Gates of Fire Characters

Tenagros is Diomache’s father and Xeo’s uncle. He survives the attack on Astakos, but after sending the children to safety in the city, he is never seen again.

Tripod was a young Spartan-in-training who was whipped to death by his drill instructors, refusing to ask for mercy. He was Alexandros’s close friend.

Iatrokles was Dienekes’s brother. He was married to Arete. He died a hero’s death at 31 and was considered the noblest warrior of his generation.

Olympieus, a Spartan warrior, is Alexandros’s father and Paraleia’s husband. He dies at Thermopylae.

Gobartes is the Persian historian who transcribes Xeo’s tale for the historical record at Xerxes’s command, effectively making him the book’s narrator. When Greece prevails at the end of the book, he is nearly killed by Spartans, but Rooster spares him when he hears of Gobartes’ connection to Xeo.

Orontes is King Xerxes’s captain. He becomes a confidant of sorts to Xeo while Xeo is Xerxes’s captive.

Demaratos is a deposed and exiled Spartan king who lives as a guest and trusted adviser in Xerxes’s court; when Xeo becomes suicidal on hearing of Leonidas’s desecration after Thermopylae, Demaratos assuages Xeo by appealing to his piety toward Apollo.

Paraleia is the wife of Olympieus and mother of Alexandros.

Arete’s late brother and father of Rooster.

King Xerxes’s field marshal and trusted adviser.

Warrioress and queen of Halicarnassus; King Xerxes’s trusted adviser.

Gorgo is Leonidas’s wife and queen of Sparta; her name means “Bright Eyes.” Her son, Pleistarchus, will one day become King of Sparta.

Thereia is Xeo’s wife. She is Rooster’s cousin, a Messenian, and has two children with him. Xeo regrets that he can’t love her as she deserves.

Ball Player, like Xeo, was an orphaned refugee after the attack on Astakos. Unlike Xeo, he seeks to profit from war and becomes a scout for the Spartan troops at Thermopylae. He also joins the raiders when they infiltrate the Persian camp.

A Spartan Skirite ranger, who’s accompanied to Thermopylae by his hunting dog, Styx, and is nicknamed accordingly.

Ariston is a young Spartan warrior. He is killed in the first day of battle at Thermopylae. He is Alexandros’s brother-in-law, brother of Agathe.

Agathe is Ariston’s sister and becomes Alexandros’s wife.

Meriones is Olympieus’s beloved, elderly squire, who is killed on the battlefield in Antirhion.

Messenieus is believed to be Rooster’s and Harmonia’s son, later found to be Dienekes’s son.

Harmonia is Rooster’s wife and mother, by Dienekes, of Messenieus.

A seer who accompanies the Spartans to Thermopylae.

A Persian noble and captain, husband of a Greek woman, who warns the Spartans that the Persian Immortals are on their way to encircle them. They dismiss his warnings.

An Egyptian marine and ship captain whom the Spartan officers Olympieus, Aristodemos, Polynikes, and Dienekes meet on embassy. He later serves as a messenger for King Xerxes and begs the Greeks not to go to war with Persia, but they reject his plea.

A Spartan Peer who examines Dienekes’s son, Messenieus, when he is an infant. He then deems Dienekes eligible to be chosen for the Three Hundred and Thermopylae.

A Spartan officer alongside Olympieus, Polynikes, and Dienekes.