Persian Fire
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A “sweeping popular account” (The Seattle Times) of how Athens and Sparta withstood an assault from the Persian Empire in the cradle of Western civilization, from the acclaimed author of Rubicon and co-host of the hit podcast The Rest Is History
“Excellent. . . . There is an even handedness in Holland’s treatment of both Greek and Persian cultural riches that is rare in popular accounts of these wars.” —The Sunday Times (London)
In the fifth century B.C., a global superpower was determined to bring truth and order to what it regarded as two terrorist states. The superpower was Persia, incomparably rich in ambition, gold, and men. The terrorist states were Athens and Sparta, eccentric cities in a poor and mountainous backwater: Greece.
The story of how their citizens took on the Great King of Persia, and thereby saved not only themselves but Western civilization as well, is as heart-stopping and fateful as any episode in history. Tom Holland’s brilliant study of these critical Persian Wars skillfully examines a conflict of critical importance to both ancient and modern history.
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After chronicling the fall of the Roman Republic in Rubicon, historian Holland turns his attention further back in time to 480 B.C., when the Greeks defended their city-states against the invading Persian empire, led by Xerxes. Classicists will recall such battles as Marathon, Thermopylae and Salamis, which raises the question: why do we need another account of this war, when we already have Herodotus? But just as Victor David Hanson and Donald Kagan have reframed our understanding of the Peloponnesian War by finding contemporary parallels, Holland recasts the Greek-Persian conflict as the first clash in a long-standing tension between East and West, echoing now in Osama bin Laden's pretensions to a Muslim caliphate. Holland doesn't impose a modern sensibility on the ancient civilizations he describes, and he delves into the background histories of both sides with equally fascinating detail. Though matters of Greek history like the brutal social structure of the Spartans are well known, the story of the Persian empire like the usurper Darius's claim that every royal personage he assassinated was actually an imposter should be fresh and surprising to many readers, while Holland's graceful, modern voice will captivate those intimidated by Herodotus.
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Persian Fire
A very good book and I learned a lot about our early history. It stirred me to want to read more early history.