Gates of Fire is a 1998 historical fiction novel by Steven Pressfield that recounts the Battle of Thermopylae through Xeones, a Spartan Perioikoi and the sole Greek survivor of the battle.
Gates of Fire is on the Commandant of the Marine Corps' Reading list. It is taught at West Point and Annapolis and at the Marine Corps Basic School at Quantico at Virginia Military Institute and at Brophy College Preparatory.
Famous quotes containing the words gates of, gates and/or fire:
“The gates of Hell are open night and day;
Smooth the descent, and easy is the way:
But, to return, and view the cheerful skies;
In this, the task and mighty labour lies.”
—Virgil [Publius Vergilius Maro] (70–19 B.C.)
“We’ve cracked the hemispheres with careless hand!
Now, from the Gates of Hercules we flood
Westward, westward till the barbarous brine
Whelms us to the tired world where tasseling corn,
Fat beans, grapes sweeter than muscadine
Rot on the vine: in the land were we born.”
—Allen Tate (1899–1979)
“For lack of wood the fire goes out, and where there is no whisperer, quarreling ceases. As charcoal is to hot embers and wood to fire, so is a quarrelsome person for kindling strife.”
—Bible: Hebrew, Proverbs 26:20-21.