Biographical Influence Steven Pressfield

Gates of Fire

With numerous ties, between Pressfield and his Spartan character Xeo, Steven Pressfield somehow turns his own life experiences into a historically based novel. After the tragic death of his parents, Xeo wonders off with his cousin, whom he loves, in hopes of finding a way to redeem his mother and father. After hurting his hand, because he was caught stealing, therefore he was stabbed right through the hands in a sacrificial manner, Xeo studies and puts all his time into learning the way of the bow and arrow. Much like Xeo him self, Pressfield went through life trying to play sports, joined armed forces, somehow contribute to the world in a way that could possibly make his parents proud. Regarding Steven's relationships, he once fell in love with a distant cousin, but never was given the chance to tell her.

Last of The Amazons

Having been a women's activist the majority of his life, Steven Pressfield also shows his biographical influence in one of his more controversial books. Much like the Spartans, the Amazons were a different kind of soldier. While the Amazons were actual living, breathing women, they were also fighting machines, and they showed no mercy in their battles. Completely demolishing anything that came in their path, the Amazons made a name for themselves through out all of Greece. Pressfield's mother often told him how much she admired the Amazons, and their quest for equal treatment. Much like the King in Pressfield's novel, a young principle in one of Pressfield's younger day school's declared that women had no place on the playground, Making more of an impact on the king's character than Pressfield realized.