The Poison King

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

By: Adrienne Mayor

Narrated by: Paul Hecht

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

Close but Missed the Mark

I appreciate the effort to flesh out the story of Mithradates, a fascinating character. The book falls short on several points. There are long stretches devoted to speculation about Mithradates childhood and lifestyle in court. These passages take up a lot of air time for something that is unverifiable. In the meantime his descriptions of the battles, in particular of the third Mithradatic War are incomplete and don't give a clear picture. It also seems as though he is using some inflated numbers.

I also found the reader monotone and hard to listen to at times.

Overall the book is ok, it has good moments, the author does a good job of describing the political climate. It could have done with less speculation and more description of actual verifiable events.

The other side of the story

It was interesting to hear the non-Roman side of the Mithradatic wars. The history I learned dwells on the internal struggles of the mid to late Roman Republic, and from that point of view its a matter of Romans being distracted from the task of conquering the east.

The author clearly admires Mithradates, and there is a great deal of background into his childhood, character, family life and reputation. I found him odious. The politics and culture of the region were fascinating and this book is insightful.

Ancient Roman history fans will REALLY enjoy this!

Truly interesting from beginning to end; I personally love gobbling up (any and all) information during this era. Mithridates is so interesting, I'm surprised this book has not come out sooner!

A Speculative Tale

The author tries to give an account of Mithradates life but so little is know and so much is told from the “here’s what may have happened” or “we can only imagine” and so on.

Please use women narrators!

This is the 2nd ancient history book I've read written by a woman and read by a less than compelling male narrator. Maybe the next time consider a female narrator? Overall it's a solid history of the Mithradatic wars. It's always refreshing to find something that seeks to present the view from the non Roman side of the fight.