Gates of Fire

Steven Pressfield's epic war novel, Gates of Fire, recounts the unflinching valor of a small band of Lakedaemon soldiers as they defend the whole of the Ancient Greece from the onslaught of a mighty Persian army. Led by the Spartan king Leonidas, three hundred Lakedaemonians make a suicidal stand against a Persian force that is two million men strong. Utilizing a narrow mountain pass in eastern Greece known as Thermopylae, the Lakedaemonians inconceivably manage to hold off the Persian army for seven days, giving the other armies of Greece precious time to rally their defenses. Pressfield's tale is nearly as much a work of history as it is a work of fiction. The original literary accounts that survive this era bear the names of men such as Homer, Plato, Plutarch, Xenophon, and many others (Pressfield 385). Thus, it is prudent to consider the principles of military justice and the laws of land warfare as they have been presented in "Gates of Fire" as legitimate, and even compare and contrast them with those of modern times.

When reading "Gates of Fire" it becomes clear at once that the ancient world certainly ascribed to a Machiavellian principle of "might makes right". The perceived ability of the Persian army to take the Ancient Greek world by force predicates military action. The Persian Empire was frightfully massive, and maintained its strength by pressing its advantage, and doing so on the battlefield (Pressfield 48-51). Sparta was, in effect, not so differe

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Category: Literature - G