401 BC. The Persian king Artaxerxes rules an empire stretching from the Aegean to northern India. Fifty million people are his subjects. But the sons of Sparta are eager to play the game of thrones. Battles can be won with a single blow. Princes fall. And when the dust of civil war settles, the Spartans are left stranded in the heart of an enemy's empire, without support, without food and water. Brings alive the extraordinary world of ancient Persia.