Doddy wrote:Surfin's PlunderBunny wrote:Boom Boom Longtime wrote:the 300 held strong at the impasse did they not ?
Thermopylae pass... that is the most romantasized battle ever.
It's true there were 300 Spartans... but there were also about 50,000 greeks
Interested as to where you get that figure, never seen an estimate over 12k. Still the defeat at thermopylaehas rather obscured the far more important victories at marathon, platea and slamis, kinda weird. Everyone loves a loser i guess.
Marathon pre-dated Thermopylae, the invasion of the Persians at this point was in part to avenge Marathon.
The Greeks at Thermopylae were far better equipped by their Persian enemies and in terrain that gave them a significant advantage despite their small numbers (around 300 Spartans and 1-2000 others according to Herodotus/other historic sources). The Greeks were heavily armored and as such unaffected by the Persian archery, while the Persian infantry was poorly armored (silk tunic and wicker shields) meaning they were unable to press home against the Greeks and cavalry was of no use due to the tight packed Phalanx and long spears of the Greeks (think pikemen in full plate wedged between 2 cliffs). The final defeat was brought about due to the Phoenician contingent withdrawing to protect their homes and the Persians being shown a way round the Greeks, this meant not only was the Greek position unsustainable but also irrelevant (The Persians could actually have just marched round and ignored them).
Artemisium a naval battle lead by the Athenians at the same time as Thermopylae saw the Greeks succeed in the destruction of the Persian navy effectively cutting their supply lines and retreat. Platea was a great victory to rival that of Marathon where this second Persian invasion was finally defeated.
Incidental points:
1. Leonidas at Therompylae is the first man in history to be credited with the line "come and get them" when asked to hand over his weapons
2. The Leonidas line "Then we shall have our battle in the shade" in response to the Persian suggestion their arrows would block out the sun was not actually his despite the portrayal in the 300. It was said by one of his Lieutenants.
3. Despite their military prowess, the Spartans at Thermopylae were poorly equipped in comparison to the other Greeks. Spartan troops were still using bronze armor while their allies were equipped with laminated armor.
4. (mainly cos this pisses me off in films) The primary weapon of the Greeks was a 7-9 foot long spear, while a wealthy Greek may have possessed a sword it was rarely used due to the tendency of bronze swords to bend. (So Leonidas would not have run forward with his shirt off swinging a sword.)
I love these historical topics :)