Rating: 
Summary: Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori
Review: As Xerxes (aka Ahasueras), the Great King of the greatest empire the world had ever seen, prepared the greatest invasion force ever mustered, the Greeks sought advice from the Oracle at Delphi. The Oracle pronounced that wooden walls would save Athens, but only the death of a Spartan king would save that unwalled city from ruin.As the Persian juggernaut crossed over a two mile long pontoon bridge into Europe and began its relentless march into Greece, the Greeks temporized, argued, and dithered. Finally, Sparta sent King Leonidas with three hundred Spartiates to hold the pass at Thermopylae against the Persian hordes. Leonidas stiffened his contingent with Helots (Spartan serfs) and volunteers from several other Greek city-states. Phocis, Thebes, Thespia, and a few others swelled Leonidas' ranks to a few thousand. Upon being told that when the Persians loosed their arrows the sky went black, the Spartiate Dienekes rejoined "Then we shall fight in the shade." At a point in the pass no more than 20 yards wide Leonidas met the Persians and stopped them dead in their tracks. For three days he and his men held the mightiest empire's mightiest army at bay, slaughtering the flower of the Persian army by the hundreds, if not thousands. He might have held, but a traitorous Greek showed the Persians a mountain pass by which they could turn Leonidas' position. Leonidas had guarded the pass with 1,000 Phocians, but the Persian "Immortals," Xerxes' best unit, brushed them aside. Upon learning of this treachery, Leonidas sent the other city-states' contingents home and prepared for his last stand. The Thebans and Thespians volunteered to stay, and Leonidas chose for his battleground a wider section of the pass. He wanted as wide a front as possible so he could kill as many Persians as possible. The Spartans joined battle with the Persians for the last time, and the slaughter was horrific. When, as anticipated, the Immortals took them in the rear, the Spartans retreated to a hillock, formed what the Middle Ages would call a "Swiss Hedgehog," and died to the last man. As prophecy foretold, the Spartans lost their king, but saved their city, and the rest of Greece with it. The invasion continued apace, and Athens was sacked, with her entire population fleeing to the island of Salamis. There in the straits between Salamis and Athens, the Greeks lured the Persian navy to its doom. Winter was coming, and things hadn't quite worked out as expected. Campaigning during the winter was verboten, and sustaining such a huge army in the field over the winter wasn't practicable. Xerxes decided he had better get back to Susa, and took with him the remainder of his shattered navy and the bulk of his army. He left his seasoned field commander, Mardonius, in charge of the best Persian contingents, expecting Mardonius to complete the conquest of Greece during the next campaigning season. Upon learning of Xerxes'withdrawal, the Spartans thought the war was over, and sent an embassy demanding satisfaction for the death of their king. Xerxes laughed in their faces and told them that Mardonius would give them satisfaction next summer. He did, but not as Xerxes expected. Shakespeare once wrote "It is not within man's power to command success, but we shall do more--we shall deserve it." Leonidas and his 300 Spartiates could not command succes, but they did more, they deserved it. Bradford puts the story of Leonidas in its proper place within the vast panorama of the Greco Persian Wars. He begins with the sack of Sardis and ends on the fields of Plataea. "Thermopylae" is not as scholarly as A.R. Burn's "Persian and the Greeks," but it is imminently more readable. "Thermopylae" reads somewhat like an abridgement of Peter Green's "The Greco-Persian Wars."
Rating:
Summary: Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori
Review: As Xerxes (aka Ahasueras), the Great King of the greatest empire the world had ever seen, prepared the greatest invasion force ever mustered, the Greeks sought advice from the Oracle at Delphi. The Oracle pronounced that wooden walls would save Athens, but only the death of a Spartan king would save that unwalled city from ruin. As the Persian juggernaut crossed over a two mile long pontoon bridge into Europe and began its relentless march into Greece, the Greeks temporized, argued, and dithered. Finally, Sparta sent King Leonidas with three hundred Spartiates to hold the pass at Thermopylae against the Persian hordes. Leonidas stiffened his contingent with Helots (Spartan serfs) and volunteers from several other Greek city-states. Phocis, Thebes, Thespia, and a few others swelled Leonidas' ranks to a few thousand. Upon being told that when the Persians loosed their arrows the sky went black, the Spartiate Dienekes rejoined "Then we shall fight in the shade." At a point in the pass no more than 20 yards wide Leonidas met the Persians and stopped them dead in their tracks. For three days he and his men held the mightiest empire's mightiest army at bay, slaughtering the flower of the Persian army by the hundreds, if not thousands. He might have held, but a traitorous Greek showed the Persians a mountain pass by which they could turn Leonidas' position. Leonidas had guarded the pass with 1,000 Phocians, but the Persian "Immortals," Xerxes' best unit, brushed them aside. Upon learning of this treachery, Leonidas sent the other city-states' contingents home and prepared for his last stand. The Thebans and Thespians volunteered to stay, and Leonidas chose for his battleground a wider section of the pass. He wanted as wide a front as possible so he could kill as many Persians as possible. The Spartans joined battle with the Persians for the last time, and the slaughter was horrific. When, as anticipated, the Immortals took them in the rear, the Spartans retreated to a hillock, formed what the Middle Ages would call a "Swiss Hedgehog," and died to the last man. As prophecy foretold, the Spartans lost their king, but saved their city, and the rest of Greece with it. The invasion continued apace, and Athens was sacked, with her entire population fleeing to the island of Salamis. There in the straits between Salamis and Athens, the Greeks lured the Persian navy to its doom. Winter was coming, and things hadn't quite worked out as expected. Campaigning during the winter was verboten, and sustaining such a huge army in the field over the winter wasn't practicable. Xerxes decided he had better get back to Susa, and took with him the remainder of his shattered navy and the bulk of his army. He left his seasoned field commander, Mardonius, in charge of the best Persian contingents, expecting Mardonius to complete the conquest of Greece during the next campaigning season. Upon learning of Xerxes'withdrawal, the Spartans thought the war was over, and sent an embassy demanding satisfaction for the death of their king. Xerxes laughed in their faces and told them that Mardonius would give them satisfaction next summer. He did, but not as Xerxes expected. Shakespeare once wrote "It is not within man's power to command success, but we shall do more--we shall deserve it." Leonidas and his 300 Spartiates could not command succes, but they did more, they deserved it. Bradford puts the story of Leonidas in its proper place within the vast panorama of the Greco Persian Wars. He begins with the sack of Sardis and ends on the fields of Plataea. "Thermopylae" is not as scholarly as A.R. Burn's "Persian and the Greeks," but it is imminently more readable. "Thermopylae" reads somewhat like an abridgement of Peter Green's "The Greco-Persian Wars."
Rating: 
Summary: A overly simplistic view of the Battle of Thermopylae
Review: Bradford is an amateur historian at best, and his work, although well written, lacks true historical merit. In last the few years, the narrative of the battle of Thermopylae has come under some scholarly scrutiny, especially concerning topographic issues. Nevertheless, Bradford's work is suitable for those who only have a passing interest and is not designed for students or historians of antiquity. A better study on Sparta would be by Jones, or Lazenby-- whose work focuses primarily on the Spartan Army. See also Pritchett for a more detailed analysis of the Greek state at War. Again, this book is not for specialists, that is those interested in actual historiography, but for the arm-chair historian. Jason Governale. University of Chicago. BA UCLA 98
Rating: 
Summary: A Masterful Chronicle
Review: Bradford possesses knowledge of ships, naval warfare and the Mediterranean which serves him well in this history of the Greco-Persian Wars from circa 500 BCE to 479 BCE. The title is somewhat misleading; nevertheless he does spend several chapters on the Battle of Thermopylae. The source notation is woven into the text which causes certain details of source information to be left out.
Rating:
Summary: A Masterful Chronicle
Review: Bradford possesses knowledge of ships, naval warfare and the Mediterranean which serves him well in this history of the Greco-Persian Wars from circa 500 BCE to 479 BCE. The title is somewhat misleading; nevertheless he does spend several chapters on the Battle of Thermopylae. The source notation is woven into the text which causes certain details of source information to be left out.
Rating:
Summary: Ernle Bradford is masterly!
Review: Bradford writes clearly, lays out facts, does not improvise or
forge history. If you like Green you like somebody who mixes history with fiction and presents his biased conjectures as facts. Green's works are pseudoepigrams. If you like fiction, better read fiction. Green who writes fiction, better not call it history. Bradley in stark contrast is truthfull. For the critics that state he gives too much background let me comment that historical events need to be placed into their proper context. In addition, we only know as many facts as laid out by primary sources as much as can be seen from goegraphy and archeological findings if such exist. Filling in hundreds and hundreds of pages over the lean ancient historical texts is just a sacrifice on the altar of empty words. Or words filled with malicious non-sense. Bradford is both consice and analytical to perfection.
Rating: 
Summary: Inconsistent, but a quick and light read
Review: Bradford's "Thermopylae" is actually a history of the second invasion of Greece by the Persian Empire. It is more the story of the Athenian fleet and the major Greek proponent of a combined sea and land strategy, Themistocles, than it is of the Spartan and Thespian hoplites who sacrificed themselves at the Hot Gates. The text is engaging, and I was surprised at hopw quickly I went through this book. However, I found myself bothered by several things. First, the author continually warns about drawing modern parallels with the way ancients thought, but constantly uses modern parallels (including the worn-out and inaccurate comparison of Sparta to Nazi Germany). Second, his sources are all secondary (including translations as secondary sources), so the auuthority of the book is questionable. Third, he is decidedly pro-Athenian despite the title of the book and continuous warnings about his major source's (Herodotus) biases. What all this leads to is a story of how Athens defeated the Persians. One might just get the feeling that the Spartans and Thermopylae were quite unnecessary to the Athenian victory. I'm not an expert on ancient Greece, but somehow I don't think that Leonidas and the 300 Spartans (and their Thespian allies) would have been memorialized and remembered for 2500 years if their sacrifice was irrelevant. Bottom line...read this if you want a good, quick read on the second Greco-Persian War. If you want a good read about Thermopylae alone, read the novel "Gates of Fire."
Rating:
Summary: Whither Thermopylae, Mr. Bradford?
Review: Despite its title, this book is not an in depth study of the battle at the Hot Gates. It is instead an overview of the Greco-Persian Wars as a whole -- starting pre-Marathon and ending post-Plataea. The action at Thermopylae is given but a few scant chapters. As much if not more space is accorded Artemisium and Salamis. You?ll learn less about Leonidas than about Themistocles. Perhaps the concentration on the Athenian fleet is not really surprising given that the author is a former navy man. However, one must wonder why then Bradford titled the book "Thermopylae".
But even as primer on the Wars, this book is a disappointment. It lacks both the political and tactical scope one finds in Peter Green?s far superior "Greco-Persian Wars". It is a pleasantly readable work to be sure and might make a decent introductory piece for a novice looking to aquaint himself with the period. For the rest of us, this book is well-trodden ground, adding no new insights.
Go for Green. Read this as an afterthought.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent reading for anyone interested in Spartan history
Review: Essentially this book filled in quite a lot of gaps in and around the heroic battle of the 300 Spartans against the Persians that numbered in the Tens of Thousands. The setting of the battle, that was set in place 10 years before when the Athenians defeated the Persians at the battle of Maraton, set the stage for his heir XERXES to again invade what he thought were divided Greek states. And this is where this book excells ... The names behind the scenes like Thermistocles of Athens... the politician supreme that actually set the wheels in motion via his political savvy and military strategy that gave the Spartans total control over the Athenian naval ships and set them on a expedition that would immortalize the great Spartan king Leonidas. The details of the battles,seen through both sides, as recorded by the great historian Heredotus covers the naval battle of Salamis, the battle of Thermopylae, the invasion of the Persians into Greece ( and the subsequent sacking of Athens twice) and the final battle of Platea where the Spartans defeated the Persians in a huge historic battle ( which actually began as a positional mistake on the Spartans ... but they took full advantage of ) If you are interested in ancient military strategies mixed with the political intrigue of the day ... combined with what was truly the most incredible stand of a small group of warriors against overwhelming odds ...(only to lose because of a betrayal ) ... then this is the book for you to read ...made even more exceptional ...because it is factually true. Steven Ferguson 11/11/97
Rating:
Summary: Go Greeks!
Review: Excellent book if you are interested in Greco/Persian war history.
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