--- product_id: 1706089 title: "Persian Fire: The First World Empire and the Battle for the West" price: "S$44" currency: SGD in_stock: true reviews_count: 13 url: https://www.desertcart.sg/products/1706089-persian-fire-the-first-world-empire-and-the-battle-west store_origin: SG region: Singapore --- # Persian Fire: The First World Empire and the Battle for the West **Price:** S$44 **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** Persian Fire: The First World Empire and the Battle for the West - **How much does it cost?** S$44 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.sg](https://www.desertcart.sg/products/1706089-persian-fire-the-first-world-empire-and-the-battle-west) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description A “sweeping popular account” ( The Seattle Times ) of how Athens and Sparta withstood an assault from the Persian Empire in the cradle of Western civilization, from the acclaimed author of Rubicon and co-host of the hit podcast The Rest Is History “Excellent. . . . There is an even handedness in Holland’s treatment of both Greek and Persian cultural riches that is rare in popular accounts of these wars.” — The Sunday Times (London) In the fifth century B.C., 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 Great King of Persia, and thereby saved not only themselves but Western civilization as well, is as heart-stopping and fateful as any episode in history. Tom Holland’s brilliant study of these critical Persian Wars skillfully examines a conflict of critical importance to both ancient and modern history. Review: Amazing introduction into Greek History - Very well-written narrative; the crossover of history and mythology is masterfully handled by Tom Holland. Review: A wonderful, meandering history - No one puts together disparate pieces of an academic history into life quite as well as Tom Holland. Like all of his efforts, Persian Fire delivers with a view of the Greco-Persian War that, if not NEVER told, definitely deserves more air. Disdaining the oft bewailed lack of Persian sources, Holland brings together the story of an impossibly vast, impossibly ancient sea of cultures stretching from the Aegean to the Indus. The Achemenids are only the latest in a series of giants that stretch all the way back to and even into prehistory. The Greeks, by contrast, are every bit the squalid backwater the Persians disdained: backbiting, oath breaking, bizarrely nationalist over the small picture and disdainful of the large. Indeed, that's the one ambivalence I felt about the narrative. The stands at Thermopylae and Marathon, the Battle of Salamis are all held up as great events in a cultural division of East and West, monumental in the birth of what a conservative view of history might call "Western Civilization." And yet...is it? Holland is great at leaving the question just short of begged. Clearly the loss of Xerxes did nothing in particular to advance Greek unity or Athenian intellect immediately; as Holland points out the Parthenon was constructed more as a show of one upmanship to Sparta in the run up to the Peloponnesian War, and then Philip/Alexander, and then...what? Holland never lays it right out but leaves a tantalizing view of Greco Roman history as a reconstruction of later people desperate for an ur-validation, much as he described the compilations of the hadith in In the Shadow of the Sword. And if Darius came up with the first proto holy war, if echoes of Zoroastrianism wound down through the millennia to Christianity and Islam, if the "East" delivered the first strong centralized states...was there even an East? Is there? Hints, and nudges and the occasional wink, and in conclusion that is the final delight to this history. ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #40,204 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #19 in Iran History #21 in Ancient Greek History (Books) #67 in History of Civilization & Culture | | Customer Reviews | 4.5 out of 5 stars 2,142 Reviews | ## Images ![Persian Fire: The First World Empire and the Battle for the West - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71pLQb1GGSL.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Amazing introduction into Greek History *by E***O on August 6, 2026* Very well-written narrative; the crossover of history and mythology is masterfully handled by Tom Holland. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A wonderful, meandering history *by W***Y on September 19, 2018* No one puts together disparate pieces of an academic history into life quite as well as Tom Holland. Like all of his efforts, Persian Fire delivers with a view of the Greco-Persian War that, if not NEVER told, definitely deserves more air. Disdaining the oft bewailed lack of Persian sources, Holland brings together the story of an impossibly vast, impossibly ancient sea of cultures stretching from the Aegean to the Indus. The Achemenids are only the latest in a series of giants that stretch all the way back to and even into prehistory. The Greeks, by contrast, are every bit the squalid backwater the Persians disdained: backbiting, oath breaking, bizarrely nationalist over the small picture and disdainful of the large. Indeed, that's the one ambivalence I felt about the narrative. The stands at Thermopylae and Marathon, the Battle of Salamis are all held up as great events in a cultural division of East and West, monumental in the birth of what a conservative view of history might call "Western Civilization." And yet...is it? Holland is great at leaving the question just short of begged. Clearly the loss of Xerxes did nothing in particular to advance Greek unity or Athenian intellect immediately; as Holland points out the Parthenon was constructed more as a show of one upmanship to Sparta in the run up to the Peloponnesian War, and then Philip/Alexander, and then...what? Holland never lays it right out but leaves a tantalizing view of Greco Roman history as a reconstruction of later people desperate for an ur-validation, much as he described the compilations of the hadith in In the Shadow of the Sword. And if Darius came up with the first proto holy war, if echoes of Zoroastrianism wound down through the millennia to Christianity and Islam, if the "East" delivered the first strong centralized states...was there even an East? Is there? Hints, and nudges and the occasional wink, and in conclusion that is the final delight to this history. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Singeing the King's Beard *by C***K on October 9, 2006* OK, Tom Holland gets my vote for fun and read-able history. Although he is not good enough for some of the other reviewers, he is a godsend for the regular guy. For example, he can take an historical event like the Battle of Salamis and rachet up the tension and drama to the point where you feel like you are reading about it in this morning's newspaper. That said, you need to know your Punic from your Peloponnesian War, your Samos from your Lesbos, and your Darius from you Xerxes in order to fully enjoy this account, In that sense Tom Holland's PERSIAN FIRE is probably too middlebrow for the scholar and too complicated for the novice. But boy O boy he he fun for the rest of us. In a world where the East rubs up against the West he can fill in the historical blanks that still bedevil us to this day. And today it still seems to me that we are living in the same battle of the past (East) versus the future (West). PERSIAN FIRE sets todays headlines, in some respects, against a 2500 year old backdrop. As we might watch the CBS news, the Athenians, in the shadow of their burned and gutted Acropolis, would watch the young buck playwright, Aeschylus, stage THE PERSIANS one year after the exhausted Greeks had won the war and returned to the abandoned Athens. Spartans, that weird and long-haired race of warriors, get their fair share of exposure but lose some of their mystique in Holland's re-telling of Thermopylae and the Spartan king's last stand. The bottom line is that I like my history books to try and be as exciting as the actual events they describe. Tom Holland fits the bill perfectly. This stands with RUBICON, his earlier effort, as one of my favorite history books. For the scholarly historians, well, I just want to reassure them that this book will push me toward a deeper exploration of ancient Greece, not drive me away. And for that, a tip of the helmet is due to Tom Holland --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.sg/products/1706089-persian-fire-the-first-world-empire-and-the-battle-west](https://www.desertcart.sg/products/1706089-persian-fire-the-first-world-empire-and-the-battle-west) --- *Product available on Desertcart Singapore* *Store origin: SG* *Last updated: 2026-10-07*