300 spartans?

Question

is it true that they only sent out 300 spartans out to fight the endless numbers of Xerxe and his armies because the spartans had a holiday and that's why only a few went out to war
my teacher said that so i dont know :
Dont always belive your teachers hahaha

Answer 1

close enough to the truth.

actually there were 7000 soldiers, bit only 300 spartans.

And there was a naval battle that occured where the greeks were outnumbered as badly, but becasue the blockade worked forced xeres army into the narrow pass.

Answer 2

The only thing that was about right in 300, was that there is believed to be 300 Spartans on this fight. No, there was no holiday, there were thousands of Greeks on different fronts of the whole campaign. Xerxes outflanked them. Thus only a smaller force could be sent from the homelands to this battlefield, and there was a large Greek fleet nearby. I believe that is why Xerxes couldn't outflank them again by the ocean.

So, the number of Greek soldiers in the area was in the 10,000's. Once Xerxe found the pass and would surround them, all left except the Spartans and Thespians. They held for 3 days. So the total Greeks at the beginning of the movie is closer to what it was at the end of the battle, and way off for the beginning of the battle.

Answer 3

osrt of, but not in the same simplistic way stated. first there where not just 300 spartans sent to meet xerxes (the new movie doesn't say that does it?), but they had about 1,000 to 1,500 other greek soldiers that fought each day with them, but on the last night, Leonadis told them to get out, and leave, he knew they would be of motre help, then just be slaughtered, as he knew that the enemey had found a hiden path around there flank, and wuld attack in the morning, the majority fleed, about 500 or so stayed and died with the spartans all historical accounts tell of this, but it does not make for good hollywood fight to the end movies. Yes there wa s a celebraton day, it was a religios observation week, and the goverment was busy arguing, and it was thought best to let the armies wait until Xerxes got past the Spartans, the Spartans knew they where going out to fight just to give the boverment time to hash things out, the goverment never sent help, they decided, they would re group at another location, after there fleet attempt failed some, and later was a success, in the Movie I'm thinking they run things closer togheter, it was several weeks for all this to go on not a few days.

Answer 4

Yes, it's true. The others were delayed by a religious festival. The Spartans had lots of religious festivals. They were a warrior race, and there are no atheists in foxholes, you know? Nevertheless, cynics claim there was an ulterior motive that gave method to their madness. Delaying their entry into battle often gave them time to see which way things were going, making it easier to join the winning side. However, I doubt that was the case when they faced the Persians. This wasn't a Greek on Greek war, as was so often the case with the Athens/Sparta rivalry. There was never any doubt whose side the Spartans would be on in this one. I think the religious festival excuse is valid, considering how important religious observance was to ancient Greeks. Remember, these people stopped wars to participate in the Olympic Games, which while it's often forgotten today, was a religious festival honoring the King of the Gods, Zeus.

Answer 5

actually it was only 300 spartans because everyone knew they were going to die - basically only 300 spartans had the courage to die for greece (which wasn't really a country then) - they would die for sparta but not for the other city states - there were a few thousand (5000 i think) other greeks at the battle - during the first few days of the battle they covered the spartans backs - then they started to flee - when the persians found a route around the pass and were about to surround the battlefield - - and there were about 100 ships that engaged the persians on the sea -

Answer 6

It may or may not have been because of the celebration of their gods, but yes, only 300 Spartans marched to Thermopylae. They were joined by about 6000-7000 other Greeks to defend the Hot Gates and delay the advancing Persian army, which contemporary sources say numbered about 100,000-250,000, not the million or two that had been passed down through history.

Answer 7

There were only 300 Spartans. However they were the nucleus of a larger force of at least 2,000, as many as 10,000 Greek soldiers from other cities. And the Persian force, while much larger was not the 1,000,000 man army that has been suggested.

Answer 8

1.300 Spartans + 700 volunteers fought against Persians. Yes, it is true. But it is also true there were bunch of Spartan slaves backing up the warriors

* More than 90% of Spartan population was slave...Quite different from the movie, huh? Compare to Sparta, Persia had no slaves..since they accepted various religion and custom of they have conquered

2.Xerxe's army was around 250,000.

Answer 9

well yea technically it was 300 Spartans with 700 Thespian volunteers

Answer 10

it is true, 300 Spartans and lot of other nationalities