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The mystery of ancient civilizations teases you with the unknown. Unearthed artifacts whether they are masterworks of art or simple every day tools excite your imagination as you wonder what life was really like thousands of years ago. The recently discovered statue of the Greek Goddess Hera in the ruins of the ancient Greek city of Dion serves as an excellent example of the thrilling visions that we can see from the ancient world.

The marble statue of Hera was reported by archeologist Dimitris Pantermalis to be 2,200 years old. Preliminary analysis of its stone and craftsmanship has matched it to a statue of Zeus discovered in the same ruined city in 2003. Pantermalis speculates that the Hera and Zeus statues are a matched set, which would mark the first time two statues of different gods from the same Greek temple were recovered.

Images of the Hera statue as shown in numerous media reports show a female figure seated on a throne dressed in loose garments. Unfortunately the head is missing, but the life-sized figure still conjures images of the Goddess Hera presiding over worshippers in a grand and beautiful temple with Mount Olympus commanding the horizon.

The ancient city of Dion has been identified as a major religious center for the ancient Macedonians. According to a March 1, 2007 article in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer about the Hera statue, Alexander the Great gave offerings at her temple before launching his legendary invasion of the Persian Empire.

Although the Hera statue post-dates the era of Alexander the Great, she was placed in a venerable temple where once walked such heroes of history. At the feet of the Hera statue, supplicants with simple or complicated problems must have given offerings of food and fine goods. Women wishing for their Greek sons to return home safely from war likely prayed to the statue. And priests surely schemed in the shadows of their marble Gods for power and prestige.

When studying ancient cultures, it is easy to let your imagination wander. There are always more questions than answers when information is coming from scattered ruins and scraps of written records. Where history must yield to the unknown, literature takes over. Authors conceive of grand sagas as intricate and entertaining as the mythology of ancient civilizations, like the Greeks, to serve the role of telling stories about people and places in the distant past. The fantasy genre is particularly inspired by the gaping holes of history. Think of all the lost civilizations and unknown ancient intrigues that have no way to be told except through modern muses whispering their stories to fantasy and historical fiction genre authors.

Tremendous inspiration lies among the ruins of ancient civilizations. Of all the myths and heroic adventures that have survived to the modern era, stop to consider how many good stories crumbled with the temples and are buried with Disappear Hera.

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This book is the third book in Wilbur Smith's ancient Egyptian series although, chronologically, it is a direct follow-up to the first book, "River God" which ranks among my all time favorite historical novels. The second book of the series, "The Seventh Scroll" actually takes place in the present day and concerns some archeologists/anthroplogists that become embroiled in a mysterious adventure dealing with the events of the first novel. So now, here in the third novel, the author returns to the era of Taita, his protagonist of "River God", attempting to recreate the magic (and the hugely popular reviews) of that book. So the question is...did he achieve that? Was he able to garner the forces of whatever muse inspired him that other time?

Pretty close. This isn't the super shining star that was "River God" but it is a shining star none the less. I think there are two main differences between the two novels that led this novel to be inferior to the first. One is just that: it isn't the first. Had this one been the first of a series or a stand-alone novel it might well have been held to the same kind of reverence. But since we have "River God" to which to compare it, it loses a little bit in the originality department.

But not much I have to say. The prose is equally well done and the pace of the novel is spot on. It reads easily like a quick novel despite it's length and you have that same desire that all good novels inspire...wanting to sneak off and find time to read more of it. There were only a couple of spots where I wished events would speed up. The plot itself is not unique, basically a story of bad guys usurping power from the rightful good guys and how the good guys make things right and come back into power. But since the good guy's army is always outnumbered, he and his allies must use intelligence to find ways to win battles. It sort of reminded me of "Braveheart" in the numbers of ways outnumbered armies can find cool ways to win.

The other main difference that makes this novel slightly inferior to "River God" is that it is told in third person point of view. This is probably necessary because this time Taita is not always where the action is occurring. We have multiple major characters all over Egypt making it impossible for 1st person POV. But the author loses the intimacy that comes with 1st person POV. In "River God" we really know the character of Taita and come to understand his foibles as well as his matter-of-fact superiority to those around him. We know his thoughts when he acts as puppet master whereas in this book, he seems more aloof and somehow, less interesting. There are times, especially during the climactic scenes near the end where he is hardly involved.

All in all I enjoyed this book as a darn good read despite the inevitable comparisons I had to make to an actual masterpiece. 4 and 1/2 stars.