Gates of Fire
Subtitle: An Epic Novel of the Battle of Thermopylae
Publisher: Bantam
Published: September 27, 2005
Language: eng
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 400
ISBN-13: 9780553383683
Subjects: American Historical Fiction; Fiction - Historical; Fiction; Historical - General; Fiction / Historical
First sentence: Third day of Tashritu, Fifth Year of His Majesty's Accession, south of the Lokrian border, the Army of the Empire having continued its advance unopposed into central Greece, establishing an encampment opposite the eastern fall of Mount Parnassus, the sum of whose watercourses, as numerous others before upon the march from Asia, failed and was drunk dry by the troops and horses.
Description: 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. In Gates of Fire, Steven Pressfield portrays the boldest & bloodiest battle fought by the legendary Spartan Army against the Persian Empire. The national bestseller!