300 spartans story
For the 1962 film, see, For a full discussion of the size of the Persian invasion force, see, Ὦ ξεῖν', ἀγγέλλειν Λακεδαιμονίοις ὅτι τῇδε, Although some authors state the result was a, A huge number of estimates have been made since the 19th century, ranging from 15,000 to acceptance of Herodotus' 1,800,000. 300 graphic novelist Frank Miller explained this by saying, "Another liberty I took was, they all had plumes, but I only gave a plume to Leonidas, … [33], Darius, therefore, began raising a huge new army with which he meant to completely subjugate Greece; however, in 486 BC, his Egyptian subjects revolted, indefinitely postponing any Greek expedition. 300 set a box office record for a March opening and went on to gross $456 million worldwide. [19] In fact, Herodotus' account of the battle, in Book VII of his Histories, is such an important source that Paul Cartledge wrote: "we either write a history of Thermopylae with [Herodotus], or not at all". [59] When Leonidas refused these terms, the ambassador carried a written message by Xerxes, asking him to "Hand over your arms". This story, heavily publicized in 2006 when the movie 300 came out, telling the tale from the epic battle of Thermopylae, but forgetting some 0’s along the way as well as changing some facts to make the story more captivating. The naked body symbolizes Eros, the most important god of the ancient Thespians, a god of creation, beauty and life. At daybreak, Persian forces surrounded the Phocians defending the pass. A well-known epigram, usually attributed to Simonides, was engraved as an epitaph on a commemorative stone placed on top of the burial mound of the Spartans at Thermopylae. [129] However, under pressure from the Athenians, the Peloponnesians eventually agreed to try to force Mardonius to battle, and they marched on Attica. Moreover, by defending two constricted passages (Thermopylae and Artemisium), the Greeks' inferior numbers became less of a factor. [29] However, in order to appease the Achaemenid king somewhat, two Spartans were voluntarily sent to Susa for execution, in atonement for the death of the Persian heralds. The narrowness of the pass … In universal terms, a small, free people had willingly outfought huge numbers of imperial subjects who advanced under the lash. [73], Many modern historians, who usually consider Herodotus more reliable,[74] add the 1,000 Lacedemonians and the 900 helots to Herodotus' 5,200 to obtain 7,100 or about 7,000 men as a standard number, neglecting Diodorus' Melians and Pausanias' Locrians. The first line of the epigram was used as the title of the short story "Stranger, Bear Word to the Spartans We…" by German Nobel Prize laureate Heinrich Böll. The land passage, Thermopylae, was defended by 7,000 Greeks while Artemisium was defended by 271 ships. [110] It has also been suggested that Leonidas, recalling the words of the Oracle, was committed to sacrificing his life in order to save Sparta. Starring: Richard Egan, Ralph Richardson, Diane Baker, Barry Coe, David Farrar, Donald Houston, Άννα Συνοδινού [Anna Synodinou]. They were equipped with wooden shields covered with a layer of bronze (it was not until 420 BC that the letter Λ-lambda from Laconia was painted) which were passed down from generation to generation. The battle is also discussed in many articles and books on the theory and practice of warfare. [29][30] This meant that Sparta was also effectively at war with Persia. [110] The likelihood is that these were the Theban "loyalists", who unlike the majority of their fellow citizens, objected to Persian domination. [45] However, the Peloponnesian cities made fall-back plans to defend the Isthmus of Corinth, should it come to that, whilst the women and children of Athens would evacuate en masse to the Peloponnesian city of Troezen. I think that visually 300 is beautiful and the story is a very simple but detailed story about King Leonidas and his 300 spartans. The metope below depicts battle scenes. The weak point of the Greeks was the passage of goats through the mountains, parallel to the Thermopylae passage from where they could be surrounded. During these attacks, it is said that the king-god Xerxes, who was watching the battle, jumped three times from his throne, feeling a slight human thrill on his spine, seeing how the two attacks were repulsed. During two full days of battle, the small force led by Leonidas blocked the only road by which the massive Persian army could pass. Updated October 22, 2019. It is commonly stated that the Spartans were obeying the laws of Sparta by not retreating. "[99] However, the Persians had no more success on the second day than on the first. First, he ordered 5,000 archers to shoot a barrage of arrows, but they were ineffective; they shot from at least 100 yards away, according to modern day scholars, and the Greeks' wooden shields (sometimes covered with a very thin layer of bronze) and bronze helmets deflected the arrows. The task force then moved on Eretria, which it besieged and destroyed. Then Efialtes fled to Thessaly. It was not until the age of thirty that Leonidas, like the other Spartans, was able to participate in political life, either in elections or to run for public office. His comrades fought with the Persians for his body. They will read from Herodotus's account of the battle at Thermopylae, the narrow pass where 300 Spartans and their Greek allies made their last-ditch stand against tens of thousands of Xerxes's invading army. Greek epitaphs often appealed to the passing reader (always called 'stranger') for sympathy, but the epitaph for the dead Spartans at Thermopylae took this convention much further than usual, asking the reader to make a personal journey to Sparta to break the news that the Spartan expeditionary force had been wiped out. However, as the majority of the Greek army retreated, Leonidas, his 300 bodyguards, some helots (people enslaved by the Spartans), and 1,100 Boeotians remained behind, supposedly because retreating would defy Spartan law and custom. The Persian army was rumoured to have numbered over one million soldiers. The fame of Thermopylae is thus principally derived not from its effect on the outcome of the war but for the inspirational example it set. [144] Ioannis Ziogas points out that the usual English translations are far from the only interpretation possible, and indicate much about the romantic tendencies of the translators. [c] However, compared to the probable time (about one month) between Thermopylae and Salamis, the time bought was negligible. [77] The major weak point for the Greeks was the mountain track which led across the highland parallel to Thermopylae, that could allow their position to be outflanked. [37], After the Persians' departure, the Greeks collected their dead and buried them on the hill. This story has romance, action and drama, with great interpretations and choreography in the battle scenes. The Greeks were organized into detachments after their hometowns and fought hard while the Phocians were stationed on the mountain to guard a pass. [25] Darius then died whilst preparing to march on Egypt, and the throne of Persia passed to his son Xerxes I. [171] Here, on Alexander the Great's campaign against Persia in 330 BC to exact revenge for the Persian invasion of Greece, he faced the same situation, encountering a last stand of the Persian forces (under Ariobarzanes) at a narrow pass near Persepolis who held the invaders for a month, until their fall as the enemy found a path to their rear. The sixty-year-old Spartan king-general thus led an army of 7,000 soldiers, of whom only 4,000 were Peloponnesians, and only 300 of them had been trained for a lifetime to fight 300,000 Persians. No king or general dared to contradict the “God” king, no matter how good a strategist he was. ", "The Battle of Thermopylae was a Pyrrhic victory for [the Persians] but it offered Athens invaluable time to prepare for the decisive naval battle of Salamis one month later. [55] With the Persian army's arrival at Thermopylae the Greeks held a council of war. Xerxes was confused. My husband loves the film 300. It was well known in ancient Greece that all the Spartans who had been sent to Thermopylae had been killed there (with the exception of Aristodemus and Pantites), and the epitaph exploits the conceit that there was nobody left to bring the news of their deeds back to Sparta. [102] The Immortals had been bloodied on the first day, so it is possible that Hydarnes may have been given overall command of an enhanced force including what was left of the Immortals; according to Diodorus, Hydarnes had a force of 20,000 for the mission. However, the film has more fantasy than history in it. 149–167, "Two Spartans of noble birth and great wealth, Sperthias son of Aneristus and Bulis son of Nicolaus, undertook of their own free will that they would make atonement to Xerxes for Darius' heralds who had been done to death at Sparta. It is also the hill on which the last of them died. A variant of the epigram is inscribed on the Polish Cemetery at Monte Cassino. From the age of twelve, the boys received a phoinikis, a red cloak to hide their wounds. [64] The poet Simonides, who was a contemporary, talks of four million; Ctesias gave 800,000 as the total number of the army that was assembled by Xerxes.[6]. But history teaches us that quality is often better than quantity, and the Battle of Thermopylae proves this. He couldn’t believe he was thinking of withdrawing or suspending the campaign. [66][b] These estimates usually come from studying the logistical capabilities of the Persians in that era, the sustainability of their respective bases of operations, and the overall manpower constraints affecting them. This book is very much like a … 300 diverges strongly from history in this scene. Iranica Antiqua Vol. Ιστορία του Ελληνικού Έθνους = History of the Greek nation volume Β', Athens 1971, This page was last edited on 18 March 2021, at 15:13. Review our Privacy Policy for more information about our privacy practices. Most of the Thebans reportedly surrendered. Translation by American historian, Professor J. Rufus Fears in his Ancient Greeks lectures for the. [53] News also reached Leonidas, from the nearby city of Trachis, that there was a mountain track that could be used to outflank the pass of Thermopylae. [26] Darius also saw the opportunity to expand his empire into the fractious world of Ancient Greece. The two powers would soon embark on a bloody war lasting half a century. The legend of Thermopylae, as told by Herodotus, has it that the Spartans had consulted the Oracle at Delphi earlier in the year. We normally watch it at least once a month. [48][49] On this occasion, the ephors decided the urgency was sufficiently great to justify an advance expedition to block the pass, under one of its kings, Leonidas I. Leonidas took with him the 300 men of the royal bodyguard, the Hippeis. [53] In fact, as noted below, the pass was 100 metres wide, probably wider than the Greeks could have held against the Persian masses. For instance, it is unclear whether the whole Persian army marched as far as Thermopylae, or whether Xerxes left garrisons in Macedon and Thessaly. It did not matter that the Persian army, even with its numerical superiority, was technically and qualitatively inferior to the Greek forces. [104] However, not wishing to be delayed, the Persians merely shot a volley of arrows at them, before bypassing them to continue with their encirclement of the main Greek force. [77] As long as they could prevent a further Persian advance into Greece, they had no need to seek a decisive battle and could, thus, remain on the defensive. Each Spartan defended by his comrade next to him. When Xerxes asked what the prize was for the winner, the answer was: "an olive-wreath".