![]() ![]() Thermopylae was the only way into Greece for the Persian army - a narrow pass bordered by a sheer mountain wall on one side and a cliff drop-off to the ocean on the other - this location decreased the advantage of the Persian numbers, and gave the Greek allies enough time to ready a larger, main force to defend against the Persians. ![]() Leading the Greeks was a force of three hundred Spartans - all "sires," warriors chosen not only for skill, but also because they were fathers to male children, which would preserve their bloodlines after what was to be a suicide mission. ![]() Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.Īt Thermopylae, the allied Greek nations deployed a small force of between four and seven thousand Greek heavy infantry against the invading Persian army, which Pressfield puts at two million (and could have been as many as five million, according to Herodotus, or three million, according to Simonides, though modern historians evaluating ancient sources and logistics determine that these are unlikely figures and the exact size is unknown, but most modern historians believe it to be between sixty thousand and a quarter million). ![]()
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