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Title: Thermopylae: The Battle for the West by Ernle Bradford ISBN: 0-306-80531-6 Publisher: DaCapo Press Pub. Date: September, 1993 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $17.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.21 (19 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Good Overview of the Greco-Persian Conflict
Comment: I enjoyed this book as a good overview of the Greek & Persian conflict in the 5th Century BC. The text is easy to read, and the author provided some personal interjections that often (but not always) were thought-provoking. Bradford's more even-handed approach to the 'Great King' Xeres and his campaign (e.g., the meticulous preparation by the Persians) is a welcome change from the overly pro-Athenian historical record.
The title of this book is rather misleading as coverage of the actual battle of Thermopylae is only a small portion of the narrative (though it is oft referred to). The constant bickering of the Greek City States is highlighted (perhaps once too often), and the concise background setting to the battles is handled quite well.
After perusing this book, it will be abundantly clear why the underdog Greek Hoplite was able to defeat the numerically superior Persians (and their allies) in battle - outstanding leadership, logistics advantages, cunning tactics, and superior weaponry.
Rating: 4
Summary: History of the World: Greece and Persia
Comment: Thermopylae is a great source of information about the Persian invasion of Greece by Xerxes after the battle at Marathon. It ranges from an in-depth view of the intriguing and alien Spartan culture, to Greek terrain and armor, to a background of Persian-Greek relations.
This book discusses the important Battle of Salamis, which, if lost to the Persians, could have completely altered the course of history. Could you imagine the world today without an ancient Greece to refer to? I thought this book would bore me to death, but instead I kept reading it and didn't want to give it back to the owner. I may go buy it, though I work at the library. It seems like it would be a good investment.
I enjoyed Thermopylae, and I believe others would as well. This is the sort of book we should read in school! My high school classes have given me no depth, taught me nothing about the history of the classic world. This book has taken me closer to understanding the current world. I can only look forward to college and hope it does as good a job as Ernle Bradford and his book has.
Rating: 4
Summary: Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori
Comment: As Xerxes (aka Ahasueras), the Great King of the greatest empire the world had ever seen, prepared the greatest invasion force ever mustered, the Greeks sought advice from the Oracle at Delphi. The Oracle pronounced that wooden walls would save Athens, but only the death of a Spartan king would save that unwalled city from ruin.
As the Persian juggernaut crossed over a two mile long pontoon bridge into Europe and began its relentless march into Greece, the Greeks temporized, argued, and dithered. Finally, Sparta sent King Leonidas with three hundred Spartiates to hold the pass at Thermopylae against the Persian hordes. Leonidas stiffened his contingent with Helots (Spartan serfs) and volunteers from several other Greek city-states. Phocis, Thebes, Thespia, and a few others swelled Leonidas' ranks to a few thousand.
Upon being told that when the Persians loosed their arrows the sky went black, the Spartiate Dienekes rejoined "Then we shall fight in the shade." At a point in the pass no more than 20 yards wide Leonidas met the Persians and stopped them dead in their tracks. For three days he and his men held the mightiest empire's mightiest army at bay, slaughtering the flower of the Persian army by the hundreds, if not thousands. He might have held, but a traitorous Greek showed the Persians a mountain pass by which they could turn Leonidas' position.
Leonidas had guarded the pass with 1,000 Phocians, but the Persian "Immortals," Xerxes' best unit, brushed them aside. Upon learning of this treachery, Leonidas sent the other city-states' contingents home and prepared for his last stand. The Thebans and Thespians volunteered to stay, and Leonidas chose for his battleground a wider section of the pass. He wanted as wide a front as possible so he could kill as many Persians as possible.
The Spartans joined battle with the Persians for the last time, and the slaughter was horrific. When, as anticipated, the Immortals took them in the rear, the Spartans retreated to a hillock, formed what the Middle Ages would call a "Swiss Hedgehog," and died to the last man.
As prophecy foretold, the Spartans lost their king, but saved their city, and the rest of Greece with it. The invasion continued apace, and Athens was sacked, with her entire population fleeing to the island of Salamis. There in the straits between Salamis and Athens, the Greeks lured the Persian navy to its doom.
Winter was coming, and things hadn't quite worked out as expected. Campaigning during the winter was verboten, and sustaining such a huge army in the field over the winter wasn't practicable. Xerxes decided he had better get back to Susa, and took with him the remainder of his shattered navy and the bulk of his army. He left his seasoned field commander, Mardonius, in charge of the best Persian contingents, expecting Mardonius to complete the conquest of Greece during the next campaigning season.
Upon learning of Xerxes'withdrawal, the Spartans thought the war was over, and sent an embassy demanding satisfaction for the death of their king. Xerxes laughed in their faces and told them that Mardonius would give them satisfaction next summer. He did, but not as Xerxes expected.
Shakespeare once wrote "It is not within man's power to command success, but we shall do more--we shall deserve it." Leonidas and his 300 Spartiates could not command succes, but they did more, they deserved it.
Bradford puts the story of Leonidas in its proper place within the vast panorama of the Greco Persian Wars. He begins with the sack of Sardis and ends on the fields of Plataea. "Thermopylae" is not as scholarly as A.R. Burn's "Persian and the Greeks," but it is imminently more readable. "Thermopylae" reads somewhat like an abridgement of Peter Green's "The Greco-Persian Wars."
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Title: Gates of Fire : An Epic Novel of the Battle of Thermopylae by Steven Pressfield ISBN: 0553580531 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 31 August, 1999 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: The Spartan Army (Osprey Military Elite Series, 66) by Richard Hook, Nicholas Victor Sekunda, Nick Sekunda ISBN: 1855326590 Publisher: Osprey Pub Co Pub. Date: September, 1998 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: The Spartans: The World of the Warrior-Heroes of Ancient Greece, from Utopia to Crisis and Collapse by Paul Cartledge ISBN: 1585674028 Publisher: Overlook Press Pub. Date: 15 May, 2003 List Price(USD): $27.95 |
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Title: The Greco-Persian Wars by Peter Green ISBN: 0520203135 Publisher: University of California Press Pub. Date: October, 1998 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Tides of War by Steven Pressfield ISBN: 0553381393 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 28 August, 2001 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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