Thermopylae

Chris Carey was born in Liverpool and educated at Jesus College, Cambridge. He has worked at the University of Cambridge, University of Minnesota, Carleton College, St Andrews, Royal Holloway, and UCL, and taught in the Netherlands, Hungary, Greece, and Serbia. He has worked on Greek lyric poetry, epic, drama, oratory, and law, and is currently working on a commentary on book 7 of Herodotus' History. He was elected Fellow of the British Academy in 2012.

The book's best contribution: showing the impact Thermopylae had even in its own time-how its meaning resonated with ancient observers and how it helped both self perpetuate, and shaped the development of ancient culture. Carey then seamlessly connects this with the meaning the battle has to modern people and connects it firmly to the present day, tracing its lineage carefully through modern history. Carey shows Thermopylae's legend came to dominate our understanding of it nearly as soon as Xerxes fixed Leonidas's head to a pole and had it paraded before his cheering troops, a fact that greatly complicates efforts to interpret this critically important battle. Fortunately for readers, it's a complication Carey is well equipped to tackle.

• Preface Introduction 1: Reading Thermopylae: The problems 2: The Pass 3: The Persians 4: The Greeks 5: The Battle 6: Thermopylae Refought 7: Thermopylae in the Ancient World 8: The Myth in the Modern Era 9: And finally... Notes Further Reading Index