Lion of Macedon by David Gemmell

Parmenion is Spartan half-breed (Half Macedonian) the seeress Tamis has had a vision of him stopping the dark birth and so decides to mould him to fit the type of man she feels is required to stop the birth. To do this she turns all the Spartan youths against him (Causing him to suffer many beatings) Parmenion is one of the best military thinkers in Sparta with the potential to be the greatest general. But tragedy forces him to leave Sparta and he is set on the path to becoming the Death of Nations. This is one of my favourite Gemmell books I think Parmenion is one of his darkest main characters and this the story is really intriguing.