Dear Reader,
Thermopylae. Leonidas. 300. In a world where the public has little familiar with events and people from ancient Greece (try asking a classroom of undergraduates what the Peace of Nicas is), these words still generate a spark of recognition. Thermopylae has gone down in history as part of the western canon. With the rise of studying the classics since 1500, this battle has taken on new meanings for generations of modern people. In the 20th and 21st centuries, the battle has been commemorated by two feature films, as well as numerous novels and literary adaptations. Indeed, in terms of commemoration, Thermopylae has far outstripped any other instance of conflict between the Greeks and Persians.
In mid-September, 2021, we can safely say that it has now been 2,500 years since the Battle of Thermopylae. In this battle a small number of Greek soldiers, drawn from a large variety of city-states, fought against a vastly larger force of Persian troops, until they were overwhelmed and surrounded. Using both prepared defensive positions as well as narrow mountain passes to their advantage, the Greeks delayed the Persians for several days. The Greek coalition, led by 300 Spartiatae under the command of King Leonidas, sent many of its forces home when defeat became apparent. Over a thousand men, from the cities of Sparta, Thespiae, and Thebes, remained for a final struggle. The Thebans, compelled to stay by threats, surrendered to the Persians at the first available opportunity, while Leonidas of Sparta and Demophilus of Thespiae were killed along with all of their soldiers.
We are fortunate enough to have a relatively close chronological account of the battle from the Greek writer Herodotus. Other ancient writers, such as Diodorus Siculus and Pausanias provide information, though they are as far removed from the events they describe as people living in 2021 are from the events of the 1500s and eighteenth century. As a result, there is much we do not know about the battle, including basic facts: when exactly the battle occurred or how many troops were present,
Depending on the varying interpretations, the battle occurred in July, August, or September of 480 BCE, making the 2,500 anniversary of the battle July, August or September, 2021.[1] The date of the famous naval battle of Salamis is much easier to pin down: late September (26-28th) 480 BCE. I'll mark both that conflict and the Battle of Plataea in August of 479 BCE with another post. By September 19th, it is definite: it has been 2500 years from Thermopylae.
Likewise, there is fierce debate over how many Greeks and Persians were present. Herodotus' figures of ~5-6000 Greeks may be reasonable, but the estimate of three million Persians cannot be. For the Greeks, figures between 5,000 and 12,000 have been suggested, for the Persians, estimates range between the improbably low of 30,000 and the impossibly high of three million. Michael Flower of Princeton has suggested that a figure of 60,000-90,000 is believable.[2] At the very least, then, the Greeks were outnumbered on the order of 10 or 20 to 1. Despite these long odds, on the appearance of the Persian army, the Greeks held a defensive position during two days of heavy fighting.
Thermopylae has often been told as a one-dimensional heroic last stand, or as a clash of cultures, but Herodotus' is more ambiguous than this. Certainly, there is no question that the Persians were unprepared for the effective nature of hoplite warfare. At the end of the Greco-Persian wars, the Persian Empire increasingly turned to hiring Greek hoplites as mercenaries. It would be wrong, however, it assume that the Greeks were entirely motivated by positive leadership, and that the Persians were driven forward by despotic fear. Herodotus describes Persians being driven forward with whips on the final day of battle, but also that the Thebans were compelled to fight and surrendered at the first
opportunity. Likewise Herodotus compares the death of Leonidas, and the heroism of Dienekes and Alpheos and Maron, two Spartan brothers, but notes, "Many Persians fell there too, including some famous ones; in particular two sons of Darius... two brothers of Xerses also fell there, while they were fighting in the melee over the body of Leonidas."[3]
For all the foibles of the Greeks, the heroic sacrifice of the Spartans and the Thespians should be remembered. Leonidas sent away the vast majority of his troops, and prepared to die with a rearguard. Knowing that they would be attacked from two directions, the Spartans, Thespians and Thebans charged from behind their stone wall, and met the Persians in a wide part of the pass. In the heavy fighting, their spears were shattered. Leonidas was killed at this point in the fight, and with the death of their leader and appearance of enemy forces both in front and behind them, the remaining Greeks fell back to a nearby hilltop. At this point, the Thebans surrendered. Reduced to tertiary weapons, fists, and teeth, the remaining Greeks fought on until succumbing to an alternation of missile fire and close combat.
All that remains is to all the great story-teller, Herodotus, to speak for himself. Here is his story, translated in 1920 by Alfred Dennis Godley:
"[Book 7 Chapter 209, Section 5] What he said seemed completely incredible to Xerxes, so he then asked how they, who were so few in number, would fight against his army. Demaratus answered, “My King, take me for a liar if this does not turn out as I say.” So he spoke, but he did not persuade Xerxes.
He let four days go by, expecting them to run away at any minute. They did not leave, and it seemed to him that they stayed out of folly and lack of due respect. On the fifth day he became angry and sent the Medes and Cissians against them, bidding them take them prisoner and bring them into his presence. The Medes bore down upon the Hellenes and attacked. Many fell, but others attacked in turn, and they made it clear to everyone, especially to the king himself, that among so many people there were few real men. The battle lasted all day.
When the Medes had been roughly handled, they retired, and the Persians whom the king called Immortals, led by Hydarnes, attacked in turn. It was thought that they would easily accomplish the task. When they joined battle with the Hellenes, they fared neither better nor worse than the Median army, since they used shorter spears than the Hellenes and could not use their numbers fighting in a narrow space. The Lacedaemonians [Spartans] fought memorably, showing themselves skilled fighters amidst unskilled on many occasions, as when they would turn their backs and feign flight. The barbarians would see them fleeing and give chase with shouting and noise, but when the Lacedaemonians were overtaken, they would turn to face the barbarians and overthrow innumerable Persians. A few of the Spartans themselves were also slain. When the Persians could gain no inch of the pass, attacking by companies and in every other fashion, they withdrew.
It is said that during these assaults in the battle the king, as he watched, jumped up three times from the throne in fear for his army. This, then, is how the fighting progressed, and on the next day the barbarians fought no better. They joined battle supposing that their enemies, being so few, were now disabled by wounds and could no longer resist. The Hellenes, however, stood ordered in ranks by nation, and each of them fought in turn, except the Phocians, who were posted on the mountain to guard the path. When the Persians found nothing different from what they saw the day before, they withdrew.
The king was at a loss as to how to deal with the present difficulty. Epialtes son of Eurydemus, a Malian, thinking he would get a great reward from the king, came to speak with him and told him of the path leading over the mountain to Thermopylae. In so doing he caused the destruction of the Hellenes remaining there...
Xerxes was pleased by what Epialtes promised to accomplish. He immediately became overjoyed and sent out Hydarnes and the men under Hydarnes command, who set forth from the camp at about lamp-lighting time. This path had been discovered by the native Malians, who used it to guide the Thessalians into Phocis when the Phocians had fenced off the pass with a wall and were sheltered from the war. So long ago the Malians had discovered that the pass was in no way a good thing...
In this part of the mountain one thousand armed men of the Phocians were on watch, as I have already shown, defending their own country and guarding the path. The lower pass was held by those I have mentioned, but the Phocians had voluntarily promised Leonidas to guard the path over the mountain.
The Phocians learned in the following way that the Persians had climbed up: they had ascended without the Phocians' notice because the mountain was entirely covered with oak trees. Although there was no wind, a great noise arose like leaves being trodden underfoot. The Phocians jumped up and began to put on their weapons, and in a moment the barbarians were there. When they saw the men arming themselves, they were amazed, for they had supposed that no opposition would appear, but they had now met with an army. Hydarnes feared that the Phocians might be Lacedaemonians and asked Epialtes what country the army was from. When he had established what he wanted to know with certainty, he arrayed the Persians for battle.
The Phocians, assailed by thick showers of arrows and supposing that the Persians had set out against them from the start, fled to the top of the mountain and prepared to meet their destruction. This is what they intended, but the Persians with Epialtes and Hydarnes paid no attention to the Phocians and went down the mountain as fast as possible. The seer Megistias, examining the sacrifices, first told the Hellenes at Thermopylae that death was coming to them with the dawn. Then deserters came who announced the circuit made by the Persians. These gave their signals while it was still night; a third report came from the watchers running down from the heights at dawn.
The Hellenes then took counsel, but their opinions were divided. Some advised not to leave their post, but others spoke against them. They eventually parted, some departing and dispersing each to their own cities, others preparing to remain there with Leonidas. It is said that Leonidas himself sent them away because he was concerned that they would be killed, but felt it not fitting for himself and the Spartans to desert that post which they had come to defend at the beginning. I, however, tend to believe that when Leonidas perceived that the allies were dispirited and unwilling to run all risks with him, he told then to depart. For himself, however, it was not good to leave; if he remained, he would leave a name of great fame, and the prosperity of Sparta would not be blotted out...
Those allies who were dismissed went off in obedience to Leonidas, only the Thespians and Thebans remaining with the Lacedaemonians. The Thebans remained against their will and desire, for Leonidas kept them as hostages. The Thespians very gladly remained, saying they would not abandon Leonidas and those with him by leaving; instead they would stay and die with them. Their general was Demophilus son of Diadromes.
Xerxes made libations at sunrise and waiting till about mid-morning, made his assault. Epialtes had advised this, for the descent from the mountain is more direct, and the way is much shorter than the circuit and ascent. Xerxes and his barbarians attacked, but Leonidas and his Hellenes, knowing they were going to their deaths, advanced now much farther than before into the wider part of the pass. In all the previous days they had sallied out into the narrow way and fought there, guarding the defensive wall. Now, however, they joined battle outside the narrows and many of the barbarians fell, for the leaders of the companies beat everyone with whips from behind, urging them ever forward. Many of them were pushed into the sea and drowned; far more were trampled alive by each other, with no regard for who perished. Since the Hellenes knew that they must die at the hands of those who had come around the mountain, they displayed the greatest strength they had against the barbarians, fighting recklessly and desperately.
By this time most of them had had their spears broken and were killing the Persians with swords. Leonidas, proving himself extremely valiant, fell in that struggle and with him other famous Spartans, whose names I have learned by inquiry since they were worthy men. Indeed, I have learned by inquiry the names of all three hundred. Many famous Persians also fell there, including two sons of Darius, Abrocomes and Hyperanthes, born to Darius by Phratagune daughter of Artanes. Artanes was the brother of king Darius and son of Hystaspes son of Arsames. When he gave his daughter in marriage to Darius, he gave his whole house as dowry, since she was his only child.
Two brothers of Xerxes accordingly fought and fell there. There was a great struggle between the Persians and Lacedaemonians over Leonidas' body, until the Hellenes by their courageous prowess dragged it away and routed their enemies four times. The battle went on until the men with Epialtes arrived. When the Hellenes saw that they had come, the contest turned, for they retired to the narrow part of the way, passed behind the wall, and took their position crowded together on the hill, all except the Thebans. This hill is at the mouth of the pass, where the stone lion in honor of Leonidas now stands. In that place they defended themselves with swords, if they still had them, and with hands and teeth. The barbarians buried them with missiles, some attacking from the front and throwing down the defensive wall, others surrounding them on all sides.
This then is how the Lacedaemonians and Thespians conducted themselves, but the Spartan Dieneces is said to have exhibited the greatest courage of all. They say that he made the following speech before they joined battle with the Medes: he had learned from a Trachinian that there were so many of the barbarians that when they shot their missiles, the sun was hidden by the multitude of their arrows. He was not at all disturbed by this and made light of the multitude of the Medes, saying that their Trachinian foreigner brought them good news. If the Medes hid the sun, they could fight them in the shade instead of in the sun. This saying and others like it, they claim, Dieneces the Lacedaemonian left behind as a memorial. Next after him two Lacedaemonian brothers, Alpheus and Maron, sons of Orsiphantus, are said to have been most courageous. The Thespian who gained most renown was one whose name was Dithyrambus son of Harmatides.
There is an inscription written over these men, who were buried where they fell, and over those who died before the others went away, dismissed by Leonidas. It reads as follows: “Here four thousand from the Peloponnese once fought three million. That inscription is for them all, but the Spartans have their own: “Foreigner, go tell the Spartans that we lie here obedient to their commands."
As I read this text, I think that the lack of popular memory of the Thespians is interesting. They voluntarily stayed as a result of a desire to stand alongside the Spartans, and deserve to be remembered alongside Leonidas. Most of us who are alive to a sense of the past have a mental image of this encounter. As an English-speaking child growing up in the late 20th century, mine will always be dominated by the paintings of Peter Connolly, as you can see from this post.
Here is to another 2,500 years of remembering Thermopylae.
Thanks for Reading,
Alex Burns
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[3]Ibid, 592.
