Join leading academics for a discussion about Sparta at war
Why Thermopylae? i.e. Why was a battle fought there, in August 480 BC, and why did the Spartans fight it as they did? We are prisoners of our main source, Herodotus. He had visited Sparta and prized her Thermopylae experience highly, recognising its exceptionality but falling victim to the Spartan myth. He didn’t have privileged access to the thoughts of Leonidas - or the Spartan authorities in 480 BC. But he preserves some nice anecdotes and vital details often overlooked by subsequent writers – and film directors (Paul Cartledge)
In some ways Thermopylae was untypical of Sparta’s normal military practice. Its war-dead were commemorated annually, but honours for other fallen soldiers were low-key. In other military defeats Spartans did not always fight to the death. Sparta’s victories were based on well-organised drill and command structures rather than warrior heroics (Stephen Hodkinson)
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Leonidas and his companions devoting themselves to death, from The Illustrated History of the World (published 1881-1884). ©Wikimedia Commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Leonidas_and_his_companions_devoting_themselves_to_death.jpg
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