Gates of Fire Summary
Summary
Gates of fire is a story about Xeones, a Greek boy who is a survivor of the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC. After awhile of living in his village it is over ran by Argives , Xeones then wonders the countryside with two friends and spends his early years as an outlaw. Until one day he is captured enslaved by the Spartans , where they keep him with the other slaves called Helots. He is then paired with Alexandros, the son of a high ranking Spartan officer, who he becomes friends with. Xeones also experiences the rhetoric of the Helot " Rooster", son of a Spartan warrior Helot mistress. These two Helots help train Xeones in the Spartan methods. He is then assigned to Dionekes , a calm, focused soldier who is Alexandros mentor. Dionekes is selected to fight with King Leonidas and 300 Spartans in the fight to defend the "Hot Gates" at Thermopylae to delay the movement of the Persian's toward invading Greece under King Xerxes. The Spartans and their allies hold off the Persians for several days . Eventually, a greek traitor leads the Persian Immortals the "elite troops" through a secret mountain pass that allows them to surround the Spartan position. Leonidas orders all the allies to leave and the Spartans prepare to make there last stand. The Persians eventually over take the Spartans with their missile weapons. They are slain to the last man, except Xeones , who is critically wounded. He is captured by Xerxes, in which he recovers, once he has done so Xerxes, wants to know about the Spartans who held his entire army back. Xeones then tells him his life experiences with the Spartans to Xerxes. It is from what he tells Xerces , that he finds out the rigors of the Spartan military life. He tells him of his childhood to when he is captured by the Spartans to his interactions with the leading men and women of Sparta. A little while after he passes away
Gates of fire is a story about Xeones, a Greek boy who is a survivor of the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC. After awhile of living in his village it is over ran by Argives , Xeones then wonders the countryside with two friends and spends his early years as an outlaw. Until one day he is captured enslaved by the Spartans , where they keep him with the other slaves called Helots. He is then paired with Alexandros, the son of a high ranking Spartan officer, who he becomes friends with. Xeones also experiences the rhetoric of the Helot " Rooster", son of a Spartan warrior Helot mistress. These two Helots help train Xeones in the Spartan methods. He is then assigned to Dionekes , a calm, focused soldier who is Alexandros mentor. Dionekes is selected to fight with King Leonidas and 300 Spartans in the fight to defend the "Hot Gates" at Thermopylae to delay the movement of the Persian's toward invading Greece under King Xerxes. The Spartans and their allies hold off the Persians for several days . Eventually, a greek traitor leads the Persian Immortals the "elite troops" through a secret mountain pass that allows them to surround the Spartan position. Leonidas orders all the allies to leave and the Spartans prepare to make there last stand. The Persians eventually over take the Spartans with their missile weapons. They are slain to the last man, except Xeones , who is critically wounded. He is captured by Xerxes, in which he recovers, once he has done so Xerxes, wants to know about the Spartans who held his entire army back. Xeones then tells him his life experiences with the Spartans to Xerxes. It is from what he tells Xerces , that he finds out the rigors of the Spartan military life. He tells him of his childhood to when he is captured by the Spartans to his interactions with the leading men and women of Sparta. A little while after he passes away