Gates of Fire Essay

It is evident from Demeratus and Artemesia that Xerxes is not bias to his people based on their religion and ethnicity. Demeratus is an exiled king of Sparta who gave Greek advice to Darius 1 which encouraged Xerxes in becoming the successor “Demaratus advised him… Darius, recognising the justice of the argument, proclaimed him heir to the throne” as stated by Herodotus. It is also stated from Herodotus that Xerxes asks Demaratus for advice when going to the wars against Greece “Thou art a Greek… Tell me, therefore, what thinkest thou? Will the Greeks lift a hand against us?”. Xerxes also has a positive relationship with Artemesia, a non-Persian. Artemesia displays tremendous amount of loyalty and service to Xerxes. Artemesia is one of Xerxes’ naval commanders who displayed leadership in action during the Battle of Salamis “Master, see Artemisia, how well she is fighting, and how she sank even now a ship of the enemy”. From Xerxes’ relationship between Demeratus and Artemesia, it is evident that Xerxes treats his people based on their service and loyalty towards the Persian empire.

Though Xerxes had a huge army, in that small space he could only use a fraction of his men at a time. Xerxes sent group after group of Persian warriors into the pass. The Greeks, who had better armor and longer spears (Sacks 246), slaughtered each group of fighters. Even Xerxes' elite legion of Immortals

Haemon, his son, who’s fiance, Antigone, is set to be executed for disobeying the king’s decree, tries to reason with the prideful monarch in an attempt to change his fiance’s sentence. He first appeals to Creon’s convictions, reassuring him that he would never doubt his father’s decisions: “For me your judgements/ and the ways you act on them are good,” (278) then attempts to get Creon to listen to advice: “For any man, even if he’s wise, there’s nothing shameful/ in learning many things, staying flexible. . .when men speak well, it is good to learn from them” (280). However his advice goes unheeded by Creon, who instead, in his pride, refuses to listen: “and men my age-are we going to school/ to learn what’s wise from men as young as him” (281). Instead of listening to Haemon’s calm, reasonable, arguments Creon insults his son, accusing him of being a “woman’s slave” and a “person with an empty brain” (282). Haemon eventually storms out, while Creon’s pride prevents him from listening to Haemon’s advice, and causes him to misunderstand Haemon’s final warning: “Then she’ll die-and in her death kill someone

In discussing fire imagery in the Aeneid I will attempt in the course of this paper to bring in an analytic device to aid in assembling the wide array of symbols into a more uniform set of meaning. Consistently throughout the Aeneid, fire serves to provoke the characters to action. Action which otherwise it is not clear they would enter upon. Fire clears the way for the juggernaut plot to advance. Juno, first of all, described as burning - pondering (with her hatred of the Dardans) goes to Aeolus with the idea of sending the winds to create an under-handed storm to destroy the Trojans, at the sight of their fleeing ships and successful escape from the Greeks (I.75)1. Fire from the Greeks burns down

The King of Sparta, Pleistarchus, gets the message to send the strongest warrior to receive the game to save Greece. So, he summons Nova Scotcrates to the palace. He explains the plan to him and says, ”You have been selected to carry out the mission because you have proven yourself in many wars and you are the Son of Ares, the great God of War. We will provide you with what you need including soldiers. Do you accept the

In Sophocles' tragedy Antigone, the purpose of Creon’s speech is to establish power, and create fear in his people, and as he expects complete loyalty. Creon's speech is an inaugural speech that declares him the official king of Thebes. After the death of King Oedipus, his throne is then passed on to his children. However, Eteocles and Polyneices died in battle and the throne is left to Creon as Creon says,"Oedipus died...and...his two sons, prince Eteocles and Polyneices, have killed each other in battle;and I...have succeeded to the...throne... As long as I am king, no traitor will be buried with the loyal man," (Sophocles 974-975).

Gates of Fire is a novel about the Battle of Thermopylae that takes place in ancient Greece. The novel began by focusing on its protagonist, Xeones, who had died in the Battle of Thermopylae. The Greek god Apollo resurrected him from death so that he could tell the Persian king, Xerxes, the story of his life. Xeones story started when he was just a young boy. His town was betrayed and conquered by one of their allies. He avoided being killed by escaping to the mountains with his cousin, Diomache, and his family’s slave, Bruxieus. The three lived on the mountains for two or three years before Bruxieus became very sick and died. Because of this, Diomache and Xeones decided to go to Athens. Xeones then decided to leave Athens and

Gates of Fire was an awe-inspiring book full of honor, brotherhood, and pride. Steven Pressfield ingeniously crafted this book with a theme about the traits of a man. These traits include fear, pride, brotherhood, revenge, love, courage, and perseverance. The book was based on an event that occurred when Ancient Greece was thriving. This event was The Battle of Thermopylae, better know as the battle of the 300.

His father Xanthippus was a military commander for Athens at the battle of Mycale in 479 B.C. In 479 B.C., Xanthippus was elected strategos, or general, succeeding Themistocles as the commander of the Athenian fleet that fought at the Battle of Mycale. They both served for Athens and both won battles. Pericles and the Athenians incited the war, scrambling to implement their aggressive methods with a sort of arrogance and a love of trouble. The reason for the war was Sparta's fear of Athenian power and

Published in 1998, Gates of Fire, by Steven Pressfield uses vivid and authentic imagery to tell the intense story of The Battle of Thermopylae. Pressfield is a fictional and nonfictional historical writer and usually writes novels on the perspectives of warriors of ancient Greece, so he would be a reliable and qualified writer on this subject. The story is seen in the view of a warrior who was present through the battle and it is written differently from other historical novels. The insight of Xeones was a unique point of view, which gives this historical novel gives its own originality.

Creon, who received the throne after the banishment of Oedipus, begins “Antigone” with high status as the king of Thebes. He is fortunate to be honored as Thebes’ appointed king during her triumph over the army of Polynices, “Creon, son of Menoeceus, Whom the gods have appointed for us in our recent change of fortune” (Antigone, 130).

This extract is set during Xerxes invasion and how he captured Athens with little resistance due to very few people remaining after most Athenians had evacuated. Here it details why some Athenians stayed behind instead of fleeing to Salamis with everyone else. Herodotus is the earliest known historian but his work is not infallible. Herodotus himself mentions that he merely records what he learns and it is not his business to decide if it is true or not . This indicates that not everything he has written is necessarily correct and is up to discussion by readers. This can lead to both truthful accounts and biased stories with little accuracies. Many have accused Herodotus of telling stories which J. A. S. Evans mentions Cicero, saying that the oracle told to Croesus of Lydia was just invented for storytelling . However despite this there are still many truths to Herodotus’ work. According to Barry Strauss, the evacuation of Athens being prompted by Themistocles is backed by a stone document from ca. 300 BC which “may indeed be based upon the original document passed by the Athenian assembly .” Herodotus is fair when dealing with non-Greeks. While many would call the Persians barbarians and sneer upon them, Evans mentions that Herodotus believed “the Persians to be no less brave than the Greeks, but their inferior weaponry put them at a disadvantage” . This extract is much

“Gates of Fire” by Steven Pressfield is a historical fiction novel that describes the Spartans at The Battle of Thermopylae. The story is told from the perspective of the only survivor, Xeones, who is recovered and captured by the Persian Empire. Some argue that this novel is not a great source for 21st-century history students, and some also argue that this novel should not be read in a classroom setting due to its lack of historical content. Several even question the novel’s historical accuracy and find it to be no better than a traditional textbook. Although this novel is classified as fiction, a literary works of imagination, Pressfield’s description of the Spartans makes this novel a creditable source for students and makes it appropriate to read in a college environment.

Although the book Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield, and the film 300 directed by Zack Snyder both tell the story of the battle of Thermopylae, they differ in the amount of detail that is critical to the story. The movie 300 was adapted from the comic book series by Frank Miller also entitled 300. His work was greatly influenced by the Century Fox movie The 300 Spartans. Although the film was a blockbuster hit because of its action and thematic events, it did not illuminate many of the characters lives or personal stories. It tells the story of the 300 men as a group, without detailing the individual contributions of the men to the battle. Alternatively, in Gates of Fire the multidimensional characters in the book added a more emotional

Aeschylus' play, The Persians, took place at the Persian Royal Palace in Susa. It depicted the emotional response of the Persian Elders, the Queen Mother Atossa, a herald, King Xerxes, and the ghost of Darius upon hearing the news of the Persian defeat at the Battle of Salamis against the Greeks. The play began with a conversation amongst the Persians elders about their war with the Greeks. They possessed grave trepidations because of a lack of news from the front. This fear stemmed from the great risk King Xerxes took by calling all the heroes and soldiers of the Persian Empire to fight in Greece. At first, they were confident of their victory, describing their forces as an "unconquerable ocean of men". However, their fear persisted of their forces' decimation.