Spartan
-
-
5.0 • 1 Rating
-
-
- $9.99
Publisher Description
Jerusalem, 586BC: The Kingdom of Judah is on the verge of annihilation by the Babylonians. In the chaos, the Prophet Jeremiah rushes to save the sacred Ark of the Covenant. As he locates the preordained hiding place which will make it impossible to be found, he makes a terrible discovery...
The Middle East, in the early 2000s: William Blake, a renowned Egyptologist, has been called in to oversee the discovery of a strange tomb of a Pharaoh many miles from the Valley of the Kings, located in a militarily sensitive spot. His research will lead him to an amazing and world-shattering discovery concerning Moses, the tribes of the Israelites and their flight from the land of Egypt.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Manfredi, author of a trilogy about the life of Alexander the Great (Alexander), here tells an epic tale of Sparta and its rivalry with other Greek city-states in the face of repeated Persian invasions in the fifth century B.C. Two Spartan brothers, sons of a famous Spartan warrior, are separated as babies. One boy, Brithos, is healthy and strong, destined to become a soldier like his father. The other baby boy, Kleidemos, has a crippled foot and is left on a mountainside to die, in accordance with Spartan law. However, Kleidemos is found by an old man, a Helot (serf), and is raised as a Helot shepherd. As years pass, both boys grow into men, neither knowing of the other. Brithos becomes a Spartan warrior, and Kleidemos the shepherd (renamed Talos by his Helot family) learns a powerful and mysterious secret from his Helot grandfather. The paths of the two brothers cross in several unexpected ways as wars with Persia and conflicts and intrigues between Sparta and Athens inflame all of Greece. As master and slave, the two brothers fight alongside King Leonidas and the 300 Spartans at the battle of Thermopylae, and they develop a bond neither can explain or understand. Brithos's fate is tied to Kleidemos, but the cripple's future is determined by the disturbing secret revealed by his grandfather. When Kleidemos finally learns that he is both a Spartan and a Helot, he is tormented by his divided loyalties. Manfredi is a masterful storyteller, carefully weaving in political and military history, realistically describing the brutality of hoplite warfare and vividly depicting the treachery and betrayal of kings.
