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

Fascinating story

It is refreshing to read history written from the "enemy" perspective. Rome was great, but had great enemies as well.

Great book

Very detailed history of Mithridates, enjoyable to consume and thorough in research. The storytelling is done well and the plot (ie his life) moves fast.
The book undoubtedly positions Mithridates as the protagonist despite some terrible actions throughout his life. I didn’t have an issue with it since the content is great, but worth noting since some reviewers criticize this approach. If you are unable to get past this non-evil persona then this book is not for you.

A Cruel Man in a Cruel World

Perhaps the best thing about this book is how well it is written. I think that's necessary in this case because not that much is known about Mithradates (and much of what is known comes from his Roman enemies), so the author has to try to fill in the details like a historical novelist. The author focuses quite heavily on Mithradates historical reputation as a poisoner and a concocter of antidotes. This leads to delightful details in the book such as poisonous honey from bees that drink rhododendron nectar.

I think it's useful to compare Mithradates to Cleopatra -- both Hellenistic-style monarchs who threatened Rome and therefore got trashed in (Roman) historical sources as weak, depraved, easterners who tried to conquer Rome through dishonorable, unmanly methods such as intrigue and poison (Cleopatra was reputed to be a poisoner as well). The author tries to right the balance a bit, but even she doesn't deny that Mithradates could be cruel and paranoid. You do have to look at the times -- being a "friend of Rome" was like being friends with a hungry lion -- sooner or later you end up on the menu anyway.

I agree that it helps to be into ancient history to enjoy this book -- there is a lot of recounting of internecine political intrigues and the marching of various armies around the eastern Med, but I think (hope) there is enough in here to appeal to a somewhat more casual reader as well. Think of it as Cleopatra, but with less sex (admittedly the biggest selling point) and more poisoning.

Excellent book

Any additional comments?

I found the book informative and enjoyable. It was annoying that for all Mithradates skill, he just could not beat the Romans when it counted. Anyone who thinks the Romans are the good guys will be shocked by this book, they were violent scum of the highest order.

Top Notch

Any additional comments?

Great combination of good storytelling and historical narrative. Another great audio book available on Audible for those of us who love Ancient Roman History

Interesting

What did you like best about The Poison King? What did you like least?

Historical facts seemed well researched and accurate but I take exception with Mayor's "speculative" history. If you want to speculate about history, why not write historical fiction?

Would you be willing to try another book from Adrienne Mayor? Why or why not?

Don't think so.

Was The Poison King worth the listening time?

Yes. Lots there I did not know but all I want from my histories are facts. No need to speculate. I can do that for myself, thank you.

Simply Awesome

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Absolutely. In fact a couple of my friends have also listened to it and we had a good time discussing the book. We noticed that a couple of ideas are borrowed by George R.R. Martin for his famous A Song of Ice and Fire series. Anyone who is remotely interested in history, specifically the Roman world, would love this book.

What did you like best about this story?

A great job of combining historical accounts and personal accounts to “bring history to life,” as the saying goes. Mithradates is surrounded by some mixture of legend and fact; the author does a good job of presenting both while labeling each as such. Reading the book, you really get a feeling of what it was like to try oppose the Roman Empire at the height of its power. If you’ve ever studied this period from the Roman history side of things, this will be a great counterpart to your understanding.

Very interesting

Great book, amazing story, well researched and well written.
Can be a little dry and academic the first hour or so, but well worth it. Helps you understand how the book was researched and the story written.

A bit much.

Was this the worst book I’ve encountered? Absolutely not! Far from it! But was I relieved when it was over? Yep! You bet!

Too many self-impressed flights of fancy. A bit too much purple prose. A story that drags on too long. Really, if you boiled it down into just its best bits you’d have a book maybe a third as long.

And for all the extraneous details it still seemed to paint a fairly two dimensional picture. Telling, not showing. And what “showing” there was tended to the superficial rather than the meaty or concrete.

I don’t know if there are other (fairly) recent books on this otherwise fascinating subject, so if you’ve got a special desire to learn more about Mithridates then this will serve its purpose fine. It’s acceptable.

But I’m afraid “acceptable” is as far as I can go.

I loved it

narration is a slog, but the story and characters make this forgotten piece of history fascinating.