Term Paper on "Battle of Thermopylae"

Term Paper 5 pages (1518 words) Sources: 2

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Thermopylae

THE BATTLE of THERMOPYLAE

In 480 B.C.E., the great and mighty Persian Empire became embroiled in a series of wars with the Greek city-states (polis) in what some historians consider "one of the most profoundly symbolic struggles" in Western civilization. In essence, these wars between the Persians and the Greeks would help to decide "the viability of a new direction in Western culture" led by the Greeks and their devotion to democratic ideals and principles. In contrast to the ancient Greeks, the Persian Empire was a world of god-like kings in which the priests "stood guard over knowledge" and where emperors "treated even their highest-ranking subjects" as nothing more than slaves and second-class citizens. However, these differences between the two opposing forces did not serve as the basis for the Greco-Persian wars; in fact, one of the most astounding battles was fought less on "ideological and more universal factors," being "the personality of a king and the training and courage of an extraordinary band" of Greek warriors known as the Spartans who despite overwhelming odds came out on top during "a most memorable battle" at a place called Thermopylae ("Greco-Persian Wars," Internet).

In order to clearly understand how this great battle at Thermopylae came about, we must examine briefly the internal and external characteristics of the Persian Empire. Originally, the Kingdom of Persia took shape when King Cyrus who ruled from 560 to 530 B.C.E. established himself as Persia's first king by overthrowing the Medes monarchy. In 546 B.C.E., King Cyrus "acquired dominion over the Greek city-states on the western coast of Anatolia which "set the stage for the great conflict that erupted in the early 5th century" between Persia and the coalition of Greek city-states, being mostly Sparta and Athens (Martin, 97).

When Darius I (522 to 486 B.C.E) came to power, the Persian Kingdom covered a huge expanse of territory with a population numbering the tens of millions. The revenues generated by this vast empire made the Persian monarchy extremely wealthy and the king himself "was meant to emphasize his grandeur and superiority" to common mortals. As compared to the Greeks, Darius I and his empire possessed immense natural resources and millions of men who were transcripted into the mighty Persian army. Thus, in the eyes of the Greeks, Darius I was a powerful ruler and enemy and often referred to him as "The Great King" (Martin, 98).

Some twenty years before the Battle of Thermopylae, local factional strife among the Ionian Greeks led to a number of revolts against the tyrannies of the Persian Empire and its monarchy which had been installed after taking over the area. The Ionian Greek rebels then sent representatives to mainland Greece, seeking support in their on-going efforts to destroy all Persian influence and domination. However, once the Greeks realized the geography and dimensions of the Persian Empire, all plans to invade were put on permanent hold.

In 490 B.C.E., things came to a head at the Battle of Marathon which introduced the Persian army to what is known as a phalanx, made up of Greek hoplite soldiers. As Jona Lendering points out, this phalanx was composed of "heavily-armed soldiers which stood in long, parallel lines almost touching one another." Each of these hoplite soldiers were equipped with "large, round shields which covered the left side and the right side of the man to his left" and was therefore "very densely packed and could not easily turn to the left or to the right." As a result of this ingenious military tactic, the Persian army at the Battle of Marathon was roundly defeated and for decades after, the greatest honor a Greek could boast "was to say that he had been a Marathon fighter" ("Phalanx and Hoplites," Internet).

This newly-acquired Greek confidence helped to bring the people of Greece together to join in the resistance against the immense Persian invasion of their homeland in 480 B.C.E.. King Darius had vowed as a result of his defeat at Marathon to seek revenge against the Greeks, but since it took so long to bring his forces together, Darius died before his revenge could be launched against his Greek enemies. In 486 B.C.E., Xerxes I, the son of Darius, assumed power and laid plans for a massive invasion force of Persian infantry and naval ships against the Greek mainland. This army was so immense that the Greeks later commented that it required seven days and seven nights of continuous marching to cross the Hellespont, a narrow passage of sea between Anatolia and mainland Greece, just north of the site of the ancient city of Troy, a.k.a. Hissarlik in modern-day Turkey.

However, King Xerxes was somewhat reluctant to take on such a huge enterprise against the Greeks and "waffled over whether the long-delayed punishment of Athens merited such a far-flung" military campaign. But after having a dream which told him to invade Greece, Xerxes spent "four years gathering soldiers and stockpiling supplies from every corner of his empire" which resulted in "a colossal cosmopolitan army of armies," estimated to have been between 1.7 and 2.6 million men ("Greco-Persian Wars," Internet).

Prior to the Battle of Thermopylae, King Xerxes had every expectation that the Greeks would simply surrender without putting up a fight once they realized the massiveness of his army and navy. The city-states in northern and central Greece did indeed give up without a fight because their geographical location placed them directly in the line of the invading Persian forces, not to mention their small population which left them no hope of creating some type of effective defense against Xerxes. The important Boeotian city-state of Thebes some forty miles from Athens also supported the Persian invasion, "probably hoping to gain an advantage over its Athenian neighbors" in the aftermath of the expected Persian victory" (Martin, 103).

Nonetheless, thirty-one Greeks city-states located in southern Greece decided to create a military coalition to fight the Persian invasion. At first, these city-states were not in agreement over who should lead the attack against Xerxes, but after much discussion, they chose Sparta, due in part to possessing "Greece's most formidable hoplite army, well-trained in phalanx tactics and ruthless fighters on the battlefield" expressed so well in the Battle at Marathon (Martin, 104). As to a leader for this coalition, the Greek city-states first sought aid from Gelon, the tyrant of Syracuse, the most powerful Greek polis on the island of Sicily. However, this failed when Gelon demanded complete command of the Greek forces in return for his assistance, something which the Spartans and the leaders of Athens were unwilling to agree to.

Finally, the Greek polis coalition decided to allow Leonidas, the son of Anaxandrides, to become the commander-in-chief of the Greek armies. When news reached Leonidas of the approaching Persian juggernaut, he decided that the battle should take place at Thermopylae, a very narrow pass on the eastern coast of central Greece. His Greek forces, as compared to the Persians, "was ridiculously small for the challenge," made up of "300 Spartans, 80 Myceneans, 500 Tegeans and 700 Thespians" ("Greco-Persian Wars," Internet) for a total estimated at about 4,900 men. Nevertheless, this small force held off Xerxes' huge army for several days and Xerxes himself was flabbergasted that this paltry force did not immediately retreat when confronted with his massive army.

Geographically, Thermopylae was an ideal location for the battle, due to the pass being so narrow that the Persians could not employ their superior numbers to overwhelm the Greek hoplite soldiers who were magnificently skilled at fighting in close quarters. Thus, Thermopylae symbolized the Spartan's best chance "to stop or at least delay the Persian army long enough to allow their combined fleets to draw the Persian navy into a decisive sea battle." Also, this location was… READ MORE

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