At the end of summer 480 BC, in the region of Phocis, a place near Athens, took place the most remarkable battle in the ancient Greek history. This battle is known as "The battle of the Thermopylae". If you are not Greek then you probably hear about it for first time. If you are cinemaniac then you probably heard about it in the movie "300" by Zack Snyder.
In this battle 5.200 Greeks fought against 2.600.000 Persians [1]. Modern estimations calculate the Persians between 70.000 and 300.000 [2]. The Thermopylae was a narrow strip of land between mountains. Greeks selected this place for the battle because they believed that the enemy couldn’t line up its millions of soldiers in such a narrow land strip. In this way the potential difference would be eliminated. Leonidas was the Greek commander and Xerxes the 1st was the Persian. The battle lasted six days and at the end Persians won.
This battle is not remarkable because of its consequences, but for the vigor of the 300 Spartans who participated in the battle. When all the Greeks decided to leave the area of the battle and fortify their own cities, the Spartans and their leader decided to fight until they die. They denied to surrender, saying the glorious “Come and get them” ( “Μολών λαβέ” in Greek). A statue is placed where these heroes lost their lives in a battle which they knew they had no chance to win.
It is not widely known that the 300 Spartans were not alone at the end. 700 Thespians decided to help them and fight until death, too. And they did so. However the battle of Thermopylae is only directly connected with the courageous Spartans. Have in mind that the law of the Spartans didn’t allow them to return alive back if they lost a battle, so in any way they had to fight. Maybe they didn’t want to but they had to. In contrast with that, the Thespians had the choice to escape and save their lives but they didn’t.
This is a great history injustice. This phenomenon is repeated in modern life. There are people who work hard and their work is not recognized or it is absorbed by others.
Glory and honour to the 700 Thespians.
PS. I want to mention that this blog is not about the Greek culture's grandeur. It is not related with any kind of nationalism. The first two posts are symptomatically related with the Greek culture.
[1] Herodotus VII, 186
[2] Holland, Tom (2006). Persian Fire: The First World Empire and the Battle for the West. New York: Doubleday, p. 394
Read more about the battle of Thermopylae in Wikipedia
Read the amazing book of Steven Pressfiled, "Gates of fire"
The "300" movie trailer
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