Xeones

Xeones is the protagonist and the main narrator of the story. His city-state of Astakos in Akarnania falls to invaders when he is only nine years old, leaving him homeless along with his cousin Diomache. They survive as best they can, and by the time Xeones is twelve years old, they split up. Diomache goes to Athens to become the wife of some well-to-do man, and Xeones goes to Sparta, where he becomes a helot in service to a Spartan platoon leader, Dienekes.

The Spartans train Xeones in the arts of Spartan warfare. Due to hand injuries, Xeones cannot handle a spear but can shoot a bow. He tends to his master in battle and supports the Spartans when he can as an archer. At the Battle of Thermopylae, Xeones witnesses the fighting from the field and behind the Spartan phalanx. On the third and final day, he...