1. The Battle of the 300 Spartans
By: Vahan Surabian
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2. 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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3. 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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4. 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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5. 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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6. 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 started
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7. 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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8. 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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9. 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
10. 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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11. 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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