The Cursed Kingdom

by Peter Darman Book 8 in the Parthian Chronicles series.

First published 2017

Amazon

4.4(1,309)

Set in Armenia and the Parthian frontier in the late 30s BCE, as Mark Antony again presses east, mark Antony has returned to Parthia to wage war against the king of kings. But Parthia has a new hero, a man born of slaves who carries an infamous name and who burns with rage against the world.
The king of the wild Kingdom of Gordyene desires to arm his best soldiers with swords made from the magical metal from the east. To purchase such precious requires gold and so Spartacus steals it from an Armenian temple, along with a beautiful young novice who is the daughter of Armenia’s greatest warlord. Thus is set in motion a series of events that will see King Spartacus lead his army to victory after victory as the ‘lion of the north roars’ to crush Armenian, Parthian and Roman foes.
The army of Gordyene rises to rival the other great armies in the empire – the Hatrans of King Gafarn and the Durans of King Pacorus. You wish to be a greater warlord than your uncle but King Pacorus respects the immortals. But the gods are real Spartacus and they have not forgotten the restraints they placed on the rulers of Gordyene. With every victory and conquest they will take something from you until there is nothing left, and your rage and army will avail you nothing against them.
As Mark Antony forges an unholy alliance with the Parthian King of Media, will you save the empire and lose your family? Or will you heed the advice of one who is a member of an ancient sisterhood and obey the rules of the gods?

In the late 30s BCE Armenia stood between the Roman and Parthian spheres of power. Mark Antony sought to repair the damage caused by his failed Parthian expedition, while regional kings tried to survive the competing demands of stronger neighbours. The novel's wars in Gordyene and Armenia fit this fractured frontier, where local ambition could rapidly become part of a much larger imperial confrontation.

The Armenian setting also gives the campaign a distinctive geography. Mountain routes, fortified settlements and difficult communications make control of territory very different from campaigning on the open Mesopotamian plain. Regional rulers can survive by changing allegiance between stronger neighbours, while Rome and Parthia compete through allied kings as often as through direct invasion. That unstable political landscape makes Spartacus's successes increasingly dangerous: every conquest strengthens him locally while drawing the attention of powers able to turn a border war into an imperial crisis.