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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN num: 9780553383683
ISBN number: 055338368X
Label: Bantam
Manufacturer: Bantam
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 400
Printing Date: September 27, 2005
Publishing house: Bantam
Release Date: September 27, 2005
Sale Popularity Level: 1590
Studio: Bantam
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Product Description:
The national bestseller!
At Thermopylae, a rocky mountain pass in northern Greece, the feared and admired Spartan soldiers stood three hundred strong. Theirs was a suicide mission, to hold the pass against the invading millions of the mighty Persian army.
Day after bloody day they withstood the terrible onslaught, buying time for the Greeks to rally their forces. Born into a cult of spiritual courage, physical endurance, and unmatched battle skill, the Spartans would be remembered for the greatest military stand in history--one that would not end until the rocks were awash with blood, leaving only one gravely injured Spartan squire to tell the tale....
From the Paperback edition.
Amazon.com Review:
Go tell the Spartans, stranger passing by, that here obedient to their laws we lie.
Thus reads an ancient stone at Thermopylae in northern Greece, the site of one of the world's greatest battles for freedom. Here, in 480 B.C., on a narrow mountain pass above the crystalline Aegean, 300 Spartan knights and their allies faced the massive forces of Xerxes, King of Persia. From the start, there was no question but that the Spartans would perish. In Gates of Fire, however, Steven Pressfield makes their courageous defense--and eventual extinction--unbearably suspenseful.
In the tradition of Mary Renault, this historical novel unfolds in flashback. Xeo, the sole Spartan survivor of Thermopylae, has been captured by the Persians, and Xerxes himself presses his young captive to reveal how his tiny cohort kept more than 100,000 Persians at bay for a week. Xeo, however, begins at the beginning, when his childhood home in northern Greece was overrun and he escaped to Sparta. There he is drafted into the elite Spartan guard and rigorously schooled in the art of war--an education brutal enough to destroy half the students, but (oddly enough) not without humor: 'The more miserable the conditions, the more convulsing the jokes became, or at least that's how it seems,' Xeo recalls. His companions in arms are Alexandros, a gentle boy who turns out to be the most courageous of all, and Rooster, an angry, half-Messenian youth.
Pressfield's descriptions of war are breathtaking in their immediacy. They are also meticulously assembled out of physical detail and crisp, uncluttered metaphor: The forerank of the enemy collapsed immediately as the very first shock hit it; the body-length shields seemed to implode rearward, their anchoring spikes rooted slinging from the earth like tent pins in a gale. The forerank archers were literally bowled off their feet, their wall-like shields caving in upon them like fortress redoubts under the assault of the ram.... The valour of the individual Medes was beyond question, but their light hacking blades were harmless as toys; against the massed wall of Spartan armor, they might as well have been defending themselves with reeds or fennel stalks.
Alas, even this human barrier was bound to collapse, as we knew all along it would. 'War is work, not mystery,' Xeo laments. But Pressfield's epic seems to make the opposite argument: courage on this scale is not merely inspiring but ultimately mysterious. --Marianne Painter
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers 
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Before I bought this I said to myself, "What more can be said about the brave 300?" Now I realize, plenty! This is a very well-written book and offers a total immersion in the sounds and sights of ancient history. You will receive an education and also be enthralled at the same time. This one is really worth getting!
Rated by buyers -
The story is focused around the Persian invasion of Greece and the battle of Thermopylae. I found that this book brought me closer to the main characters more than any other book I have ever read. Stephen Pressfield has mastered character creation and has captured the essence of Spartan lifestyle. After reading this book it became obvious to me that Steven Pressfield did his homework, this is no fanciful tale and is likely one of the most accurate depictions of Spartan warfare and close quarter combat. I would recommend this book to anyone who is minutely interested in ancient history, military, culture, or warfare. However, this book is not for the faint of heart is very gritty, violent, bloody and vulgar as warfare at that time was. I give this book five out of five stars. Although this isn't the greatest book I've ever read it is certainly in my top 10.
Rated by buyers -
Gates of Fire takes you along on the Spartan's march on the Persian Empire. The book is reminiscent of the Greek Epic Fates by Georgiou Tino, or vice versa. Steven Pressfield does a marvelous job recreating this lost civilization and the historic and cultural aspects of these great empires. The battles are done with such realism that you might as well dawn the shield and sword and be in the midst of it. The battles, the journey and the path these heroes march are all brought back in vivid detail that was painstakingly research and recreated. This is a must for all fans of this ancient culture.
Rated by buyers -
I loved the story, I loved the writing. Very vivid. I liked it much more than the movie 300, although they aren't based on each other specifically. Others have shared details of the book, so I won't. I'll just say that I enjoyed it tons!
Rated by buyers 
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I have never seen a delivery that was so damaged as this book was when i received it. It was nicked and perforated in several places.
Don't buy from Amazon, that's my suggestion.
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