The descriptions of the inner workings of the Achaemenid court are captivating and intriguing, however most of the book is spent dealing with the minutiae of ancient Indian and Chinese power struggles which bog the story down for far too long and make it a rather tedious read as a whole.

Impresionante. De lo mejor que he leído jamás. Una maravillosa síntesis de la Grecia Clásica, pero extendiéndose a Persia, India, China, y con los más grandes personajes. Pero sin duda, con un amor infinito a sus protagonistas, Ciro Espitama y Jerjes el Grande. Ojalá poder volver a leerlo.

Мисля че за точно такава книга съм си мечтал винаги. Всички, които се интересуват от история не трябва да я изпускат.

Not only is Gore Vidal a snazzy dresser and an outspoken political analyst -- he's one of the best historical fiction authors going. This just might be one of my "marooned on an island" books.

This was one of the most challenging reads I’ve ever had. I was determined to get through it. Probably could of been 3 separate books and I wouldn’t have been so hard on myself for taking so long to read it. All the different circles of people than ran into yet others was really hard for me to keep straight. I normally enjoy the details of location and characters but they didn’t seem to flow well for me at all. I definitely appreciate learning about a time period and cultures that were full of politics and intrigue. Many things have not changed in this human occupation. I’m glad I read it and feel total accomplishment that I finally got through it.

Overall pretty interesting introduction to several schools of thought! Was surprised at how nihilist Buddhism is—although I’m not completely sold on Vidal’s description of it and will be looking into some more academic texts. The idea of life as a circle was very attractive to me, to the point where my own monotheistic dualist belief felt a bit primitive (interesting feeling!).
The narrator himself is not that likeable, although he does fit the bill of world-weary crochety old man. He’s lightly racist and misogynist to the point of being fruity. I don’t mind because the author clearly isn’t (racist or misogynist, I mean), so it’s more of an interesting if annoying thought exercise than anything else.

In 445 BC Cyrus Spitama, the Persian ambassador to Athens, hears Herodotus reading from his "Histories" and in response recounts to his nephew Democritus the story of his life. He has served three Persian kings and traveled to India and China; himself the grandson of Zoroaster, he has met Buddha, Gosala, Lao Tse and Confucius! This is the thesis of Creation, a historical novel which geographically spans most of the fifth century civilised world and intellectually engages with an immense range of ideas about the fundamental nature of creation.

While it's probably impossible to avoid shallowness in presenting complex philosophical and religious systems in a novel, Vidal does a surprisingly good job of it: if you don't know anything about Buddhism or Confucianism or Taoism, then you could learn quite a bit about them from Creation. He's also careful to avoid any anachronistic traces of Christianity (although, in contrast with Buddhism and Confucianism, it could be argued that Zoroastrianism pretty much is Christianity), though I found the omission of a meeting with a Jewish religious figure a little surprising.

Although religious and philosophical ideas are at the core of Creation, they are never allowed to overpower the novel. There is plenty of historical (and particularly political) interest — poisonings in the Persian harem, the internecine feuds of the Greeks, the warring states of India and China. Much of this will be best appreciated by those who already have some knowledge of the history, but it isn't assumed. One of my friends described Creation as a "superior airport novel", but I don't think that is a fair judgement unless readability is a sufficient criterion for calling something an airport novel!

My exact rating would be 3.5 stars. I really liked the parts about Persia but for me the Indian and the Chinese chapters were way too long (especially the Chinese one) and felt as detours from the main plot and as detours I found them too long and thus messing up the pace of the story.

In addition I felt certain anachronism in the characters themselves - the modern views of the characters were pretty evident and it felt as if they perceive and judge their world from modern standpoint and with modern views. I read simultaneously Herodotus and it was a very different story - the contemporary person in the ancient world was thoroughly different from any of the characters in the “Creation” and had a very different perception of the world. Because of that I found the development of the characters a bit naive and shallow.

An impressive and fascinating work of historical fiction. It contains the biography of the extraordinary (but fictional) life of Cyrus Spitama, a great-uncle of Democritus (the first Western philosopher to come up with a materialistic philosophy based on atoms). Told by the main character and written down by Democritus himself :). The main character is also the grandson of Zoroaster and is educated at the court of Darius, the 'King of Kings' of Persia. His life is situated in the 6th-5th century BC and many historical events re. the Achaemenid (Persian) empire, including the wars with the Greek states, are told from an insider's point of view. Moreover, Cyrus is appointed ambassador twice to the 'East' (India) and the 'East of the East', i.e. Cathay (China), leading to many adventures. In passing, the different religions/philosophies of the time are explained in some detail, through dialogues and observations. It thus appears that Zoroastrianism is (the religion is not extinct) a clear precursor of Christianity. In India, Cyrus meets and discusses with Gautama Buddha, who giggles a lot, while in China he learns about Lao-Tze and meets Confucius.

The story often contains humorous observations, with special attention to the many defects of the Athenians and the Greeks in general.

Amazingly, the tale is never boring, except in the, in my opinion, too long and drawn out section on Confucius.

This book is a master piece. It took me 2 years of stops and starts to complete it because it’s thick in every aspect: it’s 1000 pages so carrying it around it’s like walking or holding a brick, so I had to move to kindle edition; then it has so many old words that aren’t currently in use, that I had to use the dictionary all the time, I definitely learned a lot; it’s so detailed in terms of history, and has so much information in one page, that it took me longer to absorb and learn all the concepts from Zoroastrian, to Budha, to Confucious, Chinese, Indians, and my favorite: Persians. Luckily I’ve been twice to Iran and to China, and I have worked and made friends in India from Gupta’s to Jain’s, and understanding the places or, again, cultural concepts and ways, was easier and tremendously enriching for my nowadays travelling and relationships with these countries. I am definitely a suc...er for history, and if you are too, you will love this book as much as I did. But get ready for a long reading, this is not something you read during a holiday period. My personal thank you to the writer for all I’ve learn while reading it. It deserves 6 stars!

This one's a re-read from years ago.
It's held up fairly well, though I find I'm lees tolerant of the main character's (Cyrus') dismissal of the Greeks. I know Vidal was writing a character with his built-n Persian bias, but it wore thin after awhile.
Beyond that though, it was still fascinating to revisit the way Vidal uses this framework to explore different aspects of the philosophical debate about the nature of reality and its genesis. It's like holding a shiny, mysterious bauble in ones hand and inspecting it from all sides in a pre-scientific world. At the end, the illumination comes from the process of positing theories about the bauble. So, Zoroastrians, Buddhists, Confucians, Taoists, Jainists, Hindus, and Greeks in their protoscientific stage, all take a shot at explaining the fundamental question. The reader is then left with an open question, to be answered in ones own way.
Almost as good as I remembered it to be.

7/10. Beautiful, staggering, audacious. It was wonderful to see daily life in the Persian court of Darius, the politics of Athens, and India in the time of the Buddha - but the scenes in Babylon took my breath away.

Not always the easiest read - truthfully I could have done without the trip to Cathay, and a less hurried end - but highly enjoyable, overall.