Daniel Ogden

The story of Pausanias, the general who defeated the Persians invading Greece and changed the course of history Weaving together ancient sources, Daniel Ogden tells the gripping story of the enigmatic and controversial Spartan regent to an underage king. Pausanias (ca. 505-ca. 467 BCE) would never have come to power had the Persians not annihilated the Greek forces at Thermopylae in 480 BCE, killing his uncle Leonidas. The next year, Greek forces under the new regent's command crushed the Persians at the decisive Battle of Plataea. It was a brilliant victory for Pausanias, but his heroic reputation swiftly declined. He was accused of tyrannical ambition, treachery, rape, and murder and came to a grisly and ghostly end, starved to death in Sparta's Temple of Athena. In this meticulously researched book-the first full-length biography of Pausanias in English-Ogden searches for the truth behind the ancient stories. Was Pausanias merely misunderstood and misrepresented, or was he an egotist in thrall to his own success? Despite Pausanias's dark demise, Ogden hails his greatest achievement: by defeating the Persians he ensured the future of Classical Greek culture and the development of Western civilization as we know it.

An exploration of how the image and idea of the dragon has evolved through history How did the dragon get its wings? Everyone in the modern West has a clear idea of what a dragon looks like and of the sorts of stories it inhabits, not least devotees of the fantasies of J. R. R. Tolkien, J. K. Rowling, and George R. R. Martin. A cross between a snake and some fearsome mammal, often sporting colossal wings, they live in caves, lie on treasure, maraud, and breathe fire. They are extraordinarily powerful, but even so, ultimately defeated in their battles with humans. What is the origin of this creature? The Dragon in the West is the first serious and substantial account in any language of the evolution of the modern dragon from its ancient forebears. Daniel Ogden's detailed exploration begins with the drakon of Greek myth and the draco of the dragon-loving Romans, and a look at the ancient world's female dragons. It brings the story forwards though Christian writings, medieval illustrated manuscripts, and the lives of dragon-duelling saints, before concluding with a study of dragons found in the medieval Germanic world, including those of the Anglo-Saxon Beowulf and the Norse sagas.