The Battle of Thermopylae… or, the ‘300 Spartans’ – Part 3 of 5 (480 BC)
While readying themselves for battle, the Spartans had rebuilt an old Phocian wall, which sat at the most defensible position in the pass – here, the cliffs squeezed the land to less than 20 yards across. Xerxes sent in the Medes to gather Greek prisoners, however because the Spartans were using the wall as a reference line for battle, it was said that the Greeks killed so many Medes during this wave of assault that Xerxes stood up from the seat where he was watching the battle three times, startled.
What battle tactics were used are not quite as well known, however it is likely that the Spartans led the rest of the Greeks in a phalanx formation, which is a wall of overlapping shields with spear points in between. This likely spanned the width of the pass, making the army’s front lines impenetrable. Since the Persians fought with short spears and arrows, there was no way for them to move past the points of the long spears. Some scholars have argued that in order for even one Greek soldier to be killed, it would have taken three Persian warriors working together.
It was then that Xerxes realized that his reserve unit of elite forces was needed: the Immortals. This was an elite corps of 10,000 men, but when Xerxes realized that almost the entire force had been cut down, he sent in another 20,000 men – and these also failed to get through the pass, even though many were whipped by their own generals in order to make certain they kept attacking. As for his own forces, Leonidas had arranged a shift-like system, whereupon fresh troops would spell each other on the front lines after a set period of time.
Realizing that not even his elite forces could break through the Greek lines, Xerxes recalled his army. The following day, another 50,000 soldiers were sent, and again met with failure. Considering the amount of Persian bodies on the battlefield by this point, it is highly likely that the mountains of corpses may have detracted from the Persian morale.
Indeed, it seemed as though the campaign of Xerxes against Greece seemed to be heading to a close, in favor of the Spartans and the other Greek allies…
Want to read more?
Tomorrow: The final stand
No comments yet
Leave a reply