Today, a friend mentioned he was a big fan of the Spartans and the movie “300” and asked me what I knew about it. A little bit, as it turns out, considering I just gave my Western Civilization class this lesson a few days ago. What interests me most, however, was the irony that the real setback for the Persian army of Xerxes I in 480 BCE was not at the hands of the Spartans at Thermopylae, but the defeat of a good portion of his fleet shortly afterward at the Battle of Salamis.
In fact, about 6,000 Spartans marched to the battle of Thermopylae. It was only 300 of them who stayed and came back on their shields.
The Irony of the Spartans at Thermopylae
One irony was that the delay of the Persians at Thermopylae was not the prelude to a great land battle, but the key naval battle of the Persian Wars. The Battle of Salamis featured the naval power of Athens, and the Greeks lured the Persian fleet, which outnumbered them nearly 3 to 1, into the narrow waters at Salamis, which is near Athens. The Persian fleet, many of the ships Phoenician, was lighter and faster, but their speed wasn’t helpful in an enclosed space where the Greek ships, heavier but slower, rammed the Persian ships and sank many of them.
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Although the Persian king, Xerxes I, left about 50,000 soldiers in Greece after this defeat, they were defeated by a combined force of Greeks led by the Spartans at the Battle of Plataea the next year in 479 BC, thus ending the Persian Wars.
Some more interesting stuff – the decision of Athens to build up its navy was largely the result of the efforts of Themistocles, which took some persuading considering that the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC was a successful land battle led by Athens’ infantry forces.
The Fate of the Leader of the Spartans at Thermopylae
How did Athens thank Themistocles? Eventually his political enemies accused him of Medism (conspiring with the Persians, perhaps while colluding with the Spartan general Pausanias) and after a dramatic escape he ended up fleeing to Persian lands. The Persians, recognizing talent when they saw it, made him a regional governor.
Pausanias, the Spartan general, fared even worse. Also accused of Medism, he took refuge in the Spartan Temple of Athena. His enemies walled off the temple so he couldn’t get out, but right before he starved to death tore down the walls and removed his dying body so he wouldn’t die on sacred ground.
The sin of Pausanias and Themistocles? Hubris–arrogant and excessive self-confidence.
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