Today is the 4th anniversary of this website. I still have many stories to get to. I decided to post on some forgotten heroes who have been dissed by history.
A recent movie popularized the glorious sacrifice of 300 Spartan warriors at the Battle of Thermopylae. “300” tells the tale of King Leonidas and his men. Their impossible fight against great odds is right up there with the Alamo and other great last stands in history. But it wasn’t just 300 Greeks that died on the last day. There were 1,100 other Greeks that joined them in Hades. After holding off Xerxes army for several days at the narrow mouth of the pass of Thermopylae, Xerxes was told by a Greek traitor named Ephialtes that there was a path to bypass the pass and end up in the rear of the Greeks. When Leonidas was informed that a Persian force (the Immortals) had taken the path to trap his army, he ordered the allies from Thespiae and Thebes to withdraw, but they refused. Fighting to the death was ingrained in Spartan warriors from childhood, but the Thespians and Thebans had no such tradition. They were typical Greek hoplites who fought for their cities in times of war, but they were not professional soldiers like the Spartans. No one would have faulted them if they had lived to fight another day. But for an unknown reason, these two contingents decided to die with the Spartans that day. It is theorized that the 400 Thebans were citizens who disagreed with their cities plan to pay tribute to the Persians. If so, they would have been persona non grata if the Persians reached their city. The 700 Thespians (believed to be the entirety of their army) may have simply decided to self-sacrifice to show the Spartans they weren’t the only men in Greece. So let’s raise a cup of wine to the 1,100 who were not bred for a glorious death in battle and yet got it. (Some accounts had the Thebans beating an honorable retreat before the last stage of the battle. But the Thespians stayed.) But unfortunately, their sacrifice, which certainly was braver than that of the Spartans, has been forgotten by history. They should make a movie about them. And teachers could mention them when they cover the battle. And don’t get your history from comic books. The movie “300” and Zac Snyder’s graphic novel have non-Spartans fighting with Leonidas, but oddly its the Arcadians that are given a shout out! Boo! The picture below is the monument to the Thespians put at the battle site in 1997! Better late than never.
P.S. the Spartans used helots (basically slaves) to carry their equipment to battle. All of these unfortunates were probably killed in the last stand.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Thermopylae
https://greekreporter.com/2023/03/15/thespians-heroes-battle-thermopylae/
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