Poison King by Adrienne Mayor
The book, Poison King by Adrienne Mayor, portrays a life that is characterized with manifestation and anticipation. It asserts Alexander the Great together with Darius of Persia as Mithradates predecessors who acquired a rich wealthy Black Sea kingdom when he was a teenager at 14years after his mother killed his father. He escaped into exile but came back in triumph to be a king of top notch intellect and stern objectives. He is seen as a savior by his supporters and treated in awe as a second Hannibal by his foes (Mayor, Mithradates p. 34). He foresaw a great Eastern empire to compete with Rome. He massacred eighty thousand Romans in 88 BC and after that captured Greece and the current Turkey. He fought some of the most magnificent battles in prehistoric times and managed to drag Rome into endless battles while threatening to march into Italy. He was uncanny and could elude arrests and rush forward after making losses that frightened the Romans. His mastery of tactics with poison helped him to thwart assassination attacks and eradicate opponents. According to the book, King Mithradates confronted the Roman imperialism on several occasions, and it is evident that apart from a few literary souls, few people can know his name today. On the other hand, in ancient times and the Middle Ages, Mithradates was as prominent as Hannibal in 247-183/182 BCE, while Spartacus was in (c. 109-71 BCE) and other renowned enemies of the Roman Empire. His life stirred Machiavelli 1469-1527 CE together with Racine 1639-1699CE, and Mitridate re di Ponto 1770-one of Mozart’s first operas. The reason as to why his memory did not fade was because, Mithradates’ name is a bit of a mouthful with four syllables, but most people can remember other rulers. It can be said that Shakespeare left out a story on misfortune about Mithradates. Furthermore, the reason as to why Karl Marx who lived between 1818-1883CE featured Spartacus over Mithradates though they were friends and were noble is the anti-Roman values(Mayor, Mithradates p. 112). Another reason for Mithradates’ oblivion from the trendy limelight in the West was due to geopolitics whereby in both 19th and 20th centuries, the pro-Roman European historians stereotyped Mithradates as an unkind barbarian dictator and compared him to decadents of Ottoman sultans. At the time Ottoman Empire experienced problems, Mithradates’ name fell into insignificance. Adrienne Mayor says that there were some signs that Rome’s relentless adversary who was dreaded as the Hannibal of the East and was emerging out of shadows. In the recent past, there have also been adversaries of the Mozart’s opera, but in place of the 18th century CE French courtyard garments, Mithradates is clothed as a rebellious commander of some unidentified Middle Eastern Empire and the set is a futuristic battlefield. The king’s astonishing exploitive and mesmerizing personalities are a magnet for modern day audience. Geopolitics has taken part in a responsibility in Mithradates’ renaissance where most of the lands that once constituted Pontus Mithradates’ Black Sea kingdom are unexpected high-flying in the news, usually connected with strife and violence. The parallels formulate his story worth debating today. Mithradates’ battles against Rome went for four decades taking place in three continents. At the end of …show more content…
In novelistic writing style, Mayor shows the rural area around the Black Sea as wealthy in killer plants and environment like sulfur producing springs (Mayor, Mithradates p. 12). It is in the Springs where soldiers poisoned their arrows in snake venom. Bees produced toxic honey from toxic nectar. Waterbirds around the Black Sea also had toxic flesh, therefore, became ideal pets for Mithradates.
Summarily, The Poison King is a good reference of historical stories, and it is rich and complete but also is fast-paced and laced with suspense.
WORKS CITED
Mayor, Adrienne. "Mithradates Scourge of Rome." History Today 59.12 (2009): 10.
Molteni, Melissa Bailey. "Does Memphis Have a Fighting Chance: An Exploratory Study on the Attractiveness of Memphis, TN to Relocating or Expanding Employers." (2012).
Mayor, Adrienne. "Princeton/Stanford Working Papers in Classics." (2010).
Roaring, Behind Turkey’S., and Adrienne Mayor. "Τελευταία Νέα."
Mayor, Adrienne. The Poison King: The Life and Legend of Mithradates, Rome 's Deadliest Enemy. Princeton University Press, 2011.
Mayor, Adrienne. "Mithradates Scourge of Rome." History Today 59.12
The book, Poison King by Adrienne Mayor, portrays a life that is characterized with manifestation and anticipation. It asserts Alexander the Great together with Darius of Persia as Mithradates predecessors who acquired a rich wealthy Black Sea kingdom when he was a teenager at 14years after his mother killed his father. He escaped into exile but came back in triumph to be a king of top notch intellect and stern objectives. He is seen as a savior by his supporters and treated in awe as a second Hannibal by his foes (Mayor, Mithradates p. 34). He foresaw a great Eastern empire to compete with Rome. He massacred eighty thousand Romans in 88 BC and after that captured Greece and the current Turkey. He fought some of the most magnificent battles in prehistoric times and managed to drag Rome into endless battles while threatening to march into Italy. He was uncanny and could elude arrests and rush forward after making losses that frightened the Romans. His mastery of tactics with poison helped him to thwart assassination attacks and eradicate opponents. According to the book, King Mithradates confronted the Roman imperialism on several occasions, and it is evident that apart from a few literary souls, few people can know his name today. On the other hand, in ancient times and the Middle Ages, Mithradates was as prominent as Hannibal in 247-183/182 BCE, while Spartacus was in (c. 109-71 BCE) and other renowned enemies of the Roman Empire. His life stirred Machiavelli 1469-1527 CE together with Racine 1639-1699CE, and Mitridate re di Ponto 1770-one of Mozart’s first operas. The reason as to why his memory did not fade was because, Mithradates’ name is a bit of a mouthful with four syllables, but most people can remember other rulers. It can be said that Shakespeare left out a story on misfortune about Mithradates. Furthermore, the reason as to why Karl Marx who lived between 1818-1883CE featured Spartacus over Mithradates though they were friends and were noble is the anti-Roman values(Mayor, Mithradates p. 112). Another reason for Mithradates’ oblivion from the trendy limelight in the West was due to geopolitics whereby in both 19th and 20th centuries, the pro-Roman European historians stereotyped Mithradates as an unkind barbarian dictator and compared him to decadents of Ottoman sultans. At the time Ottoman Empire experienced problems, Mithradates’ name fell into insignificance. Adrienne Mayor says that there were some signs that Rome’s relentless adversary who was dreaded as the Hannibal of the East and was emerging out of shadows. In the recent past, there have also been adversaries of the Mozart’s opera, but in place of the 18th century CE French courtyard garments, Mithradates is clothed as a rebellious commander of some unidentified Middle Eastern Empire and the set is a futuristic battlefield. The king’s astonishing exploitive and mesmerizing personalities are a magnet for modern day audience. Geopolitics has taken part in a responsibility in Mithradates’ renaissance where most of the lands that once constituted Pontus Mithradates’ Black Sea kingdom are unexpected high-flying in the news, usually connected with strife and violence. The parallels formulate his story worth debating today. Mithradates’ battles against Rome went for four decades taking place in three continents. At the end of …show more content…
In novelistic writing style, Mayor shows the rural area around the Black Sea as wealthy in killer plants and environment like sulfur producing springs (Mayor, Mithradates p. 12). It is in the Springs where soldiers poisoned their arrows in snake venom. Bees produced toxic honey from toxic nectar. Waterbirds around the Black Sea also had toxic flesh, therefore, became ideal pets for Mithradates.
Summarily, The Poison King is a good reference of historical stories, and it is rich and complete but also is fast-paced and laced with suspense.
WORKS CITED
Mayor, Adrienne. "Mithradates Scourge of Rome." History Today 59.12 (2009): 10.
Molteni, Melissa Bailey. "Does Memphis Have a Fighting Chance: An Exploratory Study on the Attractiveness of Memphis, TN to Relocating or Expanding Employers." (2012).
Mayor, Adrienne. "Princeton/Stanford Working Papers in Classics." (2010).
Roaring, Behind Turkey’S., and Adrienne Mayor. "Τελευταία Νέα."
Mayor, Adrienne. The Poison King: The Life and Legend of Mithradates, Rome 's Deadliest Enemy. Princeton University Press, 2011.
Mayor, Adrienne. "Mithradates Scourge of Rome." History Today 59.12