Introduction
In history there have been many infamous battles. Ia Drang, Guadalcanal, Bataan, Pointe Du Hoc, San Juan Hill, Little Big Horn, and The Alamo are America’s hallowed battles. They are events that shaped our collective consciousness as a nation. One notorious conflict that has shaped the world as the aforementioned have shaped our nation is the Battle of Thermopylae. This epic struggle between the hoards of Persia and the decedents of Herakles decided the course of western civilization. Three-hundred brave, free citizens of Sparta defended the “Hot Gates,” a narrow mountain pass in northern Hellas, against 2 million servants of the self-proclaimed god-king Xerxes. For 3 days, the Lakedaemonians made the savages pay so dearly they lost the taste for battle. However, this heroic effort would prove insufficient and the Persian swarm was too big to fail.
The historical events are compelling on their own but Steven Pressfield creates a truly epic journey in his novel Gates of Fire. Pressfield weaves the tale of Xeones, an Akarnanian by birth, who is the lone Greek survivor of the Persian victory and the Emperor’s captive. Xeones’ boyhood home of Astakos was pillaged and burned by the traitorous city-state of Argos. Through a series of events Xeones finds his way to Sparta and becomes first the servant of Alexandros, a youth in the agoge, then battle squire to the boy’s mentor Dienekes. It is his duties as squire that bring him to Thermopylae. Throughout the novel Xeones unfolds the events of his life in a series of interviews with the Persian royal court recorded by Xerxes personal historian culminating in the last stand of the Three Hundred. It is this story telling technique that makes Gates of Fire is truly a masterpi...
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...o make him a warrior for the greatest military force known to man. Soldiers, past and present, are men who commit themselves to honor and fulfill a duty to serve in combat. That is the true reason Gates of Fire is a masterpiece. Pressfield uses characterization, language and imagery to convey the timeless story, a soldier’s story.
Works Cited
French, Shannon. "Steven Pressfield's Gates of Fire." Journal of Military Ethics 3 March 2003.
Lee, Richard. "Gates of Fire." Solander: The Magazine of the Historical Novel Society (2000).
Lefkowitz, Mary. "You Are There." New York Times 1 November 1998.
Pressfield, Steven. "About Steven Pressfield." 17 February 2010. Steven Pressfield-Offical Website. 20 February 2010 .
—. Gates of fire: an epic novel of the Battle of Thermopylae. New York: Random House Inc, 1999.
The Battle of Thermopylae was the first between the Greeks and Persians during the Persian invasion of 480 – 479BC. The Greek force was very small compared to the Persians but was determined to make a stand against the huge army of 300,000 Persians suggested by modern historians compared to Herodotus account of the army consisting of 1700 000 men. The Greeks chose to defend a narrow pass, or gap, between the mountains of central Greece and the sea, called Thermopylae.
As citizens of the United States of America, we are often blind to not only the current traditions of foreign nations, but also the historical traditions of early civilizations. For instance, many have heard of the Greek city-state Sparta; however, do they truly understand the impact of Spartan civilization in history? Sparta is quite unique in its structure and development, and its history offers valuable insight to early Greek civilization. In his novel Gates of Fire, Steven Pressfield works diligently to uncover the realities of life in Sparta during the Persian Wars. Though the novel is a work of fiction, Gates of Fire is astoundingly accurate in its historical detail, and offers readers the opportunity to have a greater comprehension and
Pressfield, Steven. Gates of Fire: An Epic Novel of the Battle of Thermopylae. New York: Bantam, 1998. Print
Danticat, Edward. “A Wall of Fire Rising”(2009). The Norton Introduction to Literature, Portable 10th ed. Alison Booth and Kelly J.Mays. New York: Norton, 2010. Pg.232-244
The battle of Thermopylae was the Greek’s first stand against the massive army of King Xerxes, and was the most influential battle of the entire war. Up to this point, the Persian army was seen as too massive and powerful to be stopped. The once warring city-states of Greece knew they couldn’t stand against the Persians alone, and knew in order to defend their homeland they would have to unite. A unity of command was agreed upon; King Leonidas of Sparta was chosen to lead the Greek forces. He was chosen to lead because of the unsurpassed warring abilities the Spartans were so well known for made him perfect for the objective of stopping the Persians.
In conclusion, Aeschylus’ Persians has continued to impact the world for centuries upon centuries because it is able to be interpreted multiple ways. In each version, the play centers around the same kernal of truth about identity and belonging and forces the audience to question their privilege—and perhaps, their ignorance—on how war and culture can impact their identity. In any case, all audiences are left pondering the same question that has boggled humans for as long as we have existed: who am I?
Personally, I find another aspect of his narrative even more interesting and notable: Pressfield puts you not in the position of the hero, as is standard fare, but tells his story through the eyes of the frightened friend, concerned family and lacking soldier. An ingenious trick that makes it much easier to convey the awe-inspiring qualities of the undaunted hero.
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The Battle of Salamis is said to be one of the most important battles in all of history. It was a naval battle fought between the massive Persian army and smaller Greek army in the Bay of Salamis in 480 BCE. This battle was one of the many battles that were a part of the Greco-Persian war. This paper will explore the events leading up to the battle, the battle itself, including advantages and disadvantages both sides had on one and other, and finally will discuss the affects the result of this battle had on each side. Surprisingly, the much smaller Greek army defeated the Persians at the Battle of Salamis. How did this happen, one may ask? Although the Persians appeared to have the military advantage in this battle, particularly in terms of sheer size and numbers, the Greeks successfully defeated them with the help of their leaders, tactics, and many Persian blunders.
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