 In its foreword, Richard N. Frye, the Aga Khan Professor Emeritus of Iranian Studies at Harvard University praises the author for giving "the Persian side of the picture as opposed to the Greek and Roman viewpoint which has long dominated our understanding of these wars", describing Farrokh's approach as "refreshing".The book was criticized by Jona Lendering in "Bryn Mawr Classical Review", who has written that it contained factual errors and ignored recent scholarship.Lendering's review was disputed in a later issue of "Bryn Mawr Classical Review".