In the aftermath of the battle, Xeo is found gravely wounded but, inspired by the valour the Greeks displayed, Xerxes orders his surgeons to save his enemy’s life. The book follows the boys as they undergo the brutal training of the Agoge, where Spartan boys were molded into soldiers, and follows them into adulthood until finally, they find themselves preparing for battle at the pass of Thermopylae. Xeo works in service to the Spartan warriors, and before long finds himself the squire of a young Spartan boy named Alexandros. With nothing left, Xeo travels to Sparta, where he becomes a Perioikoi, a free but non-citizen inhabitant of the city. The story is told through the eyes of Xeones, a young boy whose own city is sacked and torched. Xerxes eventual defeat of the Spartans is seen as a textbook Pyrrhic victory, and the battle of Thermopylae is remembered to this day as one of the greatest last stands in history, cementing the Spartans as arguably the finest warriors the world has ever known.Ī historical novel, Gates of Fire follows the Spartans who would go on to fight at that legendary battle. While some of the Greek forces chose to retreat, the Spartans, along with their Theban comrades, fought to the last man, covering their allies’ retreat and buying the rest of Greece enough time to muster its main force. In 480 BC, in a far-flung corner of Greece known as Thermopylae, the Spartans and their allies managed to stall the Persian advance for three days before they were finally overwhelmed. Despite facing hopeless odds, the Spartans dispatched a force of 300 of their own men, along with a few hundred allies from other Greek states, to hold off the Persian forces long enough for the rest of Greece to rally an army large enough to defeat Xerxes. Over 2,000 years ago the Persian empire, led by the great king Xerxes I, descended upon ancient Greece with the largest army the world had ever seen, ready to kill Western democracy in its cradle.

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