Posted on 03/12/2007 2:54:43 PM PDT by freedom44
What Was the Battle at Thermopylae?:
Thermopylae was a pass that the Greeks tried unsuccessfully to defend in battle against the Persians led by Xerxes in 480 B.C.Although the Spartans who led the defense were all killed (and may have known in advance that they would be), their courage provided inspiration to the Greeks, many of whom otherwise might have willingly become part of the Persian Empire (the relevant verb is "medize" from the word Mede). The following year the Greeks did win battles agains the Persians.
Persians Attack the Greeks at Thermopylae:
Xerxes' fleet of Persian ships had sailed along the coastline from northern Greece into the Gulf of Malia on the eastern Aegean Sea towards the mountains at Thermopylae. The Greeks faced the Persian army at a narrow pass there that controlled the only road between Thessaly and Central Greece. The Spartan general and king Leonidas was in charge of the Greek forces that tried to restrain the vast Persian army and keep them from attacking the rear of the Greek navy (under Athenian control). Leonidas may have hoped to block them long enough that Xerxes would have to sail away for food and water. Ephialtes and Anopaia:
Unfortunately for Leonidas, after a couple of days, a medizing traitor named Ephialtes led the Persians around the pass behind the Greek army. The name of Ephialtes' path behind the pass at Thermopylae (which means "hot gates") is Anopaea (or Anopaia); its exact location is debated.
Leonidas sent away most of the amassed troops.
THIS IS 300 the 'movie'
Greeks Fight the Immortals:
On the third day, Leonidas led his 300 Spartan hoplites (elite troops selected because they had living sons back home) plus the allied Thespians and Thebans against Xerxes and his army of "10,000 Immortals." (Not ONE MILLION) The Spartan-led forces fought this unstoppable Persian force to their deaths in order to block the pass long enough to keep Xerxes and his army occupied while the rest of the Greek
Ah! Someone who knows history.
And Cyber Ant, I was too tired to continue last night, but eventually the muzzies did conquer Greece, but under Suliman The Magnificent in the 16th century AD, about 2000 years after Thermopylae and the Muslim yoke was not cast off until the Greek Revolution in the early 19th century.
"You are right, this battle took place more than one thousand years before Muhammad was born. However, if Greece had been part of the Persian Empire, it might have fallen to the Arabs when they conquered the Persians in the middle of the seventh century."
If, if, if.............????
And if the Greeks had fallen to the Persians, then who knows what would have taken place 400 years later when the Roman Empire arose, and who knows how the meeting of those two empires might have changed all the social, political and religious forces that later convulsed together at the eastern edge of the Mediterranean Sea at the beginning of the common era? No one knows what might have been, including whether or not there would have been Christianity or Islam in what we now call 600 A.D.
Change a single major event and you have to assume the possibility that the major events that followed it may not have occurred either.
Zoroastrianism was established as the state religion of Persia in c.226 BC.
Thermopylae happened 480 BC.
Thanks for your genius analysis.
I recall reading that in the military council on the eve of the last day of battle (before the Greek forces were completely entrapped) the Spartans announced that it is a strict law of Spartan warfare that they never abandon a post without orders to do so and since they had no orders from Sparta, they were obliged to stay.
Now, we may agree there is a strange mixture of the noble with the insane in this scenario. Certainly, our sense of humanitarianism, even in warfare, would never allow us to have standing orders which were in effect to commit suicide.
A curious parallel comes to mind: Bastogne, Battle of the Bulge, Christmas 1944. The Germans delivered the ultimatum in similar terms to that of Xerxes. Of course, we know McAuliffe's famous reply: "Nuts"! Were the Americans being Spartan, or did they trust that help was on the way and they had to hold out? I think it was a bit of both. They knew it might be suicide, but it was not sure. They likewise knew the critical strategic importance of holding Bastogne against the odds and that there were enourmous American and allied forces within striking distance. The question was, would they make it in time? Damn, I'm so proud of those men. Where have they gone?
This was Greece's Alamo, the loss against overwhelming forces that convinced the Greeks they could fight and eventually defeat the Persians, which they did.
Hot dog!
Hot dog!
You want that on a pun?
Well .. at least somebody got it!!
I really was looking at the bigger picture .. which nobody else but you seemed able to see!
Thanks.
If nobody's trying to grab my guns, I'm with you, eh?
;>)
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Note: this topic is from 2007. |
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