The Arcadian: A Novel

by Steven Pressfield

The best-selling author of Gates of Fire and A Man at Arms presents a gripping, genre-bending story of a mercenary in late medieval Spain and the eternal costs of violence.


Spain in the 1500s. The Iberian Peninsula is fractured, faiths collide, and war brews. Into this world rides Telamon—soldier, killer, eternal outcast—drawn into a brutal conflict between Portuguese invaders and desperate Andalusian defenders. But he is not alone. Traveling with him through time and lifetimes are others—comrades, lovers, enemies—each reborn in a new guise, all of them entangled in a tale of cosmic justice. As he builds to a siege that represents one of the most remarkable battles ever put to paper, Steven Pressfield, the renowned master of the historical epic, poses questions that every warrior Can a man born to fight ever lay down his sword? And is redemption possible after so many lifetimes soaked in blood? A gripping standalone novel, as grounded in gritty realism as it is in the mysticism of the ancient Greek world, The Arcadian is a tale of war, fate, and the search for release from a cycle as old as time itself.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction

304 pages, Hardcover

Expected publication May 26, 2026

About the author

I was born in Port of Spain, Trinidad, in 1943 to a Navy father and mother.

I graduated from Duke University in 1965.

In January of 1966, when I was on the bus leaving Parris Island as a freshly-minted Marine, I looked back and thought there was at least one good thing about this departure. "No matter what happens to me for the rest of my life, no one can ever send me back to this freakin' place again."

Forty years later, to my surprise and gratification, I am far more closely bound to the young men of the Marine Corps and to all other dirt-eating, ground-pounding outfits than I could ever have imagined.

GATES OF FIRE is one reason. Dog-eared paperbacks of this tale of the ancient Spartans have circulated throughout platoons of U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan since the first days of the invasions. E-mails come in by hundreds. GATES OF FIRE is on the Commandant of the Marine Corps' Reading list. It is taught at West Point and Annapolis and at the Marine Corps Basic School at Quantico. TIDES OF WAR is on the curriculum of the Naval War College.

From 2nd Battalion/6th Marines, which calls itself "the Spartans," to ODA 316 of the Special Forces, whose forearms are tattooed with the lambda of Lakedaemon, today's young warriors find a bond to their ancient precursors in the historical narratives of these novels.

My struggles to earn a living as a writer (it took seventeen years to get the first paycheck) are detailed in my 2002 book, THE WAR OF ART.

I have worked as an advertising copywriter, schoolteacher, tractor-trailer driver, bartender, oilfield roustabout and attendant in a mental hospital. I have picked fruit in Washington state and written screenplays in Tinseltown.

With the publication of THE LEGEND OF BAGGER VANCE in 1995, I became a writer of books once and for all.

My writing philosophy is, not surprisingly, a kind of warrior code — internal rather than external — in which the enemy is identified as those forms of self-sabotage that I have labeled "Resistance" with a capital R (in THE WAR OF ART) and the technique for combatting these foes can be described as "turning pro."

I believe in previous lives.

I believe in the Muse.

I believe that books and music exist before they are written and that they are propelled into material being by their own imperative to be born, via the offices of those willing servants of discipline, imagination and inspiration, whom we call artists. My conception of the artist's role is a combination of reverence for the unknowable nature of "where it all comes from" and a no-nonsense, blue-collar demystification of the process by which this mystery is approached. In other words, a paradox.

There's a recurring character in my books named Telamon, a mercenary of ancient days. Telamon doesn't say much. He rarely gets hurt or wounded. And he never seems to age. His view of the profession of arms is a lot like my conception of art and the artist:

"It is one thing to study war, and another to live the warrior's life."

Reviews

[The reader in the dark · Rating 4 out of 5]

An action packed novel which combines historical fiction and fantasy, and introduces some truly heroic characters. The descriptions of war, and frantic chases through the woodland and hills are riveting and very hard to put down. The retrospective sections were a little frustrating at times but that was because I wanted to get back to the action! Really enjoyed it.