Battle of Thermopylae is to 300 as The Battle of Marathon is to?

Question

So the battle of Thermopylae was basically the battle between the 300 Spartan's and the Persians right? So then 10 years after that (490 BC) the battle of Marathon takes place with Darius the 1st of Persia and who from Greece? Was the Battle of Marathon basically a battle on the beach with the Greeks over the Persians then taking over the rest of Persia?

I'm just trying to clarify the similarities/differences of these 2 battles.

I always give best answer!

Answer 1

The Battle of Marathon was first , in 490BC. It was King Darius I first attempt to conquer all of Greece. The battle was won by the Athenians, the people of Athens.

The Battle of Thermopylae was ten years later, in 480BC. The Persians were lead led by Xerxes, and it was a Persian victory.

P.S.

Initially the Greek army at Thermopylae was 7000 strong, the Persians 80,000. After the third day the Greek army withdrew and left a rearguard delaying force, led by King Leonidas, consisting of the 300 Spartans, the movie fails to mention that the rearguard also consisted of 400 Thebans, 700 Thespians, 900 Helots, and 1000 Phocians.

Answer 2

Wrong in most respects.  First, the battle of Marathon was fought in 490 BC, ten years BEFORE Thermopylae.  At Marathon, some 10,000 Athenians and 1,000 Plateans routed a Persian force whose numbers have been variously estimated, but might have been anywhere from 20,000 to 80,000.  It is important to remember that, by chance, the Persian cavalry (their elite troops) were not present at Marathon.

Thermopylae was only ever intended to be a delaying action.  A mixed force of about 5,000 Greeks blocked the pass against Xerxes' huge army.  On finding that they had been outflanked, most of the Greeks withdrew, but 300 Spartans and 700 Phocians made a last stand.

Later, the Perisan navy was destroyed at the battle of Salamis, forcing Xerxes to abandon his invasion plans.  He withdrew the bulk of his forces, leaving about 150,000 behind, who were crushingly defeated at Platea by 80,000 assorted Greeks.

Answer 3

Marathon was fought 10 years before Thermopylae and the Spartans did not attend as they could no get a dispensation to fight during the Carnea (religious festival).  The major  players in Marathon were Athens and Darius (who is Xerxes's father) The Greeks suckered the Persians into a narrow valley and retreated drawing the Persians into a trap.  The persians did not have a chance to even get their famed cavalry off of the ships.  Darius never got over the insult and for tthe rest of his life a slave whispered in his ear before each meal 'remember the Greeks'.  Xerxes attempted to avenge his father's loss at Marathon be burning Athens which he did.  The battle of thermopylae delayed the Persian army enough so that Athens and her other allies has time to mount a defense and defeat the Persians at Platea about a year after Thermopylae.  After that, the Persians did not again invade Greece.  (Footnote most of the citizens of Athens had left the city so loss of life was small) Sparta did play a large role at Platea.

Answer 4

Read the full story here -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_m...

That's the best way of understanding it all.

Answer 5

Don't know the full answer, and cant remember the details, but the battle of Thermopylae had more people fighting against the Persians than 300 Spartans. After watching the film 300 i was curious about the battle so i googled it and got loads of info. I would recommend you do the same for both battles to get all the info you want.

Answer 6

The battle of thermopylae is to 300 as the battle of marathon is to 11,000.

As some have stated above however, there were more greeks at thermopylae engaged in a delaying action in a mountain pass than the 300 shown in the movie.  The battle of marathon was a set piece battle on an open plain 10 years earlier.

Answer 7

The Battle of Thermopylae is to 300 as The Battle of Marathon is to....Gladiator.

Yes, I know...Gladiator involved a fictious Roman commander turned slaved initially fighting against the Northern tribes.  That movie (Gladiator) has about as much relevance to Marathon (in which Roman legions with superior tactics defeat the Germans) as Thermopylae has to the Movie 300.

1.  In 300, almost all of the facts and depictions are wrong.  The movie is based on a comic strip which is loosely based on a work of fictions ("Gates of Fire") which is based a series of books (fiction and nonfiction) which are driven by  a centuries old historical text mostly by Herodotus.  

2.  Let me point out a few things (besides the stylistic issues like Xerxes probably bore no resemblance to the dude in the movie).

--Leonidas doesn't live to reach the hillock (where the Greeks are anhiliated by a storm of arrows).  He dies much earlier in the battle and has his head chopped off, body dragged around by a chariot and this is crucified.

--There are't 300 Spartans.  Those are only the Spartiates and Knights.  There are more than 1,000 Spartans and probably 5-7,000 Greeks all-told at Thermopylae.

--The Festival of Carnea doesn't prevent the other Spartans from joining the fight.

--The Spartans would have fought in phalanx, not been bare chested, all would have had shoulder length hair.

--furthermore, the Spartans in "300" talk entire too much.  This was a society that responded to a written threat about how "if we entered Sparta" everything would be leveled and destroyed with a counter response message to the opposition that read only "if".

So the real "Hot Gates" bears almost no resemblance to the movie "300".

3.  Major differences between Marathon (and Plateaa for that matter) and Thermopylae.  

--Thermopylae was a delaying action in confined space with a limited number of Greek forces fought over a number of days (which included a raid on Xerxes camp at night).  

--Marathon was still confined but was a far bigger battle (in terms of greek forces) in more open space.

--Plateaa was the period's version of Kursk (ie: all the heavy hitters on a wide open plane for with heavy casualties.  The greeks even put helots--slaves--to fight at Plateaa).  

--Plateaa (which came after Thermopylae, 1 year after), and Marathon (which was 10 years earlier) were both tactical and strategic victories for the greeks--they ended the Persian threat.  Thermopylae was a tactical victory for the Persians (all but 2 Spartans were killed, evidently a mass of soldiers from Thebes also surrendered) but strategically a win for the greeks in that it delayed the Persians long enough to buy the greeks a winter to get organized.