They Have Arrived (1731 hits)
Category: UberMadness! EntryRating: 2 on 5 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by youarsoghey (View user info) at 2004-12-03 15:59:03 EST
This post was an official UberMadness! entry. Click here to view the original matchup.
480 BC
King Leonidas of Sparta was a tall man with dark features, long hair, and a pointed beard. He ruled over nearly all of the Peloponnesian Peninsula along with another king. Although foreign to many other cultures, the dual monarchy was traditional in Sparta. Both kings technically had an equal amount of power, but Leonidas was the more powerful of the two because, like his father before him, he was in control of the army.
Everyone in Greece and beyond knew that the armies of Sparta were far superior to those of all other Greek city-states when it came to efficiency and strategic planning. That is why Leonidas' father, Anaxandrides, was named Commander-in-Chief of all Greek armies; a post that only existed when all Greek city-states were threatened by an invasion from a foreign power.
For Greece, there was just one foreign power with which to be reckoned: The Persian Empire. It could be said, without doubt, that theirs was the greatest empire in the history of man up to that point. Their territory stretched across nearly the entire known world. Ever since it was founded just over a half century before in 550 BC, Persian kings had been fanatical about the glory of conquest and the prospect of gaining new people, land, and trade routes.
In 480 BC, the Persian king, Xerxes, guided a massive force of 150,000 soldiers and 1,200 ships from the north down the Grecian Peninsula to attack all city-states on the path to Athens, instead of island-hopping his way from the Southern Aegean Sea to Attica, land of Athens. This plan was ambitious since the terrain of the Persian attack route was mountainous. It meant that he had to give up his advantage at sea, but Xerxes knew that it had to be done this way. Just ten years before, in 490 BC, Xerxes' father, King Darius I of Persia, had been viciously defeated by a coalition of Greek city-states after landing a seaborne force at Marathon, a small village just 25 miles east of Athens. However, his plan failed horribly and the Persians were forced to retreat. Xerxes knew he had to succeed where his father had failed; he had to take Athens.
The spring of 480 BC brought news from the north of Persian victories. Their bloody campaign from Hellespont southward had been a stunning success. Nearly all of Northern Greece was under Xerxes' control. Thrace had fallen. Macedonia had fallen. The Persians had even marched past Mount Olympus, the mythological home of the Greek gods, and into Thessaly. Not even Phthia or Malis, the legendary homes of Achilles and Heracles respectively, could withstand the overwhelming force of the Persian army.
As Xerxes and his army marched down the peninsula, his fleet of 1,200 ships sailed a parallel route southward along the coasts of Macedonia and Thessaly and eventually into Central Greece where they maneuvered their way into the Malian Gulf.
Since many city-states acted independently, and often times in spite of each other, there was not a total and unified Greek resistance to the Persian invasion. This meant that the Persian army swept through Northern Greece more simply than they might have against a singular force under the leadership of just a few generals or kings. Many city-states were neutral about the Persian advances, and some even welcomed it as a necessary change. The remaining city-states that resisted had to fight a massive army on their own to protect all of Greece from falling under the Persian Empire.
In April of 480 BC, following news of the Persian advances, the leaders of the Greek alliance against Persia, the Hellenic League, convened at the Isthmus of Corinth to discuss strategies to win the war against a Persian army that vastly outnumbered them. Leonidas rode there from Sparta where he met his father, Anaxandrides.
"It is good to see you, father," said Leonidas.
"My son!" said Anaxandrides with much excitement as he embraced Leonidas. He had not seen his son since he had given up his crown two years before. In the meantime, he had sailed all over the Mediterranean Sea in search of "one last adventure for an old man," as he often said.
"My son, Leonidas. King of all Spartans! Ruler of the greatest army in Greece! What troubling times we live in to have Thespians, Thebans, Athenians, Phocians, Spartans, and many others conversing peacefully under the same roof!"
"Yes, father," said Leonidas respectfully. "Very troubling. I meant to congratulate you on your being named Commander-in-Chief of all Greek armies. There is not a man alive more deserving of such a position. If they had given it to a Theban, I would have transplanted Sparta into the heart of Persia myself."
"Ha!" barked Anaxandrides. "Thank you, son, but my new position is not something of which to be proud. I have fought in many wars and I have seen too many brave, young men die unnecessarily. If not for the invading Persians, I would be living out my days on the great Mediterranean and Aegean Seas, precisely where I want to be."
For the next two days, the leaders of the resisting city-states developed a defensive strategy to fight the Persians. Anaxandrides proclaimed to all those present that if the Persians ever got through the mountains in Central Greece with their current numbers, the war would already be lost. The Greeks had excellent infantrymen, a competitive navy, brilliant commanders, and superb knowledge of the terrain in the south. However, they hardly knew anything about the land in the north. In the week following the conference, Anaxandrides sent 7,000 soldiers to the north under Leonidas' command to scout the mountains for good defensive positions.
In June and July, they scouted many sites that were deemed impossible to defend. Then they traveled to the sharp corner of the Malian Gulf, near the border of Central Greece and Thessaly. There, Leonidas realized the place where he needed to hold the Persians off:
Thermopylae.
This mountainous area dotted with sulfur springs lay at the very northern edge of the Phocian territories. There were three main passes (or gates) through the mountains that needed to be guarded:
The Middle Gate, the pass closest to the Malian Gulf, was the simplest to navigate, and therefore had to be guarded fiercely. The ancient Phocians had built a wall at the Middle Gate to protect against northern invaders.
The West Gate, whose existence was only known by the Phocians who lived there, was difficult, but possible, to navigate.
The East Gate, lay behind the Greeks and the Middle Gate, and was therefore inaccessible unless the Persians discovered the whereabouts of the West Gate.
Since the Persians did not know of the West Gate and therefore could not get to the East Gate, their strategy was simple: Attack the Middle Gate. Roughly 1,000 Phocians were assigned to guard the East Gate in case the Persians somehow managed to get there.
Three gates amidst hot, sulfur springs. Thermopylae: Hot gates.
The Peloponnesians made up most of the 7,000 infantrymen because the Athenians needed all of their manpower for their large navy, although it was still outnumbered by the Persian fleet. Among those from the peninsula known as Peloponnesus in the south were 300 elite Spartans brought by King Leonidas as a show of good faith and strength to all Greeks.
In August of 480 BC, on the day the Persians were expected to arrive at Thermopylae, Leonidas, King of Sparta, stood before 7,000 nervous men above the wall at the Middle Gate. Murmurs rippled through the crowd of soldiers. Messages had just arrived from the advance scouts that Xerxes, the Persian king, commanded no less than 150,000 infantrymen to their very spot.
"Men!" shouted Leonidas. "Spartans, Thebans, Corinthians, Phocians, Locrians...Greeks!" All 7,000 men grew quiet as the Spartan king addressed them. "I stand humbly before you in awe of your ability to ignore your differences in a time of great peril. Our past and the ways of our people must be set aside to conquer this foe. We all come from independent kingdoms, but we must stand as one to beat the massive Persian empire!"
"But Leonidas," cried a Theban from the front of the crowd. "They march 150,000 strong! I cannot imagine so many blades of grass in a plain, much less soldiers in an army."
Leonidas frowned at the Theban's remarks. Thebes had always been known as one of the most cowardly of the large city-states. In Sparta, all men were soldiers at some point in their lives, and through extensive training, every last Spartan man became an elite warrior with no fear.
"My dear comrade," said Leonidas loudly so all of the men could hear. "The size of one's army does not determine the outcome of a battle. The combination of superior strategy, loyalty, and, most of all, willpower is what turns an ordinary group of men into victors.
"My fellow soldiers! Do not allow logic and reason to diminish the size of your hearts! Yes, we face an army that outnumbers us 20 to 1, but that does not mean they have the advantage. We are Greeks and they are Persians. We fight on our home land to defend that which is ours by law. They fight on a foreign soil in the name of conquest and revenge for our victory in Marathon ten years ago.
"I look around and I see 7,000 men from many different places in Greece. I, and 300 of the men in this crowd, come from Sparta. We are a simple people from a simple place, but we stand here with the Phocians and the Locrians in defense of their home land despite past grudges. The strength of our culture comes from the strength of our autonomy, and so we must remain Greeks and not Persians."
"Leonidas," shouted one of the Phocians. "The Persians may not have superior will or strategy, but what of their weapons?"
Leonidas paused for a moment in thought. He then said, "I remember Marathon as if it had only happened recently. Scores of Persians landed on the shores of Attica as we waited patiently for them to attack. One-by-one the Persians prepared their lines and as they stood there, it looked as if they were dressed for a parade rather than a battle!" The men laughed as Leonidas described the typical Persian soldier.
"The Persian fighter wears a brightly colored, sleeved, knee-length tunic. Underneath, he wears an iron-scaled breastplate to protect his torso, but he has neither helmet nor gloves. He wears a felt hat or a turban on his head, while his lower body is covered either by a pair of trousers or a long, draped robe. This gaudy man wears gold jewelry, even into battle! His shield is smaller than a Greek shield and made of wicker rather than our wood or bronze plating. He has a smaller spear than our long pikes, which puts him at a significant disadvantage. He carries a small dagger which is much shorter than a Greek sword. However, unlike us, he carries a quiver full of cane arrows with bronze or iron points and a monstrous bow with ends that are shaped like animal heads.
"I look at one of my Spartans, Dieneces for instance, and I see a warrior dressed for battle. With a bronze helmet, breastplate, and greaves, Dieneces is practically sheathed in metal! He has a bronze shield, perfectly crafted to properly deflect enemy blows. Above all else, I know that any men under my command could fight naked with no weapons and succeed with the superior will of a god!" The crowd roared with confidence.
Along with these weapons, the typical Spartan was dressed slightly differently from the other Greeks. He wore a crimson-colored, sleeveless, wool tunic extended from his waist to his mid-thigh. Like Leonidas, the Spartans all had long, dark hair that ran out from under their helmets, while a horsehair plume swayed above it. The long hair and plume, both Spartan trademarks, were meant to look fearsome to enemies, who usually tried to avoid the elite Spartans as much as possible.
"But Leonidas," shouted the Theban who had spoken up before. "You mention a quiver of bronze-tipped arrows and yet you're not worried?"
"Look how you're clad, man!" yelled Leonidas. "You wear bronze on all places above your waste and you carry a bronze shield in your hand. If properly organized into a phalanx, a bronze arrow will bounce harmlessly off our ranks and never penetrate a single Greek. My good friend Dieneces told me that he does not mind if the Persians' barrage of arrows is so thick that it blocks out the Sun; Spartans prefer to fight in the shade." The men laughed.
"Now we wait," said Leonidas. "We wait for the Persians to arrive. In the meantime, the Phocians must go to the East Gate, where they will stand guard in the event of a catastrophic failure...which I do not foresee. All others must stay here and prepare to stand guard on the Phocian Wall at the Middle Gate."
A few hours passed and the confidence of the soldiers, boosted by Leonidas' speech, did not waver. As the Sun stood tall in the sky and the waves pounded softly on the shore, the rumbling sounds of 150,000 Persian soldiers' footsteps were heard to the north and west. It was a soft growl that grew into a resounding and continuous thunder after a few minutes. Then, almost suddenly, they could be seen on the horizon. The army was greater than any the Greeks had ever seen. A sea of people dressed in colorful tunics marched toward Thermopylae. In just thirty minutes, Xerxes had assembled a massive army on the great plain just one quarter mile away from the Middle Gate.
"They have arrived," said Leonidas quietly. "They are here."
Leonidas looked around at his men and saw panic in the eyes of all but the Spartans and the Thespians who were both known as brave fighters. He turned to the men and shouted, "Do you see that, men? I look across this great plain and I see 150,000 people and not a single man among them! We stand 7,000 strong as men! We will do no less than fight to the death against these wretched invaders!
"But before you fight today, think of this one thing: Would you rather have your wives and children pay homage to King Xerxes or to their fallen fathers, heroes of Greece? We have the horrible misfortune of having to deal with the first option, and we have the glorious luck of being given the second!"
Just then, Xerxes gave the order to attack the Middle Gate. The roar of the Persian army was deafening, but above it every Greek could hear King Leonidas of Sparta shout his last preparatory words.
"My comrades, my allies, my friends! Choose wisely and we might live to see another day, but remember that we fight so that our loved ones get to see many more as Greeks!"
The battle started with wave after wave of Xerxes' men attacking the Middle Gate, but each thrust by the Persians broke on the long Greek pikes. Xerxes, the great Persian warrior king, who was seated safely behind the lines on his high-backed throne, jumped in horror three times at the site of his soldiers getting decimated by the Greeks. Most of the 7,000 Greek infantrymen fought so bravely on that first day that they indeed got to see another day. After yet another glorious spurt of fighting on the second day, most of the Greeks were still alive against all odds.
At the end of the second day of fighting, a local Greek man by the name of Ephialtes accepted a cash bribe from Xerxes in exchange for valuable information and a duty. Ephialtes told Xerxes about the West Gate over the mountains, whose path led to the East Gate, which was behind the Middle Gate, and he promised Xerxes to show the way to 9,000 Immortals, the name given to the elite Persian troops.
After traveling all night, the 9,000 Immortals caught the 1,000 Phocians guarding the East Gate completely by surprise and forced them to retreat to the south, out of the way of the battle. As word got back to Leonidas and the Greeks about the force approaching from the rear, many soldiers deserted. On the morning of the third day, just 1,300 soldiers remained at the Middle Gate. There were the nearly 300 remaining Spartans, 700 Thespians, and 300 untrustworthy and cowardly Thebans who were consistently urging Leonidas to surrender.
When Xerxes attacked from the front with his main force, as he had done on each previous day, and the rear with the 9,000 Immortals, the Thebans immediately surrendered. Xerxes accepted their surrender and counted them as allies, but he branded the royal insignia on all of the Thebans' foreheads to mark their new positions as slaves in the Persian Empire.
Instead of the 1,000 remaining Thespians and Spartans battling the Persians from both sides of the Phocian Wall, they came out and attacked the 9,000 Immortals head on and inflicted severe casualties. Every Greek that fought on the third day, including King Leonidas, did so to the death.
At the end of the third day, when the fighting was finished, Xerxes surveyed the battlefield in disbelief. There, at the foot of the Phocian Wall at the Middle Gate, lay 4,000 dead Greeks.
More than 20,000 Persians were dead.
After two days of successfully holding off an army that outnumbered the Greeks 20 to 1, the treachery of a local Greek man won the day for the Persians. But as Xerxes walked across the battlefield and came upon the corpse of Leonidas, he knew that he had suffered far too many casualties to call the battle at Thermopylae a victory.
Xerxes ordered his men to cut off Leonidas' head and place it on a post high above the Middle Gate. Despite the purpose of this gesture, all of Greece heard of this and knew that the Persians, who usually respected their fallen enemies, were truly scared of the Greek resistance.
The naval battle at Artemisium between the 1,200 Persian triremes and the significantly smaller Athenian fleet was also a stunning success for the Greeks. Before retreating north, the Persian fleet lost nearly half of its ships due to inferior strategizing and poor weather.
Aside from the large amount of soldiers lost by the Persians, the last stand at Thermopylae rallied support from nearly all city-states in Greece and viciously hurt the morale of the Persians. The losses suffered by the Persian army and navy directly led to their crushing defeat at Plataea one year later. Xerxes would never achieve his goal of conquering Athens.
When the war was over and Greece was returned to a state of normalcy, a memorial was set up at Thermopylae for the dead. A plaque was placed near the Phocian Wall at the Middle Gate. It read:
Go tell the Spartans, thou who passeth by,
That here, obedient to her laws, we lie.
User Reviews
Submitted by thaumaturge (user info) at 2005-01-18 11:53:10 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by SullyThePirate (user info) at 2005-01-16 20:25:40 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by ParlorTrick (user info) at 2005-01-16 16:47:49 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
There is no way that anything even romotely like this could ever come out of my head.
Submitted by Spooner (user info) at 2005-01-16 15:28:36 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Fuck you, nigger!
Submitted by spedmonkey (user info) at 2005-01-16 12:51:53 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment