6/7/2023 0 Comments Gates of fire novel![]() ![]() Xeo eventually becomes the squire to the Spartan officer Dienekes, who Heredotus credits with responding the the claim that the Persian arrows will blot out the sun replying "Then we shall have our battle in the shade."Being historical fiction, we know how the story ends. The narrative repeatedly jumps around in time, as new points in the tale are related to other events from Xeo's past. ![]() Treated by the royal surgeons, Xeones says in order to truly understand the Spartans, he must start at the beginning. ![]() Gates tells its tale from the viewpoint of the lone Greek survivor of the battle, a squire named Xeones.Xeones is rescued from the rubble of the battlefield and taken before the Persian King Xerxes, who wishes to learn more of these Spartans, who numbering only 300 had managed to hold off his army of hundreds of thousands. ![]() Gates of Fire is much less fantastical than "300" and hits much closer to the truth of the battle. I left craving more Spartan bad-assery, and seeing how Steven Pressfield's epic novel had been sitting in my to be read pile for awhile, I thought it was the perfect time to read Gates of Fire.Both "300" and Gates of Fire are based on the Battle of Thermopylae, the now legendary battle where a force of 300 Spartans and their Greek allies are said to have held off the entire Persian army. I went to see the movie "300" on opening weekend. ![]()
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