Though it would have been nice for the movie to show this, the writers chose a different direction. Because the Greeks won this battle, the Persians went back to Asia in defeat. The Greeks offered so much resistance at Thermopylae, the Athenian navy was, in fact, able to organize and come up with a battle strategy that eventually enabled them defeat the Persian army.
However, the movie didn’t show what happened after the Persians moved on to Athens.Īs it turns out, Sparta’s military strategy worked. They vastly outnumbered the Greeks so many scholars argue that their victory was inevitable. The Spartans made an alliance with other neighboring city-states, who feared that a Persian victory at the battle would enable them to gain control of the region. However, they didn’t provide the majority of the soldiers. Yes, Sparta was responsible for the military battle strategy. Though there were three hundred Spartan warriors present at the battle, the number of actual Greek soldiers was closer to seven thousand. The Greeks positioned themselves so the Persians would be forced to fight them if they attempted to go through. They also managed to deplete a large number of Persian soldiers.īefore the Greek soldiers were betrayed by one of their own, the Persians only knew of one way into the pass at Thermopylae. Though the Spartan soldiers eventually lost their lives, they succeeded at this goal. Though the movie focused on the heroics of the Spartan soldiers at Thermopylae, their main function was to delay the Persian fighters in their push towards Athens so the Athenian navy could organize against an attack. They would also absorb the population of the conquered city-state into their slave culture. Prior to this, Sparta would expend a lot of energy conquering neighboring Greek city-states in an effort to expand their borders. The harsh military upbringing given to its male citizens has made its name. The Kingdom of Sparta is one of the most famous city states of ancient Greece. 5 Kings Who Made Sparta a Military Great. The main factor is that the major city-states, particularly Athens and Sparta, worked together. This is a picture of Leonidas from the movie 300 tools:3H,B,2B,4B,8B-blending stumps-kneaded eraser Hope you enjoy Leonidas 300. We know that Ancient Greece managed to avoid Persia’s attempts at conquest. Another reason city-states formed, rather than a central, all-encompassing monarchy, was that the Greek aristocracy strove to maintain their city-states’ independence and to unseat any potential tyrants.At the time of this battle, Ancient Greece was divided into city-states. The sea was often the easiest way to move from place to place. The two most well known city-states during this period were the rivals: Athens and Sparta. These physical barriers caused population centers to be relatively isolated from each other. The Classical Period or Golden Age of Greece, from around 500 to 300 BC, has given us the great monuments, art, philosophy, architecture and literature which are the building blocks of our own civilization. The landscape features rocky, mountainous land and many islands. Greek city-states likely developed because of the physical geography of the Mediterranean region. Rather than have a strong army, Athens maintained their navy. In Athens every male citizen had the right to vote, so they were ruled by a democracy. It emphasized maintaining a strong military, while Athens valued education and art. For example, Sparta was ruled by two kings and a council of elders. They differed greatly from the each other in governing philosophies and interests. There grew to be over 1,000 city-states in ancient Greece, but the main poleis were Athína (Athens), Spárti (Sparta), Kórinthos (Corinth), Thíva (Thebes), Siracusa (Syracuse), Égina (Aegina), Ródos (Rhodes), Árgos, Erétria, and Elis. The majority of a polis’s population lived in the city, as it was the center of trade, commerce, culture, and political activity. The Parthenon was a temple built to honor the goddess Athena. The temples and government buildings were often built on the top of a hill, or acropolis. A surviving example of a structure central to an ancient acropolis is the famous Parthenon of Athens. Characteristics of the city in a polis were outer walls for protection, as well as a public space that included temples and government buildings. Each city-state was organized with an urban center and the surrounding countryside. A city-state, or polis, was the community structure of ancient Greece.