Unorthodox Angles/Andrew Gramling
Echoes from History: The Last Stand Before Unity
Part I
Thousands of years ago, in the region known as “The Hot Gates”— a narrow pass separating mountain from sea, full of bubbling hot springs and the pungent smell of sulfur — a standoff of great significance between ancient foes and ideologies occurred.
King Xerxes I marched on Greece with an army drawn from across his vast empire — Ariana, Mesopotamia, Anatolia, North Africa, and Central Asia. A force not just of soldiers, but of the world he ruled. His agenda was to finish what his father, King Darius I, had started, and secure his name among the great people of the Persian Empire. The Ionian Revolt (Ionians—Greeks who settled in Anatolia, claimed by Athenians, and named after the mythical king Ion) — fueled by Athens and Eretria—had already drawn the wrath of the Persian kings.
Advancing with overwhelming force, the Persian army met no body of water that could not be bridged, nor any shield that could not be splintered as they ventured into Europe to claim the land, the resources, and dominion over the mainland Greeks.
A people that are not unified have not the cohesion necessary to defend themselves from a powerful external threat, and Greece herself was very divided due to economic competition, political tension, warfare, and a general distrust between the dozens of major city-states and many smaller ones. The Greeks thought of themselves as “Corinthian” or “Athenian” rather than “Greek,” with only the language, an unsteady history, and a handful of customs relating them to each other.
Fearing the impending onslaught of the Persians, a number of regions in Greece had already submitted, including Macedon, Boeotia, and Thessaly, when Persian envoys previously arrived demanding “earth and water” in the name of the king. There was no united front strong enough to oppose the Persians. It seemed that Greece was ripe for the taking. But history rarely turns on strength alone — it turns on those who refuse to yield.
There were, however, a few who were not content to let the Persians trample all over Greece unchallenged and surrender their ways. The Spartans were the spark that would ignite a greater fire strong enough to burn through Persian armor. Known for their militaristic ways and prowess in combat throughout all of Greece with a reputation of having the greatest infantry, those who would not bow down began to look to the Spartans for leadership.
“Either your great and glorious city must be sacked by the children of Perseus (The Persians), or, if not that, then the whole land of Lacedaemon (Sparta and surrounding lands) must mourn the death of a king,” the Pythia of the oracle of Delphi stated when consulted by the Spartans in preparation for battle. The message was not vague in any sense. A sacrifice would have to be made to save the whole of Sparta.
King Leonidas I (Greek, meaning “Of a lion”) of Sparta, a man near the age of 60 who had endured the trials of the agoge where Spartan boys become men before their age, and was far more than a background political figure, rose to the impossible challenge of defending Greece against the invaders. Mythically, the royal bloodline of Sparta were the descendants of Heracles (Hercules), and their courage, strength, and tenacity reflected that symbolism greatly. On a personal level, however, not much was ever stated about the life of any particular Spartan.
The mission of the Greek defensive force was never about victory, it was about buying time to slow down the Persian advance and give any possible others a chance to make preparations.
In late summer during the Carneia Festival, which happened to be when the Persians arrived, military campaigns were strictly forbidden in Sparta. Because of that, Leonidas could not form a large-scale military unit and settled on recruiting 300 handpicked bodyguards. Tempe Pass was where they decided to make their stand because their phalanx battle formation would be most efficient in such a narrow area. But the idea was later scrapped because it was realized that there were multiple access points where their forces could be outflanked. It was then decided that Thermopylae would be strategically more advantageous. With that, Leonidas, his 300 Spartans, and an army said to include: 900 helots (slaves), 700 Thespians, 400 Thebans (loyalty in question due to dealings with the Persians), 1,000 Phocians, 1,000 Locrians, and others from Corinth, Arcadia, and elsewhere totaling around 7,000 men set off for Thermopylae— toward the moment many of them were born to face.
