Conqueror

by Peter Darman Book 16 in the Parthian Chronicles series.

First published 2022

Amazon

4.3(690)

Set in the Parthian world in the later first century BCE, at the end of Pacorus's long military career, protect your family, defend the empire, honour the gods.
This is the code you have lived by all your life, Pacorus. Everything you have undertaken has been with those three objectives uppermost in your mind. And now your life’s work is nearly complete. Your family prospers, the empire is safe, and the gods are the indifferent, callous, bloodthirsty deities they have been since the dawn of time.
And yet, they can also be generous, even kind. After a wearisome battle to defend your kingdom, they present you with the opportunity to experience one last great adventure, an offer that is almost beyond comprehension. Grasp it with both hands, Pacorus, and ride to war again, this time against the most dangerous enemy the Parthian Empire has ever faced. But you will not be alone, and the ensuing perils and calamities will seem insignificant when compared to the great miracle the gods have gifted you.

By the end of the first century BCE Rome and Parthia had learned that neither could easily destroy the other. Their frontier remained dangerous, but diplomacy, client rulers and local campaigns often mattered more than direct imperial invasion. Pacorus's final adventure belongs to this mature stage of the rivalry, when decades of personal history sit behind every alliance and every decision to go to war.