Category: Battle of Thermopylae
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Betrayal Crushed Sparta’s Last Stand at the Battle of Thermopylae
In early June of 480 B.C., a mighty Persian army crossed the Dardanelles strait on two pontoon bridges to continue a brutal advance into Greece. Led by the great king Xerxes, the troops were bound for Thermopylae, a narrow mountain pass named for the area’s hot sulphur springs (Thermopylae means “hot gates”). Seated on the…
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The Battle of Thermopylae: When the Greeks Fought to Defend Western Civilization
The great Battle of Thermopylae and the valiant fight of 300 fearless Spartans under the command of warrior King Leonidas against 10,000 elite Persian soldiers is one of the most brilliant moments in ancient Greece’s history. And in retrospect, it proved to be no less than a fight for the defense of Western Civilization itself.…
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True Motives of the Spartans at Thermopylae
This year is the 2,500th anniversary of the Battle of Thermopylae, when the Spartan king Leonidas and around 5,000 Greek warriors stood boldly against hundreds of thousands of invaders led by the Persian king Xerxes. For two whole days, Leonidas and his men held off the Persians at a narrow pass in central Greece, killing…
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History of Ancient Greece: Analysis of the Battle of Thermopylae
Ancient Greek warfare and conflict was a common reoccurrence during archaic and classical periods due to the fact that the city states were quarrelsome whether it be because of religious difference ( the worshiping of different Greek gods) , political and philosophical differences. The common soldiery of ancient Greece were free citizens primary consisted of…
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Essay on History: Spartan Mirage and the Battle of Thermopylae
The theory of the Spartan Mirage was first coined by Francois Ollier in the 1930s. Francois Ollier was a French historian who published a book titled ‘Le Mirage Spartiate’. The book outlined the effect of distortion of Sparta found in ancient writers like Xenophon, Plutarch, and Herodotus. These books have created a picture that the…
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Historical Essay: General Overview of the Battle of Thermopylae
The battle of Thermopylae, under the king Xerxes (486-456 BC) the Great son of Darius the Great, was another victory for Persians in the fifth century. The Persians were advancing on the battleground with their full might. Five million, two hundred and eighty-three thousand, two hundred and twenty men excluding the cooks, women, and concubines…