Visiting The Hot Gates

It started with my brother Mick bringing over about 11 books one day a few months back. He had a sheet of hand-written footnotes, and many of the books had marked chapters. For about 45 minutes he summarized thus: “Now this is the actual history of Thermopylae, written at the time by then-contemporary historian Herodotus…” He continued through various volumes, ending with one book that was on both our “favorites” list: “Gates of Fire” by Pressfield. He patted it fondly. "This. Now this would make an excellent movie."

We both had read “Gates” many years before when it had first come out. Mick is a passionate, amateur ancient historian. I am a big fan of ancient history as well, but my historical interests lean farther toward the British Empire. Mick defends the Roman Empire as the pillars of modern societies. I am fond of flinging Britain’s geographic supremacy in his face. When I am on one of my historical chapter benders, I can not really persuade him to follow along with me. Conversely, when he is on a bender, I eagerly trot along beside him, reading every book he recommends, trading frequent phone calls during which he quizzes me, and acts as tutor.

When I am on one of these benders, I take my husband part of the way with me. He does not have the time or inclination to immerse himself as Mick and I do, but he always asks, what are you reading, and please tell me about why THIS particular book about Random Battle #769 is different from THAT book about the exact same battle. Occasionally, I will read aloud to him, and he’ll ask me questions and I will attempt to tutor him as Mick tutors me.

Last summer, it was Julius Caesar. For the past two months it has been The Battle of Thermopylae. I have visited Thermopylae before, back when I first read Pressfield’s book. But Sparta is always worth revisiting.

The Spartan way of life, the Spartan philosophy…all of their culture and society has been romanticized, lionized and embroidered in poems, novels, movies, etc. But the true Sparta is a society that cannot be examined without conflicting feelings. They alone among the Greek city-states maintained a standing army. That is to say, their army was composed entirely of career soldiers, and the army was at the ready 24/7. Greece, in 485 was by no means a united country. On the contrary they city-states were each unto itself, and in a constant state of friction with each other. Thus Sparta kept an army, because if Greeks could be characterized as valuing their freedom above all, the Spartans were willing to kill and die for this freedom.

Ironically, they were willing to enslave an entire class of people to maintain this army. Spartan society and culture could not have existed without the “helots,” the enslaved people who literally ran the city and tended to every daily, mundane task which allowed Spartan men to pursue (from very early childhood) careers as , well, Spartans. Soldiers, Warriors at the ready. They existed to defend themselves. Their helots, slaves for many generations, were widely reported to be devoted to their free masters, and were treated almost as equals on a few levels. They could not own property and they must serve their household, of course, but they were not brutalized (as reported by Herodotus), and there was a certain level of respect that came from their Spartan masters, who seemed to recognize that they were vital to Spartan existence. Symbiosis. They also outnumbered their masters vastly. So this was a good reason for the Spartan army never to venture too far from Sparta. The army existed to DEFEND Sparta. (Well,for the most part. We'll talk about Messina another time.)

Until the legendary Persian army came rumbling across the mountains. Until their way of life was absolutely guaranteed to be decimated. Sparta, along with every other city-state, along with Greece as a whole, would be enslaved by the unstoppable and vast Persian Empire, lead by Xerxes, son of Darius, who was defeated at Marathon a generation ago, and who really wanted to see Greece fold.

If Greece can be viewed as the very foundation of Western civilization and democracy (and it can), then the Battle of Thermopylae can be seen as the pivotal moment in Western society, politics and culture.

But Greece was not united – far from it. The Spartan army did not venture so far from home. These problems came to bear as Greece pondered its fate. Would Greece unite? Would Sparta lead, both my example and as the commanding force? The short answer is that they did. Against the Oracle, against the general consensus, King Leonides took his persona force opf 300 and attempted to hold off the Persians at the gates of fire, the hot gates – a narrow mountain pass called Thermopylae. They held them off for three days, leading a mongrel assortment of Athenians, Phoecians, Thespians, etc. But they were slaughtered in the end. But not before they had bought valuable time…time in which Athens assembled her naval forces, and the rest of Greece, seeing the example of what Sparta could do, united her forces. Ultimately, Persia was turned back.

Ironically, it was Sparta’s military philosophy that became a cultural example. Their military rule: That a soldier is only as strong as the man to his left, became the rule for Greece as a whole. A once-divided country began to see that the only way it could survive is if the man (country) to its left was strong and free as well.

I am sitting here plowing through this history, and I realize I am taking a tortuous journey butchering and simplifying a beautiful, brutal and labrynthine piece of history just to lay the groundwork for a review of a mediocre movie.

So after all this history book-learning, I get a night off. My brothers, Patrick and Mick, are taking me to see 300, the most recent attempt to put Thermopylae into a movie form.

Short review: It’s enjoyable for the duration…but not much beyond. It’s visually arresting. It’s kind of like a video game. It’s shallow. It butchers history. It’s not the story of Sparta or Thermopylae. It plays radically fast and loose with facts. It’s C-plus…but for the two hours I was in that seat, I was entertained. I’m kind of embarrassed to admit that.

I did not like Sin City. I did not even finish it, actually. This movie has that same comic-book-graphic thing going for it. Each scene in this could be a painting. I was reminded of Maxfield Parrish many many times (I love Maxfield Parrish).

Mick and I gave up pointing out the historical hiccups after maybe 10 minutes. Straight out of the bag, the Spartans did not fight naked, OK? Their flashing copper (or brass) breastplates are well documented by many historians. Most importantly, this movie tries to give the impression that the Spartans alone (with a few wimpy Athenians) battled the Persian masses. Not so.

I could spend more than 2 hours pointing out the way this movie rides roughshod over the facts. But if you do not take it as a history lesson, or – God forbid – a philosophy lesson – then it is OK. Bloody, but in an over-the-top-almost cartoonish way.

One day, maybe Gates of Fire will be made into a movie. That will be a great thing. But as Mick and I agreed after this movie was over, anything that makes someone aware of the Battle of Thermopylae and Sparta and its legacy is a good thing. If someone picks up a book, or even Googles Thermoplylae after seeing this, that’s a good thing.

If you want to pick up a book, try:

Thermopylae: The Battle That Changed the World by Paul Cartledge
The Spartans by Paul Cartledge
The Defence of Greece by J.F. Lazenby
Thermopylae: The Battle for the West by Ernle Bradford

And of course Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield

As a footnote, if you are interested in finding out more about the role of women in Sparta, (300 implies that Spartan women were nearly equal. NOT so, but they were MUCH more important to their society than any other ancient women. The love story between King Leonides and Queen Gorgo – actually his niece – is amazing.) then pick up A Biographical Dictionary of Ancient Greek and Roman Women by Marjorie and Benjamin Lighthouse.