"The year 2022 marks 2,500 years since Athens, the birthplace of democracy, fought off the mighty Persian Empire. This is the story of the three epic battles--Marathon, Thermopylae and Salamis--that saved democracy, forever altering the history of Europe and the West."-- Amazon.com.

In 499 BC, when the rich, sophisticated Greek communities of Ionia on the western coast of modern Turkey rebel from their Persian overlord Darius I, Athens sends ships to help them. Darius crushed the Greeks in a huge sea battle near Miletus and then invaded Greece. Standing alone against the powerful Persian army, the soldiers of Athens' newly democratic state unexpectedly repel Darius's forces on the planes of Marathon. After their victory, the Athenians strike a rich vein of silver in their state-owned mining district, and decide to spend the windfall on building a fleet of state-of-the-art warships. The next Persian king, Xerxes, assembles a vast multinational force, constructs a bridge of boats across the Hellespont, digs a canal through the Mount Athos peninsula, and bears down on Greece. The Athenians station their ships at Artemisium, where they and the weather prevent the Persians landing forces in the rear of the land forces under the Spartan King Leonidas at the nearby pass of Thermopylae. Kershaw makes use of recent archaeological and geological discoveries in this thrilling and timely retelling of the story, originally told by Herodotus. -- adapted from jacket