The Sword King - The Life and Legend of Leonidas of Thermopylae (Paperback)

The Sword King is the first book-length biography of Leonidas, the Spartan king who famously commanded 300 of his heroic countrymen at the battle of Thermopylae. It also treats the legend which that action created. Ian Macgregor Morris carefully reconstructs the life: the political intrigue surrounding Leonidas' birth, his harsh upbringing, and the combination of circumstances which unexpectedly made him king. Yet it is his death, defending Greece against the Persian invader, that has immortalised him. And this book traces his last days in detail, explaining the reasons for, and the course of, this most noble, yet mysterious of battles. The tale, soon to be retold in a film, does not end there; for Leonidas' legendary status has made him a generic martyr, appropriated by religious creeds and political ideologies. He has ceased to be just a man; he has become an idea - one that remains as powerful as it was on that hot August day in 480 BC when he chose defiance over personal safety, death over life. Ian Macgregor Morris is Honorary Fellow in Classics and Ancient History at the University of Exeter.