The Battle of the 300 Spartans

By: Vahan SurabianEnd

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Table of Contents

1.) The Sides: Spartans 7.) About Me Persians

2.) The Myth 8.) Resources

3.) Pretext for War

4.) The Rumblings of War

5.) The Battle

6.) The Result

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Spartans

• Come from a area of Greece with a very hostile environment• Were not well liked by the other Greek City-States• All men were required to serve in the army till 65• Had two kings, One to lead the army and the other to lead the

country while at war • Had slaves that were called “helots”• Used spears, bronze shields and armor, had a sword as a last

resort. • Well trained army

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Persians

• Came from modern day Iran• Led by Xerxes the son of the famous Persian

king Darius • Persian Army was made up of soldiers from all

the nations in the Persian Empire• Were the great world power at the time• Fought with a range of different armor and

weaponry, from wicker shields and swords to bow’s and arrows

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The Myth

• Legend says that that 300 Spartans alone defended the hot gates at Thermopylae

• During the first day the Persian’s were said to have shot sow many arrows at once that it blacked out the sun

• The Persian army, according to myth, numbered over 1 million strong

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Pretext for WAR!• The Greek city of Ionia rebelled against the Persians first by not

paying their tax to the great power but then by armed resistance• The rest of Greece would soon come to the aid of the small city• Both of these events would lead to king Darius to take back the city

and invade the Greek mainland• He would be met with stiff resistance by both the Athenian naval fleet

and the Spartan army• At the battle of Marathon, the Athenian army would repeal a large

Persian force• Darius would die a year after the battle and would leave the kingdom

to his son Xerxes • Xerxes would make it his mission in life to take all of Greece and

complete what his father startedEnd

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The Rumblings of War

• The Persian army would cross into Greece in 480 B.C.E. • Xerxes will bring with him, in legend 2.5 million troops• This number is contested today and most scholars believe that

the number was closer to 200,000 • The Greek City-States would form an alliance that would bring

the strength of the Athenian Navy and the might of the Spartan Army together

• To try and stop Xerxes advance Sparta would send their King Leonidas with his body guard to Thermopylae

• Thermopylae was a narrow passage which could be defended by the small force of Spartans and other accompanying Greeks

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The Battle!• Xerxes Would send forward his troops into the teeth of the Greek

resistance at Thermopylae• He would also seat himself on the top of a hill so as to watch his

troops trample the Greeks• This played right into the Greek style of fighting• Using the Phalanx, heavy metal armor and weapons, the Greeks

were able to repeal the attacks for two days• After the first day of fighting, Leonidas and his Greek forces were

betrayed by a local• He gave Xerxes information about a goat path that would allow

the Persian army to surround the entire Greek Force• Video

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The Battle Cont.

• Knowing he had been betrayed, Leonidas sent the majority of his Greek forces back home Leaving him and a few thousand men to slow down the Persian advance

• On the second day of fighting the Greeks were asked one last time to surrender, this was not an option

• The remaining Greeks were then slaughtered by the Persian army

The Result

• The Greek forces would be wiped out at Thermopylae allowing the Persians to head further into Greece

• The Athenian navy which was holding the Greek’s flank broke it’s lines to fall back to the straits of Salamis

• The Greek navy would then fight and turn back the Persian fleet.

• The rest of the Greek force would fight the Persian army and eventually turn the Persians away

• The Spartans at Thermopylae would be immortalized for ever in myth and legend

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About Me

Hello, my name is Vahan Surabian and I am a student at Grand Valley State University. I am a History major and a political science minor. I hope you enjoyed my presentation on the battle of the 300 Spartans.

Questions? Comments? E-Mail Me Here!

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Resources

• http://www.canmag.com/nw/6273-300-zack-snyder• http://static.blogo.it/cineblog/300movie03.jpg• http://www.pixelmagicfx.com/features/300/images/

part1pics/part1_shot2_large.jpg• http://

movies.ign.com/dor/objects/40983/300/images/• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Thermopylae• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2IaHcshiwA

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