Persian Fire: The First World Empire and the Battle for the West

Holland narrates the rise of the Achaemenid Persian Empire under Cyrus, Cambyses, and Darius, then the collision with the Greek city-states in the early fifth century BCE. He follows imperial administration and court politics in Asia as well as the campaigns that reach Marathon, Thermopylae, Salamis, and Plataea. Greek disunity, Persian logistics, and the stakes each side attached to the war occupy the center. Xerxes' invasion of 480-479 is the climax of the second half. The book is a narrative history of that Greco-Persian conflict, not a specialized study of any single battle and not a general history of classical Greece.

Bound in black printed and gilt blocked blue cloth with a design by Kent Barton. Plain slipcase.