In The Sunday Times Bestseller Gates of Fire, Steven Pressfield tells the breathtaking and gripping story of those legendary Spartans: the men and women who helped shaped our history and have themselves become as immortal as their gods.

"Pressfield's talent is awesome...an extraordinary work - an instant classic" -- DAVID GEMMELL

"Excellent...Pressfield has succeeded in recreating an ancient world and telling a rousing and moving story" -- YORKSHIRE POST

"This is a really impressive book - imaginatively framed, historically detailed and a really gripping narrative..." -- ***** Reader review

"Beautifully written and a great joy to read" -- ***** Reader review

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Go tell the Spartans, stranger passing by,
That here, obedient to their laws, we lie.

480BC: At a bleak pass in a far-flung corner of eastern Greece, three hundred Spartan warriors face the army of Xerxes of Persia, a massive force rumoured to be over a million strong.

Their orders are simple: to delay the enemy for as long as possible while the main Greek armies mobilize.
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 before being overwhelmed.

It was battle that would become synonymous with extraordinary courage, heroism and self-sacrifice: it was Thermopylae.