The Poison King

The Life and Legend of Mithradates, Rome’s Deadliest Enemy

By: Adrienne Mayor

Narrated by: Paul Hecht

Length: 15 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's summary

A National Book Award finalist for this epic work, Adrienne Mayor delivers a gripping account of Mithradates, the ruthless visionary who began to challenge Rome’s power in 120 B.C. Machiavelli praised his military genius. Kings coveted his secret elixir against poison. Poets celebrated his victories, intrigues, and panache. But until now, no one has told the full story of his incredible life.

©2010 Adrienne Mayor (P)2010 Recorded Books, LLC

Gave me a wonderful sense of 100BC

What a learning experience! It has rounded-out my comprehension of Roman and Persian and nomadic cultures at that time. Hannibal's hatred of Rome influenced Mithradates VI so entirely, that The Mithradatic Wars (three) should have equal historical billing with The Punic Wars, IMO.

This is a richly detailed tapestry of a brilliant man, his loves, losses, and the creation of poisons and antidotes still being studied today. I highly recommend this book to any history buff. The voice matched the man.

Fascinating

Great, if not a bit romantically, telling of the life of maybe the most fascinating ancient monarch.

Interesting

I found the portrayal of Mithradates both interesting and entertaining. Though I must say the fictionalized "alternate ending" didn't sit too well with me, and some of the "virtual history" came out a bit forced. Overall, a great read.

Excellant

I really enjoyed this book. I recommend the Last King by Michael Curtis Ford too for a fictional account.

Fascinating and engaging

This work does an excellent job of giving life and color to the life and world of Mithradates and regions which he travelled and ruled. Adrienne Mayor's descriptions of place, clothing, and customs were a clear kernel around which my mind's eye could build the scenes she described. She occasionally aids the reader by employing some speculative narration of an event or action where the historical record is absent or too muddled to trust. These speculations are always clearly noted and she uses the technique well. The life of Mithradates contains so many extraordinary, almost incredible, events as recorded by the ancients that she could be forgiven if she had indulged too much in these narratives, but she avoids doing so and the work is the more engaging for it.

There are many details: names, places, relationships, troop movements, and the like and to some these might seem a distraction but to me they were indispensable details that brought the many events over the long years of Mithradates life into a single astounding tableau. This is a fascinating life in a fascinating time and I enjoyed this book very much.

Paul Hecht's performance was similarly engaging and well paired to the subject matter and style.

Expands Classical & also Contemporary world views

What made the experience of listening to The Poison King the most enjoyable?

A gripping and intrinsically interesting story line, enriched with an enjoyable spattering of broader contemporary facts and contexts aiding the further understanding of the classical world - and admittedly more distantly, today's Middle East /USA relationship. The parallel theme of "dirty War" technology in the ancient world alone justifies the read. In other words much more than just a biography of a fascinating ancient player!

What other book might you compare The Poison King to and why?

Pass - some reminiscence of Hannibal biographies, but Hannibal's elephants are somewhat passé compared to the Author's treatment of ancient poisons and trickery

Which scene was your favorite?

On reflection none in particular stand out more than any other - all were enjoyable

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

"Dirty War" ancient style

Any additional comments?

For most listeners this book may pretty well bully its way into your 'must read' recommendations - molto piacevole!

One of the best biographies ever!

What did you love best about The Poison King?

This was a fascinating biography of one of the most remarkable characters in ancient history. I had learned about Mithradates from Colleen McCullough's Great Men of Rome series, and was thrilled that he finally got his own biography. While the book is scholarly non-fiction which is well sourced, the author is so skillful that it reads like a thrilling novel. I especially enjoyed his speculation at the end about whether or not Mithradates really died in a tower as recorded by history, or was it just a ruse to fool the Romans? There was also some fascinating speculation about the fate of his Amazon queen. And the narration is first rate!

Gripping novel

Well worth a buy. Gripping from the start to finish, just could not put the book down

Blurred lines?

The book provides depth and detail about Mithradates and the mithradatic wars. There is also a lot of facinating information about the region, its myths and its anchient peoples.

However, despite an introduction that makes it clear that the author intends to separate clearly betweeen what we can objectively know, what we can reasonably speculate and what is likely apocryphal, theese lines quickly become dim at best. The author seems to take descriptions and stories from the primary sources at face value, despite being aware that these are heavily influenced by myth and bias. There is also a tendency to repeat the same points over and over in separate sections. I also find the authors own speculations a bit too.. speculative at times.

If you treat this as a way to get insight into the mythology surrounding Mithradates, you’re in the right place.

Marathon Not A Sprint

There was times when the book got a little wordy and lost me for a while, but it was certainly worth the insight into this part of history that is not often talked about. It was an interesting story and something that really kind of completes the loop when you read about it from the Roman side. Too often there is not a lot of stories or books that cover the Roman conflict from the opposite side.