Sparta: Where Heroines Outshine Their Valiant Heroes

7 lessons and why pacifists must read Steven Pressfield’s Gates of Fire

Oct 10, 2022

Steven Pressfield’s Gates of Fire — The Epic Battle of Thermopylae is a historical fiction that retells the world-changing battle between Persia, led by king Xerxes I, and the Greek city-states, led by Sparta under their king, Leonidas I.

The war film, 300, is based on the ancient epic battle of Thermopylae. King Leonidas and 300 Spartans warriors led the Greeks against the onslaughts of a formidably massive Persian army. The odds were massively stacked against the Greeks. Despite impossible odds, the Greeks ward off their enemies for several days until their fellow Spartans, chaffing at being declared unfit for battle betrayed his nation to the Persians.

The Spartans and their Thespian allies died to the last man, but the standard of valor they set by their sacrifice inspired the Greeks to rally and, in that fall and spring, defeat the Persians at Salamis and Plataea and preserve the beginnings of Western democracy and freedom from perishing in the cradle.

Prior to the Persian invasion, the Greek city-states recently ended a civil war in the city of Antirhion. The goal of that war was to unite all the contending Greek city-states against their common looming and seemingly insurmountable enemy, Persia.

In the third year after the battle of Antirhion, king Darius of Persia died, and his son succeeded him. Instead of relenting or relaxing the wars started by his ancestors, king Xerxes I redoubled the mobilization of the Persian empire for war against the Greeks. His goal was to conquer and dominate Greece and then on to Europe.

The zeal of a prince freshly crowned burned within His Majesty’s breast. Xerxes son of Darius would not be judged by history inferior to his father, nor to his illustrious forebears Cambyses and Cyrus the Great. These, who had vanquished and enslaved all Asia, would be joined in the pantheon of glory by Xerxes, their scion, who would now add Greece and Europe to the roll of provinces of the Empire.

This story was largely recounted through the mouthpiece of a captive Greek warrior in the courts of Xerxes I. Regarded as the king of kings in his days, Xerxes wanted to know what made the Greeks, unlike his other conquered, and plundered nations adamant and unassailably devoted to their own nation.

You will follow the antagonists through their battlefields, mix with them through the blood-letting gores of face-to-face imminent death. In Sparta, falling in the battle for their nation was a much-coveted honor. And, you will get to know the women who stoically glory in their valiant warrior husbands, sons, and boyfriends — dead or alive.

You will learn of women, who on hearing that their boys and husbands have died in battle, the first concern is if their nation won the war. Tell me, what other heroism could be greater than that?

Here are some of my personal lessons;

Fear actually kills you many times over before real death
Listen to the conversation between a Spartan General and his protégé.“Answer this, Alexandros. When our countrymen triumph in battle, what is it that defeats the foe?”
The boy responded in the terse Spartan style, “Our steel and our skill.” “These, yes,” Dienekes corrected him gently, “but something more. It is that.” His gesture led up the slope to the image of Phobos.
Fear.
Their own fear defeats our enemies.
Where mentorship thrives, the family, organization, or enterprise thrives.
“Such is the peculiar genius of the Spartan system of pairing each boy in training with a mentor other than his own father. A mentor may say things that a father cannot; a boy can confess to his mentor that which would bring shame to reveal to his father.”
Group survival trumps personal survival.
How does this compare with modern life where organizations trumpet “team effort” but often reward and glorify narcissistic show-stealing lone rangers?
“Have your instructors taught you why the Spartans excuse without penalty the warrior who loses his helmet or breastplate in battle, but punish with loss of all citizenship rights the man who discards his shield?”
“They had”, Alexandras replied. “Because a warrior carries helmet and breastplate for his own protection, but his shield for the safety of the whole line.”
Leadership is by example
In ancient Greece, their kings lead at the battlefront as co-equals with their soldiers as free men.This is in sharp contrast to Xerxes and Persian kings who treat their soldiers as their kings’ personal properties and slaves.Of the Spartans, the author wrote that,
“They could see their king, at nearly sixty, enduring every bit of misery they did. And they knew that when the battle came, he would take his place not safely in the rear, but in the front rank, at the hottest and most perilous spot on the field.”
Uncommon bravery and heroism of their women
Chapter 18 is one of the most beautiful I’ve ever read in any novel. There, a rebel warrior Dekton (Rooster) was charged with sedition and brought bound before the Spartan state secret service, the krypteia. The verdict was certain death for the rebel, his innocent wife, and infant son. The krypteia was out of bounds for these glorious Spartan women. Defiantly stealing in uninvited, the wife of one of the leaders of the krypteia boldly accused her own innocent husband of being the true father of the infant son of the wife of the accused rebel. I won’t spoil your reading pleasure by telling you how that story ended. The long and shot of it was that the rebel soldier was spared and reconciled with his generals. His life and that of his innocent wife and son were preserved.
The ordeal now ended, listen to the general and the wife who accused him of infidelity in other to save the life of another man and his family. You are eavesdropping on the couple’s conversation after departing from that formidable council.
“Dienekes wrapped his cloak about his wife’s shoulders. I could see him regard her keenly while she struggled to reclaim her self-command. A portion of him still burned, furious at her for what she had forced him to do tonight. But another part stood in awe of her, at her compassion and audacity and even, if the word may be applied, her generalship. The lady’s equilibrium returned; she glanced up to discover her husband studying her. She smiled for him. “Whatever deeds of virtue you have performed or may yet perform, my husband, none will exceed that which you have done this night.”
Give us heroes, give us even more heroines.
Here, the unequaled bravery of the Spartan women shined out from the lips of their king, Leonidas I. He was addressing the wife of one of those about to die 300 brave heroes on the eve of their departure for the war, and their ultimate end at the Gates of Thermopylae,
“I will never tell the city why I appointed these three hundred. I will never tell the Three Hundred themselves. But I now tell you. I choose them not for their own valor, lady, but for that of their women.”
Greece stands now upon her most perilous hour. If she saves herself, it will not be at the Gates (death alone awaits us and our allies there) but later, in battles yet to come, by land and sea. Then Greece, if the gods will it, will preserve herself. Do you understand this, lady? Well. Now listen.
From my lips sprang these words, reproving the king: ‘And is this the reward of women’s virtue, Leonidas? To be afflicted twice over, and bear a double grief?
“Do you love your country?” he demanded.
“This man, with his life, has preserved it. Bear him with honor.”
Do you love freedom and want to live in peace? Prepare for war.
You don’t have to agree with me. But. go tell the pacifists of this world that there is no other way around it. And that, my friends, is the greatest lesson I took away from reading The Gates of Fire. This passage from the foreword to the book brilliantly sums up everything.

“Two memorials remain today at Thermopylae. Upon the modem one, called the Leonidas Monument in honor of the Spartan king who fell there, is engraved his response to Xerxes’ demand that the Spartans lay down their arms. Leonidas’ reply was two words, Molon labe. “Come and get them.”

I’ve never and may never holiday in Greece, but if I ever get there, I already know one of the first places I will visit. Yes. I’ve already googled the site of that monument.

Throughout the book, you will learn lessons about — love, bravery, integrity, courage, and loyalty among others. For me the greatest lesson is this, freedom only comes to those who are willing to sacrifice their lives to earn it.

Key Takeaways.

Fear actually kills you many times over before real death.
As mentorship thrives, so the family and the enterprise thrive.
Group survival trumps personal survival.
The best form of leadership is by example.
The unsung heroism of our women can save the world. So,
We need more heroes and even more heroines.
Friends, if you love freedom and want to live in peace, prepare for war.

Thank you for reading this review. You must forgive my errors as you go get yourself a copy of the novel.

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Another version of this article was published on Medium.

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