Tyrant

I'm a history buff who reads a lot of historical novel, so it ain't easy to impress me. But this book certainly did. In fact, it's what got me started on reading historical novels in the first place. Few authors know the Greek stuff as well as this Italian dude. Frankly, everytime you read it, it makes me feel like he's Greek, but he'd sooner choke on spaghetti than the best gyro in Athens. Tyrant tells the story of Dionysus the Elder, a man born in Greek Sicilian city of Syracruse. The city and man ring a familiar bell, which was why I first picked it up. As you read through the book, you will get a glimpse of the mafia (then called the Company), the rising power of Carthage (long before Rome), hints of Rome (but was sacked by the Gauls back then), and of course some Greek civilization on the sideline. I look the book for its exploration of topics such as democracy and dictatorship, how a man single-handedly gains power in a city-state even though he starts from nothing. Best of all, I like the part when he kills those two dudes who raped his wife Arete even after they helped him rig the election or judgement. Few more pictures would be great though.

Few authors can be better equipped to write about the history of ancient Greece and Rome than Valerio Massimo Manfredi. Professor of archaeology at the university of Milan, he has carried out many excavations and expeditions in the Mediterranean region. He has produced many factual books on historical matters, mainly military and has still found the time to write several novels and this is one of the best of them. I think that this is one of the authors best books to date and he has written several excellent ones including the Alexander trilogy which received world wide acclaim and probably brought the authors name to the forefront of ancient historical writers. The book takes place in 412 BC and charts the clash of one man and a superpower. The man is Dionysius of Syracuse. The superpower is Carthage, a city with thriving trade links and one of the most powerful navies in the Mediterranean. How can a 20-year-old even think of going against the might and resources of a place such as Carthage. Thus begins the journey into manhood of a man who rose to gather one of the greatest armies in the Ancient World and also invented many of the trappings of war that lasted for centuries. Machines never seen before by mankind. Machines that could wreak havoc and destruction on a scale never before dreamed of. Dionysius also invented the quinquereme a five module battleship that had fifty oarsmen to propel through the water. But who was the man Dionysius, was he the ruthless, murdering tyrant that his enemies depicted or was he an intelligent man born ahead of his time. History has lumped him with the so called tyrants, but the greatness of the man is impossible to deny.

This is my first Manfredi book, but I frequently read historical fiction. This book is a biography about a historical character, not an adventure or event set in the past. The protagonist of the biography has great strengths and great flaws. The evolution of the character during the story gives the reader cause to often reevaluate my views of the protagonist. I also liked that the book was well researched while being set in a time and place that is less discussed than others. I feel like I learned more reading Tyrant than reading yet another book set during the Greek / Persian wars for example. The author is a history professor from Italy and he chooses not to insert a great deal of his own conjecture about motives into the protagonist. Instead the book challenges the reader to come up with their own motives for the actors in the story. So be prepared for a story that covers all the historical facts, but does not reveal all the details about the thoughts in the character's minds.