Gates of Fire
Steven Pressfield
Bantam Books
523 pages

Nearly 2,500 years ago, in 480 BC, at a bleak pass in a far-flung corner of eastern Greece, three hundred Spartan warriors faced the army of King Xerxes of Persia, a massive force rumoured to be over a million strong. Their orders were simple : to delay the enemy for as long as possible while the main Greek armies mobilized.
For six days the Spartans held the invaders at bay. In the final hours, their shields broken, swords and spears shattered, they fought with their bare hands and teeth before being overwhelmed. It was a battle that would become synonymous with extraordinary courage, heroism and self-sacrifice. Its name was Thermopylae.