The Dragon of the Ishtar Gate
- The Dragon of the Ishtar Gate
Infobox Book |
name = The Dragon of the Ishtar Gate
title_orig =
translator =
image_caption = Dust-jacket illustration for "The Dragon of the Ishtar Gate"
author = L. Sprague deCamp
illustrator =
cover_artist = Charles McCurry
country = United States
language = English
series =
genre = Historical novel
publisher = Doubleday
release_date = 1961
english_release_date =
media_type = Print (Hardback)
pages = 429 pp
isbn = NA
preceded_by =
followed_by =
"The Dragon of the Ishtar Gate" is an historical novel by L. Sprague de Camp, first published in hardcover by Doubleday in 1961, and in paperback by Lancer Books in 1968. It is the third of his historical novels in order of writing, and earliest chronologically. It is set in the last years of the reign of King Xerxes I of Persia, and begins in 466 BC.
The novel concerns the quest of Bessas of Zarispa, a young officer of the Immortals regiment, for the ingredients of a potion that the King has been told will give him immortality---the blood of a dragon and the ear of a king. Unbeknownst to Bessas, the third ingredient is the heart of a hero; the King has been told by his sorcerous advisor that if Bessas can bring back the first two ingredients, the third ingredient will be right there for the taking.
Relying on information given him by the priests of Marduk in Babylon that a reptile depicted in reliefs on their temple, the sirrush, is a real dragon and lives at the headwaters of the Nile, Bessas sets out for the source of the Nile, accompanied by his former tutor, Myron of Miletos, who is bored with his life of teaching and wants to make a name for himself in the field of philosophy.
References
*cite book | last=Laughlin | first=Charlotte | coauthors=Daniel J. H. Levack | title=De Camp: An L. Sprague de Camp Bibliography | location=San Francisco | publisher=Underwood/Miller | pages=50 | date=1983
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