146 BC.

This is the story of Fabius Petronius Secundus - Roman legionary and centurion - and his rise to power: from his first battle against the Macedonians, that seals the fate of Alexander the Great's Empire, to total war in North Africa and the Siege of Carthage.

Fabius's success brings him admiration and respect, but also attracts greed and jealousy - the closest allies can become the bitterest of enemies. And then there is Julia, of the Caesar family - a dark horse in love with both Fabius and his rival Paullus - who causes a vicious feud.

Ultimately for Fabius, it will come down to one question: how much is he prepared to sacrifice for his vision of Rome?

Inspired by Total War: Rome II, the bestselling Total War series, Destroy Carthage is the first in an epic series of novels from David Gibbins. Not only the tale of one man's fate, it is also a journey to the core of Roman times, through the world of extraordinary military tactics and political intrigue that Rome's warriors and citizens used to cheat death.

AD 439: The Roman Empire is on the brink of collapse. With terrifying speed a Vandal army has swept through the Roman provinces of Spain and North Africa, conquering Carthage and threatening Roman control of the Mediterranean. But a far greater threat lies to the east, a barbarian force born in the harsh steppelands of central Asia, warriors of unparalleled savagery who will sweep all before them in their thirst for conquest - the army of Attila the Hun.

For a small group of Roman soldiers and a mysterious British monk, the only defense is to rise above the corruption and weakness of the Roman emperors and hark back to the glory days of the army centuries before, to find strength in history. Led by Flavius, a young tribune, and his trusty centurion Macrobius, they fight a last-ditch battle against the Vandals in North Africa before falling back to Rome, where they regroup and prepare for the onslaught to come. Flavius learns that the British monk who had fled with them from Carthage is more than he seems, and he is drawn into a shady world of intelligence and intrigue under the aegis of Flavius' uncle Aetius, commander-in-chief of the Roman armies in the west, the man who alone has the power to rally Rome and her allies and save the western empire from annihilation.

Aetius is desperate to buy time until his army is strong enough to confront the Huns on the field of battle, and meanwhile will do anything to undermine their strength. Together they devise a plan of astonishing audacity that will take Flavius and Macrobius across the frontier and far up the river Danube to the heart of darkness itself, to the stronghold of the most feared warrior-emperor the world has ever known - and into alliance with the emperor's daughter, a warrior-princess who has sworn vengeance against her father for the death of her mother. In the showdown to come, in the greatest battle the Romans have ever fought, victory will go to those who can hold high the most potent symbol of war ever wrought by man - the sacred sword of Attila.

The latest Jack Howard thriller from marine archaeologist and internationally bestselling mastermind David Gibbins.

The Holy Grail is about to be unearthed. . .

258
As the blood of martyred Christians runs through Rome's catacombs, Pope Sixtus entrusts their most sacred object to a devoted follower. Soon after, the Holy Grail disappears into the darkness of time.
1684
While overseeing the evacuation of the English colony of Tangier, Samuel Pepys attempts to retrieve a treasure which has resurfaced after more than a thousand years. Meanwhile, a Jewish merchant is tortured by the Altamanus, a secret group determined to locate the Grail.

Present Day
A wreck off the Cornish coast reveals clues to a mystery that marine archaeologist Jack Howard had thought beyond solving. He embarks on an epic quest that takes him to the sunken ruins of the pirate city of Port Royal in Jamaica. But the specter of the deadly Inquisition dogs his every step, and Jack must face a descent into hell itself if he is to uncover the greatest reward in Christendom.

Perfect for fans of Clive Cussler and Dan Brown, Pyramid is a thrilling new adventure starring fearless marine archaeologist Jack Howard, in a heart-stopping quest to uncover an ancient Egyptian secret--and make the most amazing discovery of our time.

EVERYONE KNEW THE STORY OF ANCIENT EGYPT.
UNTIL NOW.

For thousands of years, Egypt was a rich, ingenious civilization. Then it became a fertile hunting ground for archaeologists and explorers. Now the streets of Cairo teem with violence as a political awakening shakes the region. In the face of overwhelming danger, Jack Howard and his team of marine archaeologists have gathered pieces of a fantastic puzzle. But putting it together may cost them their lives.

Howard has connected a mystery hidden inside a great pyramid to a fossilized discovery in the Red Sea and a 110-year-old handwritten report of a man who claims to have escaped a labyrinth beneath Cairo. For that his team is stalked by a brutal extremist organization that will destroy any treasure they find.

As people fight and die for their rights aboveground, Jack fights for a discovery that will shed an astounding new light on the greatest story ever told: Moses's exodus from Egypt and the true beginnings of a new chapter in human history.

Praise for the novels of David Gibbins

What do you get if you cross Indiana Jones with Dan Brown? Answer: David Gibbins.--Daily Mirror (U.K.), on Atlantis

An exciting mix of fact and fiction, with shades of Clive Cussler and Indiana Jones.--York Evening Press, on Crusader Gold

Perfect for fans of Clive Cussler and Dan Brown, Pharaoh is a pulse-pounding new adventure starring intrepid marine archaeologist Jack Howard, on the trail of a shattering revelation about an ancient secret buried deep under the Egyptian pyramids.

1351 BC: Akhenaten the Sun-Pharaoh rules supreme in Egypt . . . until the day he casts off his crown and mysteriously disappears into the desert, his legacy seemingly swallowed up by the remote sands beneath the Great Pyramids of Giza.

AD 1884: A British soldier serving in the Sudan stumbles upon an incredible discovery--a submerged temple containing evidence of a terrifying religion whose god was fed by human sacrifice. The soldier is on a mission to reach General Gordon before Khartoum falls. But he hides a secret of his own.

Present day: Jack Howard and his team are excavating one of the most amazing underwater sites they have ever encountered, but dark forces are watching to see what they will find. Diving into the Nile, they enter a world three thousand years back in history, inhabited by a people who have sworn to guard the greatest secret of all time.

Praise for Pharaoh

David Gibbins's] love of archaeology and of diving really brings these books to life. . . . Add to this . . . a true passion for history and a writing skill that has grown book by book. By the time we get to Pharaoh the series is a serious example of how this genre should be written; it does not get much better than this. . . . Gibbins makes the astounding seem more than plausible, he writes the history in such a way that the myth feels factual or at least highly plausible, and it's more that just places and names; it's a philosophical undertone to the extended plot, to the ethos of Jack Howard and his search for the facts and the truth. . . . History, mystery and myth all brought together to astound the reading senses . . . a true leader of his genre and his art.--Parmenion Books

Utterly absorbing . . . When the adventure is as exciting as it is here, it is too good not to be allowed to speak for itself. . . . Put aside your assumptions of what a thriller should be and instead immerse yourself in one of the best historical adventures you'll read this year.--For Winter Nights

Praise for David Gibbins

What do you get if you cross Indiana Jones with Dan Brown? Answer: David Gibbins.--Daily Mirror (U.K.), on Atlantis

An exciting mix of fact and fiction, with shades of Clive Cussler and Indiana Jones.--York Evening Press, on Crusader Gold

Two ancient cultures, a lost treasure from the distant past: what powerful secrets does it conceal--and how far will some go to possess them? Dive into a new full-throttle hunt from master of the action-adventure thriller David Gibbins, as he unleashes...

The trail starts in the Roman ruins and leads to a shipwreck off the coast of Egypt. Soon the world's top marine archaeologist, Jack Howard, and his team of scientific experts and ex-Special Forces adventurers are pushing their way through the mysterious jungles of India, following in the footsteps of a legendary band of missing Roman legionnaires. Meanwhile, at a remote lake in Kyrgyzstan, a beautiful woman has found evidence of a secret knowledge that has cost the lives of countless seekers through the centuries. And what Jack uncovers will lead him to dig not only into the ancient past but into his own family history. For over a century earlier his great-great-grandfather returned from an archaeological expedition in India forever traumatized by what he'd experienced. And in order to lay the past to rest, Jack will have to unearth an artifact that might have been better left buried--and with it a power that some of history's most ruthless tyrants have sought to rule the world....

From an extraordinary discovery in a remote desert oasis to a desperate race against time in the ocean depths, a team of adventurers is about to find the truth behind the most baffling legend in history. The hunt is on for...

Marine archaeologist Jack Howard has stumbled upon the keys to an ancient puzzle. With a crack team of scientific experts and ex-Special Forces commandos, he is heading for what he believes could be the greatest archaeological find of all time--the site of fabled Atlantis--while a ruthless adversary watches his every move and prepares to strike.

But neither of them could have imagined what awaits them in the murky depths. Not only a shocking truth about a lost world, but an explosive secret that could have devastating consequences today. Jack is determined to stop the legacy of Atlantis from falling into the wrong hands, whatever the cost. But first he must do battle to prevent a global catastrophe.

Atlantis. The world's mightiest empire. Its secrets have been lost to the ocean's depths, but in this high-action race against the clock, marine archaeologist Jack Howard is about to find out that the gods of Atlantis live on--through a terrifying new evil.

A lost Nazi bunker in a forest in Germany contains a dreadful secret. But is there a horrifying new dimension to the Nazis' rule of terror? When Jack Howard, head of the International Maritime University, and his team of adventurers return to the lost island of Atlantis in the Black Sea, they realize they're not just on the trail of the most sought-after treasures in history but are about to uncover a surprising link between Atlantis and the 1930s expeditions of Himmler's Ahnenerbe, the Nazis' Department of Cultural Heritage. But unbeknownst to Jack, shadowy figures from his past are joining forces--and they have their own ghastly vision for a new Atlantis. Can he stop them before it's too late?

For centuries, people have speculated about the fabled lost libraries of antiquity. If one were found, what marvels would it contain? Now a fearless team of adventurers is about to unearth that long-hidden secret, and it will lead them to the most astonishing discovery ever made.

In the treacherous waters off the rugged Sicilian coast, marine archaeologist Jack Howard and his team of scientific experts and ex-Special Forces commandos make a shocking find while searching for the legendary shipwreck of the apostle Paul. And when a second artifact is uncovered in the ruins of a buried city, Jack is on the verge of a discovery that could shake the world to its foundations: the handwritten words of Jesus Christ himself.

As he follows a hunch from the dying confession of an emperor to the burial crypt of a medieval pagan queen, Jack is chasing a conspiracy whose web stretches to the highest levels of international power-and he will have to risk everything to stop the controversial document from falling into the hands of a shadowy brotherhood determined to fulfill their murderous vows.

From the fall of the Roman Empire to the last days of Nazi power, marine archaeologist Jack Howard and his team of adventurers are hot on the trail of history's most elusive and desired treasure: the lost golden menorah of Jerusalem. And what they discover could change the world forever....

Deep beneath the windswept waters near Istanbul, Jack and his crack team of experts have uncovered a surprising clue to the location of the fabled treasure plundered during the Crusades. Meanwhile, in a dusty cathedral library, someone unearths a long-forgotten medieval map. Together the two discoveries will solve an ancient mystery--and spark a race to stop a present-day conspiracy of staggering proportions.

From diving into the core of an arctic iceberg to the last stand of a Viking warship to an extraordinary revelation deep in the jungles of Central America, Jack is headed straight into a globe-spanning clash of civilizations, into an astounding underground labyrinth steeped in blood and horrors--and to a confrontation with a killer on a shattering crusade of his own.