March 7

Today we are going to examine the battle of Thermopylae.

It is historical fact. In 481-480 B.C., King Xerxes of Persia raised forces in Asia and Africa and invaded Greece with an army so huge that it "drank rivers dry." Then they entered the mountain pass of Thermopylae and encountered 300 determined soldiers from Sparta....

This battle was important then and has many lessons to give today. King Xerxes invaded Greece, both to enslave the free city-states, and to avenge the Persian defeat a decade earlier at Marathon. The Persian forces came by boat and were strong in number, the Greeks had to slow them down somehow.

An elite force of 300 Spartans under their King Leonidas gave the greeks hope that they could slow down the advance of the vastly superior invader. And that hope proved real for two days of hard fighting. They were outnumbered, but heavily-armed Greek infantrymen in their phalanx took advantage of the narrow terrain and their massed tactics .

On the third day of battle a local shepard betrayed the spartans and told the Persians of an alternate route that would lead them behind the spartans. When Leonidas found out he decided to send other armies away and to stand and fight.

Even though these 300 lost in this battle their courage strengthened the rest of Greece. In following battles the Greeks manged to keep the Persians back.

This battle proved to give an important moral and cultural lesson. It helped the idea that the individual had the power which is key to the western type of thinking today.

Western soldiers willing to die as free men rather than to submit to tyranny.

Questions for todays class include:

1. Why did the Persians want to defeat the Greeks?

2. Just because a situation looks hopeless does not mean that fighting back does not have an effect. In politics and war, a loss is not necessarily a loss - as long as you can make it as difficult as possible for the enemy to continue. Why is this a true or false statement?

3.Research these characters from the battle.
Gorgo
King Leonidas
Xerxes
Theron
Ephialtes

4.While fighting King Leonidas remarked, "Xerxes has plenty of men, but no soliders." What is Leonidas describing here? and how does it reflect Spartan society?


Here are some videos on the Battle

Video 1

Video 2

Video 3