The Battle of Thermopylae

300 Spartans and the Forgotten Citizen-Soldiers Who Fought with Them

By: HistoryIn60

Narrated by: Harriet Seed

Most people know about the Battle of Thermopylae, even if they don’t recognize the name. During the second Persian invasion of Greece, 300 Spartans fought against Xerxes I’s forces on a narrow mountain pass. With such cinematic details, no wonder this sensational battle inspired the blockbuster film 300. However, both the film and popular imagination miss many important details about this battle. This concise history sheds light on the thousands of Greek citizen-soldiers who fought alongside the Spartans, forever changing the course of Greek identity and nationhood.

©2018 HistoryIn60 (P)2018 HistoryIn60

A short, concise history well told . . .

This is a great format for learning basic historical events which took place in ancient times. The work covers not only the generally known points, but also delves into quite a few not so well known circumstances. One of the things I liked about this presentation is that the closing of the work states that the 'facts' laid out are limited to the best knowledge that we have since there were no actual witnesses to the war that survived. The vast majority of the 'facts' were reported buy Herodotus who may well have had his own underlying agendas. However, there great point that is made is regardless of the actual numbers of Greelk warriors that fought and died in the battle of Thermopylae, the way in which it formed western thought is in how we have a heart for the underdog. In short, it is more important of the character of those that stood rather than who remained standing in the end, A couple examples given were the Alamo and Custer's last stand.

Anyway, this was a nice, concise teaching combined with a fine narration which was easy on the ears. A slight production glitch in the audio results in the stereo sound dropping out for a chapter, but that may well be an Audible issue rather than with the work, itself. Regardless, I would highly recommend this book as it bring acient history to life in sufficient detain without getting lost in the minutia.

A review copy of this audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in return for this unbiased review. If you found this review helpful, please take a moment to click yes below.

Fascinating history of a legendary battle.

This was a great little history of one of those battles that lives on in absolute infamy. Got a lot more of the back story than I got from the movie 300.

The narrator did a pretty good job. Not sure if all of the pronunciations were quite correct, they might have been. The recording was a little bit tinny as well. This could be annoying if you were especially sensitive to that sort of thing. If you are not a baby, this is a really interesting listen.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Terrific Way to Learn, Amazing Life of Spartans!

The Battle of Thermopylae
300 Spartans and the Forgotten Citizen-Soldiers Who Fought with Them
By: HistoryIn60
Narrated by: Harriet Seed
This is an audible book I requested and the review is voluntary.
I love history but who likes boring textbook type information. This is information but told in a way that brings the people alive. I had read some on the subject before but now I know why they lived like they did, how they got their laws. This was all new to me. The daily life of the people from birth to adult is important to understand how they would view the battle. I learned a lot. This is a brilliant idea to have this condensed wonderful information, ready for non-readers and readers to be able to absorb this rich knowledge.
The narrator was wonderful! A perfect, clear voice that put slight enthusiasm, but not much like a novel, into the reading. Very well done. I listened to it twice.

Now I know...

This is the first book I’ve read/listened to by this author. I enjoyed the story. It was very informative and interesting. It makes sense there would be more people involved than just 300 Spartans. The insight to daily life and the varied societies was great. I’d love to listen to another book like this.

This is the first book I’ve listened to by this narrator and I would listen to another. The cadence was comfortable and emphasis appropriate.

There is no excessive violence or swearing.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and voluntarily left this unbiased review

Bite-sized history

Would you listen to The Battle of Thermopylae again? Why?

Possibly. There was a lot of good information, and it's possible I'll refer back to it again.

What other book might you compare The Battle of Thermopylae to and why?

The obvious comparison is Frank Miller's "300," but this was more like "300 for Dummies." I don't mean that in a disparaging way, it's just that there was a lot of historical ground to cover and it was done very quickly, which is kind of the point of this series.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I did. I liked the idea of having all the information so compactly presented. I know this material could have been stretched out into a twenty hour book, but that wasn't what I was looking for at this time.

Any additional comments?

This provided a good overview, with a bit of history both before and after the Battle of Thermopylae.