THIS IS SPARTA!! No seriously... :)

The battle of Thermopylae in 480BC was brought to the big screen several years ago...

probably one of my favorite movies in the past few years... and Now part two is in the theatres... I can't wait to see it honestly

Though, have you ever wondered what the area looks like now?

For anyone who may have wondered, this video is for you...

It shows the area beyond the "hot gates" and the actual place where said battle took place

Though the water level is a lot lower then it was In that time, its always interesting to see where ancient history happened

There are still ruins of Sparta that exist today... which are shown in the video

Enjoy!

I do like history but not a student of it, ...are you saying the movie 300 and the battle described really happened?

reply to post by tinner07



Well the battle was sensationalised in the movie, but yes... it was a real battle...

And apparently it took place on the spot outlined in the video

The Battle of Thermopylae

reply to post by Akragon

Interesting, after the Roman empire conquered greece (And macedonia) the much later Spartan's whom were much softer than the time of Thermopylae but still fiercely independant and proud of there past refused to accept roman rule or bow to the new power so fought a terrible war with the Romans which is almost forgotten, Rome like at Carthage leveled the city and spread salt on the fields so that it would not be resettled only to build a new Roman Sparta about a century later as they actually hero worshiped the 300 whom embodied ideal's the Romans valued such as sacrifice, loyalty, honor and dying rather than being defeated (Roman woman are said to have said to there men come back with your shield or on it, they also later regarded the rebel's whom commited suicide at massada as heroic and there own men where expected to commit suicide if they were defeated, especially there general's as defeat was dishonour).
S+F.

At the battle the men stood to the last around there dying king, in a historical irony there tale only comes to us as xerxes lost in his attempt to conquer greece, later battles such as the battle of hastings also had a circle of men dying to protect there fallen king but they old saying "the victor writes the history" meant that there noble and heroic last stand has been overlooked and almost forgotten by history.

probably one of my favorite movies in the past few years... and Now part two is in the theatres... I can't wait to see it honestly - See more at: www.abovetopsecret.com...

It's funny you mentioned this since I had this tab open already. Apparently the sequal is not too great.

reply to post by kx12x


Never trust a critic lol...

The first movie got bad reviews as well... but I thought it was fantastic myself...

To each their own... I can't wait to see it

Though I do wish Gerard Butler had a role in it... he played a great part in the first movie

Critics,Hollywood,media. We all see what THEY want us to like. It seldom jibes with reality.

Much of the commentary in the film, despite its OTT was straight from Herodutus Histories.

Akragon
reply to post by tinner07

 

Well the battle was sensationalised in the movie

That's the understatement of the Millennium!

The Spartans were truly badass....."Come home with this shield, or upon it." - A Spartan woman equips her son.

The film was based on a graphic novel by Frank Miller: 300 Graphic Novel

It's a pretty good adaption IMHO.....But not as good as Sin City

Forgot to add.....+S&F for your educational efforts.

Been there. Although the land has changed much, a highway runs north south right past the spot. The Greeks have put a wonderful monument up on the highway of a Spartan soldier. It's huge, but unfortunately there are telephone wires running right past it which kind of spoils the image. As with much of that area, including Troy, which is now land-locked, the terrain is much different, but you know in passing that you absolutely must have crossed the very place Alexander the Great crossed with his army on the way to Persia. Kind of a neat feeling.

Yup, that's the place in the vid. I couldn't get a good pic there. Up higher is seriously rugged country, not for the faint of heart climbing around there.

reply to post by kx12x


i saw the second movie

from what ive read and what i saw it was pretty good depiction of ancient naval battles.....with some Hollywood tossed in wont post spoilers as movie is like what only been out for five days? the movies while citing historical events are not portrayed historically accurately partially because they are based on the events in the graphic comics (god kings and whatnot)

the real history of the battle of Thermopylae was a perfect example of a last ditch holding action by superior equipped and trained troops (hop-lite Armour and spears,spartan training since birth and killing the weak babies) but numerically inferior force holding off a vastly superior force equipped with inferior technology(wicker shields and shorter spears and cloth Armour)and vastly inferior troop training(conscripts and draftees vs full time voluntary solders) and is regarded as one of the most important battles of the ancient world
en.wikipedia.org... (reference marathon)
en.wikipedia.org...
its also one of the better examples of using natural terrain as a force multiplier in where as the pass aided the spartan hop-lite syle of fighting by funneling the enemy in to their spears using a combination of the ancient wall and shear cliffs to force them into combat on the Spartans terms

furthermore it let the other Greek states evacuate some of their cities and prepare for the future battles against the Persian navy massing off the coasts of Greece near marathon and thus is another example of a holding action designed to delay the enemy so your troops/civvies can evacuate/get ready to do battle

the effects of this battle echoed throughout history all the way into our modern times as most second amendment advocates often quote king Leonidas famous quote of μολὼν λαβέ molṑn labé or "come and take them" . it also was one of the first (if not the first) case of a democratic people deciding their own fate as opposed to being told surrender or fight by their leaders as according to historical accounts each free spartan citizen (read male non slaves) was allowed to cast a vote to decide to fight or surrender (die on our feet vs living on our knees)

the spartans and by extension greeks also used psychological warfare to intimidate their foes as ill provide in the examples below the greeks/spartans were fond of battle songs/ poems called paean's
en.wikipedia.org...
such as the one uttered by the greek troops at the battle of salamis en.wikipedia.org...

Ὦ παῖδες Ἑλλήνων ἴτε, ἐλευθεροῦτε πατρίδ', ἐλευθεροῦτε δὲ παῖδας, γυναῖκας, θεῶν τέ πατρῴων ἕδη, θήκας τε προγόνων: νῦν ὑπὲρ πάντων ἁγών. Forward, sons of the Greeks, Liberate the fatherland, Liberate your children, your women, The altars of the gods of your fathers, And the graves of your ancestors: Now is the fight for everything.

additional things they normally did (not to intimidate their enemies but just cuz its what Spartans did) often had a psychological impact on their enemies such as this account from a spy of Xerxes during the battle of the hot gates
www.shsu.edu...

While this debate was going on, Xerxes sent a mounted spy to observe the Greeks, and note how many they were, and see what they were doing. He had heard, before he came out of Thessaly, that a few men were assembled at this place, and that at their head were certain Lacedaemonians, under Leonidas, a descendant of Hercules. The horseman rode up to the camp, and looked about him, but did not see the whole army; for such as were on the further side of the wall (which had been rebuilt and was now carefully guarded) it was not possible for him to behold; but he observed those on the outside, who were encamped in front of the rampart. It chanced that at this time the Lacedaemonians held the outer guard, and were seen by the spy, some of them engaged in gymnastic exercises, others combing their long hair. At this the spy greatly marvelled, but he counted their number, and when he had taken accurate note of everything, he rode back quietly; for no one pursued after him, nor paid any heed to his visit. So he returned, and told Xerxes all that he had seen.

the rest of that link goes into much more detail to post full explanation of the impact it had on Xerxes

Herodotus further expands on this in his account of what Xerxes was quoted as saying after interrogating captives of the battle
of Thermopylae upon finding out why there were so few greeks at the battle as most of them were at the Olympics en.wikipedia.org...

Herodotus describes the following story which is relevant to the olive wreath. Xerxes was interrogating some Arcadians after the Battle of Thermopylae. He inquired why there were so few Greek men defending the Thermopylae. The answer was "All other men are participating in the Olympic Games". And when asked "What is the prize for the winner?", "An olive-wreath" came the answer. Then Tigranes, one of his generals uttered: "Good heavens! Mardonius, what kind of men are these against whom you have brought us to fight? Men who do not compete for possessions, but for virtue."'[5]

Thanks for the thread OP S+ F

Go watch the movie in 3d ! It was awesome !



Humbly

LSH

To be fair, it wasn't only the Spartans and the Battle of Thermopylae that stopped the Persians.....While the Spartans were the undisputed champions on land, Greek sea power rested with Athens:

Battle Of Salamis

I would like to add in the memory of those who fought in Thermopyles, that apart from the 300 Spartans and Leonidas, there were 400 Thespieis, 400 Thibians and a few other Greeks. People tends to remember only the Spartans. But since we want to be fair, we must mention all of them.


Herodotos talked about 1,000,000 Persians followed by Xerxis. Newer "historians" bring that number down to 100,000. Of course, evidences from archaeological excavations, at different battles of which Herodotos described, come to verify the numbers the Greek Historian gave. For instance, he wrote about the Persian king Kamvisis and his 50,000 men who were trying to conquer the oasis of Siva in Egypt and the Greek oracle of Zeus there. As Herodotos wrote, a sudden sand storm, which was believed to be sent by Zeus to protect his oracle, hit the Persian army and burried the whole army in the sand. As later archaeological excavations in 2010 showed, massive numbers of skeletons were found in the position where Herodotos showed. Along with the skeletons, archaeologists found military weapons of the Persian army of that period so all clues were showing that the "mythical numbers" as it was once believed which Herodotos had wrote in his books are true.

Source: www.tovima.gr...

Yeah, you need a translator to read it but hey, it's written in the mother language of Herodotos.

reply to post by Akragon


Hell yeah Buddy, I think the times we live in are allowing us
to experience the courage of the ancients in bruttle unforgiving
times as they lived them. At least according to what history has
allowed to be handed down. Today cinemagraphic tech allows us
to exaggerate a bit for entertainments sake, but as I've said before!

If you can't make a good story better? Why tell it?

Hollywood at it's best recently.

SnF

The best bit of that film for me was the ending. I bet when faced with the whole Spartan army at Platea, the Persians were regretting ever stirring that particular hornets nest.

Years ago I read Thucidydes' history of the Peloponesian war and one of the passages that really hit home was how Sparta had weakened and it's decline was measured in how people celebrated victory, the gist being that when their power was at its zenith, victory was a given and not celebrated, the latter celebrations exposed the waning of their martial prowess.

reply to post by LABTECH767

Roman empire conquered greece (And macedonia)

Macedonia was always a greek state. It's like you were saying they took the USA and Washington.

reply to post by Hellas


True but the classical greek's especially the cultured athenians saw the macedonian's as little better than barbarian's though they were greek with a shared culture, Still whom could equal a Spartan.

tinner07
I do like history but not a student of it, ...are you saying the movie 300 and the battle described really happened?

It's a joke right ??

tinner07
I do like history but not a student of it, ...are you saying the movie 300 and the battle described really happened?

Well sorta.
Hollywood just portrayed the losing team, aka Greece and Sparta as some over exaggerated heroes.
so yeah, the battles did happen, just not the way you saw it in the movie.


I mean, these movies are clearly biased to make the "Europeans" look good and Persians look like terrorist Arabs lol.
I mean heck, a girl beside me was cheering... and every time a Persian died, she was like "stupid arabs hahaha"...


i could have set her straight on who the Persians are and who were the victors but she is probably too damaged to intake that information anyway. Though many others in the theater around her were not happy with her commentating(probably because they know the actual history)