Are the 300 Spartans real?

Question

How can just 300 guys fight 10000000 persians? I mean by if they can kill one million persians, that mean persian soldiers are like 3 years old boys with plastic swords. Ancient Greek was full of mythologies so i think it would probably a myth. What do you think?

Answer 1

Well, the Battle of Thermopylae was fought in a small pass, with (according to Wikipedia) 300 Spartans and 2000 other Greeks defending against the Pesians.  Presumably in a small pass, numbers don't mean so much - apparently it was only 100m wide, and only so many men can fight in such a narrow area.  And they did all get wiped out, but kinda demoralised the Persian Army in the process (f*ck, we have to keep fighting these guys?).  

The story comes mainly from Herodotus.  If you read that wikipedia page, his story is every bit as cool as the movie (which seems to have lifted a bunch of quotes from him).  There's some archaelogical evidence of the battle as well (see the wiki page again), with lots of Persian arrowheads located on a hill.

Another quote from wiki: "The pass still is a natural defensive position to modern armies, and British Commonwealth forces in World War II made another defense against the n**i invasion meters from the original battle field."  Fascinating.

Answer 2

As recorded by classical writers, the history probably has some truth to it, but following the traditions of classical writers, certain liberties and biases have probably been made.  One should especially be careful when he or she reads classical Greek and Roman authors, and believes that these men did not lie as well.

Answer 3

There were 300 Spartans there but the movie fails to mention  that at the Battle of Thermopylae, the rear guard defending the pass with the 300 Spartans also consisted of approximately 3000 other soldiers from various Greek city/states.

The total number of Persians at the battle was probably between 100,000 - 200,000.

Answer 4

As envisioned by Frank Miller, no;

1)  No way in freaking h**l, would a Spartan woman allow herself to get raped the way she was in the now famous movie.  The real Queen Gorgo would have castrated him with a broken cup first, before allowing herself to be used and humiliated like that.  Remember when Gerard Butler said "clearly you don't know our women..." yeah well, clearly Director Zack Snyder didn't know Spartan women.....

2)  The story looks more like something that would have taken place in ancient Britain, rather than Greece.  The ancient Celts, wore little to nothing, just like in that movie, the Spartans though were a little bit smarter and wore armor.

3)  They did not kill 1 million persians; Xerze's army numbered, indeed, a whoping half million and of the at half million, Leonida's Spartans killed 50,000.  A staggering number but, please use your imagination here; say you have high cliffs along the ocean, with a walkable pass, wide enough for only about 150 men.  That means that only 150 men at a time, can attack.  There is one line of 150, then another, then another, and another.  Add it up and you have a line, 150 men wide, with enough ranks numbering roughly 50,000.  If you keep a tight phalanx formation, the Spartans were a lawnmower or combine, while the Persians were grass or stalks of weat.  The Spartans cut them down, the way a harvester cuts down crops.  You can think of the Spartan Phalanx, the way you would a crop harvester.  While seemingly stronger, the Persians never had a chance.  Would it be possible for 300 men, plus 1,000 Thespians, to kill 50,000 Persians?  Again yes; remember that every Spartan had been trained from early childhood to fight, while your average Persian received only about a year of training for the army.

The death toll incurred on the Persians, considering the nature of the Phalanx formation, how narrow the pass was, and the well-beyond-even-modern-spec-ops-soldier... discipline of the Spartans, meant that the death toll on the Persian side was every bit as horrifying as the historians described it, that was no myth.  It would not be the last time it would happen in history either; Hernan Cortez, ironically enough, had a force of 300 Spaniards.  The soldiers of Cortez's Spain, used a Phalanx like formation, they got together to form a shield wall which, naturally against the nearly naked Aztecs, they basically, well, "crop harvested" them.  Trust me, when I tell you, the Aztecs are extinct; between the Spanish phalanx like formation, and nearly 100,000 pissed off fellow natives they had exploited, they were slaughtered into extinction.  Everyone in southern Mexico by the way, in Cortez's time, spoke Nahuatl; it was the most common tongue.  The only reason the Aztecs were adopted as Mexico's defacto national tribe, was because they were symbolic of anti spanish resistance, when the truth is the Aztecs were every bit as cruel.  Also something else you should know; Aztec men, averaged 6'0 in height or more, with Monteczuma, having stood at a whopping 6'4.  The girls average 5'10.  How many full blooded native american Mexicans do you see who are 6'0 tall or more?  The ones that are usually have European floating around in their genes; the aztecs are extinct man.  You don't honestly think that after all those years of human sacrifice, all the tears shed by the sacrifice victims of families that the surrounding natives would not be thirsting for revenge now do you?  The truth may never be known; the Spaniards burned too many books, their version of the history isn't trusted, and genetic tests are out of the question because, to an electron microscope, all native americans look alike.  

Regarding the Spartans, you do have a valid point; Greek literature is full of myth but see, that is why Herodotus invented history, to separate fact from fiction.  Also; do not consider a myth, the number of 50,000 Persians killed.  There are people who disbelieve, for example, that boxer Mike Tyson really was as powerful as he was in his prime.  There are people who disbelieve that p**n star Houston screwed 600 guys.  Nevertheless, Tyson could hit hard, and the Houston thing was taped.

What I am trying to say is, that our modern society is so arrogant, that numbers given on Spartan successes may be met with disbelief, simply because it wasn't American civilization who did something similar.  That is, just because modern American soldiers didn't do it, that automatically is grounds to believe, that ancient peoples didn't do it either, especially the non-anglo Spartans.

But the fact is, you put men in a narrow corridor, it is the men with the best training, preferably a whole lifetime, who have the advantage.  Additionally the Spartans had chest plate armor, armor around their forearms and shin guards as well, in addition to helmets.  And beneath all that, a crude form of a kevlar like material.  Whereas all the Persians had was their clothes, a wooden shield and a  

Answer 5

it was just a movie, not a real event.

Answer 6

Hi there!

History tells us that there were about 1000 Greeks (300 Spartans and 700 Thespians). They fought in Thermopylae but did not kill one million Persians!!! They were defeated, in the end...

I haven't watched the movie "300" but if it was this movie that made you wonder if it's real, I should inform you that I believe it contains a lot of things that didn't really happen... So do movies like "Alexander" and "Troy"

However, being Greek I'm really glad you were interested!!!

Answer 7

it may sound stange, but it was actually the truth

the 300 were not alone. Originally there were over 10 000 defenders and blocking the narrow pass (betwen a cliff and the sheer drop to the sea) was perfectly feasible.

Bear in mind that they did not have to fight ALL the 1 milion persians- only a few could be thrown against the Greek shield wall. Even more- crowding did not help- simply because the attackers were pushing each other off the cliff into the sea. So the persians had to use relatively small units, and lost time getting organised, retreating, reforming, etc.

Time is the only thing you cannot regain in war. Lost time meant thousands of tons of supplies which the standing army was consuming. Huge amounts of water. grass for the horses. wood to cook the meals...

And also the refuse- I know it might sound funny but remember those were the days before "real" medicine - and multiply an upset stomach by 1 milion men, add contaminated water...

The idea of the defense was to stop the Persians for long enough until their army gets sick, runs out of food, or both

After they were surrounded the bulk of the greeks retreated. What was left behind were about 1 thousand men- the Spartans and some volunteers

Why?

Not because they were bloody minded suicidal maniacs.

Simply because the Greeks were mostly heavy infantry. And the Persians had lots of cavalry. If the pass had been left open, the cavalry would have caught the retreating Greeks in the open and cut them to pieces. Or simply delayed them long enough for the Persian infantry to catch up.

So the Spartans stayed. Probably because they were the most effective fighting men- meaning the "blockade" could be made of 300 Spartans or 3000 other Greeks...

Herodotus reports they held the "cork" for three days and nights, attacked from the front, the rear and from above. Buying time for the rest of the army to retreat to safety in good order, with arms and armour intact. Many of them were in the ship crews at Salamis- and smashed the Persian fleet

Leonidas and his men lost their last fight. But they won it too- at Platea. There the persian army faced not 300 Spartans- but 45 000. And these Spartans anihilated the Persian army- even though it was 6 times larger that theirs

Truth is sometimes stranger than fiction