Product Description

For over four decades, Rome sent its greatest generals to contain King Mithradates the Great, a ferocious and brilliant leader on the distant Black Sea. Michael Ford imaginatively recreates how Mithradates not only turned them away but threatened the very survival of the republic.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #77412 in Books
• Published on: 2005-04-29
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 432 pages

Customer Reviews

Not quite Simon Scarrow
I was really looking forward to this book; I love Cornwell, Scarrow and manda Scott. TheAlexander books blew me away so I was a little disappointed with the style of this story. I did not feel I engaged with Mithridiates nor his sone. The battles seemed to be written as though they were unimportant. There were, seemingly, deaths on a Pyrric scale and yet they were dismissed as unimportant. The story itself is fascinating and i want to know more about this last king but as a novel it failed for me. I will not be ordering the next book unseen- I will read the reviews. With Scarrow, Scott and Cornwell you order the next one as soon as you have finished the last.

Rome's Greatest Enemy
Rome had seen many enemies throughout its history. Many had tried and all had failed against the might of the Roman legions, a force that at that period in history was better equipped, better drilled and led by men who for probably the first time in history were tactically aware. Some of the great forces they had clashed with were the Goths, the Huns and of course Hannibal, but their greatest enemy was someone who is rather less well known in the history books. A king from the distant Black Sea, Mithridates Eupator VI of Pontus, know to historians as Mithridates the Great.

When he was eleven years old Mithridates inherited and small kingdom in the mountains, inhabited by wild tribesman and governed by his mother in his place. When he swept to power at twenty one he proved to be a military genius and quickly consolidated various fiefdoms under his command. Rome also wished to spread its territories in the region, so conflict was inevitable . . .

This book is a terrific read. The author brings to life the period of history about which he writes. You can almost hear the screams of the wounded and dying on the battlefields. I loved it.