The Life and Legend of Mithradates, Rome's Deadliest Enemy
Buch, Englisch, 480 Seiten, Format (B × H): 146 mm x 229 mm, Gewicht: 693 g
ISBN: 978-0-691-15026-0
Verlag: Princeton University Press
Machiavelli praised his military genius. European royalty sought out his secret elixir against poison. His life inspired Mozart's first opera, while for centuries poets and playwrights recited bloody, romantic tales of his victories, defeats, intrigues, concubines, and mysterious death. But until now no modern historian has recounted the full story of Mithradates, the ruthless king and visionary rebel who challenged the power of Rome in the first century BC. In this richly illustrated book--the first biography of Mithradates in fifty years--Adrienne Mayor combines a storyteller's gifts with the most recent archaeological and scientific discoveries to tell the tale of Mithradates as it has never been told before. The Poison King describes a life brimming with spectacle and excitement. Claiming Alexander the Great and Darius of Persia as ancestors, Mithradates inherited a wealthy Black Sea kingdom at age fourteen after his mother poisoned his father. He fled into exile and returned in triumph to become a ruler of superb intelligence and fierce ambition. Hailed as a savior by his followers and feared as a second Hannibal by his enemies, he envisioned a grand Eastern empire to rival Rome. After massacring eighty thousand Roman citizens in 88 BC, he seized Greece and modern-day Turkey. Fighting some of the most spectacular battles in ancient history, he dragged Rome into a long round of wars and threatened to invade Italy itself. His uncanny ability to elude capture and surge back after devastating losses unnerved the Romans, while his mastery of poisons allowed him to foil assassination attempts and eliminate rivals. The Poison King is a gripping account of one of Rome's most relentless but least understood foes.
Autoren/Hrsg.
Fachgebiete
Weitere Infos & Material
List of Illustrations xi
Dramatis Personae xv
Time Line xix
Acknowledgments xxi
Introduction 1
Chapter 1: Kill Them All, and Let the Gods Sort Them Out 13
Chapter 2: A Savior Is Born in a Castle by the Sea 27
Chapter 3: Education of a Young Hero 43
Chapter 4: The Lost Boys 73
Chapter 5: Return of the King 96
Chapter 6: Storm Clouds 123
Chapter 7: Victory 147
Chapter 8: Terror 169
Chapter 9: Battle for Greece 188
Chapter 10: Killers? Kiss 214
Chapter 11: Living Like a King 236
Chapter 12: Falling Star 262
Chapter 13: Renegade Kings 288
Chapter 14: End Game 315
Chapter 15: In the Tower 347
Appendix One 371
Appendix Two 377
Notes 381
Bibliography 421
Index 435
