The Poison King : The Life and Legend of Mithradates, Rome's Deadliest Enemy

By (author) Mayor, Adrienne

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.

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[目次]

  • 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

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この本の情報

書名 The Poison King : The Life and Legend of Mithradates, Rome's Deadliest Enemy
著作者等 Mayor, Adrienne
書名別名 The Life and Legend of Mithradates, Rome's Deadliest Enemy
出版元 Princeton University Press
刊行年月 2011.03.07
ページ数 480p
大きさ H229 x W152
ISBN 9780691150260
言語 英語
出版国 アメリカ合衆国
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