Thermopylae

This history examines the battle of 480 BC, when a small Greek force under the Spartan king Leonidas held the pass at Thermopylae for several days against Xerxes' Persian army before a rear guard was destroyed. Carey works through the difficult ancient evidence, the geography of the changing coastline, and the wider Persian invasion. A middle section treats later fights at the same pass from the classical period into the twentieth century. The second half follows the story's afterlife in Greek and Roman rhetoric, monuments, literature, and film. The book is a study of one battle and its legend, not a life of Leonidas.

Quarter-bound in green cloth, with green textured paper sides printed with yellow, black and grey artwork by Geoff Grandfield. Plain slipcase.