Marathon (Long War 2) Book

The Battle of Marathon in 490 BC was one of history's great turning points - the first time the Greeks managed to defeat the Persians in a pitched battle it enabled the rise of classical Greek civilization. As John Stuart Mill famously put it 'The Battle of Marathon even as an event in British history is more important than the Battle of Hastings.' Without it the modern world as we know it would not exist. Christian Cameron's epic retelling of the battle will bring it alive with all of its human drama and tragedy as never before. The Greeks do not always behave well - in fact many readers may come to see them as ignorant and bigoted as compared to the multi-cultural Persians who for some actually bring greater freedom - at least for a while. The heroic Militiades who led the Greeks at Marathon and then died in exile a ruined man was a fatally flawed character. His opponent The Persian King Darius was guilty of vaulting ambition and hubris but he combined it with personal integrity and vast generosity.And in the middle torn between two cultures one of which has already made him a slave we find Arimnestos - ancestor of the Kineas of the Tyrant books - nicknamed 'Killer of Men' he will lead a decisive contingent of infantry in the thickest of the battle...Read More