Modern people fight wars and rely on science and technology, and ancient people fight wars and rely on force. And the Greeks fight, half by faith, three points by handsomeness, and the rest of the points depend on luck!
The left hand holds the shield, the right hand holds the blade, the helmet is red robes, the invincible momentum is there, the eight-pack abs, the muscle lines are healthy, except for the key parts are almost completely naked. Yes, this is how the Greeks fought, and if they were not afraid of insulting Sven, they would have been very likely to go bare.
Stills from Spartan 300 Warriors
At the other end of the battlefield was a million Persian troops. At his feet were the legions of the undead, the troops of elephant soldiers, and the Mutant Blood Weapon, and above the throne was Xerxes the Great, who was covered with iron rings and full of extravagant decay.
In the artistic expression of film, this technique is called contrast montage. Needless to think, the Greeks were symbols of glory and justice, while Persia was the evil aggressor. In line with the consistent Hollywood film model, it is natural that evil is punished and Greece is reborn.
Before I knew about this war a few years ago, I had thought that the Persians were as vulgar and disgusting as in the movies, full of money and power, and the smell of copper, and did all kinds of dirty work to win the victory.
But when you confront this history, you may find that history, as the mouthpiece of the rulers, does not necessarily serve only the truth.
Xerxes, stigmatized by the Western world, lost the heroic rulings of the original Persian Emperor and became a tyrant and even an arrogant fool. If Xerxes had succeeded in his expedition and successfully occupied Greece, and there would have been no Western world since then, barbarism would not necessarily be truly barbaric.
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A well-known Battle of Marathon foiled the myth of Persia's invincibility, and the Persian army was defeated by the Greek coalition army that took advantage of the terrain in the Marathon Plain. When a nail was touched on the way to annexation, Persia was naturally more angry, and as an ancient Chinese emperor, when encountering this kind of diaomin, it was necessary to say that it was necessary to strain the Nine Tribes to relieve their anger.
Illustration of the Battle of Marathon
Thus, in 486 BC, Darius the Great, who had not succeeded in occupying Greece on two expeditions, left the plan of the third expedition to his successor, Xerxes I, before his death. Darius died with hatred, and his son Xerxes inherited the legacy, and in order to complete the goal early, he let a squire punch in every day to remind himself that the revenge had not been repaid. In the face of the stubborn resistance of the Greeks, Xerxes, who flowed with the blood of the noble king, naturally had to use iron blood.
According to the historian Herodotus in his book History, Xerxes gathered an army of 5 million to conquer Greece, a figure that was apparently exaggerated more than two thousand years ago. Although Persia was vast and had a large population, it was almost impossible to form an army of 5 million people, and under the technical conditions of the time, the supply of a million troops was even more difficult.
Of course, this does not obscure the fact that Xerxes was trying to subdue Greece. Why "subjugate" Greece? Wasn't Greece an independent city-state? But in the eyes of the Persians, this "subjugation" was not due to the vanity of an emperor, but because the battle had a certain military and political necessity.
The causes of the Greek-Persian war go back to a plea for help from Miletus.
More than ten years before the war, a group of Miletus came to Athens to move the troops. Because the Persians were too enslaved and oppressive, they needed to find a stronger force to help Milidus get out of the sea of suffering.
The Miletus were part of the Ionian tribes and settled on the Aegean coast, along with the city-states of Fosso and Izmir, developing city-states by trade, and Miley was the most powerful of the coastal city-states. Both Miletus and Athens were slave city-states founded by the Ionians of ancient Greece. Originally a Greek colony, Miletus was later invaded and fallen by Persia and tortured.
The brother city-states on the other side are still free, and the People of Miletus naturally have to fight for freedom. So before going to Athens, the Miletus went to find the Spartans who could fight the best.
Spartan combat equipment
Every Spartan man began to learn martial arts from an early age, and their coming-of-age ceremony was to throw you into the deep mountains and wild forests, and let you randomly draw tigers and wolves to challenge, but this blind box was also too surprising. Although the Spartans advocated force, both men and women had a high value of force, but they could not stand that they did not like to cause trouble, so the steady Spartans refused the Millidus' request for help.
Faced with the pleading of their compatriots, the Athenians were much more righteous, and they sent 20 fleets, all heavily armored infantry, and about a thousand people killed Persia.
At that time, the capital of Persia was in Lydia, and the Miletus and their reinforcements sacked the whole city, and everyone received very rich booty. Looting is looting, and setting fire to more or less is yours. Not only did they burn many houses in the city, but most importantly, the Temple of Kübler, the Mother of All Things, was also destroyed by a fire.
Kübler was originally the goddess of Asia Minor, also known as the Great Mother Goddess, and was revered in the Mediterranean region. Kubera's status is like Gaia in Greek mythology, representing fertile land and being the god of nature and wildlife. Some city-states used the Great Mother as protector of the city-state. The temple of Kübler originally had little to do with the Persians, but the blessings of the gods were destroyed, and this breath could not be swallowed.
At this time, the Greeks were still complacent about getting a lot of treasures, but they did not expect the catastrophe to come so quickly. On the way back from the looting, the heavily packed Athenian soldiers were intercepted by the Persians.
As soon as the reinforcements arrived, these treasures were taken back again, and few Athenians could return to the ship alive, so ah, don't be too greedy, and it is really not suitable for escape with too many treasures.
Later, the Athenian referendum decided not to participate in the war on the other side of the Aegean Sea, and even regretted that it did not reject them like the Spartans, and after seeing the strength of the Persian army, even if there was a heart, it did not have the courage to fight.
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For the Athenians, the war was over, thinking that if we didn't fight anyway, we would suffer heavy casualties, and Persia, a great empire, should not do this kind of deception with more deception. In fact, even if they did not loot Lydia and burn the temple, the Persians would take care of the whole face and find a reasonable excuse to send troops.
Deeply, revenge is only a symptom, and the real core reason is that Persia has long had western invasion ambitions, especially after reconquering the Greek city-states on the Ionian coast, Darius the Great became more aware of a truth. The two sides of the Aegean Sea originally belonged to the same people, but whenever there was some turmoil, the Greeks would take the opportunity to intervene and stir up the peace.
The Miletus and Greece were only across the sea, originally born of the same roots, but they were occupied by Persian colonization in bad luck. Maybe they were so depressed that every time they made some contradictions, they ran to complain with a handful of snot and tears, and they hoped that someone would come to save them.
The Spartans had always been cold-blooded and did not care about foreign affairs, but Athens, which had always promoted democracy, was much more enthusiastic.
Although the Athenians were not as brave and good as the Spartans, as the leading boss of the Greek city-state, they still had some strength, and they could not pick up big things, and adding blocking kung fu could only be regarded as first-class.
In order to avoid this small area becoming an imperial ulcer of the hegemony of the three continents, the only option for the Persians was to annex Greece and unify the entire coast.
Perhaps it was excessive worry, the previous emperors of the Persian Empire were somewhat short-lived, from Cyrus to Darius, and they could only hand over the baton and worship before they were finished. Fortunately, Darius had a forward-looking ambition, and established the most noble of many sons, and later confirmed Xerxes, who was the most capable, as his heir.
In many historical texts and film and television works, Xerxes almost always appears as a tyrant, he kills decisively, and he is very happy, and Herodotus evaluates him as an unpredictable person, sometimes tolerant, sometimes angry. In the Battle of Hot Spring Pass, due to the spartans' insistence on death, Xerxes's million (in essence, about 200,000 people) army failed to break through the small pass, so Xerxes was also angry several times.
"Spartan 300 Warriors" film and television image - Xerxes
However, Xerxes, whom we don't know, was actually a conservative predator.
He has always been very clear about his purpose, saying that as long as the other side surrenders and lays down its weapons, this endless war can be abruptly stopped. Before the Third Expedition, Xerxes sent emissaries to Greece to persuade them to surrender, but how could the Greeks, who had always been accustomed to liberal democracy, accept colonization? The Spartans were even more direct, and King Leonidas kicked the messenger into a pit with one kick.
From the perspective of the regime, this vicious war seemed inevitable from the beginning.
Xerxes, who has always been calm, although he is good at scheming and fierce, he knows very well that he took over the burden of his father in order to solve the hidden dangers of the empire's frontiers. The purpose of the third conquest is no longer to expand the territory, nor is it to vent personal anger, because if the ulcer of the empire cannot be properly resolved, the partial ulceration is likely to affect the foundation of the entire empire with one stroke.
In order to win the final battle, Xerxes sent a million troops against more than 10,000 Greek troops, and the disparity in strength and overwhelming armament superiority did not look like a defeated posture.
The hot spring pass is easy to defend and difficult to attack, the Spartans occupy the key point of the pass, Xerxes's dead soldiers and elephant soldiers take turns to attack, and the combination of spears and hard shields makes this level more difficult to break through. The two sides fought fiercely, and the Persians suffered countless casualties, while the Spartans built the defeated corpses against the human wall as the most prominent trophies.
"Spartan 300 Warriors" movie stills - Blood Battle Hot Springs Pass
In order to win the victory, Xerxes bribed a Spartan peasant with a lot of money, so that they were given a secret sheep gut path, and successfully killed the Spartan rear, and under the fierce attack of the front and back, the Spartan army was completely destroyed.
In fact, it was a premeditated sacrifice.
The Spartans stubbornly held the hot spring pass, the Persian million army was troubled by hundreds of people, the war lasted for three days, and the combined forces of the Greek city-states took the opportunity to successfully complete the transfer, that is, this crucial three days, the Persian Empire took a sharp turn and was defeated.
The Half-Century-Long Greek-Persian War ended in the defeat of Persia, which later led to the brilliant Greek civilization and the Western world.
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What we can see now is usually the opposition between evil Persia and Greece, which represents justice. This is particularly evident in the film and television work "Spartan 300 Warriors".
On one side were the strangely shaped and abominable-looking legions of the undead, and on the other were the mighty and well-trained Spartans.
Persia - Legion of the Undead
The Persian army exuded a "I am expensive" atmosphere of corruption, and the metal accessories on the body contrasted sharply with the Spartan artistic fashion. Including the later Xerxes, in order to turn the tide of the war, used money and beauty to seduce Spartan traitors, which was also a strong sense of paper drunkenness and gold.
If Persia had defeated the Spartans and occupied Greece, the Western world would have ceased to exist. And today's history may be rewritten as "barbaric Greeks, who refused to accept civilized indoctrination."
History belongs to the rulers. Most of the existing texts record that they are on the side of Greece, intentionally or unconsciously, and the Persians, as the main warring party, are guilty of provoking trouble and committing unforgivable crimes. But if we go back to the fifth century BC and see the territory and great strength of the Persian Empire, Compared with the two river valleys, Egypt, Asia Minor and other regions where civilization originated, Greece's position is only on the edge of civilization.
In 478 BC, the Persian War ended completely, and the two sides signed the Treaty of Karias, withdrawing troops from the Aegean and Black Sea regions, and also recognizing the independence of the Greek city-states.
After the end of this war, the center of the Western world gradually shifted from the Two Rivers Valley to the Mediterranean region, and Greek civilization was preserved and developed. The Persian Empire, on the other hand, was in decline and lost its former hegemonic glory, and in 330 BC, the Persian Empire died at the hands of Macedonia.
War is the mediation of the two sides. One side attacks, the other side defends, there are strong and weak, but from different standpoints, the essence of war does not seem to be right or wrong. Civilization and progress must be bloody sacrifices, and in that era of relative obscurity, who can say clearly who is the real barbarian?
The development of civilization needs time to precipitate and verify, and Chinese civilization has been inheriting and developing for five thousand years. Greek civilization was also based on the development of the Western world and flourished day by day. If Persia had conquered the hot springs and snuffed out the flames of Western civilization, the former barbarian civilization may be a different story today.