HISTO RY JULY/ AUGUST 20 25 PHO ENICIANS: M ASTERS O F THE M EDITERRANEAN
 
Iron Age conquerors came and went, but the Phoenicians endured. Based in modern-day Lebanon and Israel, they traded across the Mediterranean for centuries, founding Carthage in Tunisia and Cadiz in Spain. Other features in this issue include:
• Law and Life in Babylon – In the second millennium B.C., Babylon pioneered ways of managing its huge population. Written records, and the legal code of King Hammurabi, reveal vivid details of daily disputes among families and neighbors
• Nefertari’s Artful Ascent – When Egyptologists found the tomb of Ramses II’s wife Nefertari their lanterns picked out thousands of square feet of pristine art. In fresh color and crisp lines, it depicts the Egyptian queen’s journey to eternal life.
• Legends of the Fall – What caused the collapse of the Western Roman Empire and A.D. 476? Into the complex swirl of economics and politics, historians now added forces far beyond the control of emperors— plagues and changes to the climate.
• Bad King John – Hated as much as his brother Richard the Lionheart was loved, England’s King John picked fights with everyone. But his arrogance had an upside: In 1215 he was forced to agree to the Magna Carta, today a guideline for America’s legal system.