Persian Fire cover art

Persian Fire

The First World Empire, Battle for the West

 Preview
Try Premium Plus free
1 credit a month to buy any audiobook in our entire collection.
Access to thousands of additional audiobooks and Originals from the Plus Catalogue.
Member-only deals & discounts.
Auto-renews at $16.45/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Persian Fire

By: Tom Holland
Narrated by: Mark Meadows, Tom Holland
Try Premium Plus free

$16.45 per month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $26.99

Buy Now for $26.99

About this listen

 Tom Holland's bestselling account of the world's very first clash of civilisations between the Persians and the Greeks in 480BC

'Magisterial... told with great authority and a novelistic colour and verve'
Books of the Year, Independent

'Holland has a rare eye for detail, drama and the telling anecdote'
Dominic Sandbrook, Daily Telegraph

'An unequivocal argument for the relevance of ancient history'
Observer

'Holland brings this tumultuous, epoch-making period dazzlingly to life'
William Napier, Independent on Sunday

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 most powerful man on the planet is as heart-stopping as any episode in history.©2005 Tom Holland (P)2019 Hachette Audio UK Ancient Greece Ancient History Royalty Ancient Greece Greek Mythology
All stars
Most relevant  
Exciting and easily grasp presentation of historical fact. I loved the way Holland gives background detail and perhaps some minor Herodotus like personal perspective in the building of the the drama that was the Persian War. Outstanding.

Loved the retelling of historical fact in an easy listening and exciting manner

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Well read, well paced. Great story telling.
Titled chapters help navigation.
Fantastic insight into the story you think you know.

The story you think you know

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Loved this book, however, I think the title is somewhat misleading. The majority of the book deals with Greek history as it relates to the Persian wars, I would have liked it to deal more with Persian history as it relates to the Greek wars. Subtle, but important difference.

Excellent

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Dramatic reflection of scholarly history. Lively portrait of bygone grandeur, ancient attitudes and foundational actions.

Excellent

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This isn't, as the description goes, a history of the Persian Empire. Rather, it is another history of the Greco/Persian wars with a bit at the start about the origin of the Persian Empire. Darius' exploits in India get two lines. The campaign against the Scythians less than a paragraph. The book ends generations before the end of the Persian Empire.

Holland does an excellent job crafting a gripping narrative, but this book is not as described.

not what it says on the box.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.