Ancient Greece

I'm on a bit of an ancient Greece bender at the moment. The Persian wars have always fascinated me - especially the battle of Thermopylae in 480BC, in which a small number of Spartans and their allies held back the vast armies of the Great King Xerxes.

I can recommend two books on the subject, if you're at all interested. The first is the very engaging history book Persian Fire by Tom Holland. He's a great storyteller - with a knack of sifting historical evidence to create an evocative narrative.

The other book is a great bit of fiction by Gene Wolfe. Latro in the Mist follows its eponymous Roman hero through Greece after the Persian defeat. Latro has a head wound from his last battle on the Persian side that leaves him unable to remember anything from the previous day. At the same time, he also appears to gain the ability to see and converse with the gods. It's a dreamlike story that reminds me of the symbolist paintings of Gustav Moreau.

Yes, I know how pretentious that makes me sound...