[quote]webman wrote:
Didn’t see the movie yet so don’t know how it is depicted:
In real life history, even though there were 300 Spartans that indeed did fight, they did not fight alone. There were about 1,000 (if I remember correctly the number) other solders that fought by their sides.[/quote]
Actually, the 300 Spartans led a force of 7,000 Greeks from other city-states, primarily Athens, as that’s who the Persians were looking to punish for their defeat at the battle of Marathon (which was, itself, an attempt to punish Athens for its support of a rebellion and burning of one of its capital cities).
When it became clear that the Persian forces were closing in from behind, most of the forces dispersed to defend their home city-states except for the entire force of around 1,000 Thespians (not actors, guys actually from the Greek city-state of Thespiae), who stayed behind and fought to the end with the Spartans.
[quote]Despite that, the Spartans were some of the best skilled and very hardened solders. I remember in history class that it was the belief of Spartans that one spartan soldier was equal to 10 enemy soldiers. Spartans had an extremely rigorous training program for their warriors.
The reason Leonidas fought to the death was due to some prophecy that he was to fulfill stating that he and his men would fight to their deaths a valiant fight.[/quote]
Two main schools of thought on this one:
While Leonidas did consort the Oracle at Delphi and was told something to the effect of “either a great king will fall in battle or his city will perish” (paraphrasing here, but, it goes without saying that Leonidas just knew the ‘great king’ had to be him), some historical scholars have pointed out that he and his soldiers’ suicide/sacrifice had important strategic value, as it allowed the bulk of the Greek forces to retreat without being crushed by the far superior numbers of the Persian army. The Spartans were not just great warriors, but great tacticians as well, and Leonidas knew that he had to keep up the illusion that all of the Greek forces were standing their ground so a tactical retreat could be made.
The answer is probably a good deal of both things were the impetus behind Leonidas’ decision to stay and fight.
Maybe, maybe not. The main reason for the Spartans’ defeat was that Xerxes had found a way around the pass at Thermopylae they were bottle-necked at via a Greek traitor named Ephialtes. Taken from Wikipedia:
[i]Late on the second day of battle, as the king was pondering what to do next, he received a windfall: a Malian Greek traitor named Ephialtes informed him of a path around Thermopylae and offered to guide the Persian Empire army through the pass. Ephialtes was motivated by the desire of a reward. For this act, the name of Ephialtes received a lasting stigma: it means “nightmare” and is synonymous with “traitor” in Greek.[31] Xerxes I sent his Hydarnes with the Immortals and other troops through the pass, Ctesias gives 40,000 as the number of troops led by Hydarnes.[22]
The path led from east of the Persian Empire camp along the ridge of Mt. Anopaea behind the cliffs that flanked the pass. It branched with one path leading to Phocis and the other down to the Gulf of Malis at Alpenus, first town of Locris. Leonidas had stationed 1,000 Phocian volunteers on the heights to guard that path.[32]
Despite their indignation and determination on defending Thermopylae, the Phocians were not expecting such an outcome: There were no advance positions, sentinels, or patrols. Their first warning of the approach of the Immortals under Hydarnes was the rustling of oak leaves at first light on the third day of the battle. Herodotus says that they “jumped up”, suggesting that the Greek force was still asleep, and were “greatly amazed”, which no alert unit should have been.[33]
Hydarnes was as amazed to see them hastily arming themselves. He feared that they were Spartans, but was enlightened by Ephialtes. Not wishing to be delayed by an assault, Hydarnes resorted to a tactic that later turned out to be a victorious one: He fired “showers of arrows” at them. The Phocians retreated to the crest of the mountain to make their stand. The Persians branched left to Alpenus.[/i]
So, basically, if these Phocian faggots had had their shit together, history may have shown the Persian army defeated and driven back at Thermopylae.
No argument here.