The Battle of Thermopylae: The Truth About the Spartan 300 - NWCZ Radio's Down The Rabbit Hole

Did 300 Spartans really stand alone against King Xerxes and the entire Persian army? Listen in as Brandon goes DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE on the Battle of Thermopylae.

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Episode Transcript

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(00:37):
I know, slippers, we gotta keep cleaning these chimneys.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
H Hello, Hello, Hello, and welcome to another episode of

(01:24):
Down the Rabbit Hole. Yeah, it's the MIDWEK episode. You
got me Brandon, and I apologize for being a day late.
Really have no excuse. Things just got away with me,
go away for me this week, and well I'm a
little late, so I apologize. So yeah, So this is

(01:45):
gonna be one. This is what I've wanted to do
for a while. I've researched it multiple times and just
never completely did it, never committed to it completely. So
this time I think I'm gonna go for it. I'm
gonna do it. It's one that one that I've been
interested in for a bit. So but before we start,
I want to thank everyone for coming back every week, listening,

(02:10):
telling your friends, all that kind of stuff. Also, I
want to thank Fringe Radio Network for playing us and
getting us out to even more people. So thank you all.
And with that, We're just gonna go right into this,
and I'm gonna talk about the Battle of Thermopyli or
Thermopyla Thermopoli. We all know I can't pronounce things in English,

(02:30):
let alone any other language, so I'm gonna call it Thermopoli.
I've heard it as both Thermopoli and Thermopylai. But for
those that don't know what this is, this is the
battle that the movie three hundred is based on. This
is where we all get the you know, the the
gloriousness that is Spartans. And one of the reason why

(02:52):
this one's always kind of fascinated me is for those
that know in my normal life, my day to day,
which actually I just got back from this last weekend
doing Spartan races. So I do the Spartan races, which
are obstacle course mud run races. I did the Spartan
Ultra in South Carolina and well, what they call an

(03:14):
ultrafactave weekend, you do the ultra which is thirty miles
with obstacles, and then the next day you do the
super which is six point two miles to a ten k,
and then the sprint which is three point one, which
is a five k, so with obstacles. So that was
my weekend, probably why my brain wasn't working so well,
and I completely, you know, spaced off actually recording this

(03:36):
and putting it out yesterday, so I'm a day late again.
I apologize, but we're gonna go into this one. This one,
like I said, that has fascinated me because of the
idea of the three hundred, and it's you know me,
I like history, and I like looking into things that
we've all believed, that we've been led to believe our
entire lives. That once you deep into it, which is weekend,

(04:02):
the Sunday is going to be another one like that.
Once you dig deep into it, you find out the
truth isn't what we've all thought. We've all been fed
stuff on TV, in movies and you know, history classes
a small piece and led to believe certain things that
aren't necessarily the actual facts. So I got a few

(04:27):
different articles for this. The main one I'm gonna use
is from worldhistory dot org. So Thermopoli is a mountain
pass near the sea in northern Greece which was the
site of several battles during antiquity, the most famous being
between the Persians and the Greeks and August of four
eighty BCE. So that's the big one. We're going to

(04:51):
talk about the three hundred all of that stuff. So
before we do, though, I do want to kind of
go into the who the Spartans were. So a couple things.
I found multiple articles about you know, things you don't
know about Sparta, So this is I went with this one.
Here it's got nine things you didn't know about Sparta.

(05:15):
So a few civilizations have asked people as much as
the ancient city of Sparta. One of the big things too,
is that a lot of people don't realize most of
the information we have about Sparta isn't from Spartans themselves,
It's actually from other people that had dealings with them.
So yeah, So it was named for its known for

(05:36):
its famous warriors and strict lifestyle, but behind the well
known stories, Spartan bravery was a complex society that had
its surprising customs and deep contradictions, so they had a
brutal school system. The Spartan education system was called the
Gogi and showed how strongly it wanted to create the
ideal warrior, which is interesting. That's one thing if you

(05:58):
do Spartan races they do have. One of the Spartan
races is called the Agogi. So I've never done it
because it just sounds stupid. It's like a three day
like endurance thing. So at the young age of seven,
the Spartan boys were taken from their homes and put
into a school where they focused on developing their strength, discipline,
and the skills needed for survival. The Agogi was a

(06:20):
complete system designed to mold boys in line with Spartan ideals.
During their time in the Agogi, the boys lived in
shared barracks and followed a strict routine that included limited
meals and constant exercise. The aim was to train their
bodies as weapons and to teach them the Spartan qualities
of stamina, toughness, and independence. The Agogi also focused on

(06:41):
thinking skills and moral education. While the boys were taught
to read and write, they also learned music and dance
and became familiar with the laws of Sparta, the writings
of its poets, and the actions of its heroes. Ultimately,
this system aimed to produce people who could help society
on and off the battlefield. So most people think they
only trained in battle, they did train in other things

(07:04):
as well, so and it was surprisingly a free place
for women. In clear difference to the rest of the
ancient world, Spartan women had freedom and control that almost
no other women had. The Spartan people valued these strength
and thinking skills as important parts of their society. Spartan's

(07:26):
clearly valued physical fitness and mental strength, which was thought
to apply to women as well as men. So from
a young age, Spartan girls were educated in a way
that no other Greek city state allowed, learning reading and writing,
as well as music, dance, and athletics. Because physical fitness
mattered so much, girls took part in the same sports
as boys, such as wrestling, running, and throwing the discus

(07:48):
con javelin. As a result of that focus on exercise,
Spartan women gained a reputation throughout Greece for their strength,
beauty and poise. As adults, they also had the right
to own and control their own property. Given that many
Spartan men died in war, these women often ended up
with control of much of the state's wealth, which gave
them an important and powerful role in Spartan society. However,

(08:12):
the freedom Spartan women had were tied to the city's
focus on the military, as people believed that healthier women
would produce stronger children and support the Spartan way the
murderous death squads. The Crypteia was one of the most
debated and violent parts of Spartan society, described by some

(08:33):
historians as a coming of age practice for the top
young men who had completed their Spartan training in the Agogi.
That practice was a final test of their skills and
readiness to become fully qualified Spartan warriors. Some sources indicate
that the Cryptaia's true nature is still unknown because different
historical accounts disagree on key facts. Most sources agree that

(08:55):
involved young men going into the countryside carrying only a
knife and surviving alone for a set of time. During
that ordeal, the test judge their survival skills, toughness, and
ability to live out the land, all qualities vital to
a for Spartan warrior. According to other accounts, the Cryptaia
instructed the young men to kill the Helots, the slaves

(09:16):
of Sparta, whom they encountered while surviving in the countryside.
In a way, it was a use of terror to
control the enslaved population. The Helots greatly outnumbered the Spartans,
so the threat of the Cryptia kept them in a
state of fear and obedience. So in the Hellots, which
we'll mention throughout this, they are pretty much kind of
the surf class of Sparta. So, and Sparta was actually

(09:43):
a lot bigger than I thought it was. I kept
thinking it was small. It's actually a pretty big area.
But there was a lot of Hellots, like I said,
which were pretty much like I said, serfs. The idea
that they have here, though, of going out into the
countryside carrying only a knife and surviving is something that
you hear in a lot of Native American cultures and
a lot of indigenous tribes throughout different countries that would

(10:06):
do that. So that's an interesting one. The horrible food
that they ate. Spartanals were well known because they were
very simple, which was in clear contrast to the grand
feasts of other angels. Societies. This simple style was a
deliberate choice that showed Spartan values of self discipline and restraint.
It reinforced the idea that they valued function over comfort.

(10:28):
The most famous dish in the Spartan diet was the
black broth, a simple mixture of pork blood, vinegar, and salt.
For them, the broth was only eaten for its nourishment.
It was said to taste so bad to those who
were not used to it, such as a famous visiting
Sybarite would joke that they now understood why Spartans were

(10:50):
so willing to die in battle if their daily food
was so inappetizing. After all, death was better than a
life on such a broth. Regardless of the communal mess
mess halls called cistia, all Spartan men ate the same
food no matter the social status. There were no fancy
dishes for the rich or small servings for the poor,

(11:12):
and everyone was equal. The Spartan diet also served a
practical purpose. It's simple and predictable mills let them focus
on training and duties without being distracted by tasty food,
and that way the diet supported their overall military goals,
which is an argument that a lot of people have,
like white Americans. I mean, we do so much to
make our food sweet and taste good that the crop

(11:33):
that we put in our food is why we're such
an unhealthy culture. So that was one of the things
that Spartan said. They always had the last word in
an argument. Spartans were known for the quick wit and
clever words rather in addition to their physical strength and
strict lifestyle. The short and direct way of speaking is

(11:54):
called laconic wit, which is named after Laconia, the region
of Greece where Spartan was. Sparta was As such, Spartan
conversations were often reduced to its basic points, much like
their lifestyle. This wave of speaking has left a lasting
effect on history and influenced many later writers. The laconic
phrases of the Spartans were short and sharp, often including

(12:16):
dry humor. They had no time for fancy language or
long debates. They preferred to get straight to the point.
One of the most famous examples of this is the
Spartan king Leonidis response to the Persian demand that the
Greeks lay down their weapons at the Battle of Thermopoli.
Leonidas's reply was a simple Moulin lab or come and

(12:37):
take them. Another examples response to the Spartan ephers when
Philip II of Macedonia, who had already conquered most of Greece,
and a message of Sparta, saying if I enter Laconia,
I will raise Sparta. Their reply was just one word
if This brief yet strong response showed their fearlessness and determination,

(12:57):
which spoke louder than any long argument. These laconic phrases
epitomized the Spartan's steady confidence and determination, often leaving their
enemies uncertain and scared, and the fact that weakened opponents
before battles began. The Spartans understood their words like weapons,
could be used to gain an advantage in battle. One

(13:19):
of the most shocking parts if Spartan society was a
practice of select inphicide infanticide, infanticide I hate that word.
Basically which babies led from which babies did it. The
Spartans were very careful about who was allowed to become
one of them, and this began at birth. When a
baby was born, it was washed and wine to test

(13:40):
its physical response. The father would observe its movements closely.
If there are any signs of weakness or a physical problem.
The baby was then examined by your council of elders.
When it did not meet their standards, it was taken
a place called the Apathetae a p o t h
e t ae Apathetae deep hole at the foot of

(14:01):
Mount Tigettis and left to die. The Spartan believed that
only the strongest should survive and help society. This harsh
practice was seen as necessary action to keep the strength
and quality of the Spartan people. It's important to note
that although this practice was not unique to Sparta, and
it was fairly common in the ancient world, Sparta took
it further than most. So they were so into making

(14:25):
sure they only had the best of the best that, yeah,
if there was any problems, they just took you and
set you down to the side of a mountain that
nature take its course. Wow. So they took Darwinism to
the max. Spartan marriage rituals were as unique and unusual
as the rest of their society. These rituals was designed

(14:47):
to promote strong children. Unlike many other ancient societies, Spartan
marriages were focused on producing the next generation of strong
Spartan warriors rather than about romantic love or political alliances.
One of the strangest respects of Spartan marriage was the
ritual of the bride capture, when after the marriage was arranged,
the groom, often with the help of his friends, would

(15:08):
take his bride. This was purely symbolic, as bride was
fully aware and she consented, a nod to the Spartan
belief in the strength of struggle and competition. After the capture,
the bride would have her head shaved and be dressed
in men's clothing, then left alone in a dark room
where her groom would come to claim her. This ritual

(15:28):
was believed to make it easier for Spartan men, who
before their marriage had only lived and slept in shared
barracks with other men. They typically married in their late twenties,
which was much older than men in other Greek city states.
This is because they were expected to focus on their
military duties until that age. Spartan women, on the other hand,
usually married in their late teens or early twenties, but
married couples did not typically live together immediately. Men continued

(15:50):
living in the shared barracks would sneak out to visit
their wives This arrangement could last for several years until
the husband was released from shared living. So a lot
of people think, and this is, you know, one of
those things. It's one of those talked about not talked about,
like kind of everyone I think pretty much knows what
was happening, but just kind of pushes it under the rug.

(16:14):
The whole idea of them shaving their head and everything
and dressing like men. Most people believe that during the
time of living with the shared barracks with other men,
that they did have relations, that the men would sleep
with each other, do with things, and have sexual relations
with the other men, so that this was a way

(16:35):
of getting them used to being with a woman rather
than men. So so yeah, so that is one of
the thoughts there that that is why they did it
this way, but definitely still weird. So in line with
their belief in simple living, the Spartans had a unique

(16:56):
approach to currency, and like most other city states in
ancient Greece that use coins made of precious metals like
golden silver, Sparta used iron bars as currency. This was
an intentional choice made to stop the gathering of wealth
and to support equality among its citizens. The iron bars
were large and awkward, which made them difficult to transport
in large amounts. Also, they were dipped in vinegar while hot,

(17:18):
to make them weak and useless for anything other than exchange.
This made sure that the iron currency had little real
value and could not be used for other purposes, such
as to make weapons. At the same time, the system
served several purposes. It stopped theft, since these bars were
little value to outsiders. Last, stopped trade with other states,

(17:39):
so Sparta remained independent and cut off from foreign influence.
In Sparta, wealth was measured by one's contribution to this
state rather than by the gathering of material possessions. Overall,
this was so society where the common good was placed
above individual gain and with a pursuit of wealth was
seen as a distraction from one's to the state. Then which,

(18:06):
you know, hey, festivals are better when everyone is naked.
The Festival of the Gymnopedia, also known as the Festival
of Naked Youths, was one of the most important special
events in the Spartan calendar. Specifically, this yearly festival was
a celebration of music, dance, and physical skill. The Gymnopedia
was held in the middle of the summer and it

(18:27):
involved boys and young men from the Spartaa class of society.
They would perform war dances and athletic displays in the nude,
which showed their physical strength. These displays were former military
training that taught the boys rhythm, coordination and how to
move together, which were important skills on the battlefield. The
music was played in the ALUs was a type of

(18:50):
ancient Greek wind instrument accompanied by songs about Spartan bravery.
The Gymnopedia was also a shared event that brought together
the entire Spartan society. It was a transfer young men
to show they were ready to serve the city state
and for older men to judge the next generation of warriors.
There's also a chance for families to share their contribution
to the state as a performance of their sons showed
their standing in the community. So there's just a couple

(19:13):
of random, weird things about the Spartan people. So, like
you mentioned that that's the Spartans, and that's the thing
like three hundred and a lot of those things really
focus on the Spartans and their contribution to the war

(19:35):
and the battle of Themopyli. They did have a big
part in this, Yes, there are three hundred. Yes, did
have a big part, but there were only a piece
of this. A lot of people don't realize that. Part
of the reason that the Spartans were so important in
this in a way was there was three hundred of them,

(19:59):
but there was still like four thousand other Greeks, Athenians,
other stuff like that that were helping, you know, and
with them, they weren't alone. And that's where I think
a lot of people think that, oh, it was just
the three hundred Spartans against the entire Persian army, which
has estimates up to like five million people, which historians
were like, no, it wasn't that many. It was closer

(20:21):
somewhere between one hundred thousand to two hundred thousand. So
suppose it was the three hundred against all that. No,
there was more. There was about six they think somewhere
between four and eight thousand, actually, you know, Greeks all
together involved in this. So, but the Spartans had a

(20:45):
large piece of the control, most because they they were
the better warriors, and the Athenians are the ones that
kind of started this. So Spartans basically say hey, we'll
help you, will join you on, you know, the fight
against the Persians because a lot of people don't realize
a lot of other Greek states and a lot of

(21:07):
other Greek communities had joined the Persians and we're on
the Persian side. It was Athenians, the Spartans and a
few others that basically said no, we're not going to
In fact, I think there was like thirty I think
they said thirty three to thirty six. Really city states
said that they weren't going to join the Persians and

(21:29):
they were going to fight back. And of those thirty
three to thirty six, Spartan had control of like sixteen
or seventeen of them, which pretty much put them with
the most control of, you know, the city states that
were joining. So almost every attack group was led by
a Spartan, no matter who was whether it was Athenians

(21:52):
or whatever, the Spartans were pretty much in charge. So
that's kind of where that comes in. Yes, So, like
I said, the Battle of Thermopoli happened in August four
eighty BCE, and despite being greatly inferior in numbers, the
Greeks held in their past for three days. So with

(22:15):
the Spartan King Leonidas fighting elastics defense with the small
force of Spartans and other Greek Greeks. Ultimately the Persians
do take the pass, but there it was. It took
them three days to get past them. So so a

(22:35):
little contacts in this. We'll talk a little bit about
the the Persian wars that lead up to this, because
there's other wars, the War on Marathon, other wars that
lead up to this are battles anyway. By the first
years of the fifth century BCE, the Persian art Arkamen
arc Are Commended Empire under the rule of Darius the

(22:56):
first was already expanding into mainland Europe and had subjugated
Thrace and Macedonia. Next in King Darius's sites were Athens
and the rest of Greece. Just why Greece was covered
by Persia nobody really knows, but it was. You know
how it is, someone gets controlled, they want to take everything.
So wealth and resource seemed an unlikely motive because they

(23:18):
really didn't have a lot. So other more plausible suggestions
include they need to increase the prestige of the king
at home, or to quell once in a fall collection
of potentially travelsome rebel states on the western border of
their empire. So whatever the exact motives. In four ninety
one BCE, Darius sent envoys to call for the Greek
submission to Persian rule. The Greek sent a no nonsense

(23:40):
reply by executing the envoys, and Athens and Sparta promised
to form an alliance for the defense of Greece. Darius's
response to the diplomatic outwaigs which launched a naval force
of six hundred ships and twenty five thousand men to
attack the Sikhlides in Euboea, leaving the Persians just one
step away from the rest of Greece and four ninety BCE,

(24:01):
Greek forces led by Athens met the Persians and battle
at Marathon and defeated the invaders. The battle will take
on mythical status amongst the Greeks, but in reality it
was merely the opening overture of a long war, with
several other battles making it the principal acts. Persia, with
the large empire of the world, was vastly superior in

(24:21):
men resources, and now they would be fully utilized for
a full scale attack. So that's the other thing too,
is one thing that we'll talk about. The Spartans were
very well known for their their battles on land, but
they did not have a navy. The Athenians had just
started getting a navy, and the Persians obviously had one.

(24:44):
So and the one thing to remember too, we're talking
BCE here, So the numbers counted down, So four ninety
happened before forty six, So just say, you know, because
that's one of the things that people get confused on,
like wait a minute. So yeah, So in forty six BCE,
Circees the First became king upon the death of Darius.

(25:05):
So Darius, who was Cerce's dad, is the one who
started the whole thing, the fight Battle of Marathon, and
then moved on. He died and then Circes took over,
and he's the one that you see in the you know,
the movie three hundred, which by the way, he most
likely did not look like that, just saying so, so yeah.

(25:31):
For eighty six BCE, Circes the First became king upon
the death of Darius, and massive preparations for invasion were made.
Depots of equipment and supplies were laid, a canal dug
at Chili Kadik, and boat bridges built across the Hellespont
to facilitate the movement of troops. Greece was about to
face its greatest ever threat, and even the oracle at

(25:51):
Delphi ominously advised Athenians to fly to the world's end
when news of the invading force reached Greece. The initial
Greek reaction was to send a force of ten thousand
Hoplites to hold position at the Valley of Tempe near
Mount Olympos, but these withdrew when the massive size of
the invading army was revealed. Then, after much discussion and

(26:12):
compromise between Greek city states suspicious of each other's motives,
a joint army of between six and seven thousand men
was sent to defend the pass at Thermopylie through which
the Persians must enter mainland Greece. The Greek forces included
three hundred Spartans and they're Hellots, with two one twenty Arcadians,

(26:32):
one thousand Locrians, one thousand Phocians, seven hundred Thespians, four
hundred Corinthians, four hundred Thebans, two hundred men from Phileas
and eighty Messenians. So yes, so about six to seven
thousand men to go up against the entire Persian army,
which still is impressive. That's still a huge difference in

(26:57):
numbers because, like I said, there's argument. It's on how
big the Persian army really was, you know. Of course
the Greeks, because they lose this battle. Of course they
say it was like in the millions. Most people think
it was somewhere maybe up between one hundred to two
hundred thousand, So we're talking six to seven thousand men
against one hundred to two hundred thousand. But they picked

(27:18):
Themopoli because of the fact that it was a bottleneck
if you watch the movie three hundred, if this they
got correct, it's a bottleneck. So there's no way that
they could come into it like with their entire force.
They've got a narrow it down and come in, you know,
with a smaller group where the you know, Greeks could defend.

(27:40):
So so the relatively small size of the fending force
has been explained as reluctance by some Greek city states
to commit troops so far north and are due to
religious motives. For it was the period of the Sacred
Games at Olympia and the most important Spartan religious festival,
the Carnea, and no fighting was permitted during these events. Indeed,

(28:00):
for this very reason, the Spartans had arrived too late
at the earlier Battle of Marathon. Therefore, the Spartans, widely
credit as being the best fighters in Greece and the
only Polus with a professional army, contributed only a small
advance force of three hundred from an estimated eight thousand available.
And that's another thing that I've thought throughout, like most

(28:22):
of my life, I mean, because I've never really researched
this until i started to a little while back, that
they only sent three hundred because that's what they had.
They sent three hundred, but they had eight thousand, so yeah,
and to the Greek So they sent the three hundred

(28:43):
to the Greek defensive force. These few being chosen from
men with male errors. So when they sent these people,
they sent every single one had to have been married
and had to have male errors. They had to have children,
men that could take over for them. So the idea
here is, if you think about it, the only reason

(29:05):
they would do that is because none of these three
hundred expected to come home. They left with the idea
that they would they would die. They were not planning
on coming home, including King Leonidas. So and one thing
too is that at this time, he's in his fifties,
so death, he's older than you would expect him to be.

(29:28):
Especially you know, people think during those times people didn't
live as long, which is actually a fallacy. If you
look things up, they did live into the seventies, eighties, nineties,
even though they're hundreds. The only reason that the death
you know, the average age of death is so low
is because the infant. The infant death rates were a
lot higher. So yeah. So, in addition to the landforces

(29:53):
of the Greek sent a fleet of trirem warships, which
held position off the coast of or to Me on
the northern coast of Yuobiya, forty nine miles from Thermopylae.
The Greeks would have massed over three hundred terminus, and
perhaps their main purpose was to prevent the Persian fleet
sailing down the inland coast to Locrists and Boetea. The

(30:16):
pass at Thermopylae, located one hundred and fifty lumbers north
of Athens, was an excellent choice for defense, with steep
mountains running down into the sea, leaving only a narrow
marshy area along the coast. The pass had also been
fortified by the local Phocians, who built a defensive wall
running from the so called Middle Gate down to the sea.
The wall was in a state of ruin, but the

(30:36):
Spartans made the best prepay as they could in the circumstances.
It was there, then, in a fifteen meters wide gap,
with a sheer cliff protecting their left flank and the
sea on their right, that the Greeks chose to make
a stand against the invading army, having somewhere in the
region of eighty thousand troops at its disposal. The Persian king,
who led the invasion in Persian first waited four days

(30:58):
in expectation that the Greeks would flee in it. When
the Greeks held their position, Xerxes once again sent Alan
boys to offer the defenders a last chance to surrender
without bloodshed, if the Greeks would only lay down their arms.
Leonidas's bullish response to xerxes request was moulenlab or come
and get them, And so the battle commenced. So the

(31:23):
one thing is too is this is there's two different
approaches to the warfare. So the two opposing armies were
essentially representatives of the two approaches to classical warfare. Persian
warfare favored long range assault using archers followed up with
a cavalry charge, whilst the Greeks favored heavily armored hoplits

(31:46):
arranged in a densely packed formation called the phalax, which
each man carrying a heavy round bronze shield and fighting
close quarters using spears and swords. The Persians infantry carried
a lightweight, often crescent shaped, wicker shield and were armed
with a long dagger or battle axe, a short spear,
and composite bow. The Persian forces also included their mortals,

(32:10):
an elite force of ten thousand, who were probably better
protected with arm Armed with spears, the Persian cavalry were
armed as the foot shouldiers, with a bow and an
additional two javelins for throwing and thrusting. Calvary, usually operating
on the flanks of the main battle, were used to
mop up opposing infantry put into this array after they
had been subjected to repeated salvos from the archers. Although

(32:33):
the Persians had enjoyed the upper hand and previous contests
during the recent Ionian Revolt, the Terranic thermopylae would better
suit the Greek warfare, although the Persian tactive of rapidly
firing vast numbers of eras and the enemy must have
been an awesome sight. The lightness of the arrows meant

(32:54):
that they were largely ineffective against the bronze armored Hoplites. Indeed,
Spartan indifference is epitomized by Dionysus, who, when told that
the Persian eras would be so dense as to darken
the sun, replied down the cave. In that case, the
Spartans would have the pleasure of fighting in the shade
at close quarters. The longer spirits, heavier swords, better armor,

(33:17):
and rigid discipline of the Pholonics formation meant that the
Greek hoplights would have all of the advantages, and in
the narrow confines of the terrain, the Persians would struggle
to make their vastly superior numbers tell So this is
one of those things that there's a lot of anybody
who's seen the movie three hundred who remembers a lot
of these phrases, you know, come and get them, then

(33:37):
we'll fight in the shade. These were things that are
documented as comments and things that were actually said there.
The idea of I couldn't find anything that this is
Sparta and he kicks them down the well. I think
that is of course movie, you know whatever, but you
know he did. It is documented that when Circes sent

(34:02):
the messengers, they did kill the messengers, but I don't
know about them actually kicking them down a well. So
so the battle. On the first day, Sis sent his
Median and Kissian troops, and after their failure to clear
the pass, the elite immortals entered the battle. By the
brutal close quarter fighting, the Greeks held firm. The Greek

(34:23):
tactic of feigning a disorganized retreat and then turning on
the enemy in the Falalix formation also worked well, lessening
the threat from Persian arrows, and perhaps the hoplight surprised
the Persians with their discipline mobility, a benefit of being
a professionally trained army. The second day followed the pattern
of the first, and the Greek forces still held the pass. However,

(34:45):
an unscrupulous trader was about to tip the balance in
favor of the invaders. I felt Affiliates son of Eudonomus,
a local shepherd from Tractus seeking reward from Xerxes, informed
the Persians of an alternative route, the Apia Path, which
would allow them to avoid the majority of the enemy
forces and attack their southern flank. The Uniteds had stationed

(35:08):
the contingent of Phokian troops to guard this vital point,
but they, thinking themselves the primary target of this new development,
withdrew to a high defensive position when the immortals were attack.
This suited the Persians, as they could now continue unimpeded
along the mountain path and arrived behind the main Greek force.

(35:29):
With their position now seemingly hopeless, and before the retreat
was cut off completely, the bulk of the Greek forces
were ordered to withdraw by Leonidas, the Spartan king. On
the third day of the battle, rallied his small force
the survivors from the original Spartan three hundred seven hundred
Thespians and four hundred Thebans, and made a rear guard

(35:51):
stand to defend the past to the last man, in
the hope of delaying the Persian progress in order to
allow the rest of the Greek force to retreat, or
also possibly to await relief from a larger Greek force
Earlier in the morning, the hoplights once more met the
enemy but this time Xerxes could attack from both front
and rear, and plan to do so, but in the event,

(36:13):
the mortals behind the Greeks were late on arrival. Leonidas
moved his troops to the midwest, to the widest part
of the past to utilize all of his men at once,
and an ensuing clash, the Spartan king was killed. His
comrades then fought fiercely to cover the body of the
fallen king. Meanwhile, the immortals now entered the fray behind
the Greeks, who treated to a high mound behind the

(36:36):
Fokian Wall. Perhaps at this point the Theban contingent may
have surrendered, although that's a disputed different stories different people.
Some scholars say that they surrendered, some say that they
kept fighting, but who knows. The remaining Hoplights, now trapped
and without their inspirational king, were subjected to a barrage
of Persian arrows until no man was left standing. After

(36:59):
the battle, He's ordered that Leonid has his head be
put on a stake and displayed at the battlefield. As
Heroditus claims in his account of the battle in Book
seven of the Histories, their oracle Delphi had been proved
right when she proclaimed that either Sparta or one of
her kings must fall. So that's one thing. If Herodotus,

(37:20):
most of the stuff that we know about this is
from Herodotus, he wrote, I think it's eight eight or
nine books, but books seven covers this. But the oracle
at Delphi had said before the battle that either one

(37:42):
of the kings of Sparta would fall, or Sparta would
itself would fall. So and unfortunately it seems as though
the king fell so well. He did so, he did fall,
So yeah, so that's kind of you know, what happened there. Meanwhile, Artemison,

(38:04):
the Persians were battling the Elements rather than the Greeks,
as they lost four hundred Trimez boats in a storm
off the coast of Magnesia and more in a second
storm off at Euboea. When the two fleets finally met,
the Greeks fought late in the day and therefore limited
the duration of each grimace, which diminished the numerical advantage
held by the Persians. The result of the battle was, however, decisive,

(38:27):
and on news of Leonidas's defeat, the fleet withdrew to Salamis.
So after the Battle of Theopoli, and particularly the Spartans,
roll in it. Soon it all acquired a mythical status
amongst the Greeks, free men in respect of their own laws,

(38:47):
and sacrificed themselves in order to defend their way of
life against foreign aggression. Amidis Simidis' epithath the Site of
the Fallen stated, go tell the Spartans who you read.
We took their orders and here lie dead. A glorious defeat, maybe,

(39:08):
but the fact remained that the way was now clear
for Serxes to push on into mainland Greece. The Greeks, though,
were far from Finnish in cite many states now turning
over to the Persians, and Athens itself being sacked. A
Greek army, led by Leonidas's brother Cleomobrotus, began to build
a defensive wall. Neil Corinth Winter halted the land campaign,

(39:33):
and at Salamis the Greek fleet maneuvered the Persians into
shallow waters and won a resounding victory. Xerxes returned home
to his palace at Sassa and left the gifted general
Mortinoius in charge of the invasion. After a series of
political negotiations, it became clear that the Persians would not
gain victory through diplomacy, and the two armies met at

(39:54):
Platia in August four, seventy nine bcee The Greeks, filling
the largest hoplay army ever seen, won the battle and
finally ended Xerxes ambitions in Greece. As an interesting footnote,
the important strategic position of Thermopola meant that it was
once more the scene of battle in two seventy nine
BCE when the Greeks face invading Gauls, and one once

(40:18):
when a Roman army defeated Antiochus the third and even
as recent as nineteen forty one when Allied New Zealand
forces clashed with those of Germany. So that's a quick
overview of the Battle of Thermopoli. So still impressive, still
very impressive, still amazing everything that you know, the Spartans did,

(40:41):
and the other Greeks, the Athenians and everyone else an
amazing feat to be able to hold off the Persians
so that the rest of Greece could have a chance,
which really at that time wasn't even called Greece. I mean,
they were Greek nations, it's a whole thing. They were

(41:02):
all their own city states. But definitely an interesting idea
and just to show how you know, TV and Hollywood
and everything else can take a story that itself is
still amazing and turn it into something much more Hollywood

(41:24):
per se. So definitely wanted to look into. Definitely an
interesting story. There's nothing in it that I could find.
Like in the movie it's the person that gives them
up is a you know, someone who wanted to be
a Spartan but couldn't it because they were deformed and
blah blah blah. But I don't think that was really it.

(41:44):
It was just someone who because, like I said, out
of I think it was seven hundred city states in Greece,
only thirty three to like thirty five fought against the Persians.
Everyone else just kind of took. So that's one of
the things that a lot of people don't realize too.
They think that it was oh, everybody was fighting. No,

(42:06):
it wasn't everyone. A lot of people actually just let
the Persians take control because you know, it doesn't matter
who's in charge, it's all going to be the same
to them anyway, for a lot of them. So yeah,
so definitely something to look and do. Definitely very interesting.
I enjoyed it again. Sorry for being a day late
on this and we will talk to you later