Gates of Fire

<b>NATIONAL BESTSELLER - In this powerful historically accurate novel (<i>The New Yorker</i>) the sole Spartan survivor recounts the bloody and epic battle of Thermopylae that decimated his fearsome society.</b> <p/><b>Vivid and exciting . . . Pressfield gives the reader a perspective no ancient historian offers: a soldier's-eye view.--<i>The New York Times Book Review</i><br></b><br>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. <p/>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. . . .