Gates Of Fire
A novel by Steven Pressfield

In 480 B.C., five hundred years before the events of the recent movie Gladiator (and if you think that is the last Gladiator reference I make, then you will be very much surprised), between one and two million men of Persia marched on Greece, intent on making it their next conquest. Those troublesome Greeks, of course -- and in particular the dedicated fighting men from Sparta -- were desperate to prevent this from happening, but when internal bickering and politics allowed the Persians to get a foothold in Greece, a picked force of 300 Spartans and their allies were dispatched to stop them at the pass of Thermopylae, or "The Hot Gates." The idea being that an elite force willing to sacrifice their lives could buy the Greeks a few crucial days in a place where the rocky confines were so narrow that the Persian forces and their cavalry would be at least partially neutralized. Three hundred Spartans and their allies made it there, and held off two million men for seven days before at last being overwhelmed. The Spartans, in true war-story heroic fashion, died to the last man -- except for one fictional squire... kept alive for the purposes of this book.

The novel begins at its end, with the capture of Xeones, the lone Spartan survivor of the battle. Grievously wounded and left for dead, Xeones is found and resuscitated by the surgeons of Xerxes, King of Persia, who is desperate to know the secrets of the Spartan mindset that would compel them to fight such an impossible battle. Xeones (Xeo to his friends), figuring he has nothing to lose and desiring to immortalize his adopted countrymen, dictates his story to the royal scribes. He takes a winding path through his own history, eventually coming to the climactic battle and its aftermath, but the novel is structured so we see episodes of Xeo's life, at first seemingly unconnected but eventually forming a picture of a man who was not born Spartan but came to embrace the country wholeheartedly.

A refugee from a sacked village, Xeo discovers that the men of Sparta are just men, the same as in any other country, but that these men have an added strength that comes from their devotion to their families and to their fighting brothers. He also discovers the source of strength of the fabled Spartan women -- the ones who tell their sons to come home victorious, on their shields, or not at all. While outsiders consider these women to be entirely too harsh, the truth is that the women consider themselves to be equal to men, and never let the men forget that it is the women who rule the home and certain aspects of public life. Spartan women and girls participate in naked athletic training, the same as men and boys (naked training! Why, oh why, didn't they make Maximus Greek?), and they refuse to be objectified. The men respect them as the source of their emotional strength, and as the real reason they fight to defend their homeland.

As Xeo goes on to tell his story as squire to the Spartan Dienekes, he describes several battles in graphic detail. Primarily, however, the violence is used to underscore the human drama at play on the battlefield. He spends a great deal of time showing how military humor is the same now as it ever has been, anywhere in the world: a defiance of the grim certainty of death lurking around the corner. According to Xeo's tale, profanity is nothing new in modern soldiers' mouths. Some of the most memorable phrases from the book are eminently unsuitable for mixed company, but hilarious nonetheless.

Eventually he comes to the final battle, the Battle of Thermopylae. The last third of the book is taken up with the story of the preparations for the battle, as well as retelling the actual battle itself. Blessedly, Pressfield doesn't drown the reader with battlefield details and minutiae, instead concentrating on the emotional status of the combatants, while still giving a realistic feel to the proceedings. All statistics and field maneuvers are handily enveloped in enough plot to make the reader feel like the story is still moving forward. Of course, we know the outcome of the battle before it begins, but the twists the story takes along the way serve to create an emotional climax as the Spartans take their last stand, their backs literally to the wall. The epilogue, provided by the Chief Scribe, who has taken a personal interest as the story unfolds, gives a small, not-quite-adequate sense of closure to the events that have taken place. We are left with a sense of historical figures as real people, people we might have known, and liked, and mourned if we had been there.

And probably have liked even more so, if they had looked like Russell Crowe.

Re-Read Factor: I will probably re-read this book at least once or twice. The vast scope of the culture imparted is hard to take in on one go-through, and the emotional content is sterling.

Sequel Factor: Well, the battle is over, the narrator is dead. So, not high.

Strong Chick Factor: Dienekes' wife Arete is a prime example of the strong Spartan woman, and several other women are mentioned throughout as prominent figures in Xeo's life. However, this is primarily a war novel, so it's mostly about the boys. In short leather skirts. Oh, my.

-- Jen Hopper

Gates of Fire, published by Bantam Books, is currently available in paperback.

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