Herodotus tells us that not all of the three hundred Spartan warriors died at the hands of Xerxes King of the Persians in the battle of the Thermopylae: two were saved bringing a life-saving message back to the city. Valerio Massimo Manfredi''s Spartan is the saga of a Spartan family torn apart by a cruel law that forces them to abandon one of their two sons born lame to the elements. The elder son Brithos is raised in the caste of the warriors while the other Talos is spared a cruel death and is raised by a Helot shepherd among the peasants. They live out their story in a world dominated by the clash between the Persian empire and the city-states of Greece a ferocious relentless conflict until the voice of their blood and of human solidarity unites them in a thrilling singular enterprise. . Language: English