The Spartans were the fiercest warriors during their time period. They were practical, defensive, and conservative (pg. 89.) They train everyday to become as is their tradition and fight to their last breath to protect whats theirs. At birth, every male citizen is trained to become professional soldiers. If they can not stand the trials, they are abandoned in the mountains to fend for themselves (pg. 89.) The Battle of Thermopylae was one of the greatest test these men will have to face in order to protect their city states.
Thermopylae was a mountain pass where 300 spartan men were posted in order to protect it from invaders that wanted to go through. Thermopylae was a natural choke point between the North of Greece and the main land in the South (Video 5:20,) so holding it was crucial as it was the only way to get from the North to the South. These 300 spartans were the “gatekeepers” and were tasked to protect it till
…show more content…
the last spartan is standing, or many others would suffer an attack from the Persians. It is also their born tradition to defend till death as this is all they were trained to do. Either fight and die a hero, or abandon your men and become a traitor and coward. During this time period, Greece was not yet unified and 2 of the biggest city states, Athens and Sparta, fought against each other for territory.
However, during the Battle of Thermopylae, they set aside their differences and fought together against their common Persian enemy (Video 7:00.) Leading the attack against the Persians was Leonidas, the Spartan King. He chose who got to go into battle and was the one who stood and fought until death (Video 7:47.) The 300 Spartans as Thermopylae were not the only ones who fought till death. The king of Persia, Xerxes, was preparing a naval attack on Thermopylae that would “pinch” the spartans into submission by attacking them on both sides of the pass. However, 200 Greek warships were sent to dispel of the Persian sneak attack (Video 9:20.) The warships were lead by Themistocles who was a Athenian politician and a military commander. If Leonidas or Themistocles were to fail in protecting the pass, Thousands of Athenians would become enslaved or killed along with many other Greek city states (Video
9:50) The Spartans were a group of rough individuals. At birth they were either handed to the state or put to death. They were handed off by their families and told by their mothers when heading into battle “With your shield, or on it” which means you either come back victorious, or come back carried dead on your shield(18:00.) These men fought till death as a tradition which is something that many counties today still do today. Running away from battle is considered traitorous and you will be marked a coward in your home country. The Spartans had a hard set of standards and traditions, but it is one that is still remembered and honored today.
The Battle of Thermopylae was the first between the Greeks and Persians during the Persian invasion of 480 – 479BC. The Greek force was very small compared to the Persians but was determined to make a stand against the huge army of 300,000 Persians suggested by modern historians compared to Herodotus account of the army consisting of 1700 000 men. The Greeks chose to defend a narrow pass, or gap, between the mountains of central Greece and the sea, called Thermopylae.
Sparta was known for being strong, but was it really? In case you don’t know, Sparta was a Greek city-state. Sparta only focused on war. Spartans were only taught the basics of other topics. Spartans were trained for 13 years just to fight. Reading and writing were only taught in Sparta for practical reasons. The strengths didn’t outweigh the weaknesses. There were more weaknesses to Sparta than there were strengths. The strengths of Sparta didn’t outweigh the weaknesses for three reasons. The first reason is that the babies were killed just if they looked weak. The second reason is that the Spartans barely new anything about other topics (math, reading, writing, etc). The third and final reason is that the helots outnumbered the Spartans 50 to 1.
In Sparta, Xeones became a helot and he was given to a Spartan soldier named Dienekes. Xeones was trained to fight like a Spartan and later became Dienekes’s battle squire. When Xeones was about twenty, the Spartan king, Leonidas, announced that three hundred Spartan men would be sent on a suicide mission to Thermopylae to hold off the invading Persian army. Dienekes was chosen to go. On the first and second day of battle, many Persians were killed, but only a few Greeks. At the end of the second day, Xerxes found a secret path where part of his army could go through and completely surround the Greeks on the next day. Leonidas was informed of this and sent a group of Spartans, including Xeones and Dienekes, on an unsuccessful mission to kill Xerxes. On the third day, the Persians surrounded the Spartans and they all were killed.
The 300 Spartan Hoplites who were slain during the battle of Thermopylae , 480 BCE, Thermopylae, were a representation of Spartan beliefs and ideals ingrained upon them by the Spartan education process, such as hatred of death and eagerness to die for their country, because they died gloriously in battle defending the honor of Sparta and upholding the law. They epitomized the spartan ethos because they chose an honorable death in the defence of Sparta, rather than flee and disgrace Sparta, polis before self. As a result of their unfailing obedience and upholding of their law, the 300 were commemorated in a monument erected at Thermopylae.
When the Persian fleet had arrived at Aphetae, Eurybides, the commander of the small amount of ships that Sparta had sent, wished to turn tail, and return home. Themistocles used bribe of thirty talents to keep him, and his ships at the front. (Herodotus, 1954) Themistocles, seeing the overwhelming navy of the Persians conducted a plan: When the fighting broke out, the highly-trained Greeks would allow themselves to become encircled. At the first blow of the signal horn, the triremes would form a ‘close circle – bows outward, sterns to the centre.’ From this position, they had no mobility; the only direction in which they could move was forward, and that is exactly what they did. On the second signal blast, these lighter and faster Greek triremes rammed the Persian ships, and with their bronze-sheathed battering rams on the bow of the ships, caused great damage to the enemy ships. (Herodotus, 1954) Another tactic that Themistocles used was his discussion to initiate the battle in the mid to late afternoon. One cannot fight at sea when dark, and he knew that; making sure that this was done minimised casualties for the Greeks and tired out the Persian men, who had been ready to begin fighting since the very early morning. Overall, this decision made sure the battle had a fast conclusion. When they got word of the massacre at Thermopylae, however, Themistocles called a retreat, as they were only holding the pass to prevent Xerxes using his navy to assist his men at Thermopylae, and at this moment in time, there were no men at Thermopylae that were worth protecting, anymore. (Last Stand of the 300,
The battle of Thermopylae was the Greek’s first stand against the massive army of King Xerxes, and was the most influential battle of the entire war. Up to this point, the Persian army was seen as too massive and powerful to be stopped. The once warring city-states of Greece knew they couldn’t stand against the Persians alone, and knew in order to defend their homeland they would have to unite. A unity of command was agreed upon; King Leonidas of Sparta was chosen to lead the Greek forces. He was chosen to lead because of the unsurpassed warring abilities the Spartans were so well known for made him perfect for the objective of stopping the Persians.
After his army's victory in Thermopylae, King Xerxes fervently wanted more information on the rare soldiers that confronted his limitless army, those reckless Spartans that faced insurmountable odds and refused to surrender even though their only alternative was gruesome death.
The Greeks were able to repel the overwhelming and seemly unstoppable Persian Empire. They were able to do so because of the victories won thanks to the Athenian navy in the Aegean Sea, the hard fought and strategically important battles that the Spartans just would not give up during and they were able to put aside their differences in order to face the greater threat for the good or their culture. Each major city/state contributed what it was good at. It was a nice display of teamwork.
When reading the two excerpts from Thucydides it is clear that his book, The History of the Peloponnesian War, was written to memorialize Athenian history. Although it is considered to be the first textbook it was still written by an Athenian so analysis of the excerpts are still required. But while analyzing the two excerpts will provide information about the reliability of the document, it will also provide insight to answer the question “What is the author trying to say about his native city of Athens?”
In Greece, the Spartans were the most acclaimed army in all the land. With their advanced military tactics and weapons, the Spartans were no easy feat to overcome. However, one army may have given the Spartans a run for their money. This army is the Macedonian army. They were also known for their superior weaponry and strategy. By comparing the two armies, the Spartan regiment was the better of the two due to their rigorous training, “martyr-istic” mindset, and education in the art of war.
The battle of Thermopylae, the name of the battle, does not ring a bell in most people's ears. Recent movies have portrayed the events of the battle, which is a Hollywood exaggerated movie that left out a few key points. A search commenced shortly to find out what had actually happened during the battle, also, how close was the movie's story to the actual one. In J.D. Miller's article “Thermopylae” the entire pre-history as well as post-history can be seen. In 525 B.C.
Before Xeones became a squire he tells of the agoge, which is the thirteen year training program for the Spartan youth. He tells about Alexandros and how they became close friends through the years of training. When Xeones becomes Dienekes squire all of his duties change and he started to see more of the battles. He tells of the many battles he was at and what they were like. Xeones explains the bravery of the Spartans when they were in battle and what the individual soldiers were like. Eventually the Spartans learn that the Persian army was coming to take over all of Greece. Xeones then explains what the Spartans did to prepare for the invasion. The Spartan army sent a group of three hundred highly trained soldiers to Thermopylae to defend the pass until the rest of Greece could prepare their armies.
The Peloponnesian War is the conflict between the pelopoponesians league led by Sparta and the Delian league, led by Athens. Much of our knowledge on the causes and events of the Peloponnesian War, depends on the Athenian Thucydides 460-400 BC, writer of the History of the Peloponessian War. He servd as an Athenian commander in Northern Greece during the early years of the war until the assembly exiled him as he lost an outpost to the enemy. During this exile, he was able to interview witnesses on both sides of the conflicted. Unlike Heredotus he concentrated on contemporary history and presented his account of the war in an annalistic framework that only occasionally diverts from chronological order. In his account, he discuses the precursors to the war, including the 30 years truce and revolutions, such as the stasis in Corcyra. When looking at wars, the primary focus is normally the fighting itself, such as what we see for World War II. However, it is important to look at the anatomy of war, meaning what effect the war has on the people who are experiencing it first hand, and the consquences that the conflict has on the rest of the world. Therefore in this essay I shall discuss, drawing directly from Thucydides, The History of the Peloponnesian War, how the civilians reacted to the war, their involvement and socio economic factors. Furthermore, the first section of my essay shall focus on the direct effect of war on the people, regarding the plague, and violence and hopelessness that was experienced. Then I shall go on to discuss more general effects of the war and how it affected the Greek world, discussing the social and economic losses that occurred such as the cost of the war in attica, the coup d’etat that occurred in gove...
“No man ever proves himself a good man in war unless he can endure to face the blood and the slaughter, go against the enemy and fight with his hands.” The preceding was quoted from “The Spartan creed” by the poet Tyrtaeus. There are two authors in this primary resource reading which include Tyrtaeus as well as Xenophon, whom authored “The laws and customs of the Spartans”. These two works give great detail to the Spartan society. As history has presented it, Sparta was a smaller polis and yet was one of the most, if not most, influential societies in history. What we know of this culture comes to us from excavation of its heritage as well as literary works such as these. But are these “eyes” into history factual and creditable enough to base our own interpretations of such a masterful race? These writings are great resources for Spartan’s war enhanced values and societal customs, but lack in evidence of governmental affairs and religion. This lacking may have been due to both writer’s motives for their work.
The story of 300, based off the Battle of Thermopylae, where there were 300 Greeks that fought. Leonidas takes the throne after his brother, Dorieus, passes unexpectedly on an expedition to Sicily having no male heir to take his place. Leonidas marries Cleomenes’ daughter, Gorgo. Years later, the Persians invaded Greece while the new king was not expecting it. Darius of Persia dies in battle and has to give his thrown to his son, Xerxes. Xerxes becomes well known for his expedition against Greece in 480 BC. The 300 Greeks that are mentioned are not the only Greeks that fought in battle, there were other Greek allies such as, the Tespians, Thebans, some of the