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The Poison King: The Life And Legend Of Mithradates, Rome's Deadliest Enemy (2009)

by Adrienne Mayor(Favorite Author)

3.83 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

0691126836 (ISBN13: 9780691126838)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Princeton University Press

review 1: Never having heard of Mithradates before, but the title piqued my curiosity, and I would only recommend this to ardent history buffs. Seemed like a long list of names and dates, and not a lot of who the man really was. I do realize a lot of what ancient historians recorded about him and his times were lost, and most of the book is an educated guess, and a very interesting one at that, but there are so many parts that have signs of being epic in stature, but are quickly glazed over, and you're quickly whisked to the other side of the Empire, to another long list of unpronounceable and forgettable names. To a reader who is familiar with the time frame, and the social aspects of the ancient Kingdoms, this a great companion of a little known, but very influential and important... more foe to the Roman Empire, and maybe even the originator of toxicology?
review 2: Mithridates came close to detaching the Eastern half of the Mediterranean from the grasp of Rome in the 1st century BC. This book seeks to tell his story from his viewpoint, as opposed to that of the Romans. Unfortunately the evidence on which to do this is limited, so much of the book is padded out with intelligent surmise and general background material. For me, this makes for an unsatisfactory read. less

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