Expert: Conrad T. Jalowski - 3/29/2008

Question
Hi Conrad,
Can you tell me anything about the weapons the Spartans used to fight with at Thermopyle?  Were they superior to the Persian weapons?  If so, how?  If not, do you think it was the Spartan's military training or the location they chose to fight that allowed them to last as long as they did?

Thank you for your expert knowledge and opinion,
Alex

Answer
Greetings Alexander and thank you for the question.

"Expende Annibalem/Quot libros duce sumno: Invenies" or "Bring about the urn in which Hannibal does contain/And the mighty weight of the ash which does remain: it is forgotten or and this is all." What this passage hints at is that no matter how glorious a conqueror is or the might of the empire, such as the Grecian autarchies or states, they are in the end forgotten and account to no more than ash. That is the enthymeme and the heuristics behind that quotation. Now, on to the question at hand.

The Medio-Achaemenid Empire: 550-330 BCE, subjugated the Chaldaeans which consisted of:

the Sovereignty of Nimrod and Chedorlaomer: 2100-1543
the Arabian Dynasty: 1543-1298
The 47 Kings Dynasty: 1298-776
The reign of King Pul: 776-747

Furthermore, the Lydian monarchy consisting of Hellespontine Phrygia, Lydia, Lycia, Mysia, Ionia and Caria in Anatolia was subjugated by the Medio-Achaemenids or the Persians at the hoplomachy of Thymbra: 546 BCE. This Empire consisted of the:

Atyadae Dynasty: before 1229 BCE
Heraclidae Dynasty: 1229-724
Mermnadae Dyansty: 724-554

The Persian Empire then expanded into the Propontic states of Selymbria, Perinthus and Byzantium, took over the Autariatians, Taulantinians, Odryasians and Paeonians, established thalassocracy or maritime supremacy within the Propontic and Euxine Seas, made Macedonia a Persian hegemony and suzerainty and formed a symmachia or an offensive and defensive alliance with Thessaly and other obsequious Grecian states.

The Persians consisted of the tribes of the Dai, Mardi, Derbices, Sagartii, Maraphi, Maspi, Carmanians, Pasargadae, Derusiaei, Panthialiae.

The Lacedaemonians or the Spartans were able to hold off the Persians for a while at Thermopylae due to their tactical advantage and their iron discipline, and contumacious demeanour. The Spartans fought in a formation called the phalanx. The Macedonian phalanx, for example, along with the adscititious or auxiliary such as the peltasts, rorarii and psiloi had 28,687 soldiers. Furthermore, the Byzantine Sebastokraters during the Late Empire: 1204-1479 CE, and during the Komnenian Period: 1081-1180 CE and under the reigns of Nikephorous II Phocas and Basil II Bulgaroctonus had the skutatoi and toxitai formations as well as the themata system which utilized phalanx formations, in addition with the combined arms theory.

Here is a passage from Plutarch's Parallel Lives on Pyrrhus of Epirus on the Macedonian-Epirote phalanx against the consuls Publius Valerius Laevinus, Publius Decius Mus and Manius Curtius Dendatus during the Pyrrhic Wars: 280-275 BCE:

"And to hinder the Romans, if in the meantime they should endeavour to pass the river, he planted men all along the bank to oppose them. But they, hastening to anticipate the coming up of the same forces which he had determined to wait for, attempted the passage with their infantry, where it was fordable, and with the horse in several places, so that the Greeks, fearing to be surrounded, were obliged to retreat, and Pyrrhus, perceiving this, and being much surprised, bade his foot officers draw their men up in line of battle, and continue in arms, while he himself with three thousand horse advanced, hoping to attack the Romans as they were coming over, scattered and disordered. But when he saw a vast number of shields appearing above the water, and the horse following them in good order, gathering his men in a closer body, himself at the head of them, he began the charge, conspicuous by his rich and beautiful armour, and letting it be seen that his reputation had not outgone what he was able effectually to perform. While exposing his hands and body in the fight, and bravely repelling all that engaged him, he still guided the battle with a steady and undisturbed reason, and such presence of mind, as if he had been out of the action and watching it from a distance, passing still from point to point, and assisting those whom he thought most pressed by the enemy."

With the Spartans, the phalanx was superior due to its  agglutination during dire times over a loose agglomeration being the kardakes or the rank-and-file of the Persians. Overall, the Spartans held the Persians for a while at Thermopylae due to their superior discipline and tactical advantage- the phalanx.

Thank you for the question, Conrad Jalowski