Gates of Fire
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Gates of Fire is a 1998 novel by Steven Pressfield that recounts the Battle of Thermopylae through Xeones, a Spartan squire and the lone survivor of the battle.
[edit] Plot summary
At Thermopylae, the allied Greek nations deployed a small force of between four and seven thousand Greek heavy infantry against the invading Persian army, which Pressfield puts at two million (and could have been as many as five million, according to Herodotus, or three million, according to Simonides, though modern historians evaluating ancient sources and logistics determine that these are unlikely figures and the exact size is unknown, but most modern historians believe it to be between sixty thousand and a quarter million). Leading the Greeks was a force of three hundred Spartans -- all "sires," warriors chosen not only for skill, but also because they were fathers to male children, which would preserve their bloodlines after what was to be a suicide mission.
Thermopylae was chosen for its strategic location — a narrow pass bordered by a sheer mountain wall on one side and a cliff drop-off to the ocean on the other — to decrease the advantage of the Persian numbers, and to give the Greek allies enough time to ready a larger, main force to defend against the Persians.
Though Xeones is critically wounded in the battle, the Persian King Xerxes orders his surgeons to make every effort to keep the captive squire alive. The book Xeones' relation of the battle and events leading up to it, to Xerxes and his royal scribe as the Persian army advances toward Athens.
Much of the narrative explores Spartan society, the agoge — the military training program through which all Spartan boys must complete to become citizens, or Peers — and the heroics of several dozen Spartans, including their king, Leonidas, the Olympic champion Polynikes, a young Spartan warrior named Alexandros, and the Spartan officer Dienekes. Pressfield employs detailed descriptions of the Spartan phalanx in battle, as well as the superior training and discipline of the Spartan warriors.=
MEMORABLE QUOTES:
"Dienekes turned to Rooster. 'And you. The son of a Spariate hero and you can't even hold a sacrificial cock in your fists without strangling it. You're pathetic. You've got a mouth looser than a Corinthian's asshole and it broadcasts treason every time it yawns...'" (180)
"'Are you showing off?' The youth snapped to, blinking like a boy awaken from a nightmare. For a full hearbeat you could see he had no idea who Dienekes was or what he wanted. Then, with a start and a sheepish expression, he recovered himself and lowered his shield to position of rest against his knee." (290)
