The Last King: Rome's Greatest Enemy [Hardcover]

Michael Curtis Ford (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 15, 2004

To the Romans, the greatest enemy the Republic ever faced was not the Goths or Huns, nor even Hannibal, but rather a ferocious and brilliant king on the distant Black Sea: Mithridates Eupator VI of Pontus, known to history as Mithridates the Great.

At age eleven, Mithridates inherited a small mountain kingdom of wild tribesmen, which his wicked mother governed in his place. Sweeping to power at age twenty-one, he proved to be a military genius and quickly consolidated various fiefdoms under his command. Since Rome also had expansionist designs in this region, bloody conflict was inevitable.

Over forty years, Rome sent its greatest generals to contain Mithridates and gained tenuous control over his empire only after suffering a series of devastating defeats at the hands of this cunning and ruthless king. Each time Rome declared victory, Mithridates considered it merely a strategic retreat, and soon came roaring back with a more powerful army than before.

Bursting with heroic battle scenes and eloquent storytelling, Michael Curtis Ford has crafted a riveting novel of the ancient world and resurrected one of history's greatest warriors.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In chronicling the feats of Mithridates Eupator VI, last King of Pontus (a region of Asia Minor), Ford captures the Roman first century B.C. from a novel perspective, viewing it through the prism of one of Rome's most formidable enemies. Mithridates proved his prowess by holding his own against Sulla, Lucullus, Pompey and a number of lesser Roman commanders for nearly 40 years in ceaseless battles. When he first claims the throne of Pontus, the kingdom is nearly bankrupt and dependent on Rome. Consolidating his hold on his Black Sea coast territories, the upstart king launches himself into combat with Rome, exploiting the republic's weaknesses. Mithridates's military skills are remarkable, but he also resorts to questionable tactics, massacring 80,000 Romans in Pontus. Ford's storytelling shifts uneasily between the realistic (the king's quarrels with the narrator, his bastard son Pharnaces) and the mythic (the king's heroic, even Conanesque physical stature and prowess), and the contemporary tone of the dialogue (" 'Quit the posturing,' Sulla interrupted") tends to sits awkwardly with more sober historical exposition. Battle scenes are described with great skill, though the author's eagerness to provide a thorough cataloguing of weaponry and tactics sometimes gets in the way of the action. Flaws aside, the book demonstrates the author's ability to imagine the Roman world from its periphery and shows the same mastery of military history as his first novel, The Ten Thousand.
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From Booklist

Ford has crafted a fascinating fictional biography of King Mithradates the Great of Pontus. Though other enemies of Rome have had greater play in the history books, none were as feared or as respected by the ancient Romans as the Persian-born, Greek- educated ruler of the relatively small eastern kingdom on the edge of the Black Sea. Determined to forge a new Hellenistic empire, Mithradates clashed again and again with the Roman Republic over the course of 40 eventful years. Further motivated by the personal and military humiliation his grandfather experienced at the hands of the Romans, the wily warrior was able to contain and repel the mighty Roman war machine more effectively than any other foe. Eloquently narrated by Pharnaces, the illegitimate son of Mithradates and one of his favorite concubines, this rousing saga also provides an illuminating glimpse into the often vast divide that separated Eastern and Western warfare, culture, and philosophy during antiquity. Margaret Flanagan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books; First Edition edition (March 15, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312275390
• ISBN-13: 978-0312275396
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #293,283 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A GOOD HISTORY LESSON BUT NOT A GOOD NOVEL, April 27, 2004

By 

Michael W. Kennedy "insane book lover" (Dallas, TX United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Last King: Rome's Greatest Enemy (Hardcover)

I hadn't heard of King Mithradates the Great of Pontus so, from an educational standpoint, THE LAST KING was worth reading. Mithradates suffered some of the worst luck imaginable in that three of Rome's greatest generals commanded armies against him. Still, with determination and intelligence, he managed to be quite a thorn in Rome's side for many years. This is basically the story Mr. Ford tells. As history, this is an easy lesson to absorb but as fiction it is not up to the caliber of good historical fiction because, mainly, the characters and dialogue are comic bookish. Despite King Mithradates's son being the protagonist and the story viewpoint being from the Pontusian side, I still rooted for stodgy, efficient Rome. In other words, Mr. Ford gave me little reason to care for those people. But the story moves fairly quickly and several of the the battle scenes are very well written. Three Roman legions out of five.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars M. C. Fords greatest book to date., September 27, 2005

By 

Peter A. Hopkins (Riverside, Ca USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Last King: Rome's Greatest Enemy (Hardcover)

It took me quite some time to get around to reading this book as I was put off a little by the Connan the Barbarian style dust jacket.But it is an exellent historical novel, one I just hated to put down. Action packed, fast moving and shown through the eyes of the civilizations opposing Rome. A must read!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good, but not Ford's best, April 13, 2004

By 

buckout911 "buckout911" (Southern CA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Last King: Rome's Greatest Enemy (Hardcover)

I enjoyed this book, and am glad I read it. That being said, I didn't think it stood up to Ford's prior two books. Though I applaud the effort to tell the story of Mithridates, and in fact the story of Rome from the outside looking in. The middle of the book seemed to get redundant at times, Mithridates builds an army, Mithridates loses his army, Mithridates bulds another army. He is described as Rome's greatest enemy, yet the book never really presents him as much more than a minor thorn in the empire's side. However, if you enjoy historical fiction of Ancient Rome and Greece, you will more than likely enjoy this book. The end of the book left me satisfied that Ford succeeded in what he set out to do. Perhaps, if Mithridates efforts appear somewhat redundant it's because they were. The Roman Empire was not always glorious, and there were men whom, while not always successful, did wage all in defiance. The Last King, while not "The Ten Thousand", or Pressfield's "Gates of Fire" was still more entertaining than anything I could have seen on television or on a movie screen.