This was quite a magnificent read. I would give it strong 4.5, because I quite did not like the form. It might be because I listened to the audiobook, but the form of a chronicle or witness recording was sometimes a huge obstacle. This was especially salient during dialogues, which felt a bit crippled and without the necessary flow. The form also did not give a space for many descriptions of the setting. However, these are my only complaints. The book is truly a masterpiece, and I have to say I really enjoyed even the Greek vocabulary that was used throughout the story. A must read for any fan of historical fiction.

2nd read: 4.9 stars.

Si pongo como floja esta novela, me lapidan.

A ver, no es que sea floja, pero estoy un poco hasta el moño de la narración larga de batallas deonde nos muestran lo mala que es la guerra, los intestinos al aire, las heces, la orina, el dolor, el miedo, etc, etc, etc.

Como narrador me gustan más otros autores (Posteguillo, tirando de orgullo patrio, me gusta más).
Como interés en los personajes, pues el mismo Abercrombie no tiene nada que envidiarle al Presfield. Nada.
Los personajes femeninos apuntan algo pero se quedan en eso, en algo.
Y para colmo la historia está mas vista que el TBO (comic, de Fran Miller, igual era más exacto).

Lo mejor, para mi, los palabros griegos que se ven son las raices de mogollón de palabras en español. Estaba deseando que saliera un palabro griego nuevo para ver las similares en español.

Y si eso del griego es lo que más me ha gustado, pues eso, que no me dice demasiado de lo que he encontrado.

Por cierto, que la exaltación del valor, la superación a través de la mortificación de la carne, la camaradería y la disciplina espartana (sobre la que pasa por sus aspectos más oscuros de puntillas o directamente no pasa) no me dicen nada de nada.

Me leo y me dan ganas de dejarle en tres estrellas. Bueno, no, que me linchan.

Having just finished all the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy books, this was a strong change of perspective and tone. I was initially disturbed by the depictions of war and life in ancient Greece. Whether I adjusted over the first hundred pages or it's simply that the most disturbing material is in the beginning, I can't say. I do know that I quickly became engrossed in both the story and setting.

Now I want to see the armor and weapons from the time period so I can better understand the phalanx fighting style of the Greeks. I want to learn more about the Persian military to understand why their weapons and armor differed so greatly. I am fascinated by the descriptions of Spartan psychology (though I certainly lack the physical attributes, perhaps mentally I might've made a good Spartan!).

This being the first Steven Pressfield book I've read, I can only hope this isn't his one hit wonder. Even if that is the case, it's brilliant enough for me to consider him an amazing author of historical fiction.

Όσοι αγαπούν τη λογοτεχνία και την ανάγνωση θα διαβάσουν πολλά βιβλία κατά τη διάρκεια της ζωής τους. Λίγα, όμως, είναι εκείνα τα βιβλία για τα οποία θα ισχυριστούν ότι τους «άγγιξαν» τόσο έντονα ώστε να τα θυμούνται για πάντα!

Ένα από τα καλύτερα, θεωρώ, βιβλία που διάβασα ποτέ είναι το «Οι πύλες της φωτιάς» (μετάφραση του «Gates of fire») του αμερικανού συγγραφέα Steven Pressfield.

Ο Pressfield (γεν. 1943), έχει γράψει μια σειρά από ιστορικά μυθιστορήματα που αφορούν κυρίως την αρχαία Ελλάδα. Στο βιβλίο «Οι πύλες της φωτιάς» περιγράφει, με ακρίβεια ιστορικού, απίστευτες λεπτομέρειες τη μάχη των Θερμοπυλών. Το προτότυπο έργο στα αγγλικά γράφτηκε το 1998 ενώ στα ελληνικά μεταφράστηκε το 2001 από της εκδόσεις Πατάκη.

Few books can transport you so convincingly to an ancient world, in this case, Greece. It makes you believe you understand how someone lived and fought in another time and place. Fantastic!

What can I say about this book that hasn't already been said here on it's review page...ah, not much. :-)
It is a terrific book. Dense, and detailed and clever and, in many places, exhilarating. Sometimes I felt that the author was being too clever. Sacrificing flow for sometimes not so relevant story background. There is quite a lot of too-ing and fro-ing in this book. Jumping backwards and forwards between different times and sometimes it worked for me and sometimes it didn't. That is why I nearly gave Gates of Fire 4 stars instead of 5...but I didn't.
I didn't have a problem with the backwards and forwards through the meat of the book, but by the last third of the book, once it was time to leave for Thermopylae, and once they were there, the flow was often a bit too constricted by Pressfield jumping out of the tense rushing storyline, into other slower laid back storylines. It took a long while, it seemed, before the real battle of Thermopylae was fought. And when it was. My heart broke.
It is odd. You know the story of those three hundred. Knew their fate, but it didn't make it any easier when the time came for the end. They went to the Hot Gates to die, and die they did.
Pressfield is a man of high talent when it comes to writing and I can't believe it has taken me this long to finally read this book. But boy am I glad I did.

Nemerljivo dobra knjiga. Nikada nisam volela ratne knjige, ali Ognjena kapija je mnogo više od toga. Probudila je u meni mnoge emocije, pred očima mi tako živo prikazala život i borbu Spartanaca da je zaista jako teško oceniti je samo peticom. Da mogu dala bih joj ocenu 20.
Knjiga je prepuna hrabrosti, borbe, poraza, pobede, ljudskih odnosa, životnih mudrosti, surovih scena i tužnih priča. Velika preporuka!
"Reći ću njegovom veličanstvu šta je kralj. Kralj ne ostaje u svom šatoru dok njegovi ljudi krvare i umiru na razbojištu. Kralj se ne gosti dok njegovi ljudi gladuju, niti spava dok oni bde držeći stražu na zidinama. Kralj ne nameće svojim ljudima odanost strahom niti je kupuje zlatom; on zaslužuje njihovu ljubav oznojenim leđima i bolom koji trpi radi njih. Najgore breme kralj prvi ponese i poslednji spusti. Kralj ne zahteva službu od onih koje vodi, već je pruža. Služi im, a ne oni njemu."

Xerxes, de Perzische koning, vraagt na de slag bij Thermopylae aan een gevangen genomen
Griekse slaaf, om zijn kant van het verhaal te vertellen.
Deze Xeones zegt dat hij, om alles duidelijk te maken, moet beginnen bij het begin, en zijn hele levensverhaal moet vertellen.
En zo begint het verhaal. Als lezer werd ik vanaf het begin erin meegezogen. Het leven van deze Griek, en van de Spartanen en hun bondgenoten, wordt zo levendig beschreven, zo vol emotie en toch ook kracht, dat mijn aandacht constant vastgehouden werd.
Alhoewel een groot deel van het boek bestaat uit de strijd die geleverd werd, eerst de oorlog met de Spartanen en al hun bondgenoten tegen de Perzen, en dan de laatste beslissende slag van de 300 bij Thermopylae, de Warme Poorten, bleef het spannend en bleef mijn inlevingsvermogen groot, wat meestal wat moeilijk is bij oorlogsbeschrijvingen.
Ik kan met zekerheid zeggen dat ik dit één van de beste historische romans is die ik al gelezen heb.

Moving and brilliant, and I don’t use those terms lightly.

The book, about the ancient Battle of Thermopylae, is told by two narrators. The first is Xerxes’ Persian historian. The other is Xeones, a squire for one of the Spartan knights, who is pulled from the wreckage of battle and interviewed to satisfy Xerxes’ curiosity about the Spartan warriors who cost his army so dearly. The Persians won the battle, of course, but what should have been an easy victory instead gave them pause. As Leonidas (the Spartan king) prophesied, the Spartans and their allies at Thermopylae taught “the Persian once and for all what valor free men can bring to bear against slaves, no matter how vast their numbers or how fiercely they are driven by their child-king’s whip.”

Turns out Xeones, the protagonist, died with all the rest of the men at Thermopylae. They were all together in Hell, waiting to cross the River Styx. They weren’t sad because they were dead—they had known that was coming. Sacrifice in battle was deeply embedded in their society. “Nothing good in life comes but at a price. Sweetest of all is liberty. This we have chosen and this we pay for . . . Guided by these laws, our fathers for twenty generations have breathed the blessed air of freedom and have paid the bill in full when it was presented. We, their sons, can do no less.”

No, the fallen warriors of Thermopylae didn’t regret their valiant stand. But they were sad that no one would be able to tell their tale. Apollo, feeling sorry for them, sent Xeones back to life long enough to narrate the story.

The events aren’t told strictly chronologically, but jump back and forth a bit in time. Some authors don’t pull that type of story off very well. Pressfield does. Ancient Sparta is brought to life through the characters of this book. We see their motivations, their training, their society, and what, in essence, makes them Spartans. Xeones isn’t a native Spartan, but his admiration for their society and his devotion to the soldiers he has grown up with makes him perhaps the ideal choice to tell their story.

This book had so many things I like in a good novel: history, life-like characters with great arcs, action, quotable lines. When one of the Spartan knights is told that the enemy will fire so many arrows that they will block out the sun, he replies, “Then we’ll have our battle in the shade.” When an emissary from Xerxes says the Persian emperor doesn’t want their lives, just their arms, King Leonidas says, “Tell him to come and get them.” Leonidas was a favorite character—an eloquent warrior king who led his men by example.

Thermopylae is a sober story. Even knowing how it will end, you might want a tissue handy. But the Spartan sacrifice was worthwhile—their stand bought valuable time that allowed the Greek allies to eventually beat back the Persian army, and save Greece so it could play the vital role it has in the development of Western Civilization.

Note, for those who like clean reads: hoplite battles are on the violent end of the war spectrum. Also, a lot of language in this book, but for the most part is felt accurate to the characters and not gratuitous.

One of the most enjoyable books I've ever come across! Pressfield is a fantastic writer. I could hear, feel, and see the events taking place in my mind as I followed the story. I can't outright recommend this book for Christian readers because of some graphic language and violence, but if you can look past that, "Gates of Fire" is an excellent novel. Pressfield delves deeply into the philosophy and mindset of the soldier as well, and has probably the best description of servant leadership that I've ever seen.

The Battle of Thermopylae is nothing short of a turning point in history that decided if there would be a western world. This is a good and interesting dramatization.

Told through the eyes of Xeones a young man who's become a Helot (a type of slave). Having been enslaved by the Spartans as a young man he becomes in Gate of Fire the only Hellenistic survivor of the Battle of Thermopylae.

This book is one of the best fictional or fictionalized accounts of the battle. This historical fiction is used by members of the military and I've read is on the Commandant of the Marine Corps' reading list and has been taught at West Point (though I have no first hand knowledge of this).

Good book, good read.

„Ne preziri rat, mladi moj prijatelju, niti zavaravaj sebe da su milosrđe i sažaljenje vrline uzvišenije nego andreia, muško junaštvo“

Od istorijske fikcije se ne može poželeti mnogo više od onoga što Presfild nudi u Ognjenoj kapiji. U pitanju je detaljna ispovest zarobljenog Spartanskog štitonoše koji je svedočio o legendarnom okršaju Grka i Persijanaca kod Termopilskog klanca. Ostavljajući po strani činjenice, kao i odsustvo činjenica (ni istorijski izvori njima ne barataju), koje se tiču samog istorijskog zbitija, ratničke i uopšte, univerzalne vrednosti, ovde su verno prikazane, ako ne tačnošću podataka (što se od romana nužno i ne očekuje), onda zamašnošću podviga i snagom duha koja će dok je sveta i veka biti ideal.

Spartanci hrabrost ne nalaze i ne podstiču halabukom – to je pseudoandreia, trenutno „veštačko“ kuražje – već suprostavljanjem strahu od smrti strah od obeščašćivanja. Oni se pre svega bore za čoveka u neposrednoj blizini, za svoje saborce, i požrtvovano sledeći ovu maksimu, usaglašeni, uvežbani, u stanju su da se odupru brojčano i materijalno nadmoćnijoj sili.

Ratnik nosi kalpak i oklop radi sopstvene zaštite, a štit radi bezbednosti cele bojne vrste.

Samosavlađivanje je veština koju ovi ratnici uče i vežbaju jer se po svaku cenu mora izbeći gubitak kontrole usled besa ili straha (katalepsis). Jedna od vrednih pouka koja se može izvući je značaj telesne discipline i rutine jer je rat (a ovo se, verujem, može primeniti i na druge životne oblasti gde je stres faktor) „ispunjavanje uobičajenog pod neuobičajenim okolnostima“ te proces koji stvara fizičku čvrstinu armira i duhovnu.

Imajući ovo na umu, jasno je zašto se Ognjena kapija obrađuje u zapadnjačkim vojnim školama i zašto je priča relevantana čak i danas kada je andreia na udaru. Iako se na „muci poznaju junaci“ nije nužno pohrliti na dva miliona čeličnih oštrica; kako stvari stoje, dovoljno će junaštvo jednoga dana biti, umesto Grčke i Termopila, braniti same vrline, muževnost i viteštvo, od hordi koje bi da ih obesmisle.

Presfildovi junaci su dopadljivi, a čak i oni koji isprva deluju nedostojni naklonosti, pod pritiskom dokazuju – očekivano ali uprkos tome dobrodošlo – da su dorasli svojoj sabraći. Horor borbe je prikazan iscrpno i na način koji ne ostavlja suviše naporima mašte, te je čitalac sa lakoćom prenesen na bojno polje, u falangu, međ’ planine naslaganih leševa, u reke krvi.

Postojanje se pretvorilo u prokop čije je zidove činila smrt i u kome nije preostala nada u spas ili izbavljenje. Neba više nije bilo, ni sunca ni zvezda. Preostala je jedino zemlja, izdrobljena, izrivena zemlja koja kao da je pod svakim čovekom čekala na njegovu prosutu utrobu, smrskane kosti, na krv, na život.