Product Description

Sicily 412 BC: the infinite duel between a man and a superpower begins. The man is Dionysius, who has just made himself Tyrant of Syracuse. The superpower Carthage, mercantile megalopolis and mistress of the seas.

Over the next eight years, Dionysius' brutal military conquests will strike down countless enemies and many friends to make Syracuse the most powerful Greek city west of mainland Greece. He builds the largest army of antiquity and invents horrific war machines to use against the Carthaginians, who he will fight in five wars.

But who was Dionysius? Historians have condemned him as one of the most ruthless, egocentric despots. But he was also patron of the arts, a dramatist, poet and tender lover.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #88210 in Books
• Published on: 2006-10-06
• Format: Unabridged
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 250 pages

About the Author

Valerio Massimo Manfredi is professor of classical archaeology at Luigi Bocconi University in Milan. He has published nine works of fiction, including the 'Alexander' trilogy, which has been translated into 24 languages in 38 countries. He has written and hosted documentaries on the ancient world, and has written screenplays for cinema and television.

Customer Reviews

Fascinating tale of a little known slice of history
Being an infrequent reader of fiction, and NOT a student of history, I get great enjoyment from Valerio Massimo Manfredi's historic fiction books. When I sit down I want to be transported to another time, another world, "when men were men" and lived life on the sword edge. "Tyrant" does just that, sweeping you up in the little known story of Dionysius the Elder, who became the tyrant of Syracuse, an important "Greek" city on what is now the Island of Sicily.

Historic fiction gives you a flavour of what it might have been like 'back then'. You don't expect it to be perfectly accurate in everything but the the big landmarks, the big events and people. The gaps in our knowledge are filled in with the author's intuition and imagination. And for me, Manfredi does a great job. Let's not forget that he is Professor of Classical Archaelogy too -- so, despite being a popularizer, he is basing his works on a fairly solid grasp of the history.

Some people might find the translation (he's Italian and wrote the book in Italian) a little clumsy, the dialogue at times a bit cheesy and unlikely, or the scenes a little over dramatic -- and if you are fussy like that... try something drier, you are welcome to it.

For the general reader, this is a great yarn, a welcome distraction from the mundane existence of 21st century living and an opportunity to learn something of a time about which most of us know nothing. I enjoyed it, as I have his other books.

Manfredi fans will also enjoy books by Stephen Pressfield, such as "Gates of Fire" and "Last of the Amazons" -- Pressfield writes in English and his battle scenes are gut-wrenchingly gripping.

Couldn't finish it
Highly interested in ancient history, I approached this novel with enthusiasm and high hopes but ultimately I felt let down. While Manfredi's characterisation of Dionysius is very good - throughout the story, his motives and actions are wonderfully clear - I found the style of the piece far too dull.

I think the problem is that Manfredi has tried to cover a very large chunk of history in what is an average-sized book, and in doing so he has skimmed over some parts of the history. While this is possibly a good thing - every little detail might get boring - the way that Manfredi does this is lacking. I feel that he spends a lot of time telling things and that his narrative when doing this, sometimes covering a period of several years, is uninteresting.

I got about two thirds of my way through the book before I finally lost interest. I know the outcome and while I would normally read on anyway (as I learnt while studying ancient Greek plays, it's not so much as the outcome as the journey getting there), in this case I probably won't.

Excellent
Manfredi is on safe ground here doing what he does best. This time for Dionysis, who for me was a new historical charachter (although I knew the name). Manfredi delivers another epic page turner, a must for historical fiction fans!