Posts: 28
Threads: 2
Joined: Aug 2006
Reputation:
0
Hello I've read this book and I'm wondering how accurate it was. Especially concerning the battle of Thermopylae and the training of the Spartans.
Can people give me their opinions on the book? And information on the battle itself and the training of the Spartans?
Thanks
..
Amanda Welshman
(No Roman name yet)
Posts: 4,029
Threads: 90
Joined: May 2005
Reputation:
0
Posts: 28
Threads: 2
Joined: Aug 2006
Reputation:
0
Thank you very much 
..
Amanda Welshman
(No Roman name yet)
Posts: 180
Threads: 6
Joined: Jun 2006
Reputation:
0
To clarify... the Spartans did not wear the lamvtha on their shields at that period (like it says in the book), that probably occured about 5-50 years later (not sure of the exact year). Leonidas would have the solar design, which I've made as my avatar, the other Spartans would have a mixture of about 14 different designs - Stefanos could educate you further on this.
'Barefoot' wise, I still hold onto a belief that it was the soldier's choice on whether or not they wore sandals (though granted, in some areas it would be stupid not to).
Pressfield's description of the agoge is relatively accurate... but of course, the Spartans did not use 17th-21st century slang and curse words!
![[Image: parsiaqj0.png]](http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/1093/parsiaqj0.png)
[size=92:7tw9zbc0]- Bonnie Lawson: proudly Manx.[/size]
Posts: 4,029
Threads: 90
Joined: May 2005
Reputation:
0
Armies used bad words from the time they were created.
Mr. Pressfield tried to bring them to 21st century readers.
Actually "MOLON LAVE" is not something you say in polite company!
Kind regards
Posts: 1,779
Threads: 187
Joined: Jul 2003
Reputation:
0
Manda,
Another book you might find of interest, if you want to continue your study of the Greek-Persian Wars, is Tom Holland's Persian Fire. ( ISBN 13: 978-0-385-51311-1 c.2005)
There are some who are less enamored with his work, but I found his earlier volume on Rome (Rubicon) to be excellent and I think Persian Fire is no less so. Admittedly, I am only 2/3 through the book but so far so good. Holland spends a lot of time on the origins and history of the Persian Empire and the line of rulers leading to Xerxes -- simply fascinating.
I did enjoy Gates Of Fire (modern slang and references to tomatoes not withstanding) but as is usually the case, fact is even more interesting than fiction, which is meant as no slight to Pressfield, but an affirmation of the consuming passion all of us here have with history.
Narukami
David Reinke
Burbank CA
Posts: 835
Threads: 72
Joined: Oct 2005
Reputation:
0
Hi,Manda,
Just to restate what I had said in one of the
other threads, It was very entertaining
and exciting. I hated to reach the end.
Andy Booker
Gaivs Antonivs Satvrninvs
Andronikos of Athens
Posts: 13,277
Threads: 102
Joined: May 2006
Reputation:
3
When I read the Gates of Fire, it re-awoke my interest in ancient Greece,
and my interest in Ancient warfare! It also inspired me to visit the home of my grandfather and grand mother, and to meet and find my relations.
It helped make my visit, as well as the host of history books I read as well, a truly fantastic time, both times.
I think it was as good an attempt at recreating in our minds what they went through as anyone could have put on paper!
And it did change the world, because if they hadn't stood there, who knows where they could have stopped the Persians!Rome? London?
What if...
Late edit: Yes I know they did not stop them there, but gave the rest of greece some breathing space!
Visne partem mei capere? Comminus agamus! * Me semper rogo, Quid faceret Iulius Caesar? * Confidence is a good thing! Overconfidence is too much of a good thing.
[b]Legio XIIII GMV. (Q. Magivs)RMRS Remember Atuatuca! Vengence will be ours!
Titus Flavius Germanus
Batavian Coh I
Byron Angel
Posts: 301
Threads: 36
Joined: May 2006
Reputation:
0
I know... if the Leonidas and the Thespians hadn't held that pass long enough for the retreat of the other forces to rejoin the main force, it could have been the end of the concept we know as democracy. 
I for one having been in the Airborne Regiment, really connected with the training at the Agoge, the language, the esprit d' corps, the things that happen on the verge of physical exhaustion and of course the battlefield humour.
I applaude Pressfield at bridging the gap between ancient times/language and today's, so that not only can a knowldgeable historian enjoy this book, but even someone who knows nothing about it can make the connections to modern times and get a wonderful sense of what it must have been like. Even my wife was awestruck by it and wants to physically see the actual pass and learn more. 
Mission accomplished Mr. Pressfield
Q. ARTORIVS CORVINVS
aka: Phillip Vautour
"Rome is but a wilderness of tigers, and tigers must prey."
<a class="postlink" href="http://rubicon.dyndns.org/legioxxi">http://rubicon.dyndns.org/legioxxi
Posts: 1,829
Threads: 78
Joined: Aug 2007
Reputation:
0
My biggest problem with Pressfield's Spartiates is that he has them interact like soldiers in a barracks in a WWII movie. His model for their interaction is the type of discipline seen in a conscript army.
Spartiates were an elite, a better model would have been the interactions between officer class Victorian Englishmen- who conciously paralleled spartans.
Paul M. Bardunias
MODERATOR: [url:2dqwu8yc]http://www.romanarmytalk.com/rat/viewtopic.php?t=4100[/url]
A Spartan, being asked a question, answered "No." And when the questioner said, "You lie," the Spartan said, "You see, then, that it is stupid of you to ask questions to which you already know the answer!"
Posts: 301
Threads: 36
Joined: May 2006
Reputation:
0
Paul,
Having been in an elite fighting force, I can say there was a definitive lack of British Officer Pomp; we were more much like the what was portrayed by Pressfield for the most part... however we were extremely disciplined when it came to the battlefield or on parade.
Q. ARTORIVS CORVINVS
aka: Phillip Vautour
"Rome is but a wilderness of tigers, and tigers must prey."
<a class="postlink" href="http://rubicon.dyndns.org/legioxxi">http://rubicon.dyndns.org/legioxxi
Posts: 922
Threads: 1
Joined: May 2005
Reputation:
0
I have that book but never read it... The 3 novels of Manfredi's Alexander, I just ended up reading it when Philip II was murder...Gosh what happen to me, never finish a book, while my wife is very good at that...every night before sleep I see her reeding a book untill she finish it in few weeks or days. :roll:
Remarks by Philip on the Athenian Leaders:
Philip said that the Athenians were like the bust of Hermes: all mouth and dick.
Posts: 301
Threads: 36
Joined: May 2006
Reputation:
0
Mine too... she totally devours books. Me, I take months to go from cover to cover :roll:
Q. ARTORIVS CORVINVS
aka: Phillip Vautour
"Rome is but a wilderness of tigers, and tigers must prey."
<a class="postlink" href="http://rubicon.dyndns.org/legioxxi">http://rubicon.dyndns.org/legioxxi
Posts: 922
Threads: 1
Joined: May 2005
Reputation:
0
Quote:Mine too... she totally devours books. Me, I take months to go from cover to cover :roll:
I shouldn't say this, but he!, its a natural thing: My wife always reed books etc., when using the "Toilet"  ... when I dont see her doing it because she kick me out... some days in the morning I find a magazine or a book in front of it lol!
I wonder, then where are her knowledge come from? :roll:
I always say: how do you know that? :lol:
Remarks by Philip on the Athenian Leaders:
Philip said that the Athenians were like the bust of Hermes: all mouth and dick.
Posts: 301
Threads: 36
Joined: May 2006
Reputation:
0
Comerus,
That is hilarious!
Mine will ignore me for hours on end if she is reading in the bathroom... god forbid she reads in the bath, the children start to mourn for their absent mother
Sometimes that is a good thing :twisted:
Q. ARTORIVS CORVINVS
aka: Phillip Vautour
"Rome is but a wilderness of tigers, and tigers must prey."
<a class="postlink" href="http://rubicon.dyndns.org/legioxxi">http://rubicon.dyndns.org/legioxxi
|
