The battle for the West: Thermopylae

The whole of the East is on the move. Day after day, armies of men tramp the dusty roads of Asia Minor...Persians with shields and stabbing swords, Arabs on camels, mountain men from the Caucasus, Libyan charioteers, horsemen from central Iran.

Over this vast projection of imperial force stands the Emperor Xerxes, ringed round by his immaculate royal guard. The year is 480 B.C., and Xerxes has given the order to invade Europe.

"This account is a memorial to those ancient Greeks who, so many centuries ago, ensured that their patterns of freedom and individual liberty should survive in the West." (B-O-T Editorial Review Board)