The Battle of Thermopylae - Persian View

Sparta... free... right... 35,000 of the hellenic troops at Plataea were helot slaves.

Actually there were 7,000 Greeks and the Persians likely had around 200,000 given the nature of the Persian empire this number is not unlikely.  Especially since many of these troops are poorly equipped and with almost no training.  Consider the accounts of Cstesias who described portions of the Persian force as being armed with no more than daggers.  As for the Greeks we know that they were on average far more heavily armed and typically much better trained.  Furthermore the numerical disadvantage was nullified by two very important factors.  First the narrowness of the pass which negated the numberical advantage of the Persian army.  Second the numerical disparity was not as great as it seems on account that Leonidas had set up a relay system with nearby cities in order to rotate his troops and maintain fresh troops at his front.  Its possible that while the Greek army present might have never exceeded 7k that perhaps as many as 12 might have fought at thermo over the course of the battle.  Now asides from the factors just mentioned I would argue that the vast majority of Persians killed at Thermopylae found their end not at the tips and blades of the spears and swords of Greece but by the fearsome feet of their compatriots.

First of all,they were 1.000 Hellens in the battle:700 Thespians and 300 Spartans.There were more Hellens before the  battle but they were told to leave by Leonidas.The number of the Spartans is in fact very reasonable if we consider the fact that Spartans never had many troops in the battlefield due too their  low population.For example ,3.000 Spartans were a very big force for the Ancient Hellenic data warfare.Moreover ,Spartans never sent huge forces far from their homeland and generally Peloponessus because such an action would weaken homeland defence ,thus permitting the helotes to uprise .And Spartans did not want a possible uprising  of the helotes.The whole Spartiatic System was built in order to create a powerfull war machine,thus preventing the helotes and the perioikoi from a possible uprising.The Thespian numbers are also very reasonable,if we consider the fact that their population was also small.For example the Athenians,with a population of more than 100.000,could have in the battlefield 10 to 15.000 men.How many troops could the Thespians have if their population was much smaller than the Athenian one?Simply ,very few.