ANCIENT TIMES
"Gates
of Fire" 
This
is the story of the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 B.C. where several thousand
Greeks, led by 300 Spartans and their squires, met the Persian Army of Xerxes,
several hundred thousand strong, and fought for 6 days before being overcome.
The
story is told through the eyes of Xeones, the squire of one of the Spartan
nobles, and sole survivor of the battle. He was pulled from the piles of the
dead and treated by the physicians of Xerxes and induced to tell his tale for
the enlightenment of the Persian Emperor. The tale is one of valor and sacrifice
against overwhelming odds with no chance of success. The battle scenes are
gripping and the descriptions of the weapons and tactics are interesting and
informative. If you like ancient history, this book is not to be missed, even
though a work of fiction. The story is based on historical fact. This book
contains much about the personal lives of the Spartans and much about their
military training and philosophy.
I
am waiting for Pressfield's sequel, "Tides of War: A Novel of Alcibiades
and the Peloponnesian War". This new book is due for release in hardcover
in April 2000.
Reviewed by Kenneth S. Smith 2/14/2000
Available from:
A Bantam Paperback edition
Doubleday
1540 Broadway
New York, NY 10036
