Rulers of Ancient Europe is a glimpse at the roots of European civilization. For the first time, a single volume presents the biographies of twenty-four eminent statesmen who ruled over the lands of the ancient Hellenes, Macedonians, and Thracians, and who left a lasting mark upon world history.
These were rulers with strong personalities, political ambitions, and remarkable abilities as diplomats and commanders, each with his own personal relations and dramatic destiny, who founded the state structures that are still in place today. You will find vivid descriptions of the militant Agamemnon, the wise Spartan lawgiver Lycurgus, the Athenians Solon and Pericles, the powerful Thracian kings Sitalces and Cotys, the Macedonian rulers Philip II and Alexander III and their political heirs who fought to the last against the Roman invasion, paving the way for a new epoch.
In the region of Europe, monarchy, democracy, oligarchy, tyranny, and anarchy appeared for the first time in world history, revealing their potential in public life and becoming established for centuries to come.
In the narrative of events from the Trojan War in the 13th century B.C. to the Roman conquest of the Balkans by Emperor Trajan in 106 A.D., a colorful, ethnic world comes alive, one whose diverse cultural traditions have determined the course of our civilization.
