The Poison King, Adrienne Mayor
The Poison King, Adrienne Mayor
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The Poison King
The Life and Legend of Mithradates • Rome’s Deadliest Enemy

Author: Adrienne Mayor

Narrator: Paul Hecht

Unabridged: 15 hr 53 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Recorded Books

Published: 12/17/2010

Categories: Nonfiction, History


Synopsis

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.

About Adrienne Mayor

Adrienne Mayor is the author of several books, including The Amazons: Lives and Legends of Warrior Women across the Ancient World and The Poison King: The Life and Legend of Mithradates, Rome's Deadliest Enemy, which was a finalist for the National Book Award. She is a research scholar in classics and the history of science at Stanford University.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Terence on April 11, 2011

When Adrienne Mayor remains within the limits of her sources (both literary and archaeological), The Poison King is a solid, readable biography of a now little-known figure of the Ancient world. Unfortunately, she allows herself some wild flights of fancy better suited for a historical novel and neg......more

Goodreads review by Kyle on December 17, 2014

There are very few books on Mithridates, and even fewer dedicated biograpies; in fact, The Poison King is the only one written in over a century, which was part of the reason I was so excited to read it. Unfortunately, the book failed to contribute too much more to the literature of the ancient Near......more

Goodreads review by Kaushal on September 08, 2020

An insight on Romans impact on Eastern world -Mithradates An awesome read. Couldn’t give 5 stars because of the speculations but don’t blame Author for the same as lack of records. An Amazing account on life of Mithradates and impact of Roman Empire on eastern world . At the end of day Individuals (......more

Goodreads review by Jerre on April 29, 2021

Fascinating biography on an underappreciated historical figure. Highly recommended to anyone who takes an interest in ancient history.......more

Goodreads review by Matt on May 25, 2011

"Beavers abound in Armenia's lakes and streams - perhaps their testicles contributed to Mithradates' celebrated vigor." There is something about that quote that sums up the Poison King for me and emblematic of the my feelings towards the book. You might think that quote makes more sense in context, b......more