Why You Should Love Sparta: Thermopylae
So once upon a time, long, long ago, the Persians were proving to be a rather massive threat to the Greeks (enough so that some parts of Greece, including the Aleudae of Thessaly, offered their support to Persia as they realised their power). Their threat was enough to band together the states within Greece to attempt to stop an invasion – and naturally they recognised that the Spartans should lead the defence.
Thermopylae was a pass between the mountains and the sea that lead into Greece from the north. It was here that approximately 7,000 Greek soldiers, lead by 300 Spartans and their King, Leonidas of Sparta, stood and faced a much larger Persian army, lead by Xerxes I. The Persian army was rumoured to have up to 1,000,000 men in ancient sources, though it is much more likely to have been closer to 100,000. Either way, the Greeks were heavily outnumbered (think Romans versus Britons and Boudicca 400 years later, in that 10,000 Romans to 100,000 Britons way. Except worse.). The Greeks, and especially the Spartans, were not to be deterred, however, and when the Persian army approached, simply waited it out.
This was a clever strategy – they needn’t go into decisive battle unnecessarily with such a small army and it made it possible to keep the tactic as a defence at Thermopylae. The Persians, however, had to deal with the issue of supplying for such a large army, meaning they couldn’t stay in one place for very long. The Persians were forced to make the first move. (Furthermore, when Xerxes sent a scout to see what the Spartans were doing to prepare for the imminent battle, he was surprised to hear they were simply exercising, combing their hair and oiling their bodies. Unafraid, practically relaxed. He chose not to misread this information – the Spartan reputation at war was infamous and just because they didn’t appear on edge and tensed for combat, didn’t mean they weren’t.)
Their first move was the order of 5,000 archers to attack and deluge the Greeks in arrows. A famous quote from arguably one of the bravest Spartans at the Battle of Thermopylae, was from Dioneces (Dienekes, Dieneces), the Spartan General, who, when warned about the sheer number of Persia archers by a native, replied with, “Good. Then we will fight in shade.” (If you can give the Spartans anything, it’s that at least they were full of dry wit.) When this tactic didn’t work, due to shooting from a far distance and the protective Greek shields, the Persians were reduced to assaulting a head on attack, waves upon waves on the Greeks, who stood in front of the narrowest part of the pass in a strategy to use as few men as possible to ward off the oncoming Persians…and it worked. Overlapping their shields, and working on a rota to prevent fatigue, the first wave of men were cut back entirely, with only one or two dead Spartans.
The next line of attack were the Immortals – Xerxes best troops, 10,000 strong. They were cut back too, taking off guard when the Spartans used a tactic of feinting, pretending to retreat and then turning and killing in the confusion. Xerxes men had been unable to overcome a much smaller army.
He was in luck, however, when Ephialtes, one of the native Trachis, in search of a reward, betrayed the Greeks by telling the Persians about a mountain path known only to the natives that lead behind the Greeks. The Persians would be able to attack from both behind and in front, surrounding the Greeks and slaughtering them. (Ephialtes didn’t even get his reward in the end, after the Persians were beaten at the Battle of Salamis, and dishonour was brought upon his name, it coming to mean “nightmare” in the Greek language. Not what he was after, we’ll assume.)
On the dawn of the third day of battle, the Greeks discovered they had been betrayed. Leonidas chose for his Spartans to stay and fight to the end, despite inevitable death, because he was determined to fight for his country or die trying. Cowardice wasn’t in his vocabulary (well, it probably was, but certainly not to be aimed at him and his Spartans. Much more likely to be aimed at Athenians, when they didn’t have a war to fight together.). Around 700 Thespians also stayed, and 400 Thebans, although the rest of the Greeks used the option to withdraw.
(Let me put in a little side note about Leonidas now. It’s been argued he chose to stay because Spartans never retreated – or do they never retreat because he chose to stay? I digress – an Oracle had told him his life would be sacrificed to Sparta, but it seems the most likely reason he and his 300 men stayed was so the rest of the Greeks could get away. Some troops had to hold back the Persians whilst the Greeks left, otherwise they would have been outrun. In true Sparta style, he simultaneously managed to prove how incredibly courageous his Spartans were in the face of death and protect thousands of other troops from being unnecessarily killed. Drinks to you, Leonidas, drinks to you.)
When Xerxes approached this time, the Greeks made forth to a wider part of the pass, as their objective now was to kill as many Persians as possible. They fought with everything they had, spears and swords and even, forsaking that, their fists and teeth, until they died. The Spartans were massacred, some of the Thebans surrendered, but on the whole, the Greeks that remained were all killed. This made a total of around 2,000, throughout the whole battle, far less than the amount of Persians killed – approximately 20,000 according to Herodotus.
And now the Persian army could march forward into Greece. But the news of the bravery of all the men involved, especially the Spartans, raised such morale in the Greek people, on the verge of surrendering, that despite this defeat, went on to defeat the Persians in the Battle of Salamis, Plataea and Mycale, stopping the invasion completely.
So that’s it, Thermopylae, a battle that displayed the strength of mind, body and courageous in not only the Spartans but the whole joint Greek army. Through tactical skills, strategic placements and bravery in the face of death, they stood against an army that should have beaten them in hours but was held back for a week. And although the story of Thermopylae is largely one of military defeat, it is also one of human heroism, and what could be called a glorious defeat.
When you go home, tell them of us and say
For your tomorrow, these gave their today.
Went the day well? We died and never knew,
But, well or ill, freedom, we died for you.
— Simonides of Ceos
cynicides 