Thus did the poet Simonides remember the three hundred elite Spartan warriors who, led by their king, Leonidas, faced the vast, inrushing Persian army at the 'hot gates' of Thermopylae and fought to the death for an ideal dearer to them than life itself - the ideal of freedom.
Paul Cartledge's offers a compelling re-examination of this crucial moment in history, a epic clash of civilizations that helped shape the identity of Classical Greece and our own cultural heritage. Paul Cartledge, Professor of Greek History at the University of Cambridge, is the author of The Spartans and Alexander the Great, both critically acclaimed and out in Pan paperback. He has written and edited many articles, including Spartan Reflections, and has acted as academic consultant on The Greeks: Crucible of Civilization for the BBC and The Spartans for Channel 4.
