Persian Fire

In 480 BC, Xerxes, the King of Persia, led an invasion of mainland Greece that should have been a mere formality. For seventy years, rapid and spectacular victory had seemed the birthright of the Persian Empire. In the space of a single generation, they had swept across the Near East, shattering ancient kingdoms, storming famous cities, and putting together a massive empire stretching from India to the shores of the Aegean. As a result of those conquests, Xerxes ruled as the most powerful man on the planet. Yet somehow, against the largest expeditionary force ever assembled, the Greeks of the mainland managed to hold out, turning the Persians back and maintaining their freedom.

Had the Greeks been defeated at Salamis, not only would the West have lost its first struggle for independence and survival, but it is highly unlikely that the cultural and political entity known as "the West" would ever have existed at all. This narrative describes the very first major clash of empires between East and West, exploring the historical forces behind this pivotal conflict. Written by award-winning historian Tom Holland, who holds a double first from Cambridge and has adapted classical works by Herodotus and Thucydides for BBC Radio, this work examines the deep-rooted origins of a war that fundamentally reshaped human history.