“Then we will fight in the shade…”

Dear 7E,

If you were a Spartan soldier, as you already know, you were trained from the age of seven to prefer death to defeat. This ideal was so ingrained in the citizens of Sparta that those who failed to attain it were despised. The life of a young male citizen from the age of 7 onwards was filled with rigorous training, constant hardship and ritual humiliation.

This makes our school sound like a refuge, where no one flogs anyone, bullying is not tolerated, let alone encouraged, and the only hardship is caused by teachers like me who ask you to learn and study when you’d rather play computer games. Compared to the Spartans, our school is like an Athenian outpost – but thankfully minus the slaves…

The 300 Spartans who held the pass at Thermopylae against the huge Persian army must surely  have known that they were going to die. According to a Persian scout, they combed their hair in preparation for the battle and oiled their bodies. This apparent nonchalance in the face of certain death has become legendary.

For days these men stood against Xerxes’ army of 250,000 men and held the narrow pass against them. Realising that they must ultimately be defeated, however, the Spartan King Leonidas sent the Athenian army home. The heroic stand of the Spartan 300, however, allowed the Athenian army to return to Athens and evacuate the city before the Persians arrived.

The Athenians, as the beneficiaries of the Spartans’ courage, managed to regroup and defeat the Persians at sea.

The grateful Athenians commissioned Simonides to write an epitaph for the Spartans who had sacrificed their lives. He wrote: “Go tell the Spartans, passing stranger, that we lie here obedient to their laws.” In other words, these three hundred men had preferred death to defeat and a courageous last stand to a retreat; they had died honourably. In doing so, they had done their part in protecting Greek civilisation from the seemingly all-conquering Persian Empire.

1 Skim through these sources:

Sources on the life of the Spartans and the Battle of Thermopylae:

Spartans: http://www.ancientgreece.co.uk/sparta/home_set.html

Thermoplyae: http://ancienthistory.about.com/cs/weaponswar/p/blpwtherm.htm

Themophlyae: http://www.factbehindfiction.com/index_files/300TheBattleatThermopylae.htm

2 Tackle this quiz:

CLICK HERE FOR QUIZ ON FULL SCREEN

3 Leave a comment in response to some or all of the following questions:
•What, if anything, do you find admirable about the Spartan way of life?
•What, if anything, would you criticise about the Spartan way of life?
•What were your reactions to the story of the Battle of Thermopylae?
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10 Replies to ““Then we will fight in the shade…””

  1. What I criticise about Spartan life, is the fact that the boys could never do any other occupation other than being a soldier. They could never become a builder or a craftsman, they would always be soldiers. During training, the Spartans almost used mind games to make the boys in training think that it would be better to die than to retreat and come home unscathed. As they said, “Return behind your shield, or on it.” I also think it is appalling that they were humiliated on a regular basis, and they were whipped and flogged to test their pain tolerance. And probably the worst thing, that if you were a weak baby, you were left alone in the wilderness, exposed to the elements and left to die.
    My reactions to the Battle of Thermopylae were a mixture of horror and amazement that they Greeks held off 250,000+ Persians with only 9,000 men. I also thought that it was inspiring that Leonidas was still using his wit, even under pressure. When somebody in his army said that the Persians had enough arrows to block out the sun, Leonidas calmly said, “Then we will fight in the shade.” I also thought it was impressive that he sent the Athenians away, leaving behind his own small army of 300 Spartans. The amount of courage it must have taken to go into battle knowing that you were going to die is astounding. The Battle of Thermopylae is something that I will probably never forget after I learnt about it.

  2. Sparta Comment
    What, if anything, do you find admirable about the Spartan way of life?
    I think the only admirable thing about Spartan life is their persistence to become great warriors. They strove so hard to be the best and didn’t give up.
    What, if anything, would you criticise about the Spartan way of life?
    I think there is a lot to criticise about Spartan way of life, for instance they were very tough on their children and they treated their slaves very poorly. They did not allow people to choose what they did in life. The people were all forced to be tough military personnel and they couldn’t pursue their interests.
    What were your reactions to the story of the Battle of Thermopylae?
    I think the Spartan king Leonidas was very brave and smart to let the Athenians go home. I also think that the traitor was dumb, Greece’s strategy was working and they could have won the battle or at least resisted the Persians for longer. The traitor could go home with no shame back to his family.

  3. The Battle of Thermopylae
    1. I really admire the way that the Spartans never gave up, they always did their best and were always concentrated.
    2. I thought it was very mean to expose weak babies and leave them to die, they should have just let them stay in Sparta. They may have been weak, but they could have gone to battle so that the Spartans’ numbers could go up at least a few men more. The Spartans could have let the babies stay, grow up, and at least try to fight in war, they might have died faster than the stronger Spartan men, but at least they would have tried.
    3. I was very surprised to hear about the battle of Thermopylae. There were many brave men who fought and the one person who I think was the bravest is Leonidas. I thought it was very smart of him to tell the Athenians to go home and evacuate their city so that they would survive to fight a later battle against the Persians when they were stronger and fully armed.

  4. What I criticise about Spartan life, is the fact that the boys could never do any other occupation other than being a soldier. They could never become a builder or a craftsman, they would always be soldiers. During training, the Spartans almost used mind games to make the boys in training think that it would be better to die than to retreat and come home unscathed. As they said, “Return behind your shield, or on it.” I also think it is appalling that they were humiliated on a regular basis, and they were whipped and flogged to test their pain tolerance. And probably the worst thing, that if you were a weak baby, you were left alone in the wilderness, exposed to the elements and left to die.
    My reactions to the Battle of Thermopylae were a mixture of horror and amazement that they Greeks held off 250,000+ Persians with only 9,000 men. I also thought that it was inspiring that Leonidas was still using his wit, even under pressure. When somebody in his army said that the Persians had enough arrows to block out the sun, Leonidas calmly said, “Then we will fight in the shade.” I also thought it was impressive that he sent the Athenians away, leaving behind his own small army of 300 Spartans. The amount of courage it must have taken to go into battle knowing that you were going to die is astounding. The Battle of Thermopylae is something that I will probably never forget after I learnt about it.

  5. I admire the Spartans and their lifestyle a lot because it was clearly successful in moulding strong and fearless warriors. One of the main things that I find admirable about the Spartan way of life is how disciplined and efficient their army was, I think that this is shown by how long they managed to hold back the Persian advance despite their smaller numbers. I also admire the close bond that the soldiers in the Spartan army share with each other and their king; the bond shared between comrades is shown by how much they trusted each other in the phalanx and knew that if any one of them faltered then they might end up getting their comrades killed. The bond they shared with their king is shown by how fiercely the Spartan army fought to protect their king’s body from the Persian forces even though they knew that there was virtually no way they would survive.
    On the other hand one thing I would criticise about the Spartan way of life is that because every child had to be either a soldier, a mother or die (if they had any physical defects) they had no people who specialized in a trade; therefore they lived a very basic life without much luxury (especially the soldiers). I also think that it is quite sick that the Spartan people were willing to leave a child to die just because it was weak or had a physical defect. I also don’t really agree with their training method because although it was effective I think that it was unnecessarily cruel to instigate fights between trainees to try to make them stronger.
    When I heard the story about the battle of Thermopylae it made me respect Leonidas immensely as a leader and as a warrior. I was especially surprised to find out that he sent all the Athenians away so that they could live and fight another day and hopefully defeat the Persians. I also admire the way he and his Spartans stayed and fought to buy time even though they knew that they were fighting a hopeless battle.

  6. I believe the way of life in Sparta was very hard; some were even left to die as babies if they did not appear strong enough for the military style training. The boys were not given enough food to eat because it was thought that it would toughen them. I think that this method was very cruel and harsh. All the same, I think the hard work they put into training every day was quite admirable, they were always ready to fight for their city-state.

    The Battle of Thermopylae was very fascinating. The Spartans never gave up and I think Leonidas was a very smart king. When he knew that they would be defeated he sent all the soldiers back to Athens to evacuate the city. I believe this was very smart because that meant that years later the Greeks fought back and defeated the Persians in a battle. Leonidas carefully thought who to keep fighting so they could ‘hold back’ the Persians; this meant the remaining soldiers had time to warn Athens. He knew that if he chose men who had sons at home, their sons would carry on their family name. Overall I think Leonidas’ strategies were smart and affected later events greatly.

  7. The Battle of Thermopylae
    The Spartan way of life was very admirable. However, there are many points which made life difficult for Spartans. They had no restrictions when it came to war and battles, even being infants they still had to prove their strength and fitness levels. They were taught to be deceptive and resourceful in military style, but I believe they should have had an academic education program which covered all areas such as the arts and trading skills. They should have been slightly similar to Athens who had freedom and the right to govern themselves and choose their own careers.
    The Battle of Thermopylae has significantly affected the survival of Greek civilisation, it was a very fascinating and dramatic fight. The Spartans probably knew they were going to be defeated as they were clearly out-numbered. However, these lifelong soldiers seemed relaxed as they were combing their hair and performing gymnastics before the battle. The battle seemed biased as the leader of Persia found a sneaky way of taking over. Leonidas and his army refused to surrender, even when their last speck of hope had disappeared. Imagining the fear of those soldiers must have been heart-breaking as they were stepping up to die. I find that even though it was a difficult decision Leonidas made a very noble choice in sending the Athenian soldiers home as they regrouped and in the next year they defeated the Persians.

  8. I thought that the way the Spartans lived was very cruel. They treated children extremely harshly and even exposed babies and left them to die. Every male child had to go through military training from the age of seven. I think that is good in a way because they are disciplined from a young age and wouldn’t expect any better treatment. One of the lessons that they learned was how to be resourceful and cunning. They also learned how to read and write but their teaching also had a vicious side; their teachers also taught them how to fight and encouraged them to fight each other. There was no democracy in Sparta so even if they didn’t want to go through military training they still had to go through the training, they also didn’t learn any trades. I think that is highly unfair because I think everyone should be able to choose what they want to do with their life, but they couldn’t because they were forced to become soldiers.
    The Battle of Thermopylae was a very interesting battle. The way Leonidas behaved during the battle was very admirable. When he knew there was no way they could win the battle he sent back the Athenians so that they could save their population and prepare for another battle. He then bravely fought on and continued to hold off the Persians. I thought that was not only courageous but was also a very interesting decision because that decision meant that later on the Greeks could fight back and defeat the Persians. In conclusion I thought it was very noble of Leonidas to sacrifice his life for the future of Greece.

  9. I find that the Spartan way of life was very determined on its main focuses. In war their persistence and the way they went about fighting was very heroic and showed a lot of bravery.

    I think the way Sparta went about life was cruel towards those who were both men and women. The boys were forced to begin military training for the Spartan Army at the age of 7 with no other opportunity to do any other trade. For the girls it wasn’t much different, they were forced to dance, and regularly exercise and they had no other choice of what to do. The boys were given insufficient food and it wasn’t very pleasant as there was no opportunity to do what they wanted.

    I thought the battle of Thermopylae was very well interpreted by the Greeks and the battle showed lots of respect and bravery by the Greeks. The Greeks knew that they were not going to win the battle but the way they went about it by creating a phalanx setup was a stroke of genius and stopped the Persians from charging on to destroy Athens. The forethought of Leonidas in sending the Athenian soldiers home was a heroic act and allowed the Athenians to survive. The Spartans were very loyal and were prepared to die for the future of their city-state and to protect other city-states as well.

  10. Sparta Comment
    1. I think that the men and women of Sparta lived a cruel and punishing life; the poor little boys of Sparta were forced to join their army and were taught and trained to be soldiers from the age of 7. The other children who were considered weak ended up being exposed and were left out to die, unless they were adopted by some other families. Food was hard to come by and the little soldiers were forced to steal food for a living, but if they were captured they would have been harshly punished.
    2. I thought that the battle of Thermopylae was a turning point in the history of both the Spartans and the Persian armies. The 300 Spartans showed a lot of bravery and courage while trying to hold off the enormous army of about 250,000 soldiers. I thought that Leonidas and his army showed intelligence and heroism in sending most of the Athenian army back to start a new life. The 300 Spartan soldiers were extremely loyal and died as heroes after saving and protecting their land from the Persian army and especially Xerxes.

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