The Battle of Thermopylae

I believe there were probably a few hundred helots with them, as well as about 700 Thespians. 

    Sparta didn't use helots in the front line; they followed their masters as servants. It's not that there couldn't have been more Spartans; this was supposed to be a delaying action. The main stand would be made at the higly defensible Isthmus of Corinth by the Athenians and the bulk of the Peloponesian cities, including Sparta. Thermopylae was supposed to buy time untill the wall being erected across the narrow strait was finished an all forces assembled.
    When Leonidas realized fully the hopelesness of their situation, he followed the Greek way of free-thinking men and put it to vote in front of the assembled greeks. The Spartans, all 300 of them, and headed by their king, were of course going to stay; they had been directed to do so by their city and they were equals among equals willingly doing their duty. The multitude of the Persian levies had been conscripted to fight in the multi-national army of a foreign king for whom they didn't particularly care. This might be one element in helping you understand the ratio of the killing.
    Leonidas thanked the allies and assured that leaving was not cowardice; most of them voted to leave except the 700 Plataeans who decided to stay on their own FREE WILL. Perhaps the fact that the city of Plataea is not far from Thermopylae might have counted in their decision: in the eyes of the Persians they were enemies and their city would suffer the consequences.
    An earthen rampart was thrown up apparently completely blocking the path between the shore--a little narrower than today's-- and the foothills of the inland mountain. Along this wall, brutal close combat must have commenced for three days untill the Persians, guided by a local traitor, Efialtes, skirted over the mountain along a path and hit the Spartans from behind.  The last of them were  taken down by arrows from afar since  the Persians  had suffered so heavily up close. Supposively their tomb is approximately where today's statue of Leonidas stands off to the side of the coastal road. A sign apparently existed at the grave that has since become a symbol of selfless sacrifice for one's country. In ancient Greek, it rendered something like: "O stranger, you who pass by, tell the Lakaedemonians that we are lying here faithfull till the end to their callings." I'm Greek by birth and this brings tears to my eyes; speaking of sentimentalization!
     The rest of the campaign was a disaster for the Persians; although they captured and burned Athens, they suffered the heaviest recorded naval defeat of all times at Salamis. The army that was left behind under Mardonius was severely defeated at Plataea the next year and suffered heavily in its retreat back across Thessaly and Macedonia.

The Persian civilization is very old and has gone through different phases. The empire that attacked the Greek cities had been built not too long ago by Cyrus I when the Medes brought down the second and last Assyrian (Babylonian) empire. The Persians dominated the Medes, expanded into A. Minor, and came into conflict with the Ionian cities, sister ones of those back on the greek mainland. Miletus revolt, was backed by Athens, and was crushed by the Persians who launched punitive expendition  that resulted in the first defeat at Marathon. The next year they show up in force and the result was Thermopylae/Salamis.
The Persian empire of the time inherited the long traditions of the previous civilizations in the area--Sumerian and Babylonian among others-- and was extending over a huge expanse of territory reaching out to the Aegean and the Lebanese coast. There were magnicifent public buildings and cities like Ctesiphon and Persepolis, a law code, Zoroastrian religion, a good road system and the world's first postal mounted service, mainly serving military reasons. Persepolis was probably the major metropolis of its time, comparable only perhaps to Babylon; unfortunately it was burned to the ground by Alexander and we will never know what it really looked like. The only thing that survives today are the bases of columns, a sad reminder of the previous magnificense of the place. Militarily the Persian elite fought mounted as cavalry supplemented by a small, professional infantry force at the core of which laid the "Immortals", the king's bodyguard; they fought mainly as archers and were equipped with light infantry weapons and wicker shields. This core was supplemented by the levies due to the king's army from all the subject peoples; thus the Persians could field very large armies which was one reason for their military succes to that date, against peoples of similar military disposition. On the downside, the army lacked coherence, fought differently, spoke different tongues, dressed unlike, and was, at times, literally proded into battle by its Persian officers at the back of the line with whips in their hands.
Nothing had prepared the Persians for the encounter with the heavily armored hoplite of the Greek cities who fought aggressively and upfront in what is now known as close quarters shock combat. Also, nothing had prepared the Persians for the encounter with the Greek spirirt of the polis, the city-state: self-determination, non-theocratic way of thinking, representative goverment and civil rights, and willful military service.  I can almost visualize  the terror of the untrained, tribal Persian levies (the elite units probably did a lot better but they were very lightly armed) as they were carried by the human waves behind them against the  metal of the phalanx who itself heaving and bleeding, feet slipping in a soil soaked with blood and excrement, pushed against the enormous wall of flesh in front of it, in a brutal, bloody horrendous encounter. The hoplites were exhausted, of course, and more of them died or became incapacitated by wounds and broken limbs. Each renewed Persian assault thinned the Spartan ranks as well. There are characteristic incidents of non-chalant heroism, like the blinded Spartan (lost both eyes during combat) who was ordered to return to Sparta by Leonidas but refused (yes, Greeks could REFUSE their king, in Persia you would be flayed alive) since he knew that he would be rejected by his omoioi ("equals", the class of full spartan citizens) back home regardless of his being blind. Or the Persian amazement of how calmly the Spartans prepared for a lost battle in which they were going to die, carefully oiling and combing their long, dark hair (it was Spartan custom that death in battle should find someone when he looked at his best; in other words, they dressed up for war and dying).


There are several themes that contribute to the easy idealisation of thermopylae in western eyes:
--democratic west vs. opulent, theocratic east with west winning.
--admiration of a perfectly-tuned military machine such as that of Sparta
--admiration of the moral code of the spartans.
--cultural connection, i.e. west has become the heir of Greco-roman civ.
--hollywood with the upcoming "300"; what f...ing freaks the Persians really
  were!!


Edited by konstantinius - 21-Oct-2006 at 07:33

I don't think the helots were used on the front lines either, I think they used javelins and slings behind the Spartan front line.

To Balaam: it was 300 Spartans, and 700 Thespians. The 300 Spartans were King Leonidas' personaly body guard.

The Greco Persian war wasn't even the most important border invasion to the Achaemenid Empire. Of greater importance is probably the Persian campaign against the Massagetae, which saw Cyrus the Great killed in battle.

I find it interesting how the Thespians always get overlooked. Hanson had an interesting bit about that in his book Ripples of Battle.

And no, it wasn't a significant chapter in Persian history, but it certainly was in Greek history, and by progression in Western Civilization -- though, I might add, likely not as important as Salamis.

Originally posted by Kids I doubt that the Greco-Perisan war was a really significant chapter in the Persian history.

    I am sure that it wasn't
Lets see the facts. Persia lost thousand of troops, spent so many funds and of course the Greeks wanted to revenge and counter strike with Alexander the Great which prevail the mighty Persian empire and some part of India.
So i guess it wasn't big deal.
And if we think the firt attempt of Persians to Athens and Marathanona that were completely defated by the army of Athens... i guess you are right!!!
This campaign was the beggining of the disaster for the Persian empire

Originally posted by konstantinius Originally posted by Quinnthology Gates of Fire is a great book on this issue. I agree. Brutal descriptions of battle, for one.

    great book it describes the battle and the way of life of Spartans very good. Many detais

    

Edited by perikles - 22-Oct-2006 at 10:10

The battle of thermopylae was actually fought with 7,000 Greeks against 200,000 Persians. Themistocles, the Athenian leader wanted to confront the persians by land and sea, while Leonidas and his royal guard of 300 Spartans took position at Thermopylae. According to one of my sources. in reality the Thermopylae battle had 2 stages, by sea and land; Leonidas and hist Spartans faced the persians by land, according to my book it says that "Leonidas and his 300 Spartan hoplites, along with a thousand or more other greek soldiers, fought courageously to their deaths." Im not sure if its right or not, but its what i got in one of my books, just sharing...

Edited by Hellios - 25-Oct-2006 at 05:36

contrary to popular believe, the Hoplite armour did not cover the whole body and even an arrow in the tigh would already disable a Hoplite and thin the ranks of the phalanx.