The truth about King Leonidas, the 300 Spartans and the Battle of Thermopylae (Thermopylai) - The Battle of Marathon - Spartan warfare - The evolution of the Greek warriors (hoplites) and their tactics
Approximately 2,500 years have transpired since the Battle of Thermopylae and there are still several unresolved questions relative to this legendary battle. Dr. Andrew Yiannakis of the University of New Mexico, having led several expeditions to Thermopylae, the first of which commenced in the year 2000, has assembled a group of academics, archaeologists, authors and scholars whose objectives are to locate the site of the Phokian skirmish and to determine the path that Hydarnes’ Immortals used to surround the remaining Greek defenders.
TheLeonidas Expedition which is appropriately named after the Spartan king who died with his fellow Spartiates, will once again travel to Thermopylae in 2010. The cumulative knowledge which has been ascertained from the previous expeditions in 2000-2002 has narrowed the range to several possible locations. With the assistance of global positioning systems, metal detection equipment and satellite images, several of the questions which have eluded historians, scholars and students since 480 B.C., may finally be answered.
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In 480 BC
the Persian king Xerxes invaded Greece with nearly 1.8 million men at
arms (so Herodotus tells us, although the figure may have been closer
to 300, 000 fighting men) and an armada of nearly a thousand ships .
After marching across Thrace he turned south and prepared to engage a
small force of Greeks, under the leadership of the Spartan king
Leonidas, at a narrow pass called Thermopylae (The Hot Gates).
Herodotus writes that the Greeks had chosen this pass because the
terrain was unsuitable for cavalry charges and because it was narrow
enough to be defended by a small force. Estimates of the path's width
vary but most authorities believe that it was about 21 meters wide at
the Middle Gate. The Greeks fortified an old wall that the Phokians had
originally built (to defend themselves against attacks from the north)
and positioned themselves in front and behind this wall. It is unclear
how many Greek troops initially fought at Thermopylae (again estimates
range from 5,200-6, 000), but we do know that those who eventually
defended the pass to the end comprised of what remained of the original
300 Spartans (and their helots) under Leonidas and a contingent of
seven hundred Thespians. Four hundred Thebans were also involved in the
fighting but they surrendered to the Persians before the end of the
battle, on the third day. Thus, the total number who survived two days
of fighting and remained behind to defend the pass could not have been
more than 1500.
The battle raged fiercely for
two full days and the Persians made little progress against the Greeks.
Bodies lay everywhere and the battle often took place over the dead and
dying. Eventually, a local by the name of Ephialtes, hoping for a rich
reward, informed Xerxes of a path that led over the mountain of
Kallidromos, up a pass called Anopaia and down and around the rear of
the Greek forces. Herodotus informs us that the Immortals (probably
closer to 9000 who survived after two days of fighting) led by
Hydarnes set out on the evening of the second day of the battle (at
about the time of the lighting of the lamps), probably around 9 pm, and
marched all night until dawn when they came upon a force of a thousand
Phokian troops (around 5 am) who were guarding the path. A short
skirmish ensued and the Phokians, who were caught by surprise, and
against superior odds, scattered. Most retreated to a craggy mountain
top where they determined to make a final stand while others were
probably sent away as messengers back to Thermopylae. After regrouping,
the Persians pressed on and arrived behind the Greek lines some time in
mid morning, probably around 10 am. Their arrival could not have been
much earlier than this time because Herodotus tells us that Xerxes had
decided to delay his attack on that fateful day (probably because he
intended to coordinate his assault with the arrival of the Immortals).
After the battle had been in progress for some time, the Greeks were
informed that Hydarnes and his Immortals were amassing at the rear, on
the road from the village of Alpenoi. Since the Phokian wall was no
longer defensible the remaining Spartans and Thespians retreated to a
hillock immediately behind the wall where they resolved to make their
last stand. About this time the Thebans surrendered to the Persians.
Surrounded, and badly outnumbered, the Greeks died fighting to the last
man. The battle may have been over well before noon.
Picture of the battle site and the surrounding area. Dark lines indicate possible routes taken by Hydarnes and the Immortals
Various
estimates put the Greek losses at Thermopylae to between two and three
thousand while the Persians may have lost as many as twenty thousand
men. The bodies of the Greeks who died at Thermopylae were
buried in this hillock, where they made their final stand, and the
following lines were inscribed on a tablet, ( a modern version of which
may be seen today) over their grave, in honor of the fallen Spartans:
"O stranger passing by, go tell the Lacedaemonians that here, faithful to their bidding, we lie"
Commentary
While
the battle was technically won by the Persians, it was a great moral
victory for the Greeks. It helped to stiffen Greek resolve against the
invader and served to rally many Greek city states which, until that
point, were wavering as to which side to support. More importantly,
Thermopylae served to demonstrate Greek resolve and the superiority of
Greek armour and tactics, even against overwhelming odds. The battle
had a demoralizing effect on the Persians and their allies and this may
well have contributed to their defeat at Plataea, a year later. A year
later, in 479 BC, the combined forces (about 50, 000 men, Herodotus
notwithstanding) of several Greek cities, including a contingent of
about five thousand Spartans under Pausanias, soundly defeated a force
of over one hundred thousand Persians at the battle of Plataea.
This
decisive battle, together with the naval victory at Salamis, ended all
Persian ambitions of conquest in Greece, and the west. In fact, some
argue that it may have changed the future course of history for all of
western civilization.
Some Notes and Commentary On Anopaia and the March of the Immortals
The
path taken by Hydarnes and his Immortals is in some dispute. At least
four hypotheses have been advanced to explain the Persians' overnight
journey but none has been tested, systematically and convincingly
against topographical and temporal evidence.
We believe that it may be possible to reconstruct their route by
combining evidence from aerial photography, the writings of Herodotus
and other early writers, the works of modern explorers (e.g., Wallace,
Hignett, Grundy, Burn and Pritchett, among others) and the time
estimates we have regarding the length of the Immortals' march over
Kallidromos.
We
believe that the Immortals set out at about 9 pm, the time Herodotus
gives for "the lighting of the lamps." We also know from Herodotus that
they had Mount Oeta to their right and the Cliffs of the Tracheans to
their left. This suggests that initially they marched west before
turning south and then east between the two mountains (Oeta and
Trachis). The historian Pausanias was also of this opinion. This helps
us to fix the point where they crossed the Asopus and connected with
the Anopaia path which began at, or near the river.
We
know that a short skirmish against the Phokians took place at dawn,
probably around 5 am. This suggests that the Persians marched for about
eight hours to arrive at the point where the Phokians guarded the path.
We estimate that they may have covered (going uphill, and at night)
about thirteen miles (perhaps averaging about 1.6 or 1.7 miles per
hour, with breaks). Further, we are told by Herodotus that the skirmish
against the Phokians was a brief one. This may have lasted about half
an hour, including an additional half hour for arraying for battle,
regrouping after the battle and setting off again.
We
can also approximate their arrival time at Thermopylae because we know
that Xerxes gave the order for battle to begin later that morning,
around the time "the forum is wont to fill", which is thought to be
about 9 am. We propose, therefore, that Hydarnes arrived at Thermopylae
around 10 am and engaged the Greeks shortly thereafter. Herodotus tells
us the battle raged for some time before Hydarnes and the Immortals
arrived, so if Xerxes attacked the Greeks about 9 am, the battle would
have been raging for at least an hour before the Immortals joined in
the fray.
In
determining which path the Persians took over Kallidromos the above
factors need to be included in our analysis. In summary, we estimate
that Hydarnes set out at about 9 pm. He reached the crest at about 5
am, regrouped and engaged the Phokians soon after, perhaps for about
half an hour, then regrouped and shortly after descended the crest of
the mountain at a rapid pace to arrive behind the Greek lines, regroup
and then engage the Greek defenders some time after 10 am. This
suggests that the journey from the crest, where we believe they
encountered the Phokian defenders, to the Middle Gate took the Persians
about four hours. Wallace (1980) made the journey "in about five hours,
or a little less, allowing some time for my getting lost and stopping
to talk with shepherds." If we subtract 5 minute breaks on the hour
(which is not unreasonable for lightly armed men in good physical
condition) their total rest time over a thirteen hour period may have
been less than two hours. If they in fact arrived at about 10 am behind
the Greek line, regrouped and engaged the Greeks shortly thereafter, it
would have taken them a total of approximately 13 hrs. to make the
journey. If we subtract almost an hour for the Phokian skirmish, their
actual journey (including rest periods) would have taken them a total
of 12 hrs. In terms of distance traveled, therefore, we estimate that
they may have covered the first part of the trip (to the crest of
Kallidromos) at approximately 1.6 or 1.7 miles per hour (uphill and at
night which may also have required slightly longer breaks) and the
latter part of the trip (which was mostly downhill but over very rough
terrain) at nearer to 1.8 or 1.9 miles an hour (including one or two
breaks). We estimate, therefore, that the army covered about thirteen
miles before running into the Phokians and another 7 or 8 miles to the
Middle Gate and the Greek forces. Thus the total distance traveled by
the Persians is estimated to be about 20 or so miles (about 32
kilometers). These estimates are working hypotheses which we intend to
test on site in May of 2000.
It
should be possible, therefore, to fit this model (about 20 miles in
approx. 13 hrs., including breaks, regrouping after the skirmish with
the Phokians and again before the final battle at Thermopylae), if our
assumptions hold true, to one of the four paths scholars have suggested
was the one taken by Hydarnes and his Immortals. It should also be
possible to fix the location of the Phokian defense by working
backwards and using the Immortals' arrival time at Thermopylae of 10
am. as a starting point. If the engagement with the Phokians took place
at dawn, say about 5 am, and lasted for about half an hour, it would
have taken the Persians about 4 more hours (at a rapid pace) to arrive
at Thermopylae around 10 am. Further, we can assume that they made
better time from the skirmish site since the path is fairly wide and
descends rather briskly all the way down to the Alpenoi road. Traveling
this second part of the trip at an estimated average speed of 1.8 or
1.9 miles per hour (including one or two rest stops) it is our
hypothesis that the Phokian point of resistance on the Kallidromos path
(monopati) could not be further than 7 or 8 miles from the Middle Gate
(perhaps slightly less). Thus to determine the exact location of the
skirmish with the Phokians we need to look for a point on the path that
lies approximately 7 or 8 miles from the Middle Gate at Thermopylae and
about 13 miles from the Immortals' staging area in the Gulf of Malia.
We are in tentative agreement with Wallace (1980) that Nevropolis may
well be near the spot where the Phokians defended the path. We also
agree that Vardates may be the staging area. However, no conlusions may
be drawn at this point until we hike the various paths and our
hypotheses are tested against the three alternate hypotheses advanced
by other scholars proposing the Asopos Gorge, the Damasta Spur and the
Chalkomata Spring.
The
Greeks' final stand on the hillock did not last for very long. By now
Leonidas was dead, many were wounded or dying and weapons were damaged.
In any case, the final hour could not have been very noble for the
Persians, for they mostly kept their distance and killed off the
defenders with arrows, spears and other projectiles. We also believe
that some hand to hand combat may have ensued on the hillock, in the
closing moments of the battle, after the Persian arrows and spears had
incapacitated the remaining defenders (Herodotus tells us that the
Greeks died fighting with their bare hands and teeth). It would seem
that the Persians, now emboldened by the damage caused by their
archers, simply moved in for the kill against the wounded and unarmed
defenders who continued to fight to the very end.
Momument to Leonidas and the 300 Spartans at Thermopylae
Today, the hillock
(there is also some dispute as to which of two hillocks the Greeks
actually made their final stand) is not very high. When I visited the
site in the summer of 1999, I estimated it to be about fifty to sixty
feet in height. However, evidence from drilling around the pass
indicates that silting and erosion in the nearby hills may have raised
the level of the pass by close to 65 feet. That is, when the battle
took place in 480 BC, the level of the pass was lower by 65'. If this
is the case, the height of the hillock in 480 BC may have been closer
to 130' (or slightly more), which provides more room for soldiers to
position themselves and gives defenders a small tactical advantage
(fighting downhill). However, since the Persians failed to engage the
Greeks in hand to hand combat until near the end of the battle (we
think), it would appear that this advantage may have been of limited
value to the Greek defenders. But, it may explain why they chose it to
make their final stand.
Possible Site Of The Greeks' Final Stand - Kolonos Hill
