Persian Fire Audiobook By Tom Holland cover art

Persian Fire

The First World Empire and the Battle for the West

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Persian Fire

By: Tom Holland
Narrated by: Michael Page
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In the fifth century BC, a global superpower was determined to bring truth and order to what it regarded as two terrorist states. The superpower was Persia, incomparably rich in ambition, gold, and men. The terrorist states were Athens and Sparta, eccentric cities in a poor and mountainous backwater: Greece. The story of how their citizens took on the Great King of Persia, and thereby saved not only themselves, but Western civilization as well, is as heart-stopping and fateful as any episode in history. Tom Holland's brilliant study of these critical Persian Wars skillfully examines a conflict of critical importance to both ancient and modern history.

©2005 Tom Holland (P)2016 Tantor Ancient Civilization Europe Greece Middle East Military World Mythology Greek Mythology
Engaging Storytelling • Vivid Historical Details • Excellent Narration • Dramatic Battle Descriptions • Dramatic Delivery
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What does Michael Page bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I can't say the narrator provides something that reading could not. However, the dramatized tone of this book could have been disastrous in less capable hands. Page's reading makes the text dramatic, where it might otherwise come across as corny.

Any additional comments?

Perhaps I did not adequately preview this book before purchase -- I was disappointed to discover that it is much more focused on a making-present of the Hellenistic "story" of the Persian threat than the Persian Empire itself. To that end, it is successful, so long as one is interested in the Greek narrative (as opposed to an anaylitical historical text -- there are a number of episodes recounted without aside which range from dubious to downright Greek fiction). I found value in this book, as it colorizes and synthesizes a number of (primarily Greek) sources elegantly. If you are unfamiliar with the details of the Greek resistance, this is an excellent place to start. The downside of this emphasis is that it has been done a number of times, and though this installment is a worthy telling of the Greek story, it is still, at root, a telling of the same, much-told story of Greek resistance.

This book is NOT an examination of the Persian Empire. Anyone desiring to learn more about Cyrus/Cambyses/Darius will likely be disappointed when, about an hour into the audiobook, Cyrus and Cambyses are already dead, and the book has turned to detailed considerations of Athenian and Spartan societies.

Another book about Greeks

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Well-written and excellently performed by the narrator. If you have any interest in the ancient conflict between Persia and Greece, this is the perfect was to learn about it. My only complaint is that a PDF with some maps and perhaps a list of the key characters would have made this perfect. As it was, Wikipedia proved sufficient to support this deficiency.

History well-told, as a story

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The paradoxes are interesting. There is a bit of sarcasm evident as well.

A nitpick - There’s quite a bit of usage of ‘Asia’ and ‘Europe’ without and explanation that in 3000BC, it meant different things in terms of land mass. Neither the Persians nor Greeks had much visibility in to things beyond Mediterranean Sea.

Good narrative with a dry sense of humor

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The thesis of tying back the liberty of the West to Marathon was neat. The narrations about how often the Greeks squabbled, inter polis, and intra polis, was interesting in that it painted the squabbles as somewhat inherent in democracies. The book did well to highlight the struggle of liberty, fraternity, and equality, with each equally weighted, as going back to the "origins of the West."

Everytbing thanks to Marathon

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Not to much about Persia. Greek Fire might be a better title.

Greek Fire

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I felt as if I was living during the times of Cyrus the Great and the Persian wars. Character development and explanation of the times is great.

Excellent account of the Persian wars.

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I found this easy to listen to. And follow. really nota good title since it focuses and the famous battles when Persia invaded Greece. I found the battle descriptions exciting, of course Greece prevailed against all odds which made it interesting to begin with. You get history of Sparta, and Athens as well as xerxes an Persia at the time. Good book.

More like Persians war on Greece, exciting read

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This was pretty good. The first half is hard to follow but that's just the nature of the Persians. The names are hard, their history is confusing and really not very interesting to me. The Greeks on the other hand are very interesting but the names are also a little hard to follow from time to time. A good book for a little Spartan history though. The battle of Thermopylae is fantastic and the best part in my opinion, which is a chapter or two. The rest of it is okay but not the same. Maybe I was hoping for an extended Dan Carlin king of kings and I didn't get that.

enjoyable

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Outstanding history of Persia. One of the best historians I have ever read. Highly recommended.

A must for lovers of ancient history

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First, the narration. It takes a while to get used to Michael Page's voice. Throughout the intro (which is phenomenal) all I could think about was how unique his voice was. I got used to (or over) it and appreciated how effortlessly he narrated this book with many difficult and often mispronounced words. His Greek and Persian pronouciation of names and places was a nice touch. His pace was on the slow side, but perfectly adequate for a book of this type. a five-star narration.

Second, the book. I have never (for the purpose of ease, I will say read not listen) read a book that was so prone to kicking itself in the back. It seems with this book that Holland doesn't know when to stick with the story and when to go off and adlib as it were. There are too many instances where he is discussing a particular battle or moment that grabs your attention, just to have him write something that completely leaves you lost as to why it is spoken about at this time. it's akin to having a long dialog scene during a final battle in a film. it's just jarring.

That is the only negative about this book. While it is called Perian Fire, it is about the rise of the Achaemenids and goes all the way to their stunning defeat at the hands of the Greeks. although Persia is the focus of the book, you will learn about Athens and Sparta as if this book was dedicated to them. Then it will all come together in the Persian war that gave us some of the most famous battles in the ancient world. Holland will discuss, dissect and draw each of these battles and create a complete picture of the war.

I purchased the book for future reading and for it's impressive maps. This is a very enjoyable read for anyone interested in the Rise of Persia, Sparta and Athens.

A wonderful, informative but inapt prone listen

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