Gates of Fire

Since Xerxes witnessed the entire battle himself, Xeones’s description of the final day of fighting only takes notice of “those instances and moments which may have escaped the notice of His Majesty’s vantage, again, as he has requested, to shed light upon the character of the Hellenes he there called his enemy” (491).

Xeones says that Leonidas was, without question, the preeminent warrior that day. His reflections on Leonidas provide Xeones the opportunity to meditate upon the nature of kingship, and he rebukes Xerxes as a poor king compared to Leonidas. He stresses that though he was bound to the service of Dienekes, he considered himself free, since he had given his obedience and adopted the laws of Sparta willingly.

By this third and final day of battle there are too few Spartans to complete the phalanx, and Xeones is drafted to take his place among the platoon led by Dienekes, wielding spear and shield for the first and final time in his life. The Greeks are too few and are finally overwhelmed. When a handful of Greeks rally on a small hillock to make a final stand, the Persians shoot them all with arrows.