Gates of Fire

Gates of Fire By: Steven Pressfield Subject Person- Spartan Warriors Place- Greece 480 B.C. Event- Battle of Thermoplae. Concept- Xeones recounts his life leading up to the battle. Object- Greek city-states consisting of 300 Spartan Warriors, 400 Thebans, 700 Thespian Volunteers And around 900 Helots Fought The Persian Empire at the pass of Thermopylae. Reason For Choosing Book Prior to reading this novel I had some knowledge of the Battle of Thermopylae. I watched the movie 300last year and it is based on the battle of Thermopylae and the lifestyle of the Spartan Warriors. Summary Gates of Fire tells the story of a young Greek boy, Xeones, who is the sole Hellenic survivor of the epic battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC. After losing his village and family to the treachery of the Argives, Xeones wanders in the countryside with two companions, and spends his formative years as an outlaw. He eventually is captured and enslaved by the Spartans, who cast him with other slaves, called helots.
Xeones then is paired with Alexandros, the son of a high-ranking Spartan officer, whom he befriends. In contrast to the reluctant warrior that is Alexandros, Xeones also experiences the caustic rhetoric of the helot "Rooster," son of a Spartan warrior and helot mistress. It is with these two companions that Xeones is trained in the Spartan methods of war as a helot squire. He is assigned to Dionekes, a calm, focused soldier who is the mentor of Alexandros. Dionekes is selected to accompany King Leonidas and 300 Spartan warriors to defend the "hot gates" at Thermopylae in a delaying action against the Persian multitudes invading Greece under King Xerxes.
The Spartans and their allies hold the pass for several days against the onrush of the Persian army. Eventually, a greek traitor leads the Persian Immortals (elite troops of the Persian empire) through a secret mountain pass that allows them to encircle the Spartan position. Leonidas orders the evacuation of all allies,