The First World Empire and the Battle for the West
Tom Holland
Preface by the author
Hand-drawn maps and a new image selection illustrate the Folio Society edition of Persian Fire – the bloodthirsty clash of civilisations by the master of classical history, Tom Holland.
Achaemenian winged lion. Detail from a relief, palace of Darius I, Susa, c.500 BC. Louvre, Paris. (Erich Lessing/akg-images)
In 480 BC, Xerxes, the King of Persia, led an invasion of mainland Greece as part of his greater plan of world domination. With a force greatly outnumbering the opposition, conquest seemed a formality: the city states of Greece were considered small strategic obstacles to be swept aside. However, the reality panned out rather differently and a dramatic and bloody half-century of warfare ensued with the Greeks ultimately forcing the Persians to retreat and retaining control of their homeland against incredible odds.
‘Masterly, panoramic, gripping’
Guardian
Production Details
Bound in printed and blocked cloth with a design by Kent Barton
Set in Spectrum
440 pages
Frontispiece, 24 pages of colour plates and 15 black & white integrated maps
Plain slipcase
10˝ x 6¾˝
A compelling history
Tom Holland’s epic account of this pivotal period in history grips from the outset with gritty realism and dramatic tension. The bloody conflict involved great tactical clashes on land and sea that tested the mettle of both sides; and what the Greeks lacked in numbers, they made up for with superior military tactics, many of which were unfamiliar to the Persian invaders. Hoplites – Greek citizen soldiers – fought in a phalanx formation, whereby the shields of each man overlapped slightly with his neighbour’s to offer greater protection, while lighter armour and weaponry allowed for greater mobility.
The superlative writer of classical history
Holland’s skill at placing readers in the epicentre of the action is apparent in the exhilarating scenes that liberally populate the narrative. Historical integrity is at the heart of all Holland’s writing but it is his ability to elucidate the drama of the battles that makes his books so memorable – factual history that usurps fiction at every turn.
‘All the elements that made the first book (Rubicon) so exhilarating – his erudition and narrative zest – are present and correct in Persian Fire, and the book contains one moment of drama (his description of the charge at the battle of Marathon as seen from inside the Greek hoplites’ helmets) that will give you goosebumps.’
Sunday Times
The battles are recounted with dramatic narrative zeal, including Marathon – the encounter that revealed the courage and superior tactics of the Greek hoplite soldiers while highlighting chinks in the armour of the Spartan battle-plan; Salamis – a pivotal naval battle that brought together several disparate Greek states to fight as one opposing force; and the legendary battle of Thermopylae; the heroic last stand of King Leonidas and his Spartan forces.
A unique edition of a best-seller
Our edition is illustrated with a new picture selection which includes gold artefacts from the Oxus treasure, statues and reliefs from the royal palaces of Persepolis and Susa, and a bronze Persian helmet from the Battle of Marathon. Fifteen new hand-drawn maps detail political boundaries – such as Greece, Attica and the West – and battle strategies, including Marathon, Plataea and Thermopylae. The cloth binding features an imposing full-page portrait of a sculpture from Persepolis by celebrated artist Ken Barton.
About Tom Holland
Tom Holland is one of Britain’s foremost writers on the ancient world. He is the author of Rubicon: The Triumph and Tragedy of the Roman Republic (2003); Millennium: The End of the Worldand theForging of Christendom (2008); In the Shadow of the Sword (2012), which covers the collapse of Roman and Persian power in the Near East and the rise of Islam; Dynasty: The Rise and Fall of the House of Caesar (2015), and Athelstan: The Making of England (2016). Persian Fire won the Anglo-Hellenic League’s Runciman Award, and Rubicon was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize and won the Hessell-Tiltman Prize for History. Holland has also published a translation of Herodotus’ Histories (2013) and has adapted Homer, Herodotus, Thucydides and Virgil for BBC Radio. In 2007, he was the winner of the Classical Association prize, awarded to ‘the individual who has done most to promote the study of the language, literature and civilisation of Ancient Greece and Rome’.
In this award-winning history, Mary Beard guides us through the daily life of Pompeii, an existence that is far more complex than we might have realised. Lively, exciting and accessible, this book brings us as close as possible to the real Pompeii.
Spanning 5,000 years from the Bronze Age to the present, India: A History is John Keay’s masterful story of the subcontinent; revised and updated for the Folio Society in this fully illustrated edition.
In Dynasty, classical historian Tom Holland chronicles the murderous, decadent reigns of the first five emperors of Rome – a sensational narrative presented in a lavishly illustrated Folio edition.
Richly illustrated and newly revised for The Folio Society, In Search of the Dark Ages is Michael Wood’s thrilling account of the age of Beowulf, Sutton Hoo and the Vikings.