Through the Battle of Thermopylae in -480, Steven Pressfield book an admirable description of the Spartan mentality. His portraits of men and women of Laconia come with acute and precise pen remarkably convenient for them. His approach to the story of the battle for a Spartan slave gives a special tone to the book and the great role he attributes to women in the City confirms this originality. Nevertheless, it is scrupulously respectful of history of mentalities of the time and the facts. Without ever trying to impress, he did not hesitate to give occasionally a series of terms in ancient Greek, to strengthen its always about and even better dive into the mores of the time. More than portraying a specific battle, his book is actually a pretext to explore the fear ("phobos") so familiar to the Spartans and especially launch a typically Hellenic philosophical reflection on what is the opposite. This reflection is discreet in the pages and you can easily miss, but it forms the spine of the story and is its true originality in comparison with a historical novel or any single battle of the story. I let you discover the conclusion if the debate interests you, but go completely off would be a shame. In this regard, what is really sad is the French translation of this work that seems dismal in the title: The Walls of fire wants English translation 'Gates of fire' itself refers to the Greek name of Thermopylae: The doors of a country, a passage, a parade, gorges, that perfectly meets the English title, but in no case the walls as it is translated into French. I read the book in English and can not judge the rest of translation, but added that mistake than the date of the jacket already noted by another reviewer (-480 and -48 not, when the Greece was on track romanization), this is scary for the rest of the text!
