The Poison King: The Life and Legend of Mithradates, Romes Deadliest Enemy - Adrienne Mayor
Category: History
Tags: History, Misc. Non-fiction
Machiavelli praised his military genius. European royalty sought out his secret elixir against poison. His life inspired Mozarts 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 bookthe first biography of Mithradates in fifty yearsAdrienne Mayor combines a storytellers 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
