Creation

BOOKS BY GORE VIDAL

NOVELS

Williwaw

In a Yellow Wood

The City and the Pillar

The Season of Comfort

A Search for the King

Dark Green
,
Bright Red

The Judgment of Paris

Messiah

Julian

Washington
,
D
.
C
.

Myra Breckinridge

Two Sisters

Burr

Myron

1876

Kalki

Duluth

Lincoln

SHORT STORIES

A Thirsty Evil

PLAYS

An Evening with Richard Nixon

Weekend

Romulus

The Best Man

Visit to a Small Planet

ESSAYS

Rocking the Boat Reflections upon a Sinking Ship

Homage to Daniel Shays

Matters of Fact and of Fiction

The Second American Revolution

A Novel

BALLANTINE BOOKS • NEW YORK

Copyright © 1981 by Gore Vidal

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by Ballantine Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto.

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 79-5528

ISBN 0-345-34020-5

This edition published by arrangement with Random House, Inc.

Manufactured in the United States of America

First Ballantine Books Edition: February 1982

Eighth Printing: May 1986

Map by Raphael Palacios

FOR THOMAS PRYOR GORE

(
1870-1949
)

Contents
.
2

Author’s Note
.
2

BOOK ONE
.
2

Herodotus Gives a Reading at the Odeon in Athens
.
2

1
.
2

2
.
2

3
.
2

BOOK TWO
..
2

In the Days of Darius the Great King
.
2

1
.
2

2
.
2

3
.
2

4
.
2

5
.
2

6
.
2

7
.
2

8
.
2

9
.
2

BOOK THREE
.
2

The Greek Wars Begin
.
2

1
.
2

2
.
2

3
.
2

4
.
2

5
.
2

6
.
2

BOOK FOUR
..
2

India
.
2

1
.
2

2
.
2

3
.
2

4
.
2

5
.
2

6
.
2

7
.
2

8
.
2

9
.
2

10
.
2

11
.
2

12
.
2

BOOK FIVE
.
2

The Passing of the Awesome Royal Glory
.
2

1
.
2

2
.
2

3
.
2

4
.
2

5
.
2

6
.
2

BOOK SIX
..
2

Cathay
.
2

1
.
2

2
.
2

3
.
2

4
.
2

5
.
2

6
.
2

7
.
2

BOOK SEVEN
..
2

Why the Ganges River Turned Red With Blood
.
2

1
.
2

2
.
2

3
.
2

BOOK EIGHT
.
2

The Golden Age of Xerxes the Great King
.
2

1
.
2

2
.
2

3
.
2

4
.
2

5
.
2

6
.
2

BOOK NINE
.
2

The Peace of Pericles
.
2

1
.
2

About The Author
2

To the people of the fifth century B.C., India was a Persian province on the Indus River, while Ch’in was only one of a number of warring principalities in what is now China. For clarity’s sake, I’ve used the word India to describe not only the Gangetic plain but also those regions that currently enjoy the names Pakistan and Bangladesh. Since China would be a real misnomer at this period, I’ve used the archaic word Cathay to describe those states between the Yangtze and Yellow rivers. Whenever possible, I have chosen the contemporary word in English for such entities as the Mediterranean and Confucius; on the other hand, I prefer to call unhappy Afghanistan—and equally unhappy Iran—by their ancient names, Bactria and Persia.