King Leonidas I of Sparta | Reputation (300)

"No retreat, no surrender, that is Spartan Law"

An iconic film that is hilariously inaccurate, but I still love to watch it!

At the age of 7, a Spartan boy now comes under the direct control of the city of Sparta until his time of death. The boys left home to live in barracks, in an ancient boarding school known as 'Agoge'. The aim of this system primarily was to develop physical strength and were spurred on to fight one another. This brutal yet effective system created the greatest infantry ever known in the Ancient Greek world, Spartiates. Literally badass hoplites. I like that Leonidas says “In the end, a Spartans true strength is the warrior next to him” and this is what ultimately determines the effective of a phalanx. In the end, their rigid archaic system and way of life is what paved the way for their decline.

A Spartan had to follow their law otherwise face disownment from Sparta, even a King such as Pausanias of Sparta during the Corinthian War was forced to flee Sparta after facing trial for retreating from the battle of Haliartus. When Lycurgus, the legendary founder of Spartan Law envisioned a true Spartan, King Leonidas I was what he'd pictured. This is why king Leonidas I and his 300 Spartans during the battle of Thermopylae in 480BC were instant legends when word got back to Sparta and the Greek world about their sacrifice due to Spartan Messenger, Aristodemus of Sparta (David Wenham). This was consolidated in the writing of Herodotus in the Fifth Century BC. It's interesting to state that because he didn't die with his fellow Spartans at Thermopylae, he was branded a coward until his death at the Battle of Plataea in 479BC. This was the case for two other messengers, Pantities and Eurytus.

The Persian War is my favourite war of the Ancient Greek period. These 300 hand-picked Spartans were the personal bodyguards to King Leonidas as the Spartan army could not leave for war during a religious festival occurring in Sparta at that time. The 7,000 Greek allies at Thermopylae bought time for the rest of the Greek states to be ready for what was to come for mainland Greece. Due to the superior skill and Phalanx warfare, the battle ensued for 3 days until on the third, Greek scouts reported that a local man, Ephialtes had sold out to the Persians a way around the mountain. It was King Leonidas, 300 Spartans, and roughly an estimated 1200 Thespians, Helots, and Thebans who stayed behind in the mountain pass to defend the Greek retreat on a suicide mission effectively. Later at the battle of Plataea, the Spartans would command the land forces of the allied Greek City States to victory and end Xerxe's dominating presence in Greece.

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