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The Poison King: The Life and Legend of Mithradates, Rome’s Deadliest Enemy
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A National Book Award finalist for this epic work, Adrienne Mayor delivers a gripping account of Mithradates, the ruthless visionary who began to challenge Rome's power in 120 B.C. Machiavelli praised his military genius. Kings coveted his secret elixir against poison. Poets celebrated his victories, intrigues, and panache. But until now, no one has told the full story of his incredible life.
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Audible Audiobook
Listening Length: 15 hours and 51 minutes
Program Type: Audiobook
Version: Unabridged
Publisher: Recorded Books
Audible.com Release Date: January 28, 2011
Whispersync for Voice: Ready
Language: English, English
ASIN: B004LCZK58
Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
This is a well-researched book about a fascinating character. In many way, Mithrodates' story is the stuff of legends, but at the same time he was a "complex character" with many rather unattractive traits.As is often the case, many of the ancient sources about Mithrodates have been lost, so the author is forced to rely on the rather fragmentary remaining sources as well as relevant archeological finds. Where neither of these suffice, the author often veers into historical fiction about what Mithrodates' might have done, based on known facts. This is not my favorite approach, but at least this author makes clear when she is deviating from historical fact into historical fiction.Other than the author's penchant for historical fiction noted above, my main criticism is that the author is not particularly objective about Mithrodates, and portrays him in a very favorable light. While Mithrodates was certainly a fascinating character, he had many unattractive (to me) traits--a bloodthirsty murderer of tens of thousands of civilians and many family members, an obsessive preoccupation with poisons, a cruel, paranoid mind-set, and a disastrous military record against his Roman enemies. In fact, other than for his sheer dogged resistance to Rome, it is hard to appreciate many of his "heroic" qualities praised by the author.Nonetheless, a well-researched book on a fascinating topic, definitely worth a read for anyone interested in the era.
An engaging introduction to a remarkable historical figure, the second-greatest adversary Rome ever had to face. His self-conscious attempts to turn himself into a legendary figure were more successful than you'd think: the book also mentions some high points from his 'afterlife' in art and literature of later eras.Flaws? Like many biographers, the author is too enamored of her subject, and makes excuses for him that she'd probably dismiss with contempt if an ancient writer was making them about someone else. Also, she's not very good at describing battles and military campaigns, which is an important element of the story.Four stars in the abstract, five with Amazon grade inflation.
Since it is true that the victors usually write the histories, it is fascinating to see another side of Mithradates, the king and warrior who led Rome a merry chase for decades. He's usually depicted from the Roman angle as a barbarian warrior who waged war against civilization (i.e. Rome) but in this well researched book, we see him as an astute politician, exemplary warrior and leader of men, and an intellectually curious chemist, if one might use that term! We also see another point of view, one that presents Rome as the aggressor with its insatiable hunger to conquer the East and Mithradates as the man who tried to unify the Eastern kingdoms to stop the march. The Greek states had already felt the hand of Rome but the Mediterranean kingdoms were in hopes that they could buy peace; Mithradates struggled to convince them otherwise. His adventures were incredible, especially his escape from the Caucasian Mountains and trek around the northern shore of the Black Sea. Was he a barbarian? The planned and successful massacre of all Romans and Italians in the East was ghastly. But then was Sulla equally barbaric? Not to mention Julius Caesar a few decades later and the millions of people who were killed during his conquest of Gaul. The Poison King is a book well worth reading for its perspective on a historical figure seldom mentioned today.
I stumbled upon this book while doing research for a novel I am writing. My story involves a scene in which a city has its main cistern poisoned by Romans during a siege. As I was studying poisons of the ancient world (my story is set in First Century BCE Pontus), I saw a book on the subject, Greek Fire, Poison Arrows, and Scorpion Bombs: Biological & Chemical Warfare in the Ancient World, by Stanford research professor Adrienne Mayor. I noted that she had also written a biography on Mithradates VI, so I decided to order both from Amazon. Glad I did.This book begins like many biographies do, with details and background information, and it was what I would term a "conventional read" up until Page 76. That is the departure point for the never ending flight that would be Mithradates' life. He and his teenage companions use the ruse of going out on a hunting party to escape from his family kingdom (Mithradates had good reason to believe that his mother was intending to poison him). From this point on, the book reads like a Tom Clancy novel set in antiquity, complete with narrow escapes, detailed explanations regarding arms and tactics (especially ancient poisons, one of Mayor's fields of expertise), and portentious acts and consequences. The pacing is quick, and once the hook was set I could not put the book down. I cruised through 300 pages the day after Thanksgiving, excitedly plowing though it as fast as I could.I have read some of the negative reviews, and I did not find her pro-multiculturalistic, anti-West/GWB slant to be irritating (and I would wager that I am far, far more politically conservative than the author, BTW). Certainly one does not have to be a zealot for multiculturalism to appreciate the polyglot giftings of Mithradates, who could allegedly write and speak in all 22 languages of his realm. What bias might be present is not shrill, so I would not warn anyone away from reading the book based on such concerns.Informative and entertaining, I consider the pittance I spent on the paperback money well spent.
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