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This is a magnificent novel by Gore Vidal. I had read a translation of it many years ago. However a few weeks ago Vidal was in Toronto and that was how I began looking at the novel again. For those Iranians who were angry at the movie 300, this book works as a relief. The narrator is an imaginary Cyrus Spitama, who Vidal describes as the grandson of Zoroaster (Zarathushtra). I have to add that Zoroaster lived somewhere between 4000 to 7000 years ago. Recent studies are in favour of 7000, including Mary Setegast’s marvelous research (When Zarathushtra Spoke). So in a way Vidal’s Cyrus Spitama cannot be the prophet’s grandson, since the author is talking about events of the Achemenide king Xerxes. And by this time even the language of Gathas, Zoroaster’s divine songs, was a dead language. But the good thing of this historical novel is that it reveals the lies of Herodotus, the well known Greek historian whose lies were often used against Iranian civilization. Cyrus Spitama’s narration as an ambassador of the King Xerxes in Athens is witty and philosophical at the same time. It is interesting to note that Cyrus Spitama is of a mixed marriage between an Iranian father and a Greek mother, something that was very common in those days. I recommend reading of this novel to all my Iranian friends and non-Iranians who are not satisfied with western cliché attitude against the barbarians (i.e. Iranians!)