Nile Magazine #7 (April-May 2017) features an abridged extract from Bob Brier's great new book, "Cleopatra's Needles". These are the ancient obelisks shipped around the world and now providing a proud piece of Egypt in some of the world's great cities. The current issue of Nile tells the story of the New York "Needle" and its tumultuous journey from Alexandria to Central Park.

Nile Magazine is giving readers the chance to win a copy of "Cleopatra's Needles", signed by the author.

It's easy!

1. Just answer the question below.
2. Complete the rest of your entry details and hit "Submit".
3. That's it!

We'll pick a winner (and reveal the answer) at the end of May. Good luck!
 

ABOUT "CLEOPATRA'S NEEDLES"

In the half-century between 1831 and 1881 three massive obelisks left Egypt for new lands. Prior to these journeys, the last large obelisk moved was the Vatican obelisk in 1586 – one of the great engineering achievements of the Renaissance. Roman emperors moved more than a dozen, but left no records of how they did it. The nineteenth-century engineers entrusted with transporting the obelisks across oceans had to invent new methods, and they were far from certain that they would work. As the three obelisks, bound for Paris, London and New York, sailed towards their new homes, the world held its breath. Newspapers reported the obelisks' daily progress, complete with dramatic illustrations of the heroic deeds of the engineers and crews struggling under nearly impossible conditions.

This turbulent era, caught up in obelisk mania, is recreated by Bob Brier in all its glory.

(Bloomsbury Publishing)

ABOUT BOB BRIER

Bob Brier is a world-famous Egyptologist and Senior Research Fellow at Long Island University. He is the author of "The Murder of Tutankhamen", "Egyptian Mummies", and "Secret of the Great Pyramid".