Thermopylae (Book #29)

I have no intention of seeing 300. I may catch it on DVD eventually, but it just doesn't look like my kind of thing--more comic book action movie that historical epic. But Thermopylae itself fascinates me, military history buff that I am. And so I enjoyed Thermopylae: The Battle That Changed the World (Paul Cartledge, 2006). If you want to know more about the real Thermopylae, I'd suggest starting with Tom Holland's Persian Fire, a well-written narrative history that provides the larger context of the Graeco-Persian wars and how Athens, Sparta, and Persia came to be where they were in 480 BC. Cartledge's book is a good follow-up, more focused on Sparta and on the lasting cultural impact of Thermopylae.