The Penguin Podcast is back! Listen Now
The Falcon of Sparta

The Falcon of Sparta

Summary

The bestselling author of the Emperor, Conqueror and The Wars of the Roses returns to the Ancient World with a gripping adventure based on an epic true story.

'HIS FINEST NOVEL TO DATE . . . THE BATTLE SCENES ARE THRILLING' SUNDAY EXPRESS
___________

In the Ancient World, one army was feared above all others.

401 BC. The Persian king Artaxerxes rules an empire stretching from the Aegean to northern India.

As many as fifty million people are his subjects.

His rule is absolute.

But the sons of Sparta are eager to play the game of thrones . . .

Battles can be won - or lost - with a single blow.

Princes fall. And when the dust of civil war settles, the Spartans are left stranded in the heart of an enemy's empire, without support, without food and without water.

Far from home, surrounded by foes, it falls to the young soldier Xenophon to lead the survivors against Artaxerxes' legendary Persian warriors.

The Falcon of Sparta masterfully depicts the ferocity and heroism that was the Ancient World. It is a tale of warring ambition, betrayal and bravery and an extraordinary journey out of exile against the odds.

'The pace is nail-biting' THE TIMES


Conn Iggulden, Sunday Times bestseller, June 2024

Reviews

  • His finest novel to date, brings alive the extraordinary world of ancient Persia, as well as the ruthless nobility of the Spartans. The battle scenes are thrilling and the men who fight in them are impeccably portrayed
    Sunday Express

About the author

Conn Iggulden

CONN IGGULDEN is one of the most successful authors of historical fiction writing today, with bestselling series on Julius Caesar, Genghis Khan and the Wars of the Roses, as well as two stand-alone novels: Dunstan, set in the red-blooded world of tenth-century England, and The Falcon of Sparta, in which Iggulden returns to the Ancient World. Both instalments of his Athenian series, ­The Gates of Athens and Protector, and his recent Golden Age series, Lion and Empire, are Sunday Times bestsellers.
Learn More

Sign up to the Penguin Newsletter

For the latest books, recommendations, author interviews and more