Sicilia, siglo V a.C. Dionisio, el guerrero más audaz de Siracusa, tiene una sola pasión: liberar a la isla de los cartagineses y fortalecer el dominio griego sobre ella.
De ese modo comenzó la prodigiosa aventura de Dionisio, el Tirano de Siracusa, temido por quienes se oponían a su política. Logró convertir a su ciudad en la más próspera del mundo griego y los magníficos monumentos que hizo construir todavía se admiran hoy.

2.5 stars ( )

Il tiranno

Devo ammettere che sono molto di parte sul giudizio dei libri di Manfredi, (A lui posso perdonare tutto!!) Nel caso in questione non conoscevo la storia del tiranno di Siracusa, e lui con la sua straordinaria vena narrativa ha provveduto, tenendomi letteralmente incollato alle pagine fino alla fine. Una bella storia dove si mescolano ambizioni, sentimenti, affetti, adatta anche a chi non è appassionato di antichità classica. ( )

No se si la traduccion o la novela pero me pareció tan mala que la abandone ( )

2.5/5. The novel gives us an unusual subject and time period--Greek Sicily at the time of the Peloponnesian War and beyond. I'm just using that as a reference as to when the story takes place. The novel tells of Dionysius of Syracuse, a good man who is badly affected by the death and destruction of his beloved wife. He then seizes power and becomes a tyrant, in the worst sense of the word--ruthless, merciless, cold-hearted. We see how absolute power corrupts him. He has mixed success against Carthaginians but does make Sicily into something to be reckoned with.

Hampered by a poor translation, was the wording of the original Italian also as bad? The novel was overwhelmed with battles, but I did have to admire Dionysius's military genius: hauling ships overland, the invention to catapults. Sex scenes were risible, especially the one under water. Characters were one-dimensional but for his brother, Leptines, and his friend, the historian Philistus, whose original work has been lost. I feel this author was a better historian than novelist, although I applaud him for tackling this subject. A superior novel on a Greek who lived somewhat later, Timoleon, whose name will always be coupled with Syracuse is Peter Vansittart's A Choice Of Murder. ( )