The Poison King: The Life and Legend of Mithradates, Rome's Deadliest Enemy

Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2010. First Edition. Hardcover. As New/As New. 8vo 8" - 9" tall. From the publisher's blurb, "Claiming Alexander the Great and Darius of Persia as ancestors, Mithradates inherited a wealthy Black Sea kingdom at age fourteen after his mother poisoned his father. He fled into exile and returned in triumph to become a ruler of superb intelligence and fierce ambition. Hailed as a savior by his followers and feared as a second Hannibal by his enemies, he envisioned a grand Eastern empire to rival Rome. After massacring eighty thousand Roman citizens in 88 BC, he seized Greece and modern-day Turkey. Fighting some of the most spectacular battles in ancient history, he dragged Rome into a long round of wars and threatened to invade Italy itself. His uncanny ability to elude capture and surge back after devastating losses unnerved the Romans, while his mastery of poisons allowed him to foil assassination attempts and eliminate rivals." Fine-looking, structurally sound hardcover, little discernible wear, bright interior, unmarked. Bright and shiny dust jacket, illustrated, little worn. Plentiful black-and-white illustrations including photographs and a range of full-color, full-page plates, printed on high-gloss paper. From the personal library of the noted English historian of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome, Professor Peter Morris Green, now of Iowa City, Iowa, 99 years old, nearly blind, but still working, in this case on a new translation and with annotations, of Herodotus, his favorite historian. Volume contains scholarly apparatus in the form of, e.g., notes, index, and bibliography. xxii [2], 2-448 pp.Member, I.O.B.A., C.B.A., and adherent to the highest ethical standards. Additional postage may be required for oversize or especially heavy volumes, and for sets.